Need suggestion for X2 upgrade

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Balix

n00b
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
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ASRock AM2V890-VSTA Socket AM2 $62.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2000MHz $150.00
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM (DDR2 800) $96.49
GIGABYTE GV-NX73G128D-RH Geforce 7300GS $55.99

Everything is about $380 after shipping.

Should i get a stick of 1 GB memory or two sticks of 512 MB? Dunno if either situation makes a difference.
 
If you have the dough, get 2G (2x1gb), otherwise, get 2x512MB so you can run your mem dual channel, it helps speed a ton. But I wouldn't build a dually rig without 2, because think, ya have two processors to address, why limit them to 512mb each(theoretically of course)

Also, if ya play games, at LEAST get a 7600GT, and if you don't, WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?!;)
 
Read the motherboard manual, because if you go with 2x512 sticks and decide to upgrade later to 4x512. You may need sticks with chips on a single side, so you dont take a proformance hit on the clock speed, in dual channel mode.
 
tenpinsniper said:
Read the motherboard manual, because if you go with 2x512 sticks and decide to upgrade later to 4x512. You may need sticks with chips on a single side, so you dont take a proformance hit on the clock speed, in dual channel mode.
Click to expand...

aside from the bump to 2T (which is essentially meaningless) I cant name anything thats had to do this for awhile.

I currently have 4x512 at spec, which is 2.5-3-3-6 @2T ddr400.
 
What about getting a Biostar board with the 6100 onboard...just a thought. Its roughly the same as the asrock board...then get a 7600 GT sooner rather than later...
 
I was thinking of replacing that Vid card with a:

SAPPHIRE 100595L Radeon X700PRO 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Chipset Manufacturer: ATI
Core clock: 420MHz
D-SUB: 1
DirectX: DirectX 9
DVI: 1
Memory Clock: 860MHz
Memory Interface: 128-bit
OpenGL: OpenGL 2.0
PixelPipelines: 8
TV-Out: S-Video/Composite Out

$48.99 (dunno why it's cheaper than the Nvidia GS but the specs are much better)
 
rysher said:
there's abig performance difference between 1t and 2t.
Click to expand...

no, theres not. You only see any real difference in synthetic benchmarks like sandra. the supposed major differences in real world apps is a myth. there was a sticky in memory at one point, and you can google all the evidence you want.
 
Tutelary said:
no, theres not. You only see any real difference in synthetic benchmarks like sandra. the supposed major differences in real world apps is a myth. there was a sticky in memory at one point, and you can google all the evidence you want.
Click to expand...
tell that (cf)eclipse.pm him- that's his exact nick.
 
rysher said:
tell that (cf)eclipse.pm him- that's his exact nick.
Click to expand...

eclipse will tell you the same thing. most apps fall within 2 and 3 percent. The performance difference is meaningless.

Anandtech has had several large theads on this. For some reason I cant locate the thread itself in their database, but here is the google cache, for starters (Anand must have lost a hard drive somewhere along the way)
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cach...+2t&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=firefox-a
also
http://www.overclock.net/amd-memory/32605-1t-vs-2t-command-rate-there.html

there are plenty of others. I dont want to spend all day googling stuff you can google yourself, quite honestly.
 
Tutelary said:
aside from the bump to 2T (which is essentially meaningless) I cant name anything thats had to do this for awhile.

I currently have 4x512 at spec, which is 2.5-3-3-6 @2T ddr400.
Click to expand...

I have a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, and 4x512, at DDR333, as far I can tell this is a limitaion of motherboard.
 
Balix said:
I was thinking of replacing that Vid card with a:

SAPPHIRE 100595L Radeon X700PRO 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Chipset Manufacturer: ATI
Core clock: 420MHz
D-SUB: 1
DirectX: DirectX 9
DVI: 1
Memory Clock: 860MHz
Memory Interface: 128-bit
OpenGL: OpenGL 2.0
PixelPipelines: 8
TV-Out: S-Video/Composite Out

$48.99 (dunno why it's cheaper than the Nvidia GS but the specs are much better)
Click to expand...

I would go with that I have one in my secondary comp and its a good card it will even game pretty well if you dont care about high res and eye candy. The reason its cheaper is the fact that its prob almost a 2 year old design right now. But all in all its a good card. I recomend it.
 
tenpinsniper said:
I have a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, and 4x512, at DDR333, as far I can tell this is a limitaion of motherboard.
Click to expand...
the speed drop is a result of the CPU core, not your MoBo. this was changed/fixed in venice (E3 and newer) and all AM2 cores so that when all DIMM slots are populated (using E3 or later) your can still operate your RAM at PC3200/DDR400.

with all DIMM pop'd in my K8N-SLI (OCZ and Corsair before i went with 2 XMS gig sticks) and my 3000+ Venice i could run my RAM @ 235mHz no problem. was not possible with a Winnie.

I was and am not all that taken with the 7300's. the 7600 and better are nice, but after trying a friends AM2 w/3500+ and a 7300... i thought my 6600GT AGP was more enjoyable. i have not used the x700Pro, but comparing specs alone (tricky business there) it seems like a better choice. and going Dual Channel is the way to go too. i played with different configs in RAM on my first A64-s939 in a nF-3 Ultra board, and there is a very real difference between Single and Dual Channel. not at all like Socket A, where it only mattered durring boot so you could read DUAL CHANNEL ENABLED... and then meant nothing lol
 
tenpinsniper said:
I have a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, and 4x512, at DDR333, as far I can tell this is a limitaion of motherboard.
Click to expand...

some boards wont fill 4 slots and still do 400. (rather lame). and yes, while the core matters, some boards are still incapable of 400 even with a venice/X2/etc
 
Got a new X2 and the ram (2x512, and existing 2x512) it is working now @ 400, basically have to override in the bios. I read my manuel and it said would run at @ 333. Guess its kind of a overclock/ride.

Learn something new everyday! ;)
 
X2 with D-C DDR400 Goodness!

now, depending on your board, you could see just how fast your RAM will go ;)

210....215...220... heheh
 
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