upgrade path to phenom

pENdr4gON

pENdr4gON

pENdr4gON

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Joined
23 Nov 2007
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48
Location
Pompey
Hi guys, this is my first post on the forum, I'm here because I have a few questions...

Here is some back ground.
We all have our favorites, I have been an AMD man since K5. I have always had to build on a budget. AMD has for most of the last 10 years, given you more "bang for your buck" To keep costs down I keep my PC about one year behind the bleeding edge. I know I like nVidia chipset, on an ASUS board.

Unfortunately due to cash flow problems my PC has slipped beyond my own 1 year rule. (More like 2-3 years!:eek:) In the next month or so I'm going to be getting new MoBo CPU and RAM.

Given that the current bleeding edge is the new quad core Phenom I have an eye on it in around a year. For that to happen I need to lay the ground work now, with the right Motherboard...

So here is the question.

Do all AM2 boards support the Phenom?

This bundle looks interesting
 
Its no different to the rest of us, trust me :)

But why buy something inferior because you have bought said brand in the past? Why not buy what is best* at the time?

*not necessarily the "cream of the crop" if budget is an issue.

You seem to be an overclocker, why not do a cheap upgrade now (E2140, E2160, E2180, which all clock to way beyond 3GHz), and buy a quad-core chip in a years time ala your current plan.
 
I was thinking fo doing much the same but keeping true to my AMD roots.

Duel core AMD, a nice ASUS nVidia board. and some quick'ish ram. What I would like to know is can you drop Phenom into just any-old AM2 board?

What I'm trying to avoid is 12months from now looking longingly at, (by then cheap) Phenom chips only to discover that it won't go in the motherboard! and if only I had chosen the right board now I could save my self the heart ache.

My budget is tight, I mean real tight! I'm looking at spending around £50'sh quid on each, CPU, MoBo, Ram. I can save on the CPU cos FSB and always be tweaked and any duel core would be an improvement over the Sempron 3400 I'm currently running.
 
pENdr4gON said:
I was thinking fo doing much the same but keeping true to my AMD roots.

Duel core AMD, a nice ASUS nVidia board. and some quick'ish ram. What I would like to know is can you drop Phenom into just any-old AM2 board?

What I'm trying to avoid is 12months from now looking longingly at, (by then cheap) Phenom chips only to discover that it won't go in the motherboard! and if only I had chosen the right board now I could save my self the heart ache.

My budget is tight, I mean real tight! I'm looking at spending around £50'sh
quid on each, CPU, MoBo, Ram. I can save on the CPU cos FSB and always be tweaked and any duel core would be an improvement over the Sempron 3400 I'm currently running.
Click to expand...

Honestly... Do you NEED to stay loyal to AMD? I mean they won;t know that you haven't bought thier parts and they are still making LOADS of cash due to OEM market and servers... Us enthuisats are a TINY portion of the market...

Not having a go but a lot of people are going to tell you that a total overhaul atm will end best with an Intel system.

Here's how things are panning out:

AMD:

All new chips that AMD make will be able to fit into AM2 boards.(While they are on DDR2 at least) So all current chips (X2's) and the Phenoms will fit in AM2. The new AM2+ boards unlock SOME of the new features etc of the phenom and low power usage. AM3 is the next big step (current CPU's are still compatible I think, Phenoms deffinatly are) and that is out middle/end next year.

Intel:

Socket 775, Still going strong imo. Has got until end of next year before Intel relase their new chips which will use a new socket design. For now all dual cores and quad cores work in the 775 and the new 65nm (smaller and better) Penryn chips *should* work in most socket 775 boards.

If your going to go AMD at least wait till the AM2+ boards are out, which should be before the middle of next year. If your upgrading now the best bang for buck and performance is Intel. If your upgrading in a year/year and half anyway then it shouldn't matter.

I STILL am an AMD fan but when I upgraded I couldn't justify spending either the same or sometimes more for less performance... It just didn't make sense in my head.

Anywho, here's a spec for an Intel system if your interested at all....



That would be better performance than a AMD and then (like you said) next year put a Penryn Quad core into it and you have an excellent PC for years to come.

I added a GFX card... Do you need it?

PSU is there as well...

2GB RAM... 400GB HDD

I tried keeping everything to £50 and if you add it all up with postage it's £52 per item... Can't get much better than that I don't think...

If you want better then there's better and if you want cheaper there's cheaper.

If you do game and want DX10 etc then HD3850 for £115 ...

All the best, Doug.

