AthlonXP3000+ --> Athlon64 3500+ worth it?

[Sxotty]

QFT.

What does 10-20% do for you anyway? I'd rather lower the voltage and spin down the fan. For video cards, you need 60% to get an extra resolution, and even then only if you're not CPU limited. 15% is meaningless except for benchmark wars. I wouldn't upgrade my video card unless it's a factor of 3 or 4 at least.

Something ridiculous like an dual core Opteron going from 1.8Ghz to 2.8GHz is a different story, though.

Running my a64 at 2.2ghz instead of 1.8 ghz provides a very noticeable speed increase, and it still runs quite cool on stock cooling, my motherboard doesn't even allow me to change the voltage

 

[Entropy]

Thanks for your input guys, I'll go for A64 3500+ or maybe faster and the potentially problematic ASRock dual mobo (AGP and PCI-E), but I think I'll wait till after christmass since the prices usually halve then...

Not in this pricebracket, they don't. Buy now, and have the luxury of plenty of time to assemble the system and (re)install all the software. Ugh.

I made the move to a 3500+ a year ago, and my experience was mixed. Since you specifically mention gaming as the reason to upgrade, you should consider what kind of gamer you are. Do you play games where you currently feel frustrated in terms of responsiveness? If you do, then going 3500+ may help. But only if you are limited by the host system rather than the gfx-card at those points where a bit more power would be helpful.

Personally, I start out with very low graphical settings, and increase them until I feel that responsiveness and control is impacted. For me, a fast host system is important. Other people prefer watching the blinkenlights, and will mostly be gfx-card limited in which case the improved memory subsystem of the 3500+ will matter little, obviously.

In order to get the most out of your purchases, you've got to be honest with yourself.

I'm generally happy with my move, but it didn't change my world, and overall I can't really say that the hassle + cost was really worth it. These days, I seem to upgrade out of habit, rather than either expecting or getting a significantly changed user experience.

A word of warning about that Asrock - it has had problems with PCI-E 16 gfx cards. Check the forums carefully before going that route.

 

[_xxx_]

Entropy: I _have_ to upgrade because the second IDE controller of my mobo is fried and since I have to buy a new board, I'll do the transition to 939 in the process. No point buying a new Socket A mobo. I want to keep my GT and be able to upgrade to PCI-E, thus the mobo. If it sucks, I'll return it and get me a cheap-o AGP version with nForce3 or such.

I like the concept of PCI-E and AGP on one board and am curious how it performs. I read lots about it and know it might have problems, but hey - new toys to fiddle around with are always welcome

 

[Entropy]

Entropy: I _have_ to upgrade because the second IDE controller of my mobo is fried and since I have to buy a new board, I'll do the transition to 939 in the process. No point buying a new Socket A mobo. I want to keep my GT and be able to upgrade to PCI-E, thus the mobo. If it sucks, I'll return it and get me a cheap-o AGP version with nForce3 or such.

I like the concept of PCI-E and AGP on one board and am curious how it performs. I read lots about it and know it might have problems, but hey - new toys to fiddle around with are always welcome

Heh.
Fiddling around is one thing. Tearing your hair out by the roots is quite another.

Actually buying a socket 939 is a tricky decision right now with socket M2 coming out quite soon. If I were you, I would find the same mobo you have now, it should be Real Cheap particularly second hand, and save my upgrade money for another half a year or so. Socket M2 and then 65nm from AMD and at roughly the same time Conroe from Intel which seems to be their first truly interesting desktop offering in quite some time.
Interesting stuff. It might not be the perfect time to sink your money into socket 939 Mobo + CPU (+DRAM?), in spite of the drastically superior memory subsystem compared to what you have.

But I can understand that it doesn't feel particularly exciting to move nowhere when buying something new.

 

[Spaceman-Spiff]

I don't oc, never have and never will...

Why not. If it breaks you were planning to get a new one anyway .

Ok, let me put it this way: how much faster would D3, Q4, HL2 run in %, approximatly? Are there any comparisons somewhere? I found none of use...

Here's a Doom 3 CPU Comparisson: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7

I also found an HL2 one, but doesn't include Athlon XP: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2330&p=2

 

[_xxx_]

Just posting this with the upgraded machine, bought the 3500+ Venice and a cheap-o NF3-250 mobo from Gigabyte. Haven't tested yet, but it already feels quite a bit faster.

Anyway, thanks all for the advice!

 

[Druga Runda]

Just posting this with the upgraded machine, bought the 3500+ Venice and a cheap-o NF3-250 mobo from Gigabyte. Haven't tested yet, but it already feels quite a bit faster.

Anyway, thanks all for the advice!

congratz...

 

[_xxx_]

Almost doubled the speed in 3D! Very cool! Doom3 timedemo went from 41 to 77 fps, CS:S from 75 to 107, all in 1280x1024 with 2xAA and 4xAF without any tweaking.

 

[Druga Runda]

Almost doubled the speed in 3D! Very cool! Doom3 timedemo went from 41 to 77 fps, CS:S from 75 to 107, all in 1280x1024 with 2xAA and 4xAF without any tweaking.

... glad you are happy, I am sure your system feels a lot more snappier too when not gaming (at least mine did feel that way to me )

 

[_xxx_]

Yes, in every way. Much smoother.

 

[aaronbond]

I didn't even read the thread. I was in your situation though and the answer

HELL YES!

What a vast improvement! Make sure you get a Venice!

 

[_xxx_]

I didn't even read the thread. I was in your situation though and the answer

HELL YES!

