Athlon64 Upgrade advice

Makavelli

Makavelli

Makavelli

Associate
Joined
29 Oct 2002
Posts
666
Location
Bangor, N. Ireland
Ok guys i have been running my signature rig for sometime and am thinking about upgrading it to A64. I have been out of the loop for a while now and am somewhat lacking in knowledge so i'm hoping you guys can help me out. Firstly my use doesn't really dictate that i upgrade its more a case of toys for the boys, i am not an avid gamer but i do sometimes play HL2, Pro Evo Soccer, Tony Hawks etc. I am not too concerned about future proofing as i hope this rig will last me 2-3 years - technology permitting.

1. Socket 754 or 939? The reason i ask is i have seen S754 chips with 1MB cache whilst the equivalent S939 only has 512kb, also S754 appears to be cheaper - again bear in mind futureproofing is not an issue here and anyway i hear mention of AM2, what effect will this have on S939?

2. I am a bit Hazy on dual channel memory although i understand the concept. Do i have to run A64 on dual channel or will ordinary DDR work - similary do all mobo's cater for both dual and single channel DDR? Performance wise is there really that much of a difference and as my use isn't cutting edge am i likely to notice it.

3. Are there any special considerations i need to take into account with regards to PCI-E graphics?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. By the way as i can't afford the latest gear all my upgrades usually take the form of second hand equipment so bear in mind if your recommending hardware it has to something readily available on MM or other such venues and not cost the earth.
 
1) I think you are referring to M2 which is the new socket design and you are correct that it will replace socket 939. Regardless of socket 754 chips being cheaper I would still go for socket 939, something like a San Diego 3700 has 1mb L2 cache just the same as a Clawhammer 3700 socket 754 chipset but it will overclock better and uses dual channel Ram for around an extra ~5% performance boost. Also I should add that socket 754 chips are becoming more and more rare so if you had to RMA one then it may be more of an issue getting a suitable replacement.

2) You are a little confused here, dual channel is ordinary DDR Ram but just matched pairs(most often sold in a kit together) so that they operate in tandem. You can use a single stick of Ram just the same but it is obviously better if you can afford to get a matching pair. You might have been thinking of DDR2 but that is currently Intel only, at least until M2 comes out. The difference between dual channel and single channel isn't huge but you are as well to go dual channel since it costs no more and does offer a benefit(unless going socket 754, in which case single channel is better).

3) You may need a new PSU if you go for a PCI-E system or at least adapters for an existing PSU.

You will be able to get many decent parts in the members market, if you give some kind of a budget then I'm sure someone will be happy to try and give you an idea of what you could get.
 
As i said i'm not an extreme gamer so i don't think i will be too worried about missing out on dual channel ram. As for S754 i had a look at the amd website and the 1MB cache starts at the 3200+ rather than 3700+ on the S939 and as i'm planning on buying a used one an RMA won't really apply to me and even if it did surely they would have to replace it with an S939, i mean it's not my fault they stopped production.

Thanks for explaining the dual channel ram but as i said i don't think i would really notice an extra 5% to be honest.

At the minute it looks like i might go for S754 purely for financial reasons. Will there be much of a difference between my 2800 Barton and the 3200 A64?
 
Yes you should notice a difference, not so much from the increased clock speeds but from overall advances in technology creating greater efficiency. I've got a socket 754 3400 Clawhammer and a 6800gt in AGP form and for the resolutions my tft supports(1280x1024) it is more than adequate so I can see the arguments for going for socket 754 but most people on here seem to like to upgrade so that is one good reason for socket 939 and PCI-E whereas I just build a new machine in its entirety.
 
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