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Upgrade or New Build Help Me Decide

K

kjackson09

Member
The specs for my current computer are in my signature below. If possible I am would like to know if it's worth squeezing a little extra life out of this machine before moving towards a completely new system.

I already have three computers in the house, and don't need to set this current one aside as another rig to surf the internet with.

My reason for upgrading is 'casual' play of the new PC game Age of Conan.

My initial thoughts were to go with a CPU/Video Card upgrade and leave the rest of the system as is (spending around $400).

However, I am not sure what CPUs are available for a s939 motherboard. For the video card I was thinking of upgrading to a 512MB 8800 nVidia series card.

Any thoughts? With these two upgrades will it boose performance significantly. In a bit a year from now I don't mind doing a complete system upgrade but for now I would lilke to get away with a $400 upgrade.

Cheers.
 
That's probably about the best you can do. Dual cores for the 939 are drying up now, so you may have to hunt around to find one new or pick it up used. But it will probably help alot in AOC. The video card replacement will give you a huge jump. You should be able to pick those two up for $300 or under. I see the 8800GT in under $200 now regularly. Those two changes are indeed the best you can do with that system, in my opinion. Now I also prefer to use two hard drives, but that's preference. Good luck with it.
 
On the other hand, I just got a p35 motherboard, an e2160 core duo, and 4 GBs of memory for around $220. Plunked it down as an internals replacement. So that is another way to jump.
 
Upgrading the 939 is a pure waste of money since the upgrade would do very little to its performance.

Originally posted by: Arglebargle
On the other hand, I just got a p35 motherboard, an e2160 core duo, and 4 GBs of memory for around $220. Plunked it down as an internals replacement. So that is another way to jump.
Click to expand...

This type of upgrade is very good since it usually Over Clocks as is to about 2.9GHz which provides almost twice the power of the 939 that you have Now.
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
Upgrading the 939 is a pure waste of money since the upgrade would do very little to its performance.

Originally posted by: Arglebargle
On the other hand, I just got a p35 motherboard, an e2160 core duo, and 4 GBs of memory for around $220. Plunked it down as an internals replacement. So that is another way to jump.
Click to expand...

This type of upgrade is very good since it usually Over Clocks as is to about 2.9GHz which provides almost twice the power of the 939 that you have Now.
Click to expand...

Still needs a Video Card for a good improvement, but that could be achieved with just another $200 or so. Probably needs a new PS as well.

If that's not going to fit the Budget, then a Video Card upgrade will make a significant improvement.
 
Well it sounds like maybe I should upgrade the video card first and see how the system improves. Money spent on the video card will not be lost seeing as I will need it anyway if I end up upgrading the motherboard and cpu to go along with it.

Now on to the second part, which is upgrading the s939 CPU on my current motherboard ($180) or spending around $200 for a brand new motherboard/cpu combo.

I personally like the idea if just dropping in the new s939 chip and not having to play with a brand new motherboard, reconnect everything etc. But if I can get a new motherboard/CPU combo that will be "significantly" better than dropping in the s939 opteron 180 chip into my current board for close the same price (say with $50) I am all ears.

Cheers.
 
I have a 3800 x2. 2ghz stock, overclocked to 2.7. couldn't be happier. they're still out there, and not as expensive as one would believe. I plan on riding out with my 939 until amd comes out with a architecture aimed at consumers rather than enterprise, or neth. comes out. Try and get an x2 with at least 1mb cache- a lot out there have been reuced to 512k now. also, check up on manchester vs toldeo cores. pluses and minuses to both. overclockability, voltage handling, and temps.
you definitly have a good motherboard as a basis, so I don't see a need to jump ship
 
If you go with a x2 939, look in the FS/FT forum here for someone who's had an account at least a year and has a decent "heatware" reputation. Stay away from eBay, prices are crazy there.
 
Without going into specifics, I would think that 500 dollars would get you a great system, assuming you kept your hard drive, optical drives, case and ps. You mentioned something like a 400 budget for upgrading. You could probably sell the mb/cpu/ram/graphics card for maybe 100 or so. That gets you 500 for something new, fresh, fast, with "legs" (means upgradeable). The difference in performance should be obvious and dramatic.
 
Thanks Denithor,

Is that motherboard a decent one? I usually use ASUS boards and have had no issues. Is there a comparable ASUS version motherboard?

Cheers.
 
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