Someone check my thinking please....

P

PhxGuy520

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
64
I am for the most part a hardware noob, but trying to get BF2 to work properly has made me learn a lot.

I am currently running the system in my signature, but I have been looking hard a the dual core chips.

How much of my current hardware would I have to replace if I went that route??? Am I thinking of this correctly...

Of course I would need a new mobo(d865perl). What does a mobo that can support dual core run?
I am running a AGP video card, so I would need to upgrade to PCI-e.
My ram is DDR, so I would need DDR2.
Sound card I could keep along with my DVD and CD burner.
I recently bought a 500w power supply, do you normally have to change that out as well?

Let me know if you see an error in my thinking or if you have any advice. Could I get a good bump in performance by just buying a mobo that will allow me to OC my CPU?
 
if you're willing to make the jump to AMD you can keep your DDR provided it is at least PC3200. You can get the following:

DFI LanParty UT: $128.99
or
ASUS A8N-SLI: $163.49


AMD 3500+ : $201

7800GT: $270

Total: Either $600 or $635 depending on mobo
 
They make Dual Core supporting motherbaords with AGP slots. They also now make an AGP 7800.

Power Supply is fine as long as it has 24 pin connector. DDRII is a waste of money at this time. You can easily find motherboards that run DDR, and use the current RAM you have.
 
Burner27 said:
if you're willing to make the jump to AMD you can keep your DDR provided it is at least PC3200. You can get the following:

DFI LanParty UT: $128.99
or
ASUS A8N32-SLI: $163.49


AMD 3500+ : $201

7800GT: $270

Total: Either $600 or $635 depending on mobo
Click to expand...


I would like to go the SLI route, since I think it will be useful in the future. But if I ever wanted to go DDR2 I would be looking at another mobo upgrade correct?

That a lot better then I thought though. Thanks for the reply!!!! :)
 
PhxGuy520 said:
I would like to go the SLI route, since I think it will be useful in the future. But if I ever wanted to go DDR2 I would be looking at another mobo upgrade correct?

That a lot better then I thought thought. Thanks for the reply!!!! :)
Click to expand...

Yes, if you want to go DDR2 you will need a new processor/mobo -- but not video card. AMD will be introducing the AM2 socket which uses DDR2 but from the tidbits I have been reading, the DDR2 on the AMD platform at this time offer "slight" improvement over DDR based mobos. If you look at my sig, I made the jump to DDR2 so all I would have to do is change mobo and processor for either platform.
 
Oh, and the motherboards I recommended to you already support dual core AMD CPUs.
 
mrmagoo_83 said:
They make Dual Core supporting motherbaords with AGP slots. They also now make an AGP 7800.

Power Supply is fine as long as it has 24 pin connector. DDRII is a waste of money at this time. You can easily find motherboards that run DDR, and use the current RAM you have.
Click to expand...

I actually bought my video card about a month ago just for BF2, that led to the RAM, which then led to my monitor. Having just bought it I would love to keep it, but I need to get more out of my CPU or get a new one. My 3dmark06 CPU score was 654. :mad:
 
Burner27 said:
if you're willing to make the jump to AMD you can keep your DDR provided it is at least PC3200. You can get the following:

DFI LanParty UT: $128.99
or
ASUS A8N-SLI: $163.49


AMD 3500+ : $201

7800GT: $270

Total: Either $600 or $635 depending on mobo
Click to expand...

Also if you dont mind me asking...Were are you getting your pricing.Just curious who you usually shop through.
 
TheTMan said:
You do know that dual core chips don't really help gaming at all, right?
Click to expand...


I was just reading about that actually...It may not help now since games are designed to take advantage of it, but I would assume that would one day change. I can't see this upgrade hurting me now since I would also be going from 6800GT AGP to a 7800 pci-e????
 
An Athlon64 X2 3800+ (dual core) will tend to run games the same as an Athlon64 3200+ (single core).

Even an Athlon64 3200+ would be much better for gaming than a P4 3.0

Although a couple current games are designed to take advantage of dual cores, even those show very little improvement from running on a single core. My guess is that it will be a year or more before we see a game that really shows a solid improvement by running on a dual core system.

Definitly go for a Athlon64
 
PhxGuy520 said:
I was just reading about that actually...It may not help now since games are designed to take advantage of it, but I would assume that would one day change. I can't see this upgrade hurting me now since I would also be going from 6800GT AGP to a 7800 pci-e????
Click to expand...

If gaming is your goal, the extra cost of DC isn't worth it. My bet is that you will have to do a complete rebuild some time before dual core will make a significant difference for gaming.

The bulk of the improvement you will see from the upgrade will be from the video card.
 
So, you need a new processor and mobo? And you want AGP?

You have 2 options.

1. DFI Nforce 3 UT 250GB ( Socket 754 and AGP)
AMD Sempron 2800+ 754
Keep ram and video card.

2. Asrock 939 AGP and PCIe mobo.
AMD 3200+ 939
Keep ram and video card

Option 1 will be cheaper, but option 2 might be better in the long run...
 
Currently all AMD processors use DDR ram. Depending how much you want to spend, there's a few options.

If you want to save some cash, and go with a decent dual core system, I'd go with an Opteron 165. If you get the retail they have a pretty nice heatsink included so that takes care of that. They also tend to overclock very well.

If you're keeping your old AGP card, get the ASRock 939Dual
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081
That gives you the option to upgrade to PCI-e later, but if you want PCI-e now, then don't get this board as there are better boards out there.

If you have extra cash and want to upgrade to a PCI-e card right away, then you gotta ask just how much more performance you want. A crossfire / SLI system (2 video cards) will tend to run you a lot more, and the motherboards for SLI systems tend to be more expensive as well.

