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Advice on choosing a new CPU !! Please

kmistry

kmistry

kmistry

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Joined
10 Apr 2006
Posts
1,084
Location
Leicester
Hi all, just need a little help with choosing my computer parts......

im going to be going into my final year of uni, and my current setup of xp2200+, 512 ddr, 9800 pro, is a little outdated......

Anywhoo, im thinking of upgrading (sorry if the post is too long)

to gigabyte k8n sli-pro, 1gb pc 3200 corsair, 7600 gt OC, 250gb 16mb cache hdd. So i guess what im asking is processor wise should i get an Athlon 64 3700 San diego, or an athlon 64 x2 3800......

Bear in mind that im going to be in my final year at uni, and am studying multimedia computing.....so you might think that it would be wise for me to buy the 3800, but would it really be worth my while to get the 3700 save some money, and still have the performance gains over the 3800 in terms of games (i do play games on my pc). Or should i just stick with the 3800 (with it being dual core and all) and perhaps have a setup that is 'future proof' (if there is such a thing....... any help would be much appreciated and i would be very thankful!

Sorry once again for the long post, but thanks once again in advance.........
 
You could always get the dual core and then overclock it to equivalent speeds of the 3700, then you'll essentially have a dual core 3700. Mind you, because iof the extra cache on the 3700 you would need to overclock the 3800 about 200MHz higher than the stock speeds of the 3700.

But imo, there's no way that i would buy a non dual core cpu now....dual core is the next step forward ;)

Welcome to the forums btw :)
 
thanks for the reply dude, however, would be be enough to use the stick fan and overclock the CPU (im not much of an overclocker as ive never done it before......) :confused:
 
Yeh, you could get the OEM 3800 without the fan and then get a Freezer 64 Pro for it, they're great heatsinks ;)

Mind you, the stock dual core heatsinks are meant to be very good so either way it should be fine.

If you need help overclocking, read the sticky at the top of the 'Overclocking and Cooling' forum and then ask for help on here if you need anything else ;)
 
who is the freezer 64 manufactured by ?

And also, i dont want to make the whole thing too noisy, or will this not be too much of a problem, as my current setup is a joke - its so noisy.

Plus will i need to get a new CPU i currently have a 550w one, but will this make a difference as its almost 2 years old, and i know that newer mobo's need certain types of connectors and stuff (don't they?!?) :confused:

Thanks!
 
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Also.....


Without sounding like a complete pain in the A** do you think that i could make any changes to my specific spec (in terms of RAM, gfx) or do you think those parts will be adequate enough to last me a while ? :)
 
:) aha, dont think i can afford too much budget stand at 650, so i reckon i will stick with the gfx 7600 gt oc (as it has 256 RAM) but then i may go 2gb RAM.


Is the cheapest option of OcUK 2 x 1gbRAM/corsair value select 2 x 1gb or will i see a performance difference if i get branded stuff ?

thanks
 
Branded stuff will only help with overclocking. Go with the OcUK value and use a divider when overclocking, again ask on here for help. The 7600GT is a good card for the money so i would stick with that ;)

What brand of PSU is your 550W one? If it is unbranded then i would get a branded one from the like of Tagan, Enermax or Seasonic. Don't get a cheap PSU, if it blows then it will most probably take your other components with it, branded ones have much higher standards.
 
my PSU is a generic unbranded thingy, and i was actually thinking of getting a new one, as it seems as if its making a lot of noise, spending money on a new computer i cant afford to have the components blow!

Any ideas on particular PSUs? i dont wanna spend too much money as i will probably then go over budget, and i dont think i will be overclocking my RAM either - as i haven't got aclue how to do it! but in saying this would it then just be wise to get 2x512 of good corsair stuff ?
 
excuse my ignorance but a divider - what's one of those ? *n00b alert* - will the RAM not automatically switch itself to dual channel if i put one in slot 1 and the other in slot 3 ?

:confused:

:)
 
A divider sets the ram to run at a lower frequency to your processors fsb, therefore allowing you to get a high fsb without stressing the ram. It's an option in your BIOS along the lines of 'RAM Ratio' or 'RAM Frequency'.

Yes, depending on what slots your mobo requires for dual channel, it will automatically run in dual channel if in the right slots.

The Enermax Liberty 500W or Hiper 580W PSU should be fine for your rig. Use this PSU calculator to get an approximate on how powerful your PSU will need to be.
 
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