EDIT: Just thought that if you buy an ATI card you still are buying AMD:D
 
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paradigm said:
But why buy something inferior because you have bought said brand in the past? Why not buy what is best* at the time?
Click to expand...

It is a good point. I found myself buying AMD again though, even though I know I could get an Intel, clock it and get a "better" result.
Wouldn't change my right for the world though, apart from changing to Phenom :p
 
What I don't understand is why people post for advice but don't actually want it. They just want to be told what they are doing is a good thing (which it isn't).

However, to answer your question, seeing as you are going to be stubborn :rolleyes:

You'll want to make sure you get an AM2+ board for future compatibility.
 
paradigm said:
What I don't understand is why people post for advice but don't actually want it. They just want to be told what they are doing is a good thing (which it isn't).

However, to answer your question, seeing as you are going to be stubborn :rolleyes:

You'll want to make sure you get an AM2+ board for future compatibility.
Click to expand...

Yargon
 
AM2+ has Hypertransport 3.0 (2GHz), which AM2 does not. Apparently AM2+ chips will work in AM2 boards, but will drop their spec to match the socket.

AM3 processors are also supposedly ok to work in AM2+ boards, but NOT AM2.

As for actual numbers for performance hits going from 2GHz HTT to 1GHz, I'm afraid I'm unsure, having been out of the AMD game for a good 12 months now.
 
dr. sarf said:
How much of a performance drop are you likely to see using an AM2 board over an AM2+?
Click to expand...

Not to sure but I don't think it will be LOADS.

Thing is if someone is doing a complete overhaul atm and REALLY wants to go AMD they are best off waiting till the new AM2+ boards.... or going Intel.

From what the OP said he wants it to be future upgradable and with a AM2 you don;t get that.... which is why he should either wait or go Intel.;)
 
OK OK I'll look at Intel LOL :D

A bit of me will die if I do but here gose...

Here is my current spec, there is a * next to the bit's I don't intend to change at first.

AMD Sempron 3400 64bit (OC 14%)
ASUS K8N4-E SE (Socket 754)
RAM 2Gb 400MHz (No name) (OC 13%)
PCi-E nVidia 7900GT OC from BFG * (OC 12% over the BFG OC)
2X 250Gb SATA II Stripping, 1X160Gb IDE for back up *
PSU 600W (No Name) *
NEXUS ISTYLE Case *
SoundBlaster Audigi2 SL *
17' LCD (No Name) *

This rig currently plays BF:2 with all the eye candy maxed at around 70fps. put up against some of the new games, well the Cyrsis demo is a very nice looking slide show !?!

Looking at the "Basket" you selected I could take the CPU, MoBo, Ram and HeatSink all for around £175.
 
Change the PSU. Seriously. No name PSU's are BAD. :(

A stable railed PSU is pretty much the most important part of a stable highly strung PC.
 
I know that you are right, I have my doubts about my current PSU. Maybe to overclocking will have to wait until the PSU come along...

To understand my upgrading/cash issues. It's impossible to save! no I mean it... On pay day I can just about squeeze around £30, but that is each month. Problem is that I have pushed my current setup as far as I can. I could put in a mobile CPU to get a little extra but that is pointless. To upgrade now means CPU, MoBo and Ram, expensive!

Crimbo is coming, Santa will be bringing cash! Fingers crossed looking at the previous posts £175 quid!?!?
 
pENdr4gON said:
I know that you are right, I have my doubts about my current PSU. Maybe to overclocking will have to wait until the PSU come along...

To understand my upgrading/cash issues. It's impossible to save! no I mean it... On pay day I can just about squeeze around £30, but that is each month. Problem is that I have pushed my current setup as far as I can. I could put in a mobile CPU to get a little extra but that is pointless. To upgrade now means CPU, MoBo and Ram, expensive!

Crimbo is coming, Santa will be bringing cash! Fingers crossed looking at the previous posts £175 quid!?!?
Click to expand...

Yar, you can get a 1.8ghz dual core (e2160) with 2gb ram and a mobo for £170 from OCuk.

Already been said get a new PSU but if you are happy with the one you have then keep it... Just think about getting a new one when you next place an order ;) These aren't bad and are just over £30... although it less watts than you current PSU it's will probably have better 12V rails.

All us AMD fans die a little when we go Intel but honestly, when you start using, you forget all about it being an Intel ;)

No offence here, but any upgrade will give you a VERY nice boost in performance:D;)

Just sit back, relax and enjoy the world of dual core :cool:

Edit: If you Overclock then you will have an amazingly fast PC... The e2140 can get to 2.5ghz EASY and is £5 cheaper than the e2160 ;)
 
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