new CPU or more memory?

S

silverphoenix

Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2006
Messages
780
I'm contemplating which one to ugprade. Currently I have

A64 3000 Venice @2.45
512 Corsair CMX PC3200
A8N-E
X1900XT 256

Is it worth upgrading the cpu to an opteron 165 or should I get 2x512 PC4000 sticks so I can run the divider at 333 instead of 266?
 
Now is not the time to upgrade RAM, especially at these high prices. However, I'm afraid DDR will only go higher, due to less demand (DDR2 is more in demand now) - but then again, I dont know the future, lol. I'd sell your mobo/cpu/ram and upgrade all 3.
 
enginurd said:
Now is not the time to upgrade RAM, especially at these high prices. However, I'm afraid DDR will only go higher, due to less demand (DDR2 is more in demand now) - but then again, I dont know the future, lol. I'd sell your mobo/cpu/ram and upgrade all 3.
Click to expand...


I just recently upgraded my mobo to use PCI-E. I have a budget around 180ish, I would love to get me an opteron 165 so I can encode faster etc, but I'm afraid the entire system may be bottlenecked by 512mb ram. But you do have a point I don't want to invest too much into a soon to be obsolete stuff.
 
512 MB RAM isnt even enough for Windows XP let alone games. Definitely get the RAM.
 
Upgrade the RAM. It would give you much more of a performance boost than upgrading the processor would. 512MB gets to be a bottleneck if your doing anything serious. If you had more money to spend, I would say go ahead and grab 2GB of RAM instead of upgrading to only 1GB.
 
silverphoenix said:
I just recently upgraded my mobo to use PCI-E. I have a budget around 180ish, I would love to get me an opteron 165 so I can encode faster etc, but I'm afraid the entire system may be bottlenecked by 512mb ram. But you do have a point I don't want to invest too much into a soon to be obsolete stuff.
Click to expand...
The 3800+ X2 performs just as well as the Opteron165. I have both, and the extra cache doesnt help as much as you'd think, lol. Higher clockspeed helps performace much more than extra cache (with these a64 chips). More ram would definately help your current system. I suggest checkin out the FS/FT forums or ebay and getting a 1GB kit there for around $120 max. If you could, wait a bit longer til you have around $220 and get a 2GB kit.

You're running at 2.45Ghz, 9x273Mhz? with a 266 divider for the ram, putting your ram at 182Mhz(DDR364)?! why not run it at a 300 divider, putting it at 205Mhz(DDR410)?
 
enginurd said:
The 3800+ X2 performs just as well as the Opteron165. I have both, and the extra cache doesnt help as much as you'd think, lol. Higher clockspeed helps performace much more than extra cache (with these a64 chips). More ram would definately help your current system. I suggest checkin out the FS/FT forums or ebay and getting a 1GB kit there for around $120 max. If you could, wait a bit longer til you have around $220 and get a 2GB kit.

You're running at 2.45Ghz, 9x273Mhz? with a 266 divider for the ram, putting your ram at 182Mhz(DDR364)?! why not run it at a 300 divider, putting it at 205Mhz(DDR410)?
Click to expand...

I just said the opteron 165 cuz its on sale at monarch. And I can't run a 300 divider cuz the A8N-E I have goes from 266-333... If I had some PC3700 or PC4000 ram then I can run a higher divider.
 
RAM . . . if you plan on using this system for a while yet get 1GB of RAM. I dont know if its worth putting 2GB in unless you are giving the system a complete overhaul and spending a fair amount of money.
 
If you currently have $180 to spend, why not both?

Sell your 3000+ for about $40 profit after Paypal and shipping fees and get a 512MB stick of your RAM for $70 and a used 3800 X2 or Opt 165 with the remaining $150.

Then save up to replace that RAM with 1x2GB and then start hoarding your memory to upgrade to quad core and a G80 or R600.
 
I'm thinking of keeping my cpu and mebe get an xtra stick of ram, but I can't find this model anywhere now... Corsair CMX512-C2
 
thats because they don't make it anymore. Sell your current stick and buy a matched pair. Or see if you can find that same model on ebay or fs/ft forum.
 
i would buy a two gig kit 1gig with your vidcard is almost tragic, the 512 you have now is criminal. For like 215 buck you can get a decent 2 gig kit thats what I would do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top