Upgrade to amd x2 3800+?

cr2250

Golden Member
Sep 4, 2005
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I wanted to upgrade my cpu and needed some help. Will I notice a difference in gaming if I upgrade to a 3800+. Core 2 duo is out of the question, since I dont have that cash on hand to buy new ram and mb and a really expensive cpu. Is it a better buy to just buy a 4200+? I dont plan at overclocking at all, since my motherboard is horrible at it. Should I just stay with my current cpu and upgrade later. I currently have a 7800gt and its been great, but I think my cpu is starting to bottleneck it in some newer games.
 

thegimp03

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2004
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What do you use your computer for?

Honestly, you won't see that much of a difference switching to a dualcore if all you do is game. I was disappointed with my performance increase over my 3000+...
 

cr2250

Golden Member
Sep 4, 2005
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Well actually come to think of it. Could I buy that asrock board that supports the core2duo and ddr memory. I might as well join the crowd with core2duos.

Edit: O wait nvm the board only supports two slots for ddr memory, while I have 4 sticks.
 

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
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One thing many people don't think about when considering upgrading to dual-core CPU's is that while you most likely won't see framerates increase in games if only the game is running, things like keeping your anti-virus program running in the background will go from having a significant effect on overall system performance to having virtually no effect.
If all you do is game & you have no plans to overclock, I'd still say the upgrade to dual-core is worth it & considering the 4200+ is only $34 more then the 3800+ X2, I think its the best choice for the money. You should however also consider the SINGLE-core 3800+ which is clocked at 2.4ghz & currently selling for $107 which will also give you a nice speed boost.
 

Furen

Golden Member
Oct 21, 2004
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Even if you went for the Asrock you'd still be looking at a pretty expensive upgrade (close to $300). You willing to overclock at all (and do you know how to?)? If not then a 4200+ will be around 10% faster for 20% more cash. Of course, even a 4600+ would be cheaper than going for a low-end Conroe. Personally, I'd go for a $150 x2 3800+ and do a mild overclock (2.4GHz or so).
 

cr2250

Golden Member
Sep 4, 2005
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Ofcourse I know how too, but my gigbyte board sucks at oc. I would definately oc a conroe. I have a k8n pro sli and it sucks at oc but very stable otherwise.
 

Furen

Golden Member
Oct 21, 2004
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Yeah, but like you said, the VSTA is horrible (2 dimm slots, 4x PCI-e slot, etc). I'm not sure you can even overclock all that much with it.
 

akshayt

Banned
Feb 13, 2004
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For most of todays games you won't find much of a difference if at all. For some games you will see an increase in the minimum frame rates. For new games like Crysis and UT07 you should find noticeable difference. But if you don't have a 1900XT class GPU, you won't be able to make full use of the CPU anyway. On the other hand if you have a lower GPU but a dual core, this will help you a little bit more in the near future.

What GPU do you have?
 

cmrmrc

Senior member
Jun 27, 2005
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not much, but you will see a big difference in general usage....its like having 2 3200+
 

m1ldslide1

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2006
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What CPU are you currently using???

If you currently have a 3200+ then you won't notice any improvement in gaming with a 3800+, as others have said. If you go 4200+ then you'll notice a very slight improvement, but also like others have said, the current advantage of dual core is running CPU intensive apps in the background while you game.

Honestly you could buy a new socket 939 motherboard that OC's well for about $80 and two sticks of DDR 1GB memory for about $140 (after rebate) and OC the sh!t out of your current chip and end up with a significantly faster gaming solution than just getting a dual core for about the same price. Plus you end up with 2 sticks of RAM at 1T instead of 4 sticks at 2T.

Either way, I wouldn't spend more than $200 on whatever you do given that all of these parts are going to be obsolete soon..
 

hennethannun

Senior member
Jun 25, 2005
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Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
Either way, I wouldn't spend more than $200 on whatever you do given that all of these parts are going to be obsolete soon..

I think that is a bit of an overstatement. a 3200+ will be sufficient for at least a year or two under almost any circumstances. obsolescence is still quite a ways off.

however, buying an X2 3800+ to improve gaming performance over a 3200+ is pointless. the 3800+ is basically two 3200+ cores on one die, so the single threaded performance of a 3200+ is about the same as an X2 3800+. that is a worthwhile upgrade ONLY if you multitask a lot and will really benefit from a dual core system.

if you just want a better gaming cpu, get a 4000+ (it runs at 2.4ghz, has twice the L2 cache, and only costs $120 or so now)
 

cliesucks

Junior Member
Aug 11, 2006
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It depends. My 3200 was only able to run 2.2Ghz on my A8N-E. I just upgraded to 3800 X2 and currently it's running at 2.6GHz for the same vcore setting so there's nearly 20% improvement.
 

cr2250

Golden Member
Sep 4, 2005
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Well I guess I will wait till next year for a upgrade, now just to find a new case.
 
Jan 9, 2001
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Why not sell your 3200 and put that cash toward a new MB that allows for a better o/c? i just went from a 3200 @ 2.5Ghz to a 3800x2 @ 2.6Ghz, and the difference is night and day. Boot times have decreased a good bit, and the system feels much snappier. I do game every now and then, however I mostly use this system for CAD work. I know that most of the improvement work wise is due to the fact that CAD is multi-threaded, but it's nice to be able to run iTunes, Outlook, Firefox and AIM in the background and not hear it studder at times. I honestly don't think you can go wrong for $150.