Is my 4850 CPU bound?

S

Svetgar

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
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I have a x2 3800 and 1 gig of memory.

If I were to upgrade either the CPU or the memory (or both) will I see improvement?
 
games you play, monitors native res, eye FPS tolerance (as in whats comfertable whats not) all useful in answering the CPU question.

In regards to a ram upgrade, I would do it. 2 gigs is the norm these days. 4 gigs is a waste on anything other than a 64bit copy of Vista. While it might not change your in game FPS dramatically, everything else will appear to be snappier including loading times, minimizing times, etc.

One thing to double check is if your on socket AM2 or 939. They are not compatable with each other and each takes a different type of ram. CPU-z will tell you with certainty. a 2 gig kit of DDR2 can be found for $50 these days, but DDR is obsolete and last I checked the best deal around was on some patriot sticks with a blue heat spreader going for ~$35 per (1GB) stick. Also, when you upgrade your ram try to make sure its of the same speed as the stuff that you currently have, and is capable of running in dual channel with another slot filled. If your on DDR2 I suggest you get a 2 gig kit and sell your current 1 gig (or 2 512MB) stick(s).
 
It is a socket 939. My monitor is 1900x1280. The gig i have is 2 x 512.

Main games are Age of Conan, STALKER, WoW, TF2, Half Life, and others.
 
Svetgar said:
It is a socket 939. My monitor is 1900x1280. The gig i have is 2 x 512.

Main games are Age of Conan, STALKER, WoW, TF2, Half Life, and others.
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Well first up you have Socket 939 and trying to get CPU upgrades for those is like trying to find keys you dropped in the bottom of the ocean. Sometimes you get lucky, however without a motherboard swap, you are looking at a very priced CPU upgrade for 939 platform.

I have AoC, WoW, TF2, and a few other games on my main rig (see sig) and also on a X2 3800 with 2GB of RAM. For those games, I would definitely say go with more RAM! 2GB is going to cost you $40 and 4GB would run about $75.

Lets say you had 4GB right now and I took it away from you so you were down to 1GB, you would want to cut yourself instead of deal with that little RAM again on a gaming system :p
 
what he said: I'm also on S939, and 4200+ is about as good as you'll get. However, if I remember my history well enough, the 3800+ overclocks better? I may be on crack, but at least it feels good. :D Definitely at least double your RAM. I'm getting ready to move to a different socket now.
 
I realize that there is no hope of finding a CPU upgrade for a s939. I've priced memory and 2 gigs is going to run at about $70.

I'm just not sure if $70 worth of outdated memory is going to make enough of a difference to be money well spent, or if I should pony up the other $130 and just get a new system altogether.
 
Svetgar said:
I realize that there is no hope of finding a CPU upgrade for a s939. I've priced memory and 2 gigs is going to run at about $70.

I'm just not sure if $70 worth of outdated memory is going to make enough of a difference to be money well spent, or if I should pony up the other $130 and just get a new system altogether.
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What kind of memory are you looking at where 2GB is $70 :eek:
 
ocellaris said:
What kind of memory are you looking at where 2GB is $70 :eek:
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DDR. Sometimes I see it for $30 per gig on sale

actually, Fry's has 2GB of Kingston DDR for $50 after a $20 MIR. I still would prefer to get a new motherboard instead. You can get an AMD/ECS combo really cheap at Fry's almost every week
 
ocellaris said:
Ouch, original DDR. Grab a cheap Intel chip (E21x0), P35 based motherboard, some DDR2 and move on.
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Can't argue with this! I saw 2gigs of Crucial Ballistix Tracer for $20 AR on the egg... or I believe I saw a few combo deals with 4850's with DDR2 Ram as a combo for $5 extra.. Here it is - Visiontek 4850 + 2gigs Cruical DDR2 667 ram for $200.98. Fantastic deal.

e2180 Allendale: $70
HD 4850 +RAM: $200
Gigabyte P35 Motherboard: $75

Basically a new system (assuming you already have a PS, OS and HDD) for under $350. Wow.
 
ocellaris said:
Well first up you have Socket 939 and trying to get CPU upgrades for those is like trying to find keys you dropped in the bottom of the ocean. Sometimes you get lucky...
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I'm sorry you found someones keys at the bottom of the ocean?
 
ocellaris said:
Ouch, original DDR. Grab a cheap Intel chip (E21x0), P35 based motherboard, some DDR2 and move on.
Click to expand...

ehhh I'd go with AMD. 5000+ and a cheap AM2+ board, cheaper and performs better (I said it. At the sub $130 price point I think AMD is on top.)
 
I would like to move towards a newer system.

But how much of an overall improvement will I expect it to make in real world games?
 
x2 3800+ are really good overclokers. If you have a decent mobo that allows bios tweaking for oc you should at least be able to get a 400-500 mhz overclock, making it equall to 4800+.
 
Well IMO, 5000+ Black Edition FTW more.

No need for a "decent" mobo, just one that can have multipliers and hopefully vCore.

3Ghz is no big deal, 3.2 is what most can do.
 
If he waited this long to upgrade, going to another X2 seems like a not very large jump, especially if he plans to keep the new rig as long as (I imagine) he kept the S939.
 
You are right Sethk. I built this system in 2004 with a a64, and in 2006 upgraded to the x2 3800. I don't really see the point in going to a x2 5000; it doesn't seem like a big enough upgrade to be worth the trouble.
 
I would definately say your processor/motherboard is going to be the bottleneck. I'm still on a Pentium D 830 from about three years back and my 4850 never crosses 70% GPU but plays Crysis flawlessly at 1920x1200 @ Medium/High.
 
Upgrade you ram to 2gb, get one with an infineon ce-6/samsung uccc ic on it and oc your cpu to 2.8Ghz-3.0Ghz. That should take care of that card. Hence, upgrading your ram from 1gb to 2gb already gives you a nice boost. Just make sure to run your games at high res w/ full eye candy though:D
 
I think if you were to upgrade one thing it would be the ram. 1gb isn't enough for games, you need 2gb. My brother has a s939 board with 2gb and a 8800gtx, everything looks nice on his computer at 1680.
 
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