What a vast improvement! Make sure you get a Venice!

I have. It runs 27°C idle and 30-31 under load, so I might even overclock it one day if needed...

 

[Tahir2]

What motherboard did you get in the end?

 

[Nappe1]

I am about jump in A64 wagon as well.

and the scariest news comes here: I am about to buy nVidia chipset based mobo! Can you believe that? Nappe1 is going to have mostly nVidia based system!

my nowadays system stands as:
2600XP+
- Asus A7V880 mobo
- 6600GT AGP 128MB
- 1GB DDR400 (2x256MB (Kingston 512MB KIT) & 1x512MB)
- 200GB Seagate S-ATA
- 350W HEC PSU

next the changes:
- buying MSI K8N Neo2 -FX (nForce3 250GB with AGP): -65 Euros.
- getting rid of 512MB DDR400 stick: +30 Euros
- buying Kingston 1GB DDR400 KIT (so total will be 1.5 GB): -99 Euros.
- buying Athlon 64 X2 3800+: -367 Euros.

I am willing to see if I'll get as big boost as I got when going Celeron300A to Slot A Thunderbird 700MHz in late 90's. And why Dual Core? well, I need more power to multitasking and I haven't played as much as used to lately.

 

[PARANOiA]

I'm in a similar position to the original poster. My system as stands is:

• Athlon XP 3200+
• 1gb RAM (1x512 2x256) @ 400DDR
• Radeon 9500Pro (AGP)
• Abit NF7-S 2.0
• 530w PSU
• (The kicker) Dell 2405FPW 24" LCD Native res 1920x1200.

Can I ask for some system building advice please? I'm up for a long-term upgrade, and tend to buy all my stuff from this place (yeah yeah, bloody Australians). Their prices tend to be pretty good.

Based on what I've read here, I want a 3800+ X2 Dual Core. Can I ask suggestions for the rest based on what's available at MSY? My first pick for what I want are:

• Either Gigabyte K8NF-9 or Asus A8N-E NF4 Ultra
• 2x1gb Ram (cheapest, ditching my current RAM as junk)
• Maybe X800GTO, would like suggestions.. $500 or less, but most is much higher or lower. I doubt there's anything there which would run decent games at native res for my LCD, but I'm sure anything will be an improvement.

And a couple of silly questions:

• My AGP drives will work on my new mobo, right?
• The mobo's will fit in my ATX case, right?
• What will I need to so for software (eg, just get Windows x64, or is there more to it?) ?

Thanks in advance :]

 

[_xxx_]

What motherboard did you get in the end?

GigaByte GA-K8NSC-939

 

[aaronbond]

if you're all about NEW and ZE BEST then wait till M2 (or w/e they're calling it now) Next-gen socket w/ DDR500 support. Or of course when that comes out 939 will drop. All up to you!

 

[Tahir2]

I'm in a similar position to the original poster. My system as stands is:

• Athlon XP 3200+
• 1gb RAM (1x512 2x256) @ 400DDR
• Radeon 9500Pro (AGP)
• Abit NF7-S 2.0
• 530w PSU
• (The kicker) Dell 2405FPW 24" LCD Native res 1920x1200.

Can I ask for some system building advice please? I'm up for a long-term upgrade, and tend to buy all my stuff from this place (yeah yeah, bloody Australians). Their prices tend to be pretty good.

Based on what I've read here, I want a 3800+ X2 Dual Core. Can I ask suggestions for the rest based on what's available at MSY? My first pick for what I want are:

• Either Gigabyte K8NF-9 or Asus A8N-E NF4 Ultra
• 2x1gb Ram (cheapest, ditching my current RAM as junk)
• Maybe X800GTO, would like suggestions.. $500 or less, but most is much higher or lower. I doubt there's anything there which would run decent games at native res for my LCD, but I'm sure anything will be an improvement.

And a couple of silly questions:

• My AGP drives will work on my new mobo, right?
• The mobo's will fit in my ATX case, right?
• What will I need to so for software (eg, just get Windows x64, or is there more to it?) ?

Thanks in advance :]

Your AGP drives?
There are no AGP ports on the two motherboards you mentioned. They are both PCI-Express.

Out of the two I would go with the ASUS A8N-E but there isn't too much in it to be honest.

They are both ATX standard motherboards so should fit in any ATX compliant case.

Software wise you can continue to use 32bit software like Windows XP. I would not recommend XP-64 to be honest as it needs new drivers and not all games work with it. I assume you are aiming for a gaming/entertainment machine.

 

[PARANOiA]

Your AGP drives?
There are no AGP ports on the two motherboards you mentioned. They are both PCI-Express.

Out of the two I would go with the ASUS A8N-E but there isn't too much in it to be honest.

They are both ATX standard motherboards so should fit in any ATX compliant case.

Software wise you can continue to use 32bit software like Windows XP. I would not recommend XP-64 to be honest as it needs new drivers and not all games work with it. I assume you are aiming for a gaming/entertainment machine.

AGP == IDE. I'm not really acronym friendly With a little googling I can see this won't be a problem.

When is M2 expected? I've been pushing back on an upgrade for about six months, since there always seems to be something *just* over the horizon.

Thanks all

 

[Tahir2]

I believe M2 is Q2 or maybe Q3.

M2 will become the highend, Socket939 will become the value segment and Socket754 will be phased out.

If this goes to plan AMD will release M2 processors at the very top end of the market. Traditionally AMD are slow to transition completely to new sockets in comparison to Intel so I would not be concerned about M2 for 2006 at least.