Spec me an upgrade

Blackstar_solar

Blackstar_solar

Blackstar_solar

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Joined
7 Nov 2005
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746
Location
Southampton, UK
I've finally come to the decision that my hardware isn't cutting the mustard; getting low frames in DoWII Beta and Left 4 Dead (the two things I'm playing most at the moment).

Current specs are:
AMD 64 4000+
2GB RAM
Sapphire X1950
Asus A8N-E Mobo

Looking at spending £300-£500 on a upgrade but I'm so massively out of touch with hardware I've got no idea where to start.

I'd prefer quad core I think, unless someone can suggest a reason to tick with dual core.

Thanks guys

edit: PC is mostly used for gaming - dunno if that effects choice of CPU etc?
 
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for £300-£500 and gaming I'd probably just stick with dual core. Possibly a 4850 depending on your resolution should be ok. mobo will depend on your choice of cpu obviously.

Dual Core + 4850 or similar + compatable mobo and you should be fine!
 
If you're only gaming the AMD Tri-Core 720 is the way to go on a budget, the best gaming 'FPS per £' around. It has an unlocked multiplier and should hit at least 3.5GHz with the potential for 4GHz on AIR.

720 Black Edition is around £120.
AM3 Motherboard of your choice £100-120
2GB DDR3 1066 ~£45
ATI 4870

If you intend to run Vista then you'll want 4GB but obviously that puts the memory price up to nearer £100.

That rig will game very, very well.

Mine Phenom II rig runs full detail 2048x even with the 512MB 4870.
 
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ocuk83.jpg


I'm a fan of having a faster dual core CPU, especially for gaming, plus it's cheaper than the Q6600, which still a good CPU, is starting to get on a bit.

I wasn't sure if you'd need a new PSU, if not then you could use the additional money towards a better graphics card and a CPU cooler. Although the 4850 is a great card, especially for the money and will play the games you mentioned quite easily.
 
Thanks very much for the info guys.

From what your suggesting I think Dual Core would be better. Don't need a new PSU I don't think, will check when I get home but wondering what you guys think of this as a setup (I like Asus mobos and Sapphire graphics card).

possibleupgradexi5.jpg


Thanks
 
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If you insist on getting asus board, you prob want to look at Corsair RAM, some people report compatibility issues between asus and OCZ, also you definately want 4 gig of RAM. A couple weeks ago the 8500 was only a tenner more than the 8400 so was worth it, now for 22.50 I dont think so, but your call. IMO you also want a reasonable aftermarket CPU cooler like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro or better
 
The AMD X3 720 BE is beating the i7 920 at higher resolutions in gaming benchmarks, just check the likes of guru3d.com's review etc. It also shows modern games making use of 3-4 cores over just 2.

It defies logic to go for a more expensive dual core Intel?

If you really wanted to save money and game on a budget you can run the AM3 AMD chips on a cheaper AM2+ board with cheaper DDR2 memory and to be honest in real world terms the performance difference is nominal.
 
Interesting, I guess in the tests I've been seeing at the moment the dual cores are winning but that's probably because of a lack of quad core support, which is coming along.

Just a question about RAM, I read that 32bit Windows doesn't support more than 3GB, is this true, just XP, or something else?
 
its true, any 32 bit system can only see about 3.5 gig of memory, what have you got at moment? If youre about to buy an OS then go 64 bit anyway as its the way forward, if youve already got 32 bit vista you can get an upgrade disk of microsoft for about 7quid. Even if youre only on XP 32 bit, its still worth getting the 4 gig of RAM though, its cheap as chips atm and 3.5 is still more than 2
 
It's due to being 32bit. It's the same for any 32bit OS.

Taken from wikipeda
"The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295 or −2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647 using two's complement encoding."

That max of 4GB includes all memory inc Graphics, CPU, Ram etc.
Ram is last in the pecking order so it gets roughtly what's left.

If you have 4GB of ram install it just won't address(use) all of it, it shouldn't affect the performance of the ram.
 
