Is the following upgrade worth it?

krooton · 12 Jul 2006 at 07:18

CP-120-AM AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-120-AM) 1
£94.95 £94.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) 1
£136.95 £136.95
CL-006-AS **B Grade** Asus A8N-SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (CL-006-AS) 1
£54.34 £54.34
Subtotal £286.24
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.25
VAT £51.54
Total £346.03

How much of a jump would this see over my current system, and what kinda clock could I expect from the chip on this motherboard?

Thanks

Admiral Huddy · 12 Jul 2006 at 09:08

not a bad upgrade considering the cost.

You have bought an SLi motherboard and an ATI card. Just bear in mind that if you do want an SLi set-up, you will have to ditch the ATi for an Nvidia card. Best thing is to go for a single Nvidia card, which increases your future upgrade path.

As for the CPU, the San diegos run on 90nm techolgogy so don't produce as much heat as the older A64. Stick a decent cooler on it and you should get some good OC'ing results. Bear in mind though that the multiplier is locked on this CPU.

I would actaully stretch my budget and go for an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)

Great overclocker and dual core..

your outgoing system is still worth a bob or so, so you can offset them against the cost of your new system.

fenderbass86 · 12 Jul 2006 at 09:21

You could even get the Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard from the clearance section. Then you wouldn't have to worry about whether you go ATI or Nvidia.

krooton · 12 Jul 2006 at 11:05

Cheers guys, not fussed about SLi, just wanted something to house the X1800 and was a decent board for o/cing, so which of those 2 Asus boards would be a better clocker?

Got a Thermalright XP90, so that would be a decent cooler for a decent clock.

Regarding the X2 suggestion, at double the cost of the 4000+, and the fact I am doing this upgrade on the sly from my girlfriend, it's not really ideal.

Admiral Huddy · 12 Jul 2006 at 11:29

if you are after a decent OC'ing board, then you can't go wrong with the Asus really.. but the DFi might be a better choice with more overclocking options. Maybe a bit more expensive though.

Otherwise, all looks good