4600+ X2 > Upgrade to ?

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W.O.T. Stang

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Messages
363
My X2 4600+ died today, and im looking at replacing it with the fastest X2 possible (non-phenom, since my board wont support it fully, if at all.) I saw the new 7750 x2's, but they look to be basically a phenom in X2 form. I that it supports the faster HT, supposedly has disabled cores..etc. Not sure how true that is, hence the purpose of this thread.

Any suggestions on what to replace it with? It looks like the fastest X2 available is either the new 7750 or the 6400 which is strangely $15 more.

The 7750 is supposedly a phenom architecture in X2 clothing, which im not so sure my KN9 board would support.

Any suggestions on what to go with, and if i will have any issues running a higher end X2 on my current board?

Thanks in advance.
 
ahh sorry didn't catch that. I'm not sure, but I don't believe that your board can support it
 
Yeah from the looks of the abit site. you can only go X2.. so the probably the best deal for you would be the X2 6400.

Site doesnt say anything about supporting the 7750...
 
i think it might be best if you just wait it out for another month and go Denab with a new motherboard of course
 
This certainly puts me in a bit of a tight spot... I need the computer running soon. I could get a replacement CPU for ~$40, but the 7750, which is a big upgrade, is just about $30 more, but no promise of board support. I always could get a 6400+ and call it a day, but its also $15 more then the 7750.. more price, less performance.. but still an upgrade over what i had.

On top of that, I just learned that Abit is (has been) going out of business, so there is no way there will ever be a BIOS update for a phenom to work on my AM2 board. AMD claims that AM2+ and AM2 are compatible, but what really boggles my mind is that the 7750 (which IS a phenom) is marketed as a 64 x2, yet there is no compatibility guarantee that it will work.

So basically.. i hate to buy a replacement part when an upgrade is $30 away, but im not sure it will work.. A phenom at this stage would be a huge waste of money with the phenom II's just around the corner.. with my only other option would be a full board/cpu/ram upgrade when those arrive.

So my biggest question.. Are most AM2+ cpus not backward compatible with AM2 boards? I know they have the whole integrated memory controller and everything, that the board probably needs a BIOS update for, but i know HT clocks down automatically. I just wish I could find someone out there that has a KN9 that is running a 7750 before i make an $80 mistake and a week of wasted time.

Edit: Apparently someone tried a phenom 9500 w/ latest BIOS on my board. no POST. Still doesnt explain how they can market the 7750 as a 64x2 when its a phenom core that some am2 boards will not support.
 
The Jinx said:
how much are you planning to spend and what do you do with your computer?
Click to expand...

Gaming mainly.. but i use it for just about everything.

Looking to spend ~$300.. which would get me a decent phenom X4 and a middle-of-the-line board. Which is all I need currently. It's tempting to wait for the Phenom II's, but i never upgrade with the most recent technology, and they are only releasing two cpu's right off, which are going to be $300+ not counting board and 1066+ DDR2 and later DDR3.

Speaking of.. how are ATI chipsets these days? Ive been an avid Nvidia chipset supporter since they first started taking off in '04.. but the AMD look to be on-par if not better in some cases, and there are only a handful of Nvidia chipset boards compared to ATI on newegg.
 
the AMD 780 chipsets are pretty damn good for the price..

You can get a decent X fire mobo for 80- 90 bucks, Then a quad ($170) or cheap X2 ($50 - $80) then wait for the AM3 CPUs.
 
Snappshoota said:
the AMD 780 chipsets are pretty damn good for the price..

You can get a decent X fire mobo for 80- 90 bucks, Then a quad ($170) or cheap X2 ($50 - $80) then wait for the AM3 CPUs.
Click to expand...

Just curious how you like your ASRock A780GXE? It looks to be a well-featured board for the price. One concern i have, will DDR2-800 be able to be used with it?
 
:) I just ordered it... Will be here tuesday.. (damn holidays.. :( )

But from tons of research and after owning 3 other ASRock mobos, Im pretty positive its gonna be perfect.

And yes DDR2 800 will work fine.. You have the optiion to upgrade to 1066 with a Quad core.;
 
Snappshoota said:
:) I just ordered it... Will be here tuesday.. (damn holidays.. :( )

But from tons of research and after owning 3 other ASRock mobos, Im pretty positive its gonna be perfect.

And yes DDR2 800 will work fine.. You have the optiion to upgrade to 1066 with a Quad core.;
Click to expand...

Excellent. Im heavily considering that board now. Im not too fond of onboard graphics because i never use them, but for that price, ill take what i get. :)

Hopefully i run into no issues using an nvidia card and ati/amd chipset/integrated video. lol
 
W.O.T. Stang said:
Hopefully i run into no issues using an nvidia card and ati/amd chipset/integrated video. lol
Click to expand...

