A good upgrade?

T

TacticalFlow

Geek Trainee
Im thinking of upgrading my system.

I am currently using a 2800+ sempron (runs at 2400+ 256 cache) on a nforce 2 mb. 1 gig 3200 drr generic. 60 gig. 9200 radeon 128mb.

Im thinking of upgrading my video card because 9200 is not cutting it anymore now that hl2 is out.. Maybe a geforce 6800 gt dunno what brand yet.. Price maybe around 350$ or cheaper when the holidays sales comes. Think its possible?
And upgrading my cpu to a barton 3400+ 512cache (2.2 ghz right?) for around 200$

Or should I just get a whole new motheboad with pcie and amd64.. So then i can run a 3500+ amd64 with 1mb cache and a pcie 6800 gt
But that would cost like 300$ right?
That means i would need to buy new ram? Ahh i need help Which way is better to go? Cheaper i guess
 
Oh and how does the hyper transport work with amd? some say it has like 1600 fsb??

Then theres a 3700+ newcastle with 512mb cache But is it better than the

3400+ clawhammer which has 1mb cache and cheaper
 
At this point, going to the 3200+ Barton isn't a really good move in the long run. For the money it's an expensive upgrade. If you're looking at that, I'd start gearing my money toward the A64 route.

You wouldn't necessarily need to buy new RAM, as it's PC3200. If it causes problems with the motherboard, then, yes. However, AMD setups will be sticking with DDR for awhile. When it comes to a point where DDR2 does offer an advantage, you may see it come down. However, I wouldn't hold out for it. PCIe is worth it because you will see AGP become the budget slot. ATi has come out and stated that the Radeon X850 series will be PCIe only.

For a cheapish upgrade to run HL2 fine, you probably want to look at the GeForce 6600GT AGP. The 6600GT has been out for awhile, but only in the PCIe format, so right now, the AGP parts are limited in selection. With the way things are changing, I'd suggest not spending a whole lot right now and simply replacing the component thats holding you back: the video card. That's going to do the most for you. Sure, you can upgrade the CPU too, but what you're looking at getting is expensive for a Socket A CPU---the budget platform for AMD now.
 
Oh i see.. Hmm how much do you think i would be spending if i went with amd64
3400+ with socket 939 and 754? Whats the diffrence between 939 and 754?

And what are good motherboards with pcie that can hold amd64 939 and 754?

im looking to spend around 700$ I also looking for a case with a good psu.. I dont really understand the diffrence between a good psu and a bad one.. I heard someone say they rather use a 300 watt brand name psu than a 500 watt generic.

Thanks for the info
 
socket 939 is the new socket. Socket 939 will have more upgrade options in the future as well. I didn't find any PCIe socket 939 boards. then again I do suck with searches...

Power supplies. Hmm...
Good power supply, 500watts, less than $100

not too many cases are gonna come with good power supplies, its not the watts, watts is just a mathematical equation on how well an electrical componenet works. What matters is how many amps the power supply puts out. In Which that power supply up there blows mine away, and I'm running my computer with 9 case fans! (don't ask.)


Cool case
 
Wow case and psu looks awsome! but jeez 100$ for a psu thats alittle to much. I rather spend 100$ for a case and psu together. What do you think about this case and psu case

If it sucks can you help find a good one with good cooling and a 400+ psu at www.newegg.com
 
For AMD64 computers, they require alot of power, ie a good powersupply so do not buy any cheap generic brands of powersupply, as it's not worth the risk.

Go for: OCZ, Antec, Thermal Take or Enermax Powersupplies. They are quiet expensive but u will need a good powersupply..

and u should get atleast 420W..
 
If you want a good power supply, pay the extra money now. The cheapy power supplies that come with cases tend to have a flaw to them. When they go (it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when), they have a habit of taking other components with them and go out with a bang. Good PSUs just drift out and leave stuff in tact. Thermaltake's 480W PurePower SilenX runs $55 + shipping over at Newegg. For the money that's a nice PSU.

The power supply is a very overlooked component, and they are not created equal. If you want to make this kind of investment, it's rather silly to skimp on the power supply. Stability and well-being of the computer depends on the power supply. What you're saying is: "I got this nice Lambo here, but since gas is so high, I'm not putting in the premium and going with the regular." Look, it's your choice, but I highly recommend spending a little extra for a good part than going with a no-name POS unit.
 
Yes the AMD64 range both 754Pin and 939Pin motherboards use hypertransport technology, just at different speeds.

HyperTransport technology is a high-speed, low latency, point-to-point link designed to increase the communication speed between integrated circuits in computers up to 48 times faster than some existing technologies.

HyperTransport technology helps reduce the number of buses in a system, which can reduce system bottlenecks and enable today's faster microprocessors to use system memory more efficiently in high-end multiprocessor systems.

I believe 754Pin Motherboards run at: 1000-1600mhz depending on the manufacturer and model, and 939Pin 1000-2000mhz. Although i do not have figures / facts to hand.
 
But, realize that FSB shouldn't be the almighty thing you look at. When the P4 came out, the 1.3GHz part, while it did have 400MHz FSB, it was soundly beaten by a 1.0GHz CPU with a 133MHz FSB ---a Pentium 3. Numbers are nice, but don't rely on them to determine which is faster between two different CPUs (i.e. Athlon 64 vs. Pentium 4).

However, technically, the P4 has a quad-pumped bus, so the base FSB for the P4 is 100, 133, 200, or even 266 (266x4 = the 1066MHz FSB). On the side of AMD, they do it with DDR, so you get 100, 133, 166, and 200MHz (all x2). This, of course, is the source of confusion for n00bs more than occasionally.
 
For CPUs, how the specifications affect the performance is mainly determined by the architecture. The P4s are sensitive to cache, thats why Intel put out the extreme edition with 2mb cache because it would give a boost in performance. AMD chips aren't as sensitive.
 
Again this measurement is not comparable, much like the processor clock speeds between AMD and Intel. The FSB speed for the AMD's stating 1000-2000Mhz ranges are not measuring the same architecture that you would find in an Intel based system. The AMD processors have an on-die memory controller. The "fsb" is in effect more onboard than anything else. So, memory, and bandwidth intensive programs will perform better. Hypertransport is really a measurement of the spped in which the data transfers to and from the on-die memory controller to the DDR.This is still how AMD and Intel in affect do the same thinig in different ways. Intel bump the cache on the Extreme Edition processor, while AMD enhanced the performance of memory bandwidth.

Games that are written to be more memory dependant will perfrom significantly better on the AMD, whereas games being very processor heavy tend to perform better on Intel.

It can be a tough choice, but when you are comparing these higher end processors, you can almost slip a hair with the realized differences.
 
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