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upgrade time........to dual core?

disco Stu

disco Stu

disco Stu

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8 Nov 2002
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929
Is it worth upgrading from a amd64 3500 to something like a 4200 x2?

I mainly play games like rfactor battlefield 2 etc........will a 4200 work with both cores running or is it not worth the upgrade
 
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If you are not planning to do a full upgrade anytime soon then yes it is worth it, although you probably won't notice huge improvements in games like BF2, which is limited more by your 6800GS.

More and more games are supporting multicore cpus so dual core is always a good idea, just make sure you have the AMD driver and dual core optimiser installed to take full advantage.
 
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In BF2 (depending on settings) you'd prolly see smoother play from upgrading to 2GB of RAM than you would a new CPU, 3500+ isn't a bottleneck for a 6800 GS.
 
I would hang fire till new year. Our main supplier of AMD CPU's has told me that AMD will be doing a new run of S939 Cpus just liek they did wth the S754's. I have also heard that there will soom be some FX60's on the market for less than £300... ;)
 
steve258 said:
If you are not planning to do a full upgrade anytime soon then yes it is worth it, although you probably won't notice huge improvements in games like BF2, which is limited more by your 6800GS.

More and more games are supporting multicore cpus so dual core is always a good idea, just make sure you have the AMD driver and dual core optimiser installed to take full advantage.
Click to expand...

Steve258, I am in the same position as the OP moving from AMD A64 3500 to X2 4800. As I am not doing full upgrade (I am still on S939) I decided to go this way (for at least another year before AMD have their 65nm or move to the Dark side).

My question is (and I hope I am not hijacking the OP's thread) when you say AMD driver and optimiser, do you mean the chipset that Nvidia released to cover the X2 or is it something else I need to download. I have downloaded the latest BIOS 1016 for A8N Sli Deluxe and hope to be OK. Is tis really enough?

Any thoughts and advice?

Cheers,
Jordan
 
PaulProteus said:
Steve258, I am in the same position as the OP moving from AMD A64 3500 to X2 4800. As I am not doing full upgrade (I am still on S939) I decided to go this way (for at least another year before AMD have their 65nm or move to the Dark side).

My question is (and I hope I am not hijacking the OP's thread) when you say AMD driver and optimiser, do you mean the chipset that Nvidia released to cover the X2 or is it something else I need to download. I have downloaded the latest BIOS 1016 for A8N Sli Deluxe and hope to be OK. Is tis really enough?

Any thoughts and advice?

Cheers,
Jordan
Click to expand...

No I was talking about different drivers that you can download from the AMD website

http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_13118,00.html

Download the dual core optimiser (first option) and the A64 X2 driver (second from below). After installing WinXP you should install the newest Nvidia chipset driver first, and then the A64 X2 driver, and the dual core optimiser after that. This is how I'd do it.

You can also follow the X2 drivers guide from Xtreme system:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81429

that also involves installing the Microsoft dual core hot fix, but it basically does the same thing as the AMD dual core optimiser so I didn't really bother, besides some people experienced problems when installing both. There are also many threads out there debating which driver to install but tbh I think it doesn't really matter that much.
 
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Well i went from a venice [email protected] to my current X2 and must say very happy with it. Yet to try it with any games that utilise the second core but in regards the drivers, steve has got it absolutely right just install the amd driver and optimiser, i didnt bother with the hotfix and had no issues! Go for it before the prices go up even further due to becoming hard to get hold of. :D
 
Steve,

Thanks a lot for this info! I will definitiely follow your suggestions.
I will built the system later today (I have to go out with my wife shopping :( ).

Wiggy, I really believe that this is still a sensible way to upgrade a system without shelling out a lot of money.

I am trying to get hold of some Patriot XLBK memory 2x512 2-2-2-5, but it seems that they have stopped producing it. I would like to increase the memory up to 2 Gb.

Cheers,
Jordan
 
I put the X2 4800 in. The previous one 3500 Winnie had been stuck to the heatsink and when I was trying to take out the heat sink I took out both, although the lever had been locked :confused: .

I hope that the processor (the Winnie one) should be fine after all.

I am currently running Prime95. Not OCed. Idle temp (stock cooler) 31 deg C, under load 41 deg C.
 
Nice CPU!!

Don't worry about the your 3500 winnie it is fine as long as there is no broken pin or physical damage. Just make sure next time you heat up the CPU first by running prime95..etc then gently remove the HSF with a little twisting motion.

Nice temp there, is that with the stock HSF??

Have you already got 512mb*2 in your system?? If so the best way to go 2gb is to get 1gb*2 kit, which will give better performance and compatibiliy over 512mb*4.
 
Hi Steve,

I am still waiting for another 2x512 Patriot (called NewEgg on Friday but they wanted a credit card issued by American bank and my friedn's address in the stae is not on my credit card either :mad: ). I agree that 2x1 Gb will be the best option but I do not have experience with selling stuff (my old excellent Patriot XBLK kit, TCCD chips) and I would need some dough to go for 2Gb.

It is the stock heatsink. The 3500 is intact (pin-wise) so I will pass this one to my brother-in-law.

I will run again Prime95 for 24h simply to make sure everything is fine.

I tried the Q-fan option of my motherboard (ASUS A8N Sli Deluxe) but the result is rubish. It dropped my CPU fan twice its normal speed and the iddle temp jumped to 38-40, so I switched it off.

Have you tried the powersetup file AMD have listed recently, it says Nov 2006?

Cheers,
Jordan
 
Just tried the AMD power monitor thing and it doesn't do anything more than monitoring real time CPU utilisation. It is more accurate than the Windows task manager though.
 
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