New System

[imported_MrReynolds]

Mr "parsimonious" himself is ready to spend some of his well earned money.

I currently run:
a 3.2 socket A Athlon,
1 gig of RAM
ATI 9700 128meg standard Video

I cant upgrade my processor without a motherboard upgrade, and if i'm doing that I might as well get a PCIe vid card and 2 Gigs of decent memory.

The "crunch" for me is:
Do I buy a 4000 Athlon now, knowing that I'll get a great cheap upgrade in a year's time with a reduced price duel processor or shall I plump for a 4.4, or 4.6 duel now?

Going from 3.2MHz to 4 doesn't seem that much of a difference....
Although upgrading an old vid card, fast memory, SATA2 HDD etc will make the "overall system faster"????

ANYONE?

[iceman369]

Re: New System

well how much money u working with here? eithier way u should go for future prrof and buy a dual core amd or at least buy a 939 mobo with sli

[imported_MrReynolds]

Re: New System

Dude, you're totally correct.

I didnt future proof with my 3.2 purchase (although it was one HELL of a deal)!

I will be getting 939 motherboard, but will a 4000MHz give me the boost I want?

Yep, I will also get an SLI board, to get another "cheap" boost in the near future.

I can afford whatever I want, but dont want to be too silly......

thanks

[iceman369]

Re: New System

i not sure if u want to stick with intel but amd is much better for gaming. here are some of the options u could look at for mobo's
asus sli premium

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540

if u want dual core for futerproofing and u may want to oc a bit
amd X2 3800+ or above

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

or u go with a good single core like
amd 3500+ and is great to oc

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103603

the other great options for mobo are
asus, dfi if u know ur computers pretty well, or abit are really good check out this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127206

[whofriggincares]

Re: New System

4GHz? AMD? Only a handful of people ever hit 4GHz on an AMD and you won't be one of them. lol AMD is in the 2GHz range with some people hitting 3GHz.
You could look at this....
3800+ or 4400+ AMD X2
DFI Lanparty SLI DR
2X1GB Crucial Ballistix
7800GTX (256 or 512, up to you)

The rest is up to you.

[imported_Wreck]

Re: New System

He must mean 3200+ because AMD's don't actually run at the frequency of their ratings.

[imported_MrReynolds]

Re: New System

Yeah, when i say 4000, I mean 4000+!!!!

thanks for the advice guys, will prob plump for a 4000+AMD and then buy dual processor in a years time..................

[claevade]

Re: New System

For CPU go for a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or a AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (San Diego). The last one is cheaper, but is single-core. It has a 1MB L2 Cache and will therefore perform just as fast as the X2 one. Though in the future the X2 might give a better performance (optimisations). They are both suited for a bit of OC-ing and aren't to expensive.

For memory, just go with a paired set of 2x 1GB DDR400. I suggest to take a pair with CL 2.5, but even CL 3 would do. Just compare the prices.

For a videocard I suggest to go with a 7800 GT, the brand doesn't mather to much, just compare the prices. As alternate you could look into an X1800 XL, it's a bit slowed in BF2 (hardly noticeable), but it's a bit faster in some other games (hardly noticeable). The X1800 XL is therefore a nice concurrent for the 7800GT, so yet again...compare the prices. Beware that with a X1800 XL you won't have an option to use SLI in the future.

SATA-II isn't something totally new really. Most recent SATA drives support the same features. For a new HDD, look into the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 series with 16MB cache, those are fast and use the NCQ technology. It won't improve much though, but can reduce the loading times and in case of a really old HDD it will help a bit in the FPS. Though with 2GB of RAM the HDD cache isn't used to much, so the HDD shouldn't be the most important upgrade.

For a descent motherboard I don't think you can come round an Asus nForce4 board, their SLI and SLI Deluxe are currently pretty cheap and those boards are more than very descent.

[imported_MrReynolds]

Re: New System

Thanks for your post SaUron, much appreciated.

Sinlge core for me, for the time being.................

[whofriggincares]

Re: New System

If you plan on OC do NOT get DDR400, get DDR500. That saves you from having to run a mem divider which hampers performance. Everyone knows that tighter timings aren't as important as higher frequencies with AMD.

[gsxr310]

Re: New System

Since you're going for single core in the meantime, go w/ a AMD 3700+ (San Diego). It is one of the best OC'ers right now that's cheap. It will OC further than a 4000+, granted you have the right equipment. I would also pair it w/ either a DFI SLI-DR or Asus A8N-SLI Premium or their new one, which is sold out on Newegg, the A8N32-SLI Deluxe. These are the best mobos "IMO" to OC that 3700+. Also, the RAM you get will determine how high you can OC to. I would suggest you get the G.Skill Extreme series... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231021 or if money wasn't a "biggie" (I assume it's not) go w/ the Mushkin Redlines http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146034 both RAMs will almost perform the same, it's just the price that's different. Again, I would get the 3700+ over the 4000+ and OC it. Good Luck.

[imported_MrReynolds]

Re: New System

Dudes thanks for the time you have taken in answering my questions.....

I'll let you all know what I get when i get back from my hols

[rombaft]

Re: New System

just get that 4000+ san diego core .

it is a big jump over the 3200+ , and also has a better memory controler .

those 3700+ dual core are realy sucky for gaming, you will even have performance decrease in games with a dual core like this.

[iceman369]

Re: New System

Not really just oc to 2.2 and up and u be all set trust me I know. and it's better because it will not hamperdown ur preformaqnnce when u run teamspeak, and antio virus and such the dual core will come in handy and is futureproof espically with the new windows vistas coming next year.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/275/1/

[gsxr310]

Re: New System

just get that 4000+ san diego core .

it is a big jump over the 3200+ , and also has a better memory controler .

those 3700+ dual core are realy sucky for gaming, you will even have performance decrease in games with a dual core like this.

The 3700+SD is pretty much the same w/ a 4000+SD. It is not dual core. They will in fact OC about the same. The 4000+ does run about 200mhz faster. It is rated to run @ 2.4GHz. It also has a 12x multi. The 3700+ is rated to run@ 2.2GHz. IMO, the difference between the 2 is the price. If you buy the 3700+, you can use the extra $100 or so on better RAM or whatever and OC to what a 4000+ can.. stable.