Advice on system upgrade please?

Belisarius · 29 Aug 2007 at 15:21

Hi,

New to these forums so hoping for a little helpful advice, please?

I'm looking to upgrade my system:

Currently

Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra 939 with AMD64 and 1GB(2x512) of DDR400
1x250GB IDE
1x40GB IDE (for windows I'm afraid)
2x80GB SATA
CD-Writer
DVD-Write
AGP NVIDIA 6600GT Dual DVI connected to 2 Iiyama Prolite E431s @ 1280x1024
Elsa Synergy 2 PCI connect to 15in CRT
600W PSU - Zalman

What I currently do?
Well, I use it for development, java, web etc., burning DVDs etc. and general computery tinkering.

What do I want?
Well, long term I want to go quad core but as my laptop just died and I've had to buy a new one the quad jump is looking like being put back to next year. In the meantime I'd like to get a little extra out of my 939 mobo.

I want to do some virtualisation and run some server setups for testing. I'm proposing to:

drop in a Docket 939 AMD64 X2 4200
add another gig of RAM
fit a decent HSF and maybe overclock a bit.

What I'd like to know is how much of a boost this would give the system?
How much I could overclock the 4200?
recommended HSF for that purpose to keep cost and noise down?

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Andy

PS. If I'm switching toa dual core processor will I need to reinstall OS's? (Windows and Linux)

semi-pro waster · 29 Aug 2007 at 15:44

Welcome to the forums, you've given pretty much all information apart from the speed of your current CPU (unless I've missed it, which is possible) so it is difficult to say exactly how much difference you will see in performance but I'd hazard a guess at quite a lot simply because it is a dual core CPU and better for multitasking.

Not sure quite how far you could take it in overclocking terms.

The Arctic Freezer 7 Pro is quite a solid and cheap CPU cooler so well worth a look.

You shouldn't need to re-install just because you have changed the CPU.

Belisarius · 29 Aug 2007 at 23:32

semi-pro waster said:
Welcome to the forums, you've given pretty much all information apart from the speed of your current CPU (unless I've missed it, which is possible) so it is difficult to say exactly how much difference you will see in performance but I'd hazard a guess at quite a lot simply because it is a dual core CPU and better for multitasking.

Not sure quite how far you could take it in overclocking terms.

The Arctic Freezer 7 Pro is quite a solid and cheap CPU cooler so well worth a look.

You shouldn't need to re-install just because you have changed the CPU.

Hi,

Thanks for the response.

Existing CPU is a 3200. Forgot to add that bit!

Main thing I would like to do is run XP virtual so I don't have to reboot each time. For this Dual Core would be essential I think. As would extra RAM.

I'm not too bothered how far I can overclock. A little would be nice but I'd be happier keeping things quiet. May even replace the fan on my GPU as well.

I wasn't sure if all kernels supported multi-cores automatically hence the question. It would be nice not to have to reinstall!

Cheers

Andy

semi-pro waster · 30 Aug 2007 at 07:33

Just to clarify further XP Home supports dual core but not dual CPU (I'm sure you know but in case not that is 2x logical processors but not 2x physically separate CPUs), XP Pro supports dual CPU as well as dual core.

Belisarius · 31 Aug 2007 at 08:35

semi-pro waster said:
Just to clarify further XP Home supports dual core but not dual CPU (I'm sure you know but in case not that is 2x logical processors but not 2x physically separate CPUs), XP Pro supports dual CPU as well as dual core.

I have an XP Pro partition so that should be fine. Assume my Ubuntu main will handle the change OK as well. If I go dual core I'll probably just run Windows virtual instead.

Assumung of course the little upgrade would make that feasible?

Any more comments on expected performance improvement over my existing system, please?

Cheers

Andy

semi-pro waster · 31 Aug 2007 at 09:08

I don't have any exact figures but you are essentially talking about running two CPUs that are faster than the current CPU that you have so it should be quite a significant change and more noticeable when under pressure.

I don't know too much about Linux but one of my mates is running Ubuntu on a Core2Duo laptop so I'd assume yours would be fine as well, maybe needing a kernel rebuild?

queamin · 31 Aug 2007 at 09:25

my 4200 939 cpu overclocking to 2.90

Belisarius · 31 Aug 2007 at 13:38

queamin said:
my 4200 939 cpu overclocking to 2.90

That sounds like a nice increase.

What temperatures? are you just using a standard HSF?

So with a reasonable HSF I should be able to bump up the speed and keep it quiet?

I assume my mobo will allow me to do all this?

Sorry for basic questions but I'm new to the O/C game

Andy

semi-pro waster · 31 Aug 2007 at 14:00

Belisarius said:
are you just using a standard HSF?

So with a reasonable HSF I should be able to bump up the speed and keep it quiet?

If you check in queamins signature he puts that it is 2.9 on "stock air" which means he is using the retail cooler supplied with the CPU so there is a fair chance with better aftermarket cooling it could go higher.

Your motherboard should have options for overclocking, take a read of the overclocking sub-forum for the advice of some more experienced people though before trying it.

Belisarius · 31 Aug 2007 at 18:20

semi-pro waster said:
If you check in queamins signature he puts that it is 2.9 on "stock air" which means he is using the retail cooler supplied with the CPU so there is a fair chance with better aftermarket cooling it could go higher.

Your motherboard should have options for overclocking, take a read of the overclocking sub-forum for the advice of some more experienced people though before trying it.

Thanks, will do.

Looked around for a quiet fan for the GPU as well and it seems the 6600GT is not exactly well catered for!

Thanks for all the comments all.

Andy