New here and looking for help :X

Sjoehanson · 16 Aug 2006 at 11:33

Hello folks

New here but was hopeing to get some help with a minor upgrade...

Currently I have:
AMD64 3200+ (754)
1gb Ram (single stick)
128mb 6600gt

I'm looking to upgrade to

AMD64 3700/4000 [or 3800x2]
Asus motherboard
Connect 3d 1900xt [or 1800xt]

Now my questions are, is the dual core worth the extra money over say the 4000+? I heard that in single core applications it preforms similarly to my current processor.

Also, is there a big preformance difference between the 4000+ and the 3700+? I dont really intend to overclock.

I play HL2 mostly but I do play fear and quake4/doom3 occasionally.

Would appreciate advice :]

Cheers,
SJoehanson

Minstadave · 16 Aug 2006 at 11:57

Welcome to the forums, good first post too, so lets get started helping you out

1. is the dual core worth the extra money over say the 4000+

Good question, the 3700+ (2.2Ghz) is great at £62 (OEM - No heatsink), the 4000+ is 200Mhz faster at £85 OEM and the 3800 X2 (retail) is slower than both (2ghz) and has half the cache, but is dual core.

If you're intending to buy a retail box with heatsink, then both the single cores are considerably more expensive, and I'd be very tempted to go for the 3800X2 and clock it mildly.

What this means is both the single core chips will be faster in the majority of games, until future games start to make more use of dual core CPUs. The 3800x2 would be a little faster than your current CPU in games as it has a dual channel memory interface, but it wouldn't be huge.

If you do a lot of encoding, then dual core is a must, they're also much nicer to multitask with, especially for burning DVDs whilst still needing good system performance.

2. 3700 or 4000+?

The performance difference between the 3700+ and 4000+ probably doesn't justify the price difference, you'd be better off buying a second gig of RAM and running in dual channel.

Sjoehanson · 16 Aug 2006 at 12:24

Thanks for the help :]

I think i'll go for the 3700+ and the 1900xt then.

At christmas I intend to build a brand new conroe rig so till then this should handle games nicely :].

Cheers,
SJoehanson

Minstadave · 16 Aug 2006 at 12:25

Sjoehanson said:
Thanks for the help :]

I think i'll go for the 3700+ and the 1900xt then.

At christmas I intend to build a brand new conroe rig so till then this should handle games nicely :].

Cheers,
SJoehanson

More than nicely mate, this is an excellent system and will last you far longer than until Xmas if needs be

Sjoehanson · 16 Aug 2006 at 12:28

Ooh, one last question. Would the:
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (HS-020-AR)

Cool the 3700 sufficiently?, seems like a bargain at 6 quid :]

Cheers again,
SJoehanson

Minstadave · 16 Aug 2006 at 12:29

Sjoehanson said:
Ooh, one last question. Would the:
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (HS-020-AR)

Cool the 3700 sufficiently?, seems like a bargain at 6 quid :]

Cheers again,
SJoehanson

I'm not sure how much better than stock it would be but if you're not clocking it should be fine

SiriusB · 16 Aug 2006 at 12:35

I would go for the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. It is about a tenner more but is absolutely one of the best CPU coolers ever! It is very quiet and will keep your 3700+ cooler than a snowmans frosty bits.

As an example of how good it is, it is cooling my AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ overclocked to 2.6GHz which is running at 100% [Folding@Home running on both cores 24/7

]

Another option, if you have a small case, is the Zalman CNPS7000 and 8000 range of CPU coolers. Just built a 3700+ system for my brother and his has the CNPS7000 and it keeps the CPU at a nice 35C and the fan is absolutely silent!

SiriusB

Sjoehanson · 16 Aug 2006 at 22:22

Ooh, one quick last question before I forget, will a 400watt powersupply be enough to power this upgrade?

Its the one I got with the case (i know, boo-hiss etc) but its served me well so far, will it be good enough?

Cheers,
Smash Joehanson

Quixote · 16 Aug 2006 at 22:36

I think you will really be pushing your luck trying to run an 1800XT or X1900XT off a generic 400W PSU. I seriously would not recommend it.
For £40 or so you can get a decent PSU which should be up to the job. Plus you can re-use it in future upgrades. If you have to drop down to the X1800XT in order to do so, I think it is worth it. I just upgraded 6600GT to 1800XT & it is a massive improvement anyway.

Minstadave · 16 Aug 2006 at 22:47

A 400W generic is too dodgy for such a nice system, as said above, invest in a decent PSU

SiriusB · 16 Aug 2006 at 23:53

The X1900 comes with a bit of paper that says 500W is the recommended minimum wattage PSU you should be using to power it

SiriusB

Sjoehanson · 17 Aug 2006 at 15:15

So i'd be alright if I went for a Jeantec 500watt powersupply? I can source one of these from a mate fairly cheap. Otherwise I dunno if i can afford to spend another 60 quid on a 500watt supply...

Cheers,
Smash Joehanson

Minstadave · 17 Aug 2006 at 15:19

Sjoehanson said:
So i'd be alright if I went for a Jeantec 500watt powersupply? I can source one of these from a mate fairly cheap. Otherwise I dunno if i can afford to spend another 60 quid on a 500watt supply...

Cheers,
Smash Joehanson

Yup that would do nicely