Whats my next upgrade???

StevieP · 18 Jul 2006 at 14:46

I am wanting to upgrade my current system (in sig) and was wondering what the best value for performance increase would be??

I've been thinking about doubling up to 2gb of memory anyway but wanted to know what I should go for next!?!?

Thanks for any tips guys...

StevieP

Joe42 · 18 Jul 2006 at 15:41

Nothing stands out as being a bottleneck to anything else.
Is it overclocked? If not i would overclock it and perhaps get a good heatsink for it.
The only reason to get 2gb of ram is if you play bf2 or find other games are using pagefile too much, if that is the case then that would be a good upgrade.

Now that the amd pricedrops have arrived you could look into getting an X2 3800+ and overclocking it.

wannabedamned · 18 Jul 2006 at 15:51

Yeah, I was going to suggest the same thing. Other than the RAM which you say you are doubling up, I'd suggest a processor change, Definately a dual core, get them while they're cheap

Although your machine is a definate good one already. Thats the only change I can see you benefitting from right now

StevieP · 18 Jul 2006 at 16:16

Joe42 said:
Now that the amd pricedrops have arrived you could look into getting an X2 3800+ and overclocking it.

Would my motherboard support this processor??

StevieP

ps. any particular memory you would recommend? Am I right in thinking I cant run 4 x 512mb sticks in dual channel???

Joe42 · 18 Jul 2006 at 16:53

I think that board will support dual core, may need a bios update tho.

You can run 4 sticks in dual channel, and with a new cpu or depending on the core of your current cpu also at full speed, but you have to set the command rate to 2t, which has around 5% performance hit compared to 1t.

StevieP · 19 Jul 2006 at 10:50

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to memory timings etc - it does say in the mobo manual that 4 x 512mb sticks of double sided memory (like my existing) will only run in single channel - is this only stated coz the mobo came out before my processor???

I'd love to get 2 more sticks of memory rather than have to get rid of my 2 x 512mb sticks and replace with 2 x 1gb sticks!! But I want to make sure the upgrade will be worth it!!

Also, I want to make sure that my mobo will support this X2 3800 before I buy....is there any way to be sure it will work?? (dont want to end up having to have a new mobo too!!)

Thanks for the replies guys...

StevieP