Upgrade Advice

XtAsY · 23 May 2006 at 08:34

Hey Guys,

Basically I need some help on when to upgrade and what to upgrade to, I am currently running:

Pentium 4c 3.2GHz Socket 478
1 GB Corsair XMS PC3200
GeForce 6800 GT AGP
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
2 x 80 GB SATA Seagates HDD's in RAID 0

This rig has kept me going good for quite a while now, but it has just started to struggle, this is much apparant in games such as Oblivion. I also do a lot of 3D Animation and waiting ages for a 640x480 render can be a pain in the ass, dual core would deffinetly help here.

So basically, I think it is probably time now to think about upgrading. I have had a coiple of systems specced for me, one which was a cross fire system, and one an SLI system. Thing is with conroe not far from release and the launch of AM2, is it really worth upgrading now to say socket 939 when its on the verge of being replaced? Ideally I want to be as future proofed as possible so should I wait for conroe? All help and advice much appreciated

Kind Regards

kmistry · 23 May 2006 at 09:31

If you can afford to wait, and are not too bothered at the moment, then really just wait for conroe. AM2 is alrady out on OcUK but it doesnt seem to be doing to well in ye' ol benchmarks, plus there is the whole, bugs issue with new stuff.

If you can afford to wait for conroe, then do, if you cant then upgrade (possibly to AM2) that's just my opinion, but im sure others will have different opinions

BigDom · 23 May 2006 at 09:47

I personally would upgrade unless you have a big budget. Chances are Conroe will be both expensive and not as good as current hints are showing as the benchmarks I've seen are on vapor not air. Probably better than AM2/939 but not streets ahead.

Going for 939 now will give you, if you go for a dual core system preferably 4400+, a system that will serve you well into next year. You'll only need to upgrade it if you NEED DX10/Vista and then it's only going to be a Graphics/OS upgrade.

939 may technically be a system that is superceded but it doesn't mean it's not still got life in it. It has, it suddently hasn't become a system that can't deliver the goods.

lucifersam · 23 May 2006 at 09:55

i agree kmistry, conroe is not going to be that expensive, check some of the post in the CPU section for price specs they are comparable in price to current S939. they are going to be a long way ahead of current AMD cpus.
but if you cant wait then like bigdoom says AMD cpus still have a lot of go in them

XtAsY · 23 May 2006 at 10:10

I think I may wait till september then. By this time conroe would have been out for a little while, and there should be more choice in terms of motherboards and RAM should have gone down in price. Most of the bugs (if any) should have been worked out too. Thanks for your help guys.