upgrade from p4 3.0 to X2 3800+ - worthwhile?

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xappie

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 13, 2000
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Hi all...

I am looking to upgrade my P4 3.0 HT system, and move into the dual core world. I would also like to use an AMD chip this time around, instead of Intel.

The Athlon X2 3800+ seems to be right in the price range I am willing to spend. I will be changing my motherboard as well, but will be staying with AGP since I don't want to change my video card at the moment.

So my question is - will it be a worthwhile upgrade to go from a P4 3.0GHZ with HT to an Athlon X2 3800+ dual core ??? The athlon runs at quite a bit lower clock speed - which is why I am a bit hesitant. But then, there are two of them on a dual core...

Any advice is appreciated!
 
it will be faster in single threaded apps, and smoother when you really start pushing the multitasking. it's a win-win situation.. however, i would wait a few months if you can
 
athlonfx said:
What do you normally run (apps)?
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Good question!

A play a few games - whatever is new. Brothers In Arms, DOW, that sort of thing. Fair amount of RTS and FPS games.

I use my AIW card to watch and record TV, and watch ALOT of DVDs etc. I do a fair amount of multitasking, because I will often have the TV app running in the background while I surf or do other stuff on the PC. I don't do any sort of multimedia work or photoshop or coding at home. Mainly games, movies, TV, and music.
 
i would really not recommend an x2 processor for that. watching TV in the background can easily be accomplished on a pentium 2.4 / radeon 9700 + tv tuner. 3800 is way overkill for the stuff youre doing.
 
I would stay where your at and don't switch till you are ready to buy a new video card too and go with a pci-express board and vidcard later on.

what you have is fine for you right now.
 
Sure, I am not upgrading because what I have now isn't running well - I am just upgrading because I have the money now. If I don't do it now, I may not get another chance for a while.

As well - with some big games coming this winter I want my PC to be ready to play them all.

So my question is still - will the 3800+ X2 be a decent upgrade from my P4 3.0C??
 
xappie said:
Sure, I am not upgrading because what I have now isn't running well - I am just upgrading because I have the money now. If I don't do it now, I may not get another chance for a while.

As well - with some big games coming this winter I want my PC to be ready to play them all.

So my question is still - will the 3800+ X2 be a decent upgrade from my P4 3.0C??
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It will be a GREAT upgrade. I have upgraded from a Mobile Athlon 64 3200+ (running @ 2400-2600, depending on the season) and you'll notice it from the beginning, specially in multitasking, but windows itself goes soooo smooth with a dual core, you'll never want to go back to single core.
 
valrond said:
It will be a GREAT upgrade. I have upgraded from a Mobile Athlon 64 3200+ (running @ 2400-2600, depending on the season) and you'll notice it from the beginning, specially in multitasking, but windows itself goes soooo smooth with a dual core, you'll never want to go back to single core.
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Well, gaming has improved for me from my P4 3.0c (OCed to 3.45GHz). But Windows doesn't feel any snappier because the P4 3.0c is HT-enabled.

So, I wouldn't say that this guy should expect much more Windows responsiveness. But you'll definitely see higher FPS in game if you go with an video card upgrade too.

But, as someone else said, I wouldn't recommend upgrading unless you're also going to get a new video card. Buying an AGP AMD motherboard right now just doesn't make sense.

H
 
You do a 3month investment plan invest that money for the new compy and then spend it on the new compy once its out of the plan~!~
 
xappie said:
So my question is still - will the 3800+ X2 be a decent upgrade from my P4 3.0C??
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Short story, yes...it will. That X2 will smoke that P4 in games....and in multi-threaded apps...BUT, to do justice for it, you are going to have to get a pci-e mobo, relegating your AGP card to second tier...


Don't do it until you can go pci-e and get a high level vid card....
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Upgrading to PCI-E is actually part of the plan, but I can't afford to do it all at once. I was thinking I would get a motherboard and CPU now, then later on I only need to replace the video card and get another motherboard with PCI-E. Yes, it means buying two motherboards, but I can sell one on ebay later. At least this way I get to use the new CPU while I save for the next step in the upgrade.

In Canadian dollars...
So I would upgrade like this... right now:
AGP Mobo $150
Athlon X2 CPU $400

Then in another 6 months or so:
PCI-E video card $600
PCI-E Mobo $150

Its easier to do than getting a new mobo, cpu, and video card at all once! Plus, I really want another AIW card - so I want to wait and see if ATI makes one using their new R5xx series. :)

Make sense?
 
I'm in a similar position.

I have a P4 2.8C and a 6800 Non-Ultra. The primary reason why I want to upgrade is actually so I can run a 7800 series PCI-E card as I don't think my processor is currently bottlenecking my system. I figured if I have to jump to PCI-E, I don't want to give up system responsiveness, so I either have to stay in the Intel HT world or jump on X2. Either way, I have to replace my Socket 478 processor and mobo.

I don't really care too much about video encoding performance or anything like that, just stability/compatibility, performance in games, system responsiveness, and low power consumption. With the game compatibility/affinity issues the X2 what otherwise seems a perfect CPU may not be.

I'm torn between a higher-clocked-but-way-too-hot-to-be-quiet-and-I'm-a-silentpcreview-freak Prescott, a oh-my-god-this-thing-could-cook-a-turkey-in-3-hours Pentium D, and a damnit-damnit-damnit-why-won't-this-friggin-game-work X2.
 
jkrafcik said:
I'm in a similar position.

I have a P4 2.8C and a 6800 Non-Ultra. The primary reason why I want to upgrade is actually so I can run a 7800 series PCI-E card as I don't think my processor is currently bottlenecking my system.

With the game compatibility/affinity issues the X2 what otherwise seems a perfect CPU may not be.

I'm torn between a higher-clocked-but-way-too-hot-to-be-quiet-and-I'm-a-silentpcreview-freak Prