upgrade from a S939 X2 3800+ to an Opteron 165/170, is it worth it?

[McFlyinCA]

I currently have a S939 X2 3800+ on a Tt Big Water running at 2.95ghz and it doesnt seem to quite cut it for me. I also have an eVGA 320MB 8800GTS Superclock running 650/1000 and I think my proc is holding me back. I was wondering if it would be worth it to upgrade to either an Opteron 165 or 170 as they have more L2 cache then my X2. Also what would be a good stepping for these procs and is it hard to overclock either of them to 3ghz+?

 

[BlueWeasel]

If an X2 at 2.95Ghz isn't enough, then move to an overclocked C2D setup. Even if you could get an Opteron at 3.0Ghz or slightly higher, the extra cache won't be a significant performance booster.

 

[kenrippy]

ditto what blue said. not worth it at all.
unfortunately it looks like you're on a s939 setup so you'll need new ram as well as mobo/cpu. at least ram prices are uber cheap now....

 

[TC91]

not worth it at all, unless you got it for super cheap or for free; i would keep the current setup and wait for the mainstream 45nm quads from intel, or the 45nm quads/b3 revision 65nm quads from amd if you prefer amd.

 

[McFlyinCA]

Well thanks for the info guys. I guess Ill just have to save up and get a new system. Hey TC91, I noticed that you overclocked your shader clock, is there any benefit in doing so and if so what might that be?

 

[Makaveli]

I agree with all posters, this might have been a smart move Q1 2006 but not now!

 

[Avalon]

You wouldn't get much higher of an OC with the Opty, and the extra cache is only good for a 5-8% performance boost in most apps. I'd agree with 100% not worth it. Your best bet is to wait for Intel's 45nm chips coming out later this month.

 

[TC91]

hey McFlyinCA, sorry been busy with school the last few days, but for your question regarding the shader clock oc, it does help a little bit, but not a huge amount. it wont make a game that was previously unplayable playable. it did give me around 300-500 3dmark06 or so, dont recall exactly, but it may boost your frame rate in games that are shader intensive by a couple to a few frames. older games wont see much of a boost, but not like they would need it anyways. in colin macrae dirt, i got 2-3 extra fps with the shader oc on. in gears of war, i got 3-4fps extra. i didnt really test other games. it isnt a huge gain, but it is unlockable performance which is nice. my gts cant hit 650mhz core or 2000mhz memory at all though unlike most people's, it crashes every time i start a 3d game, even with the fan @100% and a 80mm fan blowing right over it. my max oc was 621/1620/1944 with the fan @100%. my current settings are with the fan @ stock. i always like to tweak my pc parts a lot though, thats why i oc'ed the sahders. as long as the card is stable running games, you have nothing to lose by oc'ing the shaders.

 

[dingetje]

get yourself a wolf

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: McFlyinCA
I currently have a S939 X2 3800+ on a Tt Big Water running at 2.95ghz and it doesnt seem to quite cut it for me. I also have an eVGA 320MB 8800GTS Superclock running 650/1000 and I think my proc is holding me back. I was wondering if it would be worth it to upgrade to either an Opteron 165 or 170 as they have more L2 cache then my X2. Also what would be a good stepping for these procs and is it hard to overclock either of them to 3ghz+?

An Opteron 165 would likely be a step backwards, seeing as how it needs 300Mhz FSB speeds just to reach 2.7Ghz. You're already at 2.95. Most mobos don't support > 300Mhz FSB.

 

[tallman45]

It may be worth it

1) You do not have to find all your APP CD's and install everything, so if finding S/W is a problem you save in that area

2) Time to do a swap is minutes and you get a decent performance boost

3) Backing up all data if you go to a new MB/CPU combo, if you are lax in your backups then plan at least a few hours to move things off the 939 rig

 

[Munky]

I don't think your cpu is holding you back, particularly if you play games at 1600x1200 or higher resolution. If I were you, I'd just save money for a new build, because you'll get a much bigger performance boost by using a newer Intel dual core or quad core cpu.