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Is this a worthwhile "Bang for Buck" CPU Upgrade for Games

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Soldato
Joined
31 May 2005
Posts
15,640
Location
Nottingham
Current Spec:

AMD A64 3000+ Venice
MSI Neo 4 Platinum Nforce 4 Ultra Mobo
ATI x1950 PRO 512MB
2 x 1GB Geil Value RAM

Am looking at swapping the AMD A64 3000+ Venice for an X2 4200+.

With my system as it is, would this give me an improvement in games?

Also, would the 4200 be worth the £60 for the extra performance it would give in games?

Thanks.
 
What is your Current cpu cloced at?

Anyway the answer is yes and yes. Get the X2 3800 and clock to X2 4200 and save £20 more.

Michael
 
Gimpymoo said:
would the 4200 be worth the £60 for the extra performance it would give in games?
Click to expand...
Depends on the game I guess, I hear a few RTS games and also Chess games take advantage of the extra core but not FPS games in my experience.

However Video editing and stuff like that are massively improved!

A dual-core is a nice upgrade for an older socket 939 system and has already been mentioned the latest cores are overclocking quite nicely (if u are overclocking that is?).

An overclocked X2 vs a Stock 3000+ would be a big difference though! :cool: :o
 
It will give you an increase in multi threaded games but otherwise you won't see any great difference. Windows should be quicker and more responsive and you will be able to do more than one thing at the same time as well.
 
I always find "small" upgrades a bit of a disapointment. You might see a small improvement but it wont suddenly allow you to play next gen games. Id put the cash in a pot and save for a next gen system.

The choice is yours :)!
 
Depending on what his A64 3000 is clocked at then I don't consider a X2 3800 clocked to say 2.6 to 2.8ghz a small improvement personally. That is a decent cpu improvement for £40. Will compliment the rest if his PC very nicely :)

Thanks

Michael
 
At stock an X2 3800 will make a noticeable improvement over the 3000. Windows will seem much nipier (especially when multitasking) and games will run better. Most recent games take advantage of dual cores so you should see big improvements here.

With your mobo you should be able to overclock an X2 3800 to atleast 2.5GHz and maybe onto 2.8GHz if you get a good chip.

Alternatively, try overclocking the 3000. You might get over 2.4Ghz with this and that may provide the boost you are looking for for free.
 
I was in the exact same dilemma, I have a A3200 and decided to upgrade rather than look for a new rig as there is nothing on the horizan I need to spend inexcess of £500 - 600 for. The Opty 175 will improve things sufficiently to keep me going for another couple of years.
 
I am looking to do a similair upgrade, from Opteron 146 (2.5) to an Opteron 175 or X2 4200. Any other useful information would be appreciated.
 
Well the Opteron 175 has 2 x 1mb level 2 Cache compared to the X2 4200's 512kb with equates to about 200mhz over the X2 4200 clocked at the same speed. But the Opteron 175 it is slightly more expensive than the X2 4200. I got an Opteron 165 for £70 and have it at 2.9ghz on default voltage.

Michael
 
Ghuraba said:
Well the Opteron 175 has 2 x 1mb level 2 Cache compared to the X2 4200's 512kb with equates to about 200mhz over the X2 4200 clocked at the same speed. But the Opteron 175 it is slightly more expensive than the X2 4200. I got an Opteron 165 for £70 and have it at 2.9ghz on default voltage.

Michael
Click to expand...

What is the stepping on your chip?
 
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