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Best upgrade from 939 AMD 4200X2 2.2

Herojuana

Herojuana

Herojuana

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Joined
24 Nov 2007
Posts
1,262
Location
Lancashire
Hey everyone !

Just wondering if anyone could help me out with this,
I'm looking to upgrade my system and am wondering whether its worthwhile switching to AM2 or 775 so that I can use DDR2 and get a more powerful processor. How beneficial would it be to do this from my current spec?

This is what i've got right now.

AMD 64 X2 4200 2.2 (939)
3gb DDr1 RAM
939 DUAL SATA 2 Mobo
8800GT 512
running Vista HP64

I mainly use my computer for gaming, photoshop, music, video etc no major 3D editing or the like.

I'm going for under a budget of £200 max really, for a motherboard, CPU and RAM (preferably 4 gig). Does anyone know whether a budget like this could significantly boost my pc or should I stick with what I have?

Is it worth having quad core over a faster dual core CPU?
Bare in mind i don't know a lot about overclocking really.
Thanks in advance, any additional information is appreciated.

Sam :D
 
With your budget a quad is really not an option:

Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail
£46.99 (£55.21)

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£53.99 (£63.44)

2x GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
£59.98 (£70.48)

Sub Total : £160.96
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £29.61
Total : £198.82

But then it is only really worth it if you overclock it, which is easy with a p35 mobo, 3Ghz+ is easy.
 
Would this CPU not be better in exchange for a cheaper motherboard?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM £76.99
(£90.46)

I don't know much about motherboards except the chips they support, other than that, what is the advantage of having a more expensive mobo generally?

Thanks!
 
You are right, I forgot how cheap the X2s are now.

Don't know much about AM2 mobos but cheaper mobos have inferior components (vrms, capacitors...etc) which is why they don't overclock well, but if you are not overclocking then that is not an issue. Cheaper mobos usually have older chipsets which don't perform as well as newer ones although the differences are usually tiny.
 
steve258 said:
With your budget a quad is really not an option:

Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail
£46.99 (£55.21)

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£53.99 (£63.44)

2x GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
£59.98 (£70.48)

Sub Total : £160.96
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £29.61
Total : £198.82

But then it is only really worth it if you overclock it, which is easy with a p35 mobo, 3Ghz+ is easy.
Click to expand...

This is the set up I would go for, sell your old bits to recoup some money and then you might also swap a few bits.
 
Can I ask what is better about the intel setup?

If possible i'd like to upgrade the CPU from my current one, and if i got the Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz wouldn't i be stepping back or staying about the same rather than upgrading?
 
what do you guys think to this?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £85.99

Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA (Socket AM2) AGP DDR2 Motherboard £29.99

2 x GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)

Sub Total : £175.96
Total : £216.45
 
overclocking is easy, frankly, you'll still be gpu limited, and in 99% of games upgrading for you now won't see any difference, maybe some very small differences, but i'd be very surprised if you couldn't get at least 2.4Ghz out of that chip, most should hit 2.6Ghz fairly easily, once you hit that speed theres really no games that will show any improvement at all for gaming. like i said, you're gpu limited, you've got a decent gpu, without upgrading gpu you won't see a noticeable difference, ergo, theres no point.

for 200 quid you should be easily able to get a decent mobo, chip and probo 4gigs of mem and be able to do so for intel or amd, and get a dual core that will clock to over 3Ghz easily. but you really wouldn't see a lick of difference at all.
 
Asrock ALIVENF6G-VSTA Socket AM2 for AMD Phenom™ X4 / X2, Athlon 64FX / 64X2 / X2 / 64 and Sempron processors £31.43 inc. VAT

Ive had mine for a few months now with my 5600+ and its been great. And the good thing is that i will be able to upgrade to Quadcore when i can afford it.
 
Ah nice one for that.
I'm just wondering whether its worth actually learning how to overclock.
To do a CPU does it take much time/learning/effort?

I see the point of getting the E2180 2.0Ghz and overclocking it to around 3Ghz.
Would doing this mean getting the same performance as say, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz ? In which case i'd be saving £40-£50 in learning how to overclock?
 
E2180 at 3Ghz will outperform the X2 at 3Ghz, C2Ds have much better performance per clock. But like any overclock nothing is guaranteed but 3Ghz is very much attainable.
 
My RAM is DDR1 and running at 133Mhz, is it worth the upgrade to DDR2 for this?
Other than that I'd like to upgrade to AM2/775 sock ideally.
 
I doubt you will see a performance boost from your current rig. Your only changing the technology. If your going to do it soon wait for the quad core releases to drop in price and new motherboards dropping.

I think if you upgrade now your upgrading because you have alittle cash spare and won't notice the difference.
 
Alright I suppose your right however I thought the DDr2 RAM would be significantly faster and if I went to AM2/775 I would go for a faster CPU anyway. I guess I will wait until the Quad cores come down in price and some, maybe in Q1 2008 get one then.

Thanks for the info guys
 
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