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3700 Dan Diego Upgrade to dual core?

Credo

Credo

Credo

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In light of the price cuts on S939 X2's, I'm considering upgrading my S939 3700 SD to an X2 of some kind. The 3700 is mildly clocked to 2.5GHz, making it around a 4100-ish in performance terms. I play FPS shooters, Doom 3 and Q4 etc, but also do a fair bit on DVD encoding and burning, as well as general Windows work. Which S939 X2 (if any) would be a worthwhile upgrade, or should I wait until next summer and do the old CPU-Mobo-RAM upgrade to whatever dual core CPU is best at the time?
 
Explicit said:
Get the X2 3800+ & clock it!
Click to expand...
That's what I was wondering, but put off slightly by the fact that the 3800 X2 has only 512Mb Cache per core - would this still outperform my 3700 significantly?
 
Credo said:
That's what I was wondering, but put off slightly by the fact that the 3800 X2 has only 512Mb Cache per core - would this still outperform my 3700 significantly?
Click to expand...

In multi-threaded apps the X2 will be far better than the 3700, for example video encoding etc.

I wouldn't worry too much about the 512KB cache. Just overclock it for more performance.
 
OK, I did it, a spanking 3800 x2 is ordered. I'm sure it'll clock to 4600 speeds at least...

Now - do I need to get a new BIOS for my DFI LanParty SLi-D? I'm currently running the BIOS for G.Skill TCCD memory, 623-something.

Also - I saw in another posting some fixes for Win XP pro SP2 - are these essential?

Any road - I'm CPU'd up for another year I'd say :cool:
 
sorry for the thread hijack but i am in the same position as the OP, i have a 3700 kab3e overclocked to 2.8 will i see a majour increase in buying an x2 in everyday multi tasking and for example windows startup will that use both cores, cheers
 
bbreezeuk said:
sorry for the thread hijack but i am in the same position as the OP, i have a 3700 kab3e overclocked to 2.8 will i see a majour increase in buying an x2 in everyday multi tasking and for example windows startup will that use both cores, cheers
Click to expand...
Not really a hijack, quite relevant - and something I'd like to know as well, although I assume a dual core will benefit general windows usage quite a bit.

If I can oveclock the 3800 X2 to close to my 3700 SD (@ 2.5GHz) in games, then I'll be happy...
 
Credo said:
I play FPS shooters, Doom 3 and Q4 etc, but also do a fair bit on DVD encoding and burning, as well as general Windows work. Which S939 X2 (if any) would be a worthwhile upgrade, or should I wait until next summer and do the old CPU-Mobo-RAM upgrade to whatever dual core CPU is best at the time?
Click to expand...
You should see a improvemenet in Quake 4 with the X2 at stock as this game is multi-threaded. You need to download a patch for the game for it to support multi-threading.
Call of duty 2 is also multi-threaded if you have the game. :)
Encoding will be much faster if you get a X2.
bbreezeuk said:
sorry for the thread hijack but i am in the same position as the OP, i have a 3700 kab3e overclocked to 2.8 will i see a majour increase in buying an x2 in everyday multi tasking and for example windows startup will that use both cores, cheers
Click to expand...
I don't think you will notice that much improvement to windows start up but for multi tasking it will be faster, e.g. encoding will be faster and you will be able to encode and play games at the same time.
 
I went from a 4000 SanDiego to a X2 4800 and did notice a slight improvement in Windows. When using word/excel alone I saw no difference, but when they were open with outlook express as well as using IE it just seems more responsive.

Games especially since I use Xfire and Teamspeak whilst gaming, I can now alt/tab out of CSS for example and back in again with no problems at all, something the 4000 couldn't do.

A good choice getting the 3800, I would be suprised if you got 3Ghz games stable though, but 2.5 should be within reach which is plenty for the next twelve months.

Jack
 
bbreezeuk said:
sorry for the thread hijack but i am in the same position as the OP, i have a 3700 kab3e overclocked to 2.8 will i see a majour increase in buying an x2 in everyday multi tasking and for example windows startup will that use both cores, cheers
Click to expand...

I was thinking as well about the 3800 X2 for a replacement of my opty 146 at 2720 Mhz but as I have currently enough power for windows and I like gaming I decided to keep my opty cos it is faster gaming than a X2 3800 clocked to 2600 Mhz ;). I better spend the money in something else like a GFX...
 
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