Nah you wont have any problems.. I had an Asrock AliveNF6G that came with an Nforce430 chipset, and onboard geforce 6150. Ran onboard while, then picked up a HD 3850 and dropped it in with no problems.
 
Snappshoota said:
Nah you wont have any problems.. I had an Asrock AliveNF6G that came with an Nforce430 chipset, and onboard geforce 6150. Ran onboard while, then picked up a HD 3850 and dropped it in with no problems.
Click to expand...


Is that in Vista or XP? I know it would be really easy in XP, not so sure with Vista though.
 
Right on, I was wondering the same thing. Been thinking of getting a new board very soon and having issues deciding on a 790FX/GX or a 780A sli(FoxConn Destoryer) board. I want to stick with the two 8800GT 512's I have right now, but wonder if the O/C headroom on the sb750 would be worth going back to a single nVidia card solution.
 
Go with the 790 chipset. That is what the Phenom II is designed to run best with.

I buy the Biostar TA790GX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138128

open box on Newegg for $75 shipped. I have done that twice with no problems whatsoever. This is an awesome MB for $75.

This particular board does not have the full sideband memory however, only 64 megs so if you think you need more, get the next step up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138130

Of course if you happen to have a brand preference then go with that brand. The 790s are "mid range" boards, but full ATX size. They have worked well for me and the Biostar consistently has the best ratings on Newegg.

As for memory, if you have DDR2 now that will work with the new motherboard until you want to pop for the higher speed. ATM the 800 is pretty much the best bang for the buck. From the tests I have seen, the move to higher speed gives you < 5% speed increase, and often not that. Now when the Phenom II comes along the picture may change, or may not.

That leaves the CPU. Give me your address and I will mail you an X2 3800 to tide you over till you are ready to pop for the better CPU. My web site is in my sig and my email is in the web site. I have an x2 3800 sitting around from an upgrade. I'll even clean it and put a dab of Arctic Silver on it.
 
Thats just about what I wanted to hear, I do like Biostar boards. Right now I'm running a Biostar T-Force4 SLI, and it has not given me any troubles over the last 4 years. Being that old, means I am running off DDR400. The only parts that will be cannibalized into my new system will be my two 8800GT 512's, the brand new BFG ES-800w PSU, and the one SATA DVD drive I have(other is IDE and going to my parents). I figure why not just jump in with DDR2-1066 right off the bat since I don't allready own any slower compatible memory, and a good set of Mushkin is only $75 on newegg. The 7750 also seems like an allright holdover CPU till the new quads come out and I will probably go with that. I can only assume you are offering the 3800+ to the OP since his CPU burned out.
 
Jcolby,
I appreciate your generosity, however I have a 2800+ lying around that i can pop in it, as well as a 2nd computer i use as a file server (which i am on now) until my parts get here. I just wont be able to play any games, which is no big deal for a week. It'll make me appreciate the upgrade that much more. :)

Thank you again for offering though. :cool:
 
Always welcome.

An X2 2800 won't play games eh? Shows how out of it I am.:eek:

So what did you end up ordering? I seem to have missed that.
 
jcolby said:
Always welcome.

An X2 2800 won't play games eh? Shows how out of it I am.:eek:

So what did you end up ordering? I seem to have missed that.
Click to expand...

An X2 3800 probably would, but mine is the original single core athlon 2800, so its not very powerful. I could play *some* games, but nothing 3d oriented or made in the last 3 years.. I think the GF3 is a DX7 card.. so its pretty outdated. Which is why its in a server computer.

As far as what im getting.. im still deciding on motherboard chipsets, but CPU-wise, it'll be somewhere in the Phenom 9500 or above range.. all depending on pricing. Ill hold off on the phenom II's for now.. waiting to see what prices do on the 8th.
 
Well today newegg dropped the prices of the AMD Quads (Dunno if its a special deal or if they are going to stay like that ).. Lets hope with the Phenom II's they go even lower..

I just hate how after I buy the damn 9850 they drop the price.. For some reason it always happens to me, no matter what it is... I must be too impatient :(
 
jcolby said:
Go with the 790 chipset. That is what the Phenom II is designed to run best with.

I buy the Biostar TA790GX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138128

open box on Newegg for $75 shipped. I have done that twice with no problems whatsoever. This is an awesome MB for $75.

This particular board does not have the full sideband memory however, only 64 megs so if you think you need more, get the next step up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138130

Of course if you happen to have a brand preference then go with that brand. The 790s are "mid range" boards, but full ATX size. They have worked well for me and the Biostar consistently has the best ratings on Newegg.

