New 939 Cpu..or C2D? :D

GreenMint · 21 Feb 2007 at 11:26

Hey guys, just been thinking over my options for an upgrade, i'm stumped between:

Getting a new Opteron 165/170 / X2 3800/4200

Or making the bigger step to a C2D w/ 2GB, i'm honestly unsure what will be the best bet and i'm unsure on a few points (I need to sort it asap before vista oem 30 day trial runs out incase i change mobo

)

Current spec is:

3500+ @ stock w/ Arctic Freezer 64
(2*1gb) 2gb Geil PC3200 Value
MSI K8 Neo4 Platinum (Rev 1)
----Above Components would be sold if upgraded to C2D, would they fetch much? ----
Ati X850 XT 256MB
300GB HDD
80GB HDD
DVD Writer
Soundblaster X-Fi Music
Enermax noisetaker 480W PSU (Would this be ok for C2D?)

So i'm pretty much torn between it all, and could really use some advice & numbers? All i've seen price wise 939 slot in wise:

3800 x2 - £95ish
4600 x2 - £160ish
Opty 165 - £99
Opty 170 - £130

Also as i don't really O/C but wouldn't mind trying, what would you all suggest?

Ideal max spent after selling etc.. would be £200ish :eek:

So really not sure of my best path

Dark_Angel · 21 Feb 2007 at 11:29

Well, you could get an E4300, P5N-E and 2GB of Value Geil ram, for about 300. So assuming you get at least 100 for the stuff mentioned, you should be fine.

z0mbi3 · 21 Feb 2007 at 11:30

Dual core opty would be the best bet. 165 and clock it. Then wait it out till the next gen dual core offerings.

My plan anyways.

elfy · 21 Feb 2007 at 12:37

z0mbi3 said:
Dual core opty would be the best bet. 165 and clock it. Then wait it out till the next gen dual core offerings.

My plan anyways.

same here, i've leeted out my 939 rig and plan on sticking iwth it for another year or so.

but since he's upgrading either way i'd go for the c2d that was mentioned in tother post

GreenMint · 21 Feb 2007 at 15:13

Dark_Angel said:
Well, you could get an E4300, P5N-E and 2GB of Value Geil ram, for about 300. So assuming you get at least 100 for the stuff mentioned, you should be fine.

And my PSU would be fine for all that?

pcAnywhere · 21 Feb 2007 at 16:14

PSU should be fine - GPUs tend to require the most power and you are not changing that. In fact, C2D may require less power than your current system!

Zefan · 21 Feb 2007 at 17:29

Yep C2D requires less power, although DDR2 might be a bit different, not sure.

If you want a new GPU you could always sell your x850xt for about £70 on ebay, spend about £50 and have a 7900gs?

Just some thoughts.

GreenMint · 21 Feb 2007 at 19:47

yeah, i was considering switching gfx for a x1900 or 1950, but my current card plays wow @ 1680x1050 absolutely fine, so there's really no need for now, i can't see an X850 bottlenecking a C2D

Also, would i need to format for this? I've been told can swotch form NF4 to C2D without formatting & wouldn't lose performance?

pcAnywhere · 22 Feb 2007 at 08:28

Eh?

Also, would i need to format for this? I've been told can swotch form NF4 to C2D without formatting & wouldn't lose performance?

Do you mean re-formating hard-drive and re-installing your OS?

GreenMint · 22 Feb 2007 at 10:23

pcAnywhere said:
Eh?

Do you mean re-formating hard-drive and re-installing your OS?

Yeah, was kinda frazzled when i wrote that

Basically i'm sure i heard in the past you can swap out from an Athlon N-Fore based system to a core2duo without formatting, and without the performance loss sometimes associated with switching boards/cpu's without formatting!

Thanks

pcAnywhere · 22 Feb 2007 at 11:57

Never heard of that...

Opinion seems slightly divided - the easiest way is to re-install your OS but the quickest way may be just delete the old drivers and install the new ones. I did hear that someone suggested removing as many specific drivers as possible and reverting to generic drivers prior to doing the change

ShiWarrior · 22 Feb 2007 at 13:31

Ivan Drago said:
Yeah, was kinda frazzled when i wrote that

Basically i'm sure i heard in the past you can swap out from an Athlon N-Fore based system to a core2duo without formatting, and without the performance loss sometimes associated with switching boards/cpu's without formatting!

Thanks

no not really
best bet is to format and reinstall in the new system, otherwise you will get a few problems and a drop in performance i would imagine

GreenMint · 22 Feb 2007 at 13:41

ShiWarrior said:
no not really
best bet is to format and reinstall in the new system, otherwise you will get a few problems and a drop in performance i would imagine

Thanks mate, might have to reinstall XP< luckily vista is running on default drivers save soud card & graphics, which will be carried over anyways