Upgrade options?

[Greywind]

Hey there,

I'm building a upgrading my current system and need advise on a CPU and a mobo. Was thinking of going AM2 X2 4600+Energy Efficent, but would be Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 be faster option. As i'll be getting a 8800GT in the next few months. Will i need new DDR2 memory as well or it it possible to use my current DDR for a while until i can afford some new memory?

My current system at the moment is............

Asus A8N32-SLi Premium Skt 939
AMD 64 3700+
2gb DDR Mushkin Ram
6800GT
Enermax Liberty 620W PSU

 

[Tetras]

I'm pretty sure the energy efficient X2s are available on AM2 only, not 939.

You can only use DDR in a few Core 2 Duo boards and the two (DDR & DDR2) are not backwards compatible, there has to be DDR slots on the board to use DDR (and same with DDR2).

 

[Greywind]

I'm pretty sure the energy efficient X2s are available on AM2 only, not 939.

You can only use DDR in a few Core 2 Duo boards and the two (DDR & DDR2) are not backwards compatible, there has to be DDR slots on the board to use DDR (and same with DDR2).

Thanks Tetras.
Am going to be upgrading my mobo at the same time either to a Intel Bad Axe2 if i go the C2D route or something else for the AM2 mobo.

 

[Sel]

I'm doing a similar upgrade but have decided to wait 3months until a lot of the new stuff is out.
I don't see AM2 as anything more that a stop gap for AMD, as for the memory working I don't know but even if it did I don't think it would deliver the performance.

 

[Tombo]

I'm pretty sure the energy efficient X2s are available on AM2 only, not 939.

You can only use DDR in a few Core 2 Duo boards and the two (DDR & DDR2) are not backwards compatible, there has to be DDR slots on the board to use DDR (and same with DDR2).

Wrong there are boards with DDR and DDR2 support.

 

[Tetras]

Wrong there are boards with DDR and DDR2 support.

I fail to see how what I said excludes that possibility, I was clarifying that you can't insert DDR into a DDR2 slot and vice versa (i.e. the slots are specific for one type but not the other). If this is what you are saying is wrong then you are wrong, they are different voltage and pin config.

@OP, if you can get a good price I'd suggest you go with Core 2 Duo and sell your current RAM and mobo or your choice of boards would be far too limited. Shortly (month or so) there will be new Core 2 Duo models and a price drop so might be worth your while waiting until then.

The 65nm Athlon X2s are out for AM2 (you would *have* to get DDR2 for AM2, there are no DDR boards at all) but other than reduced power consumption and new models they aren't any better than the old 90nm ones. At stock the lower end of X2s are not far from C2D price/performance but at the higher end they get worse value, the E6600 at £190ish beats pretty much anything AMD have at that range (and up).