As for memory, if you have DDR2 now that will work with the new motherboard until you want to pop for the higher speed. ATM the 800 is pretty much the best bang for the buck. From the tests I have seen, the move to higher speed gives you < 5% speed increase, and often not that. Now when the Phenom II comes along the picture may change, or may not.

That leaves the CPU. Give me your address and I will mail you an X2 3800 to tide you over till you are ready to pop for the better CPU. My web site is in my sig and my email is in the web site. I have an x2 3800 sitting around from an upgrade. I'll even clean it and put a dab of Arctic Silver on it.
Click to expand...

One other thing, was ACC working for you on this board? I was told in another thread that it didn't work right. Not sure if they had updated the bios though. or much of the other details behind this reasoning. Though now that I look at it the board is not going to work for me since I do need eSATA. I could keep using the PCIE 1x eSATA raid card I got, but would rather have it onboard with my new build. This could still work as a good mainboard for the OP, it was never implied that they want the best o/c options. For the price it looks like a pretty good deal.

hstuehmeyer2000 said:
ACC doesn't work properly on the TA790gx a2+
Click to expand...
 
AciDeX said:
One other thing, was ACC working for you on this board? I was told in another thread that it didn't work right. Not sure if they had updated the bios though. or much of the other details behind this reasoning.
Click to expand...

Forgive my noobness.. but what exactly is ACC and what chipsets support it?

AciDeX said:
This could still work as a good mainboard for the OP, it was never implied that they want the best o/c options. For the price it looks like a pretty good deal.
Click to expand...

Overclocking is not a huge issue to me, although I am probably going to go with a bit better chipset and the 9850BE (saves $20 for a better board, and there are no 9950BE's for sale).

Still trying to find a big difference between

North Bridge AMD 780G
South Bridge AMD SB700

and

North Bridge AMD 790GX
South Bridge AMD SB750

to justify the $25 price difference (essentially swapping the 9950 for the 9850BE for a bit better board to possibly OC someday down the road.)
 
ACC(Advanced Clock Calibration) and allows for complete o/c control from within windows or in the Bios. Its only available with the SB750 and even enables an extra Multiplier when using a Phenom CPU with an unlocked multi. If your at all familiar with overclocking you'll know that using a multiplier to increase clock speeds is stupidly easy. Often it doesn't even require an increase of core voltage for a noticeable o/c, and can have a great impact of performance. There are a few people on the forums here that got ahold of their 7750's already and got 'em up to 3.4ghz-3.5ghz on air easily with ACC.
 
AciDeX said:
ACC(Advanced Clock Calibration) and allows for complete o/c control from within windows or in the Bios. Its only available with the SB750 and even enables an extra Multiplier when using a Phenom CPU with an unlocked multi. If your at all familiar with overclocking you'll know that using a multiplier to increase clock speeds is stupidly easy. Often it doesn't even require an increase of core voltage for a noticeable o/c, and can have a great impact of performance. There are a few people on the forums here that got ahold of their 7750's already and got 'em up to 3.4ghz-3.5ghz on air easily with ACC.
Click to expand...

Nice! Im assuming this is only for Black Editions that have the unlocked multiplier from the factory? Otherwise you can just change FSB?
 
Mostly, from what it looks like you can still take advantage of ACC with a locked chip but like you said the multi would non-changeable.
 
W.O.T. Stang said:
An X2 3800 probably would, but mine is the original single core athlon 2800, so its not very powerful. I could play *some* games, but nothing 3d oriented or made in the last 3 years.. I think the GF3 is a DX7 card.. so its pretty outdated. Which is why its in a server computer.

As far as what im getting.. im still deciding on motherboard chipsets, but CPU-wise, it'll be somewhere in the Phenom 9500 or above range.. all depending on pricing. Ill hold off on the phenom II's for now.. waiting to see what prices do on the 8th.
Click to expand...

Sorry if I said 2800, I was referring to an X2 3800. Those were the workhorses back in the day and I have one laying around, which you may have if you want it. It will work in the AM2+ boards and will let you get your new system up and running, then drop in the Phenom (or whatever you go for) when you get it. When the Phenom II drops enough to make it worthwhile I will be shifting around my processors and retiring two more of the 3800 x2 procs.
 
W.O.T. Stang said:
Still trying to find a big difference between

North Bridge AMD 780G
South Bridge AMD SB700

and

North Bridge AMD 790GX
South Bridge AMD SB750

to justify the $25 price difference (essentially swapping the 9950 for the 9850BE for a bit better board to possibly OC someday down the road.)
Click to expand...

The difference is that it a generation newer and the graphics processor is noticeably more powerful. The whole point of the GX is to use the built-in graphics processor. If you plan on dropping in a Phenom II you would be better off going with the 790 chipset IMO.
 
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