Thinking of upgrading... from AMD939 to Intel...

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kbc

kbc

kbc

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My current spec is listed in my signature... and it's pretty slow... maybe because of Vista and the amount of stuff I've got installed but playing games online, I seem to suffer from CPU lag more than latency issues, jerky gameplay etc...

Currently, I have an AMD939 X2 4400 @ 2.6GHz, DFI Ultra-D, 2GB RAM, 500GB HDD, GeForce 8800GT (ignore the Sapphire in my sig). I was thinking of going for the following:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz
  • Crucial 4GB PC6400 RAM
  • Asus P5Q Pro P45 Mobo
  • Corsair HX520 Modular PSU
  • Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler

This upgrade would cost about £400 - £450 inc VAT and Delivery. Would I see a massive performance increase from this, I don't wish to upgrade my GFX card as I don't think this is causing slow loading times? I don't want it to cost anything more than what is quoted here. I'm a bit out of the loop... are any of the AMD processors worth considering?
 
how much overclocking are you planning on doing with that e8400?

none - a bit(up to 3.6GHz) get pc2-6400 RAM

past 3.6 GHz, PC2 8500 RAM
 
I went from an opty 170 @ 2.8GHz with 2GB to an E8500 @ 4.15GHz (C0 - you'll get the newer E0 stepping which tends to clock better) on a P5Q Pro with 4GB PC2-8500 and the difference was night and day for gaming. At the same clock speeds, the C2D will blow away the Sckt 939 processors and it should be pretty simple to clock an E8400 to 4GHz+, so the short answer is yes, you'll see a massive performance increase generally.
 
thing is LGA775 has been replaced so the only upgrade path in the future would be C2Q, if that's fine with you then go for it it will blow you away.

or alternatively you can consider the Phenom II + AM2+ mobo that will also take future AM3 chips. The cost would be the same as the E8400 setup since AM2+ mobo is generally cheaper if you're not looking for crossfire or sli.
 
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I won't be using Crossfire or SLI. I'm also aware of the LGA775 being replaced, but the new Intel 1366 board prices are sky high...

Although I'd like the spec to have the capacity to overclock, so perhaps PC2 8500 RAM is the way to go?

I did want to get a Core2Quad, however the price of them is still a bit too expensive... wanted the Q9550. :p I was planning on getting the E8400 and when the Q9550 went down I'd get that? Good decision? AMD Phenom 2? I'm still not sure... does the 920 out-perform the Intel quads?

The other thing is... this upgrade should be a silent solution (or as quiet as I can get it...) My current setup is a bit noisy!
 
So your saying that slow loading times are one of your main issues, what about once your in the game?

Also which HDD are you using? Other than it being 500GB :)
 
gamesaregood said:
So your saying that slow loading times are one of your main issues, what about once your in the game?

Also which HDD are you using? Other than it being 500GB :)
Click to expand...

Hi mate, I have a 500GB Samsung HD501LJ SATA drive. I play Left 4 Dead a lot and loading times are slow (but that might be due to the vast amount of stuff I have on my Vista machine... I never defrag and haven't reinstalled since May '08) , but also in-game, I'm getting stutter/CPU lag rather than latency/loss issues... could be because of the 2GB RAM I have... but adding another 2GB set doesn't seem valuable to me...

Running programs such as Adobe, Visual Studio and the usual works seem pretty slow too... I'm certain it's not all just in my head... I'm sure it's time for an upgrade!

I'm pretty set on the following now...

  • Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz
  • Asus P5Q PRO iP45 Socket 775
  • OCZ 4GB PC2-8500 Reaper HPC
  • Noctua NH-U12P Cooler
  • Corsair 520W HX

Is this a good selection??? Can we get quieter?
 
I have a intel e7200 overclocked to 3.8 Ghz and I had stuttering in-game. I found if you disable multicore optimise in advance graphic setting it curse the problem, My brother also had this problem on his 3800 X2 and it sorted the problem.
 
i'd maybe look at corsair memory as im sure i've read that the p5q series sometimes has issues with ocz memory, not sure if its been sorted.

have you tried running the game on mininum settings to see if the stutter is still there ?
 
ive just done similar upgrade, i also went from sck939 4400 x2 to E8400 (check sig)
im glad i upgraded to intel, totally happy with my choice except for 1 thing, the memory i should have gone for 8500 not 6400, but in saying that i didnt want to overclock even tho i did but ive gone from 2.2ghz from amd to 3.0ghx overclocked to 3.6 intel.
 
Phenom II performs about the same as C2Qs. If you're overclocking it's definately worth getting PC8500 kits cause they're so cheap now. Personally I'd just get the E8400 E0 for overclock since 9 multi is more than enough to get a decent clock on the P5Q pro.
 
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