Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: acetnt367th on July 25, 2006, 09:29:11 AM
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Folks,
My current machine:
Athlon 64 3400+
Asus A8V Deluxe MB
2 GB Value Select Crucial DDR 400 ram (2 x 1GB)
ATI 9800 pro vid card (AGP)
Sata HD - non raid
Doing a full upgrade next year so considering a stop gap upgrade now. Yup, I know all about Conroe but am stuck with AMD stuff at the moment. Next year will look at all options before purchasing.
With the big price drops am considering either
X2 3800+ ($160-170)
X2 4400+ ($245)
X2 4600+ ($260)
Does this upgrade make sense? Which one is best? Am I wasting my time in a cpu upgrade?
Your comments will be kindly appreciated
Acetnt
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If I were you, I would upgrade only vid card.
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I agree with Mipoikel. Your CPU is up to the task, the only thing I would contemplate uprgading now is you video card. all other components should be fine as is. Save your money for the big upgrade next year.
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Hi ace -
I wouldn't bother for 3 reasons -
1) Video card will be AGP your big upgrade will have a PCI-E slot.
2) You'll definately end up with a socket change on your big upgrade.
3) Bearing in mind 1 and 2 it's just a waste of money.
Unless your having problems I'd wait until early next year, then really splash out.
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For example ATI X850 XT AGP 256MB gives you big improvement.
About 6 months ago I upgraded my 9800 PRO to X800GT and it helped a LOT.
(I have Intel P4 3.0ghz + 2GB DDR)
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Thanks folks,
Kev is right, One of the reasons I don't go the vid card route is cause I did not want to go AGP again i.e. before the big upgrade next year. Computer runs AH without problems, just had some extra birthday money to spend :-). Guess I just have to spend it on alcohol - oh joy!
Thanks again
Acetnt
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Originally posted by acetnt367th
Guess I just have to spend it on alcohol - oh joy!
Acetnt
Dam that suxs, huh ;) .
Have a few for me.
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Originally posted by acetnt367th
Guess I just have to spend it on alcohol - oh joy!
Acetnt
Some people claim alcohol improves their gaming experience more than any fancy vid card could ever do :D
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Dual core is supposedly nice for overall system smoothness and to let you do more than one thing at once. For example, I hate burning full DVDs and don't make enough backups, because I can't do anything else with my computer while burning because if I spike the cpu usage by accident, I've just burned a coaster. Dual layer DVDs are still expensive enough and take long enough to burn that I don't like doing that.
So I'm considering getting a 4200 or other X2 cpu to replace my 3700, before AMD drops the product line entirely. I waited too long to upgrade my laptop cpu (it requires 400mhz dothan) while waiting for the price to drop, but the 400mhz 2.0ghz dothans never dropped below about $350 so I never bought one. Now they're really tough to find and I may never get the chance to max out the cpu on my laptop.
Anyhow, the faster x2 socket 939 cpus would be a decent upgrade from a 3400, but you probably will only see a small improvement in games until more games start using dual cpus better. But you may see an improvement in overall system usability from the second core. Lots of computer parts reviewers have sworn to never return to single core cpus after their first dual core cpu review, whether it's amd or intel, simply because the dual core systems just feel more responsive during heavy multitasking use.
It's only a couple hundred bucks... Yea that video card is pretty old too and could probably use an upgrade but vid cards will still be around a year from now, while socket 939 cpus will probably not.
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Hello eagl,
That was my initial thinking. I do a lot of home DVDs (legal and not porn :-)) and this still takes significant time for the encoding part. I also make mp3 regularly (from my purchased CDs) to use in da car. The upgrade was not only meant for games as the current setup does that well enough. Then again, I do love making a computer upgrade purchase one a year just for the heck of it :-).........Keeps me interested for a good week while I try to test how much the upgrade helps.
As for the alcohol, my liver is still hurting from the recent world cup (Americans may miss this one cause the interest for this sport is less there) so I may still consider the option.
Cheers
Acetnt