In preperation for a major Intel upgrade in a few months, I decided that NOW was the time to ditch my X2 4800 (while it will still fetch a reasonable price).

Am prolly gonna put-up with a single core for a few months, but which one is best bang/buck ?? Looking at the venice 3500 - quite a good price atm, or is there a better one to go for. Not too bothered about oc'ing, though it'll be going under a S.Ninja+, so not a problem if needs-be.

Alternatively is it worth grabbing a cheap Intel - but this would mean I'd have to get a mobo NOW which would be Core-Duo2 compatable, and it's not something I've seen much of.

Any help/suggestions greatly aprpeciated !!

I'd go for an OEM 3700.

was a quick edit

wasn't sure about the 3700 - only dif with a 3500 is the 1mb cache, and didn't seem to make too much difference, compared to price. i could be wrong here tho

even considering getting a 3000 and oc'ing the nuts off it - only has to last me 2/3 months after all.

PapaLaz.uk said:

even considering getting a 3000 and oc'ing the nuts off it - only has to last me 2/3 months after all.

Click to expand...

I'd say do this, it should clock to 2.4-2.5 which will last you until conroe comes.

how about going am2 sempron and REALLY clocking the hell out of it - this way youll have ddr2 ram aswell and youll be able to get reasonable prices for the board aswell as the cpu - enough to cover the cost of the upgrade

thanks for the replies....

did consider that actually... i've got 2gb g.skill zx, and i just build my kids a 3500+/7800gt system, but they need some ram. could give them the g.skill and get the ddr2 zx/mobo/am2 chip - only thing is, my mobo wouldn't go for that much. plus am not too keen on changing mobo now, then again in a couple of months time.

if there was more benefit to am2 (other than me getting my ddr2 ready for conroe) then i'd prob consider it more. thanks for the reply tho

go for a 3000, £70 inc vat on this week only, then clock it to 2.4 - 2.5 which they seem to reach easily

very good value for money imo and should tie you over until conroe comes out in a few months

Let me get this straight - your ditching a fast dual core processor (X2 4800+) for a slower single core processor for a few months, in the hope of getting Conroe???? So effectively, you won't get a great deal of money back on second hand parts anyway, you're wasting your money on what will be a useless AM2 board and DDR2 RAM which isn't quite cheap/fast enough at the moment, then shelling out for Conroe, and a new board and hoping to sell the AM2 stuff? That, to me, sounds nuts!!!!!!??? Have you got too much time on your hands? Too much money??? And all this when still all has been seen is 'previews', and no definitive pricing, as things may well not be as cheap as you hope. IMHO this sounds like a crazy idea and a bit of a gamble that I just wouldn't do myself.... but hey, it's your money - just putting across another perspective, not an attack, more of a 'have you really thought this through?' post. Of course, if it works, you may well be laughing....

it's a fair enough point - however, I'm not changing over to am2, as explained in the post above - think that would be pointless.

atm i can get well over £300 back for the 4800 - as soon as conroe hits the shelves that'll plummet. invest about £70 of that in a 3000 chip, oc the nuts off it, and i've got enough cash to put towards a conroe. i could hold onto the 4800 for longer, but as more benchies come out, and more people take notice of what intel are doing, i'm losing more and more cash on this chip. originally i thought i'd stay put until early/mid next year, then do the upgrade - but i know myself too well - soon as people release rl benchies i'l be after one, and have to swallow a HUGE loss then.

you're right, it's a gamble, but i think it's worth the risk. what's the worse that can happen - conroe is a dog, and i end up going back to an amd dual-core, which will have dropped a load in price anyway (i expect).

does that sound reasonable to people ?? understand there are always differing opinions.

PapaLaz.uk said:

it's a fair enough point - however, I'm not changing over to am2, as explained in the post above - think that would be pointless.

atm i can get well over £300 back for the 4800 - as soon as conroe hits the shelves that'll plummet. invest about £70 of that in a 3000 chip, oc the nuts off it, and i've got enough cash to put towards a conroe. i could hold onto the 4800 for longer, but as more benchies come out, and more people take notice of what intel are doing, i'm losing more and more cash on this chip. originally i thought i'd stay put until early/mid next year, then do the upgrade - but i know myself too well - soon as people release rl benchies i'l be after one, and have to swallow a HUGE loss then.

you're right, it's a gamble, but i think it's worth the risk. what's the worse that can happen - conroe is a dog, and i end up going back to an amd dual-core, which will have dropped a load in price anyway (i expect).

does that sound reasonable to people ?? understand there are always differing opinions.

Click to expand...

Actually, when you put it that, way, you can't lose!

Fair point, it seems that you have your head screwed on and you know what you are doing, good luck with this

Buy a very cheap second hand 3000+ and overclock the socks off of it. That will last you until Conroe. You should be aiming to spend the least amount possible now and saving as much as possible for Conroe.

you certainly seem to have choosen a good time to downgrade mate

thanks for all the feedback - i really appreciate the different point's of view, which was the point of the thread.

it's a load of money on a cpu, and i've given it a lot of thought. still not certain it's the right move, but i can't see i have that much to lose. like the dual-core for doing video conversions, burning, gaming etc.. but all i need is something to keep my games running nice with the x1900xtx for a couple of months.

like the idea about grabbing a 2nd hand 3000, but at £70 for a retail pack, hard to resist. even thought of nicking the kids 3500 and dropping a 3000 into theirs for a bit

any other thoughts obviously appreciated.

no i think thats defiantely a good idea, like you say the price of your 4800 is only going to decrease so get rid why it is still worth something

get the cheapest s939 cpu to tie you over >> 3000

then sell that when conroe comes out

i'l even be iterested in the 3000 when you come to sell

Something tells me you will regret it, especially if you've been video encoding! Also, lets not ignore the small-fact that your Conroe 'Initiative' could go sour.

If I was in your shoes I'd sell the X2 4800+ & aim for a safer bet like the X2 3800+ which are e-tailing for £190.29 incl. VAT (peanuts compared to £422.94)

On that last point, we can gamble that the resale value for Socket 939 X2s will be good seeing that AMD are in a rush to face out the range. What I mean is, these chips will be exchanging better than Single core ones on MM’s, eBay’s, etc

not too sure about that...

firstly, i thought of grabbing an x2 3800, however you seem to be forgetting that i won't be getting back £422.94 for my 4800 - probably around the £350 mark if it goes well. buying a 3800 would then take over half of what i recoup, and i'd still have to flog the 3800 when/if i go with conroe. i see what you're thinking, but i reckon that would mean taking a bigger loss on 2 cpu's instead of one.

about the video encoding - well i've got everything done that i need for the next few months, so that can go on hold until i upgrade. as i understand it, the intel chips have always been better in that dept anyway (certainly used to love my 2.6 and 3.0 northies for that).

as for the s939 x2's holding more value than you think... am not too sure about that - they've sold in massive amounts, and even if only the hardcore benchers decide to ditch for conroe, the mm's and ebay's will be flooded with them - supply/demand, and i think supply will be greater. could be wrong, we'll have to see.

a brief glimpse through the conroe threads shows how many vultures are waiting for a good x2 deal - can't see any of them paying a price that'd make it worthwhile as a seller.

Fair enuff, considering I'll be one of those vultures All I can say is go for the 3700+ that should at least hold its value

A 3000 will hold its value too. They arn't going to drop much more. The chip you will lose the least on at resale time is the 3000 simply because there isnt much room to go lower on the price.

^^^^^^^^^^

thats what i was about to post, at least when you are buying a cpu for £70 in the first place you are hardly going to lose as much money as a £190 x2 chip.