after best bang for my buck

kidloco · 22 Feb 2006 at 18:23

im after a cheapish upgrade and I could do with some advice, been meaning to go for a decent 63 bit chip for a while, just the expense of shelling out for a new graphics card has put me off when my 6800GT is still not very old.

I like the look of the Asrock 939 Dual SATA2, 1000MHz FSB, PCI-E, AGP, 7.1Ch motherboard. seems to be pretty well rated and most impostantly has an APG slot on it too.

So I am looking for the best bang for buck chip to put in it. I will be using the memory I bought a few months ago which is Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS) and as mentioned my 6800GT

any suggestions please

Murzo · 22 Feb 2006 at 18:35

i would personally go with an amd 3700+ as these are overclocking very well, i really dont think the opterons are bang for buck anymore due to the price increase but they are still the best overclocking chips.

Webzta · 22 Feb 2006 at 18:37

Another vote for the 3700+, it's also consistently clocking high

kidloco · 22 Feb 2006 at 18:52

do you mean this one

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM)

and will it overclock with my memory and the mobo im considering

if so for £200 I could get this and the mobo, nice upgrade of my aging xp2500 @32 speeds

smithy1983 · 22 Feb 2006 at 20:53

the asrock board is abit limited for overclocking you'll have to do a mod on the motherboard to get the vcore over 1.450 other then that the 3700+ and the asrock is a decent combo

Ugley_Matt · 22 Feb 2006 at 21:05

How tricky is the mod?

easyrider · 22 Feb 2006 at 21:30

Ugley_Matt said:
How tricky is the mod?

I think you just need to some conductive paint

monaco87 · 22 Feb 2006 at 22:06

I would add my vote for the 3700+ SD

easyrider · 22 Feb 2006 at 22:08

another vote for the 3700

kidloco · 23 Feb 2006 at 00:04

a lot of votes for the 3700, i thought after all the hype of the opterons that the 146 would be highly reccomended. but checking the prices it seems that they have nearly double :rolleyes:

are they not worth the extra £20 over the 3700

easyrider · 23 Feb 2006 at 00:06

if you look around you can get the opty 146 for 120 ish oem.
I did vote for the 3700 but for the outlay the 146 wuld be the better option.After all they are server chips and run cooler on less voltage.

loltim · 23 Feb 2006 at 00:07

3700+'s are clocking nearly aswell as 144/146/148 Opterons now anyway. I'd personally wait for the X2 drops and grab a 3800+ :cool:

easyrider · 23 Feb 2006 at 00:45

Tim said:
3700+'s are clocking nearly aswell as 144/146/148 Opterons now anyway. I'd personally wait for the X2 drops and grab a 3800+

The x2 drops?

oem x2 3800 £190 odd

oem 165 £230

If you are talking about dual core, the opty 165 with double the cache is the better option.

The optys run cooler,require less voltage have more stringent testing etc...

kidloco · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:04

now more confused then when I started, so am i best waiting for the duel core chips to come down in price then. dont mind paying up to around £150 for a cpu but I just can afford any more then that.

Im wanting something that will give me a noticable increase in my rig and that will breath a bit of life into my 6800GT untill i can afford a new GFX card

easyrider · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:10

kidloco said:
now more confused then when I started, so am i best waiting for the duel core chips to come down in price then. dont mind paying up to around £150 for a cpu but I just can afford any more then that.

you wont see any dual core cpu's dropping as low as 150 in the forseeable future.

kidloco · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:18

right, iv found a opteron 146 going for £120, does this change things. just wondering if the asrock board will be able to get anything like this chips potential.

easyrider · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:25

people have been getting good clocks with the asrock.But you may need the voltage mod etc... As the vcore is limited without it.

But for the money with those features its hard to beat.
Epox mobo's are fantastic clockers too.

If you get 2.6ghz and above with that setup how can you possible complain for the outlay!

kidloco · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:28

I would be more then happy with 2.6 gig mate. is the asrock the only board with AGP onboard.

easyrider · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:33

The EPoX EP-9NDA3+, nForce3 Ultra,Socket-939 ATX
MSI K8N NEO2-FX,nForce3 250Gb,Socket-939 Raid

are just a couple of other options but none have PCI-E for future gfx cards.
They are also slighty more expensive

kidloco · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:44

not a fan of MSI boards, have built a system for a friend with an epox board and was very impressed with it.

the thing leans me towards the asrock is the possibility of adding a new PCI-e card in the future without the expensive of getting another mobo, not to mention the hassle of another strip down and rebuild.

unless the epox was a hell of a lot quicker then I think i would stay with the asrock

sorry if this is turning more mobo based but i havent upgraded in quite some time and im not really up to date on the 64bit scene