For a single PCI-e video card motherboard, I'd go with a DFI NF4 Ultra-D:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152

As for a single video card, it also depends what kinda performance increase you want. An Nvidia 7800 GT will give you good performance while an ATI X1900XT(X) / Nvidia 7800 GTX will give you the best performance right now (for single card systems).

Since I don't know how much you wanna spend or what kinda upgrade you're going for, I'll just stop there for now. :p

This will allow you to keep everything else in your system except maybe your PSU (if you go SLI you will probably need to upgrade that as well)
 
vexeus said:
Currently all AMD processors use DDR ram. Depending how much you want to spend, there's a few options.

If you want to save some cash, and go with a decent dual core system, I'd go with an Opteron 165. If you get the retail they have a pretty nice heatsink included so that takes care of that. They also tend to overclock very well.

If you're keeping your old AGP card, get the ASRock 939Dual
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081
That gives you the option to upgrade to PCI-e later, but if you want PCI-e now, then don't get this board as there are better boards out there.

If you have extra cash and want to upgrade to a PCI-e card right away, then you gotta ask just how much more performance you want. A crossfire / SLI system (2 video cards) will tend to run you a lot more, and the motherboards for SLI systems tend to be more expensive as well.

For a single PCI-e video card motherboard, I'd go with a DFI NF4 Ultra-D:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152

As for a single video card, it also depends what kinda performance increase you want. An Nvidia 7800 GT will give you good performance while an ATI X1900XT(X) / Nvidia 7800 GTX will give you the best performance right now (for single card systems).

Since I don't know how much you wanna spend or what kinda upgrade you're going for, I'll just stop there for now. :p

This will allow you to keep everything else in your system except maybe your PSU (if you go SLI you will probably need to upgrade that as well)
Click to expand...

Awesome reply thanks man. Currently I am leaning towards this....


AMD Opteron 265 Dual-Core 1.8GHz Processor (Its retail so it should include the fan and heatsink correct?)

Asus A8N-SLI Premium nForce4 SLI Athlon 64(FX)/Sempron/Athlon 64 X2 Skt939 DDR Motherboard w/Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail

eVGA e-GeForce 7800 GT PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/HDTV-Out, Dual DVI & VIVO Retail

This will run me a little under $800 from zipzoomfly.com with free 2 day shipping.

Any thoughts feedback?
 
Get the Opteron 165. The 265 is a socket 940 CPU so it won't run in any 939 boards. The 265 is meant mostly for servers and the like that will utilize 2 seperate 265's on the same board. And yes, retail includes the HSF.

As for the A8N-SLI premium, good board. Only thing is that it's SLI, which adds to the price, and since you're not going SLI you may want to try another board. However, it does allow you to pick up another 7800 GT down the road if you so choose.

Also, I found a refurbished A8N-SLI Premium from newegg for $113.55

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540R

Might be nothing but the board though, so it's a risk.

You might want to check newegg and monarch for better prices on the video card / processor. For some reason monarch always upgrades my shipping to fedex 2 day when I pay for ground (last 3 orders from them). Can't figure out why? Anyone know?
 
I am assuming OEM mobo dont come with cables/screws/drivers etc...

Is there any reason why I could not just use cables and screws from my current mobo? As well as download the bios and any other needed bios?

Thanks for the link...That could save me a few bucks.
 
OEM = just the processor.
Retail = processor, heatsink, fan, and thermal compound.

There are no screws or cables included with either, except I guess the retail has a cable for the fan power... but that doesn't really count.

If you get OEM, you have to make sure you get a good socket 939 heatsink / fan and a good thermal grease.
 
vexeus said:
OEM = just the processor.
Retail = processor, heatsink, fan, and thermal compound.

There are no screws or cables included with either, except I guess the retail has a cable for the fan power... but that doesn't really count.

If you get OEM, you have to make sure you get a good socket 939 heatsink / fan and a good thermal grease.
Click to expand...

Actually just the Mobo would be OEM. The process is retail.
 
If you wanna get a 7800GT, Id wait for the 7900GT. Rumor has it that they are coming out in the first week of march, and will be $300.
 
L1ght said:
If you wanna get a 7800GT, Id wait for the 7900GT. Rumor has it that they are coming out in the first week of march, and will be $300.
Click to expand...


Man your kidding...I placed the order earlier today.
 
PhxGuy520 said:
I am for the most part a hardware noob, but trying to get BF2 to work properly has made me learn a lot.

I am currently running the system in my signature, but I have been looking hard a the dual core chips.

How much of my current hardware would I have to replace if I went that route??? Am I thinking of this correctly...

Of course I would need a new mobo(d865perl). What does a mobo that can support dual core run?
I am running a AGP video card, so I would need to upgrade to PCI-e.
My ram is DDR, so I would need DDR2.
Sound card I could keep along with my DVD and CD burner.
I recently bought a 500w power supply, do you normally have to change that out as well?

Let me know if you see an error in my thinking or if you have any advice. Could I get a good bump in performance by just buying a mobo that will allow me to OC my CPU?
Click to expand...

If you are rich, I guess you can upgrade. Otherwise, if you're a smart, sensible guy, you do not need to upgrade. Your whole system can run BF2 satisfactorily (and every other game too), although not at the highest resolution. The main point is to shoot to win - not stare at pretty trees, right? ;)

I'm using my 4 year old Alienware that's 3 GHz (first gen. P4), 512 MB (RDRAM), with a 6600 GT and it runs BF2 beyond my expectations. Of course, I'm experienced with scripting config's and tweaking system variables to run games in good shape so there goes that little advantage for me.

-J.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top