Worthwhile upgrade?

[VanTheMan]

I'm referring to this deal.

I mainly use my computer for gaming and surfing. I'm looking to add a little bit of life to it so I can hold off upgrading for awhile longer. I'm currently running my A64 Venice 3200+ @2.5GHz.

Would it be better for me to get the A64 X2 3800+ linked above or upgrade from 2x512MB to 2x1GB of PC3200? I can't remember the last time DDR prices were reasonable, so that's why I haven't yet upgraded my RAM. Thanks!

 

[Nickel020]

Well if you dont ahve much money for upgrading thats pretty much the only option you have fo your rig. It should overclock decently as well, 2,6GHz+ unless you're unlucky.

But I would seriously consider selling your board, cpu and RAM and gettin a cheap C2D board ( Gigabyte p35 DS3 is great for the price) some value DDR2 800 RAM and and an E2140 (C2D with 1MB cache, overclocks to ~3GHz on air)CPU for 70$ or so. This will effectively cost you pretty much the same as getting 2x1Gb DDR1 RAM but will net much better performance.
I would not get 2x1Gb DDR1 RAM, since the above setup is much better.

 

[NXIL]

Dear Mac,

you have a very nice rig, especially your video card.

I agree with Nick that the current Conroe CPU/P35 mobo/DDR2 memory combo is an awesome bargain, but, if your financial resources are limited to either a CPU upgrade or a memory upgrade, it might be best to upgrade the limiting factor or weak link in your setup, which is the CPU.

I would recommend the dual core upgrade first--I went from the same 3200 E6 Venice to an Opteron 170--it's a very worthwhile upgrade IMHO: you can't tell the difference in every situation, but, when you are downloading/burning a DVD/decrypting a DVD all at once, and your system still feels fast and responsive, it's pretty cool.

Since you know your overclocking, and in fact would have to overclock to not have a big drop in performance, rather than the ultra bargain basement 3800X2 Toldedo, I would suggest an Opteron: they overclock really well generally, and, the 2 x 1MB cache adds 3-4 % in performance, approximately.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...electedRating=-1&Page=

From these reviews of the $99 Opteron 165, looks like it might be what you are looking for:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103588

Note that it comes with a very nice stock heatsink/fan, whereas the Toledo X2 3800 is a bare cpu....the stock heatsink that came with my 170 is a big chunk of solid copper with 4 heat pipes....in a 75 degree room, my 170 is running at 85 degrees right now.....it "spikes" to the mid 90s with both cores working above 50% Box CPU also has a 3 year warranty, but, I would assume AMD might be suspicious it you mailed it back and it was still smoking from an exuberant overclock attempt.

I have 2 x 512 memory, and I rarely use more than 700MB of it....but, depending on the games you are playing, you might need more, and in a month or three you could upgrade that as well, and be set with your current rig for another year or so at least.

HTH,

NXIL

 

[NoSoup4You]

No doubt, an X2 at 2.4+Ghz and 2 gig's of RAM will be sufficient for gaming at high quality settings for now and the foreseeable future.

 

[VanTheMan]

I think I'm going to go ahead and get the X2 3800. Since it's really just a hold-out measure to inject another year or so of life into my current rig, I'm ok with spending $60 vs $100 for the Opty or a lot more for 2x1GB DDR. Thanks for the advice guys.