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AMD AM2, AM2+ and Intel Alternatives

nheather

nheather

nheather

Associate
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
1,037
Location
Horsham, West Sussex
I've been considering upgrading my AMD64 3700+ to a dual core 939 chip. But I realise that it would have to be a higher end dual core to see any benefit.

But it occurs to me that for very little extra I could get an AM2 chip and a motherboard.

But I've not been following technology for the last 2 or so years so I'm not 100% sure what is best to buy and what I can reuse.

So I have some questions.

1 - AM2 or AM2+. Does AM2+ apply to the MoBo, the CPU or both. I would have thought both but I only see AM2 CPUs.

2 - People here recommend getting an AM2 6500+ but I can't find any retailer (inc Overclockers) that sell anything above 6000+. Why is this?

3 - What would be the best AM2 chip to get in terms of clocking\value

4 - Can I re-use my DDR400 RAM?

5 - What are the Intel alternatives?

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nheather said:
1 - AM2 or AM2+. Does AM2+ apply to the MoBo, the CPU or both. I would have thought both but I only see AM2 CPUs.
Click to expand...

AM2 boards are older than AM2+ boards. AFAIK AM2 are X2 Athlons, AM2+ are X3 & X4 Phenoms.

2 - People here recommend getting an AM2 6500+ but I can't find any retailer (inc Overclockers) that sell anything above 6000+. Why is this?
Click to expand...

Not out yet.


3 - What would be the best AM2 chip to get in terms of clocking\value
Click to expand...

It was the 5000+ black edition IMO.

4 - Can I re-use my DDR400 RAM?
Click to expand...
nope

5 - What are the Intel alternatives?
Click to expand...

Pretty much any core 2 duo E6600 (now 2 years old) & above will beat any AMD chip makes at this time in Crysis at 1680x1050, according to Tom's Hardware.
 
Thanks for your help and advice. I will do some research into the Intel chips.

Out of interest why can't I use my DDR400?

Just academic interest really as it's not as big a problem as I had imagined. I'm really out of touch and since I paid about £120 for my DDR400 I thought I would be paying a fair bit to replace it - but I just seen how cheap memory is these days.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Thanks, I was missing the DDR vs DDR2 and was concentrating on the 3200, 6400 bit. I was assuming it was a FSB speed limit but now I've spotted the '2' I can see it's a different physical design.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I have 2 friends who are still on 939 & tbh its not cost effective to upgrade them.

The best 939 processors cost from new £100+ & are extremely hard come by.
The best one being the Opteron 2.8GHz

For the same price you could buy a full new amd2 board & ram & would be much faster.

The new kuma 6500 is just out & a few places have it in stock none on ocuk yet hint hint :p

Ps you will be able to sell your old cpu/ram & mobo pretty easily due to demand & the insane prices new :D
 
Grimley said:
Pretty much any core 2 duo E6600 (now 2 years old) & above will beat any AMD chip makes at this time in Crysis at 1680x1050, according to Tom's Hardware.
Click to expand...

You really should stop using Crysis as an overall system benchmark as it makes your comments sound less credible when the OP did not say or ask anything about Crysis.

You where doing all right up till then.
 
nheather said:
AM2 or AM2+. Does AM2+ apply to the MoBo, the CPU or both. I would have thought both but I only see AM2 CPUs
Click to expand...
Get an AM2+ mobo. Apart from better performance & features, the new Phenom X3 & X4 CPUs work fine/better on them as well as AM2 (X2, etc) processors.

But what's your budget?
 
Final8y said:
You really should stop using Crysis as an overall system benchmark as it makes your comments sound less credible when the OP did not say or ask anything about Crysis.

You where doing all right up till then.
Click to expand...

because a WINRAR bench is more creditable right???!!!

IF my MEMORY is right that is what you showed me!!!
 
Thanks for all your replies - you have pointed me towards a better solution overall.

Budget wise, I was expecting anything upto £100 to replace my 939 CPU - but my worry bead was whether this would really be that big an improvement over my single core 3700 (especially for single threaded stuff).

I reckon that for around £150 I could buy the following

AM2 6000+
ASUS 3A AM2+ MoBo
2GB OCZ DDR2 800

I can either sell my old stuff, or use it to upgrade my son's PC.

I guess I will be looking at Graphics Cards next.

My current is a Radeon X1800XT 256MB - I paid quite a premium for it at the time but don't want to get into that game again. What would you recommend as the best value card that would be a good improvement over my current.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nheather said:
My current is a Radeon X1800XT 256MB - I paid quite a premium for it at the time but don't want to get into that game again. What would you recommend as the best value card that would be a good improvement over my current
Click to expand...
ATI 4670 should perform the same if not better & need less power. But if happy with current card (hope its PCI-E) you can keep it.

When I moved from single-core to dual I really noticed a major performance improvement. Multi tasking is one area that got a good boost.

If not gaming, & to keep costs & consumption down, go for a AMD Energy-efficient 'e' series CPU, e.g. X2 4850e. OcUK don't stock them but can be found elsewhere... Google-it!
 
Last edited:
nheather said:
I guess I will be looking at Graphics Cards next.

My current is a Radeon X1800XT 256MB - I paid quite a premium for it at the time but don't want to get into that game again. What would you recommend as the best value card that would be a good improvement over my current.

Cheers,

Nigel
Click to expand...
a 2400pro or xt, or 3450
 
nheather said:
I reckon that for around £150 I could buy the following

AM2 6000+
ASUS 3A AM2+ MoBo
2GB OCZ DDR2 800
Click to expand...

If you've got £150 then I wouldn't get what you've listed.
You could get a Phenom X3, appropriate motherboard and 2gig of whatever memory takes your fancy.

The 6000+ is getting on a bit.
 
Final8y said:
You really should stop using Crysis as an overall system benchmark as it makes your comments sound less credible when the OP did not say or ask anything about Crysis.

You where doing all right up till then.
Click to expand...

Fair comment - Crysis was the only benchmark I could think of at the time, If the OP stated what the new build was for, I would've used the appropriate benchmark. ;)
 
I seem to have missed the none-gaming part.
Click to expand...

Agree - I never mentioned not gaming.

I must admit my gaming has tailed off over the last year or so as I have taken more interest in the XBox - because it's connect to a big plasma and sound system.

But gaming on the PC is still a consideration.

In particular, the most intensive programme I run is a RC Helicopter Simulator which has the same sort of traits as a game. At the moment it's driving my CPU at 95% on medium graphics. So I would like to be able to improve on this. The manufacturer claims that it is multi-threaded - I think this is true but I think that the main bulk runs in one thread with ancilliary stuff in others.

Been looking at VGA Charts and looking for something to double my current card - looks like ati 2900 or gf 8800 - a card around £50 (+ or -) would be good.

Cheers

I also might find myself moving back to PC gaming as my son tends to hog the XBox.

The highest res I would run is 1280x1024 (the native res of my monitor).
 
If you've got £150 then I wouldn't get what you've listed.
You could get a Phenom X3, appropriate motherboard and 2gig of whatever memory takes your fancy.

The 6000+ is getting on a bit.
Click to expand...

Happy for suggestions - as I said I haven't look at technology for a while so I'm onjly just beginning to catch up.

Question about the Phenom though.

The 6000+ cores run at 3GHz

The Phenom cores (8450) run at 2.1GHz.

Doesn't this mean that for games (which as I understand are still mostly single threaded) the Phenom is a lot less powerful.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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