Am2 x2 5000+

[dude001]

hi,

I'm in the process of wanting to do a quick upgrade before a complete new system build.

right now i've got a socket A Barton 3200+, 2gb ddr ram and a agp 7800gs+ GPU.

i want to get either a am2 x2 5000+ or cd2 e6600, and a 1950xtx GPU.

i'm stuggling with which cpu to get, i know cd2 is slightly faster but brand loyalty is keeping me back with amd. also the fact that i will be able to use the new am3 cpus when they come out.

any advice?

 

[pastymuncher]

You are talking about a complete rebuild now. The X2 5000+ is on AM2 for which you will also need a new motherboard and DDR2 ram. The current AM2 boards will not be compatiable with AM3 although AM3 will be backwards compatiable (will take AM2 cpu's) so if you wanted to go AM3 you will have to buy new all over again. Basically AMD are pulling the same trick they did with 754 and then bringing out 939.

You will be much better off with Conroe as the slowest one gives the fastest AMD offering a good kicking. Currently brand loyalty is just senseless. There is no competition. The C2D cpu's are just so massively faster there is no question of which to get. I mean, if you had a Lada and a Ferrari both priced the same, which would you get? Obviously the Ferrari. In this case thats the Core2Duo.

 

[dude001]

i think i'll wait till november then get what ever is cheapest. most likely the e6600. i just need to buy a decent motherboard and then get a 1950xtx.

my barton 3200+ should sell for £70- £80, my 7800gs+ should sell for £200-£210 and my ram should sell for £50-£55 per stick (its low density stuff).

i can then get a new cpu willing to pay £200 (i've seen both e6600 and x2 5000 for £205), new GPU costs £290 (seen a saphire 1950xtx for that much ) and ddr2 costs £170 for 2x2gb (corsair xms2).

so i'll probabily be putting £100 extra or thereabouts for a decent short term upgrade.

 

[Jabbs]

Scrap the x1950xt imo its only a few fps faster than a x1900xt, get a 6300 core2, with some ddr800mhz ram Gigabyte DS3 mobo and overclock it upto around 2.6gig and you are beating a fx 62 amd cpu, ive not heard of one 6300 core2 that hasn't atleast reached 3gig plus.

 

[dante6491]

i doubt your cpu will sell for that much. I couldnt even get £50 for my 3700+ sandie (skt 939).

 

[dude001]

i've already sold 1 last week and got £92, and if you look on ebay now they still go for a decent amount.

Its last of the good socket A chips so it holds value. I got mine for £99 18 months ago.

 

[Kinitawawi]

You are talking about a complete rebuild now. The X2 5000+ is on AM2 for which you will also need a new motherboard and DDR2 ram. The current AM2 boards will not be compatiable with AM3 although AM3 will be backwards compatiable (will take AM2 cpu's) so if you wanted to go AM3 you will have to buy new all over again.

I read it was the other way round? AM2 can be converted to AM3 but AM3 can not be converted to AM2, only downside is that using AM2+ (AM2 converted to AM3) you cant use DDR3.

I have had the same problem, Get conroe (powerfull chips, well on bencharks anyway) and overclock it to match or surpass AMD's FX series. Or wait until the 5400 5600 6000+ which might push prices down have a peak at the bench's on those and get an AM2 socket that will potentially last well into the AM3 years?

 

[pastymuncher]

This is getting confusing now.

AM3 is completely different again and is not AM2+ which until now i had'nt heard of. AM3 is coming out in 2008 and will be running DDR3 and maybe 45nm cpu's.

AM2+ is what AM2 will evolve into next year and will use hyper transport 3. AM2+ cpu's will work in AM2 motherboards but at a reduced speed due to them using HT2 and not HT3. So AM2 cpu's probably will not work in AM2+. AM2+ will also only use DDR2 memory.

I think thats more or less right. I think.

Anyway, there is still no competition right now. Anyone building a new rig now has no reason to go with AMD as C2D has such a massive performance edge.