Stuck on 754!! What to do?

T

tikicult

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 1, 2004
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I am really feeling the itch right now to upgrade, however, I have no clue what to do.

Right now, I have an A64 3200 (754) on an Epox EP-8NPA SLI with 1 GB Corsair DDR400, and 2x7800GT in SLI. I bought a 4200 X2 and A8N-SLI Deluxe the other day, but I am not sure if its really worth the $300 I spent on it. The 3200 is bottlenecking my SLI so I need something to feed it better. Should I stick with the new 939? Should I pony up the cash and get some DDR2 and goto AM2 or Conroe? I am lost here :confused:
 
depends on how much you are willing to spend, if i was you defenitly go conroe or am2
 
I was the same...sig not updated yet :)

I went with 4200+ Am2 with a Biostar board and some OCZ ram. I also took the opputunity for a new fortron power supply too. Im overclocked a wee bit too and I am really happy with the upgrade. I am not gaming nearly as much as i did before, so the upgrade was great for me...especially when the old stuff went for over 300 on ebay. :cool:
 
If you are running SLI then you are a gamer, and you play with higher resolutions and in-game/driver IQ settings. Bottom line is that your video cards are still going to be the biggest bottleneck. Keep your current board, RAM, and video cards. If you want a little more CPU power, as games like Crysis are recommending DC chips, then maybe consider something like the 4600+.
 
stop upgrading! save your money and move out of your parents house!! :D :D

I think you should wait longer on your system because even though you have bottlenecking issues, your computer wasn't gaming bad at all. But if you do, a Conroe would not be a bad direction at all. Or if Intel isn't your deal, an AM2 setup might give you a better bang-for-the-buck to go along with your SLI setup.
 
depends on how much you are willing to spend, if i was you defenitly go conroe or am2
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Thats part of the problem, I don't know how much I wanna/can spend. I just feel like $300 is alot of money to be upgrading to 939 at this point.

Bottom line is that your video cards are still going to be the biggest bottleneck.
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Even on a 3200??

Keep your current board, RAM, and video cards. If you want a little more CPU power, as games like Crysis are recommending DC chips, then maybe consider something like the 4600+.
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I am on 754... I have no choice but to upgrade to a different socket if I want anything faster.
 
Enjoy it while you can. I would not recommend you to jump on any CONROE or AM2 right now. As i can see you waited too long why not just wait another 4 months, so you can have Quad Core CPUs.

Right now all the CONROE motherboards are too expensive and crappy (coming from experience). You will spend $200 for the motherboard and find it they are full of crap.

So enjoy your setup and wait for DX10 cards and Quad core cpus.
 
You could grab the 2400Mhz Venice for 754, Should overclock a little. Newegg bundles a free mobo with it, but what you could use the crap mobo with, I have no idea. ;)

That would give you a little more cpu power, not sure it would solve your upgrade itch tho. :p
 
I think the best thing to do is wait. The current motherboard selections just suck all around. I'm gonna take back the X2 and the A8N-SLI. Makes zero sense to upgrade from a dead platform to another dead platform.
 
or buy some stuff, use ebay for the 754 stuff...still get decent cash for it.
 
L1ght said:
You could grab the 2400Mhz Venice for 754, Should overclock a little. Newegg bundles a free mobo with it, but what you could use the crap mobo with, I have no idea. ;)

That would give you a little more cpu power, not sure it would solve your upgrade itch tho. :p
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Yup - got one - was the first to get one and test it around here. Its running very well. $99 at Newegg with a free mobo or $95 at StarMicro (where I got mine - for $99) but no mobo. They'll kick out some speed on air cooling. Come on over to the "Love Your Socket 754?" thread. Unknown One has your exact same mobo and his is running very well, too.
 
I got my 3400 from Mr. Stryker. I will put it in today and see how well the 8npa can overclock it.

*edit... Also, I would keep what you have as well. It's a rockin system! I am currently running my 3000+ venice 754 w/ a 6200 PCI... that's right, not PCI-express on a 20" widescreen and playing guild wars, source, just fine... on low, but not bad looking settings. I am sure you can play the latest and greatest games still... might not be maxed, but still smooth.

You have to ask yourself if shelling out the extra money NOW is worth it or not.
 
I'd say 754 is fine, and to spend the money on video cards...but given that you're running some fat video cards in SLI, you might indeed be CPU throttled.

Still, most of the time, it's the video cards holding you back. At very high rez, the CPU bottleneck can only account for, what, 10% tops?

I think you'd be better off spending the money on some video card upgrading.
 
Newark FTW, but good luck finding one at a decent price.

Have you tried OCing your 3200?
 
Try to fit a 939 cpu into a 754 socket. Those X2's sure make great paperweights... :I The perfect upgrade. :p
 
I'm one of the people that got in on the 3200+ Venice chip and mobo from Newegg for $95. I kept my MSI board and used the 3400+. With my CNPS7000B-Cu I can overclock to 2.64GHz and temps are completely fine; low 50's under heavy extended load in a warm room.
 
Un4given said:
I'm one of the people that got in on the 3200+ Venice chip and mobo from Newegg for $95. I kept my MSI board and used the 3400+. With my CNPS7000B-Cu I can overclock to 2.64GHz and temps are completely fine; low 50's under heavy extended load in a warm room.
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sounds like a good idea to me
 
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