Will this give me much of a performance boost?

SilverTongue · 26 Jun 2011 at 14:12

Just noticed this on "This Week Only"

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-188-OK&groupid=43&catid=2047&subcat=

Wondering whether I would get much of a performance boost over my current rig.

AMD Athlon X2 4800+ @ ~2.5GHz
Foxconn A6VMX
2GB Kingston (Not sure which model but I think it's their value model)

Combined with an nVidea 9800GTX 512MB (this will be stay for the tiome being)

If this won't see much of an improvement then I won't be going for it as I'm only interested in it because of the current price. Also not after a "spec me" either.

Will be used mainly for gaming.

TIA guys

95thrifles · 26 Jun 2011 at 14:35

Yes it will be a good boost, and for 150 quid you cant go far wrong

SilverTongue · 26 Jun 2011 at 14:39

brilliant, thanks for the help mate

95thrifles · 26 Jun 2011 at 14:43

No problem, I was just bout to edit the above with link to show difference, here it is, and this shows your current CPU compared to the slower 810, not 840, and also doesnt allow for the decent boost youll get in just going form 2 to 4 gig of RAM

comparison

As you can see you can expect to at least dbl your current performance

Confused Stu · 26 Jun 2011 at 15:17

Agreed. Last week I changed my HTPC from a 4850e (low power 2.5GHz Ahtlon 64 X2) to a Phenom II 850. Definitely a change for the positive, Windows boots up quicker (on a 40GB Intel SSD) and Media Center is definitely snappier. Also don't get the half second's freeze on the main TV when one of the kids starts watching a recorded video on an extender in their rooms that I used to get. Also, the power consumption in normal use is the same as my old 45W TDP dual core, which was unexpected but nice. It's also cooler too - 20C idle reported, 30C under maximum normal use. Haven't stress tested or overclocked, would kind of be pointless on an HTPC.

Although I don't use this PC for gaming, it's definitely a noticeable difference on my PC so it should be on yours too. I realise, for normal HTPC use, I went from slight overkill to definite overkill but if I can't find people who understand on this forum then I'm in the wrong place.

SilverTongue · 26 Jun 2011 at 15:25

95thrifles said:
No problem, I was just bout to edit the above with link to show difference, here it is, and this shows your current CPU compared to the slower 810, not 840, and also doesnt allow for the decent boost youll get in just going form 2 to 4 gig of RAM

comparison

As you can see you can expect to at least dbl your current performance

Wow that is incredible, thank mate, just the sort of thing i was after

, now to persuede the missus (any advice here greatly appreciated hehe)

Xire · 26 Jun 2011 at 18:12

Yup nice upgrade

olivier renault · 26 Jun 2011 at 19:05

Really dont like the motherboard on that one (no overclocking).

IMO this would be a worthy upgrade for £200.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £89.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-US2H 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99
2 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £30.98
Total : £212.75 (includes shipping : £9.00).

or this I suppose

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x MSI H61M-E33 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £46.99
2 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £30.98
Total : £210.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

andy_mk3 · 26 Jun 2011 at 19:19

olivier renault said:
Really dont like the motherboard on that one (no overclocking).

IMO this would be a worthy upgrade for £200.

Snip

Where does it say no overclocking? It supports core unlocking and will overclock fine..

Also the two specs there are £60 more than what the OP is looking it, which is a fair bit more.

For £150 I'd say that's a very good upgrade, you'd notice quite a difference there for sure.

wentalong · 26 Jun 2011 at 20:20

for £150 its a good deal yeah, but if you was to find an extra £60 and get one of the rigs aboveit will be much better in the long run considering the 840 doesnt have L3 Cache, both rigs above are good for the £200 mark but i would personally go for the Intel rig considering it is better than a quad core 955, however if you will want to overclock you have 3 options:

1: wait for the 'K' series i3's to come out, not sure when, i think sometime near Ivy bridge or something,

2: Go for the 955BE rig

3: Go for the 840 rig,

al these rigs are good bang for buck especially the 840 but you'll be better of it you could scrape an extra few quid together for the intel or 955 system, heres a comparrison of the 955 and a 2100:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=289

95thrifles · 27 Jun 2011 at 06:44

SilverTongue said:
Also not after a "spec me" either

olivier renault · 27 Jun 2011 at 08:43

andy_mk3 said:
Where does it say no overclocking? It supports core unlocking and will overclock fine..

Also the two specs there are £60 more than what the OP is looking it, which is a fair bit more.

For £150 I'd say that's a very good upgrade, you'd notice quite a difference there for sure.

It's got no clock access in the BIOS. And no, it doesn't mention anything like that.

It will still be an 'upgrade' I suppose.