Edleake said:
The AMD X3 720 BE is beating the i7 920 at higher resolutions in gaming benchmarks, just check the likes of guru3d.com's review etc. It also shows modern games making use of 3-4 cores over just 2.

It defies logic to go for a more expensive dual core Intel?

If you really wanted to save money and game on a budget you can run the AM3 AMD chips on a cheaper AM2+ board with cheaper DDR2 memory and to be honest in real world terms the performance difference is nominal.
Click to expand...

Just read the guru3d review of the AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 920 2.8GHz (Socket AM2+) which looks very tempting too! They also definetly make a good point which you echo about AM3 on AM2+ board with DDR2
 
What you you guys think of this?
possibleupgradeno9.jpg


From reviews etc should be better performance from the CPU, same graphics card as above, better RAM, good mobo (I think).

And only £2 more :)
 
Your best bet for AM2+ and to overclock is an 790FX based board.

If that stretches your budget and you're a gamer, grab a X3 720 BE and better quality mobo, no point scrimping on the most important part IMO.

6400 DDR2 is all that's required to run a Phenom, obviously if you want some bigger overclocking headroom then the 8500 would offer that.

I run my Phenom on 6400, same stuff I used on my old Athlon XP.
 
Well it really depends on whether or not you truely need quad core?

If gaming is your most power hungry use then the tri-core is the way to go, because of it's disabled 4th core it actually has the largest L3 cache of any chip which gives it a good bump in performance especially at higher resolutions.

You MUST overclock though, the Black Edition's have an open multiplier and it's near guranteed you'll get 3.4-3.5GHz on stock volts with just a multi increase. So it'd be silly not to take advantage of the 'free' clock speed. Most reviews are hitting 3.8GHz on air with the stock cooler. :)

As for motherboard, for 'future proofing' AM3 and DDR3 is the way to go, check out the ASUS M4A79 Deluxe. The downside is current prices of AM3, the Asus is around £150!

You can run AM3 cpus on AM2+ boards but obviously you are running on the older socket so will be limited in the future.

That said a 720 BE on an AM2+ board will save you money on the ram (DDR3 is still priecy) and mobo (especially if you source an 790FX second hand), then in a year or so you can grab an AM3 if needed.
 
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Edleake said:
Well it really depends on whether or not you truely need quad core?

If gaming is your most power hungry use then the tri-core is the way to go, because of it's disabled 4th core it actually has the largest L3 cache of any chip which gives it a good bump in performance especially at higher resolutions.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't having 4 core be better in future though? As more games come along with 4 core support?
Edleake said:
You MUST overclock though, the Black Edition's have an open multiplier and it's near guranteed you'll get 3.4-3.5GHz on stock volts with just a multi increase. So it'd be silly not to take advantage of the 'free' clock speed. Most reviews are hitting 3.8GHz on air with the stock cooler. :)
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No reason not to then :)
Edleake said:
You can run AM3 cpus on AM2+ boards but obviously you are running on the older socket so will be limited in the future.
Click to expand...
Sounds like my best option at the moment, then pick up a AM3/DDR3 board/ram later when the prices have come down.
Edleake said:
That said a 720 BE on an AM2+ board will save you money on the ram (DDR3 is still priecy) and mobo (especially if you source an 790FX second hand), then in a year or so you can grab an AM3 if needed.
Click to expand...
Do you think the 720BE would be better on AM2+ board than Phanom II 940? - Or is that dependant on the answer to question 1?
 
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Well for the next 12 months I personally feel an even slightly overclocked (say 3GHz) X3 720 BE will be more than enough to power games, in fact so long as you keep you graphics card up to date it could last you a number of years.

Just take a look at reviews out there, 3GHz seems to be the sweet spot, anything more thereafter even with the most monstorous graphics card does very little to increase FPS.

It's also £70 cheaper than a 940 so if you're budget conscious, every little helps. :)
 
I thought that but then I saw the extra L3 cache share and thought, actually that's really good. :D
 
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