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Upgrading to AMD

R

RadicalRev

Member
I currently have a Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800. I was wondering what AMD cpu will be better than the X6800 for under $100.

Reason to switch is that I found AMD's mATX motherboards have better features than Intel's LGA775 based mATX motherboards.

The newer i5/i7 mATX motherboards are well equipped, but the price of the CPU and motherboards are much more expensive than a well equipped AMD's.

Any advice and comments will be greatly appreciated!
 
Well, your only real choice in the $100 is the 4x Core 620/630 cpu's. A Tri-Core may be a good choice as well.

The biggest thing is threaded apps. If your running threaded apps then you will see a huge increase in performance going from your cpu to a Tri/Quad AMD.

The negative is that your cpu is 2.9ghz stock while the 620/630 are 2.6/2.8ghz stock. Conroe can still meet or even beat the Athlons on a clock for clock basis in quite a few areas. Most things you wouldn't notice, but there is the chance that you may see a slow down.

Either way, if you do multi threaded things then the Tri and especially the Quads will be a very big upgrade. But if you only game or play solitare then you won't see an increase in performance and could be a small drop in performance in some instances. Just my penny 🙂


Jason
 
Thanks guys,

I was looking at the X4 620, reviews seemed pretty good as well.

I don't really run many threaded apps once, just occasionally using Adobe PS.

But I do like to run simple apps at once.

Btw, I have not tried an AMD cpu before, and was wondering about the heat it generates compared to the Intel? Pretty much the same? Or does the AMD tends to overheat more than the Intel cpus?
 
I dont think there is any point in upgrading, you arent likely to see much of a speed increase over that X6800, its still a very capable chip.

Unless you have a specific reason for needing tri or quad core the athlon x4 is more of a sidegrade or a downgrade in some ways.
 
Those amd based motherboard is the reason why I want to change to a AMD cpu. The motherboards have so much more features, including the DDR3 option which I am considering to do so.

Based on the graphs Accord99 gave, it seems that the X4 620 is relatively the same as the X6800.

Do you guys know how much the X6800 is going for at the market price USED?
 
Well I could see someone on this site buying it for $$100-150ish or so. On Ebay you could get a bit higher. But us people on the forums here are very thrifty Especially since many people here will most likely desire Yorkfield over older Conroe core. But priced well it will definitely sell.

Also, I would reuse your DDR2 ram if you have it. Going to DDR3 doesn't give to much extra performance except in a few area's. But if the mobo with everything you want is DDR3 only then obviously do the upgrade then.


Jason
 
No reason to switch your not going to gain very much of anything. If you going ddr3 that's a waste you need to take the hit and go i5 at least or your just throwing money away.

Maybe OC your cpu now and wait a little longer to see what the market does.
 
Personally I would sell your CPU on fleabay and get something like a Q9400(the 2 cpus are close in price). What board do you currently have? If it has a couple of pci-e slots on there it may pay to just get expansion cards for whatever features you want.

edit: actually the Q9450 has twice the cache but is a little bit more money. You may want to go that way)

As for AMD, if you game then you will want a phenom II for the extra cache. If you don't game, then an athlon should be fine. Personally I think that the x3 CPUs are the sweet spot for price/performance. If you have a fry's or microcenter nearby then you can probably pick up a nice deal for less than you can sell your processor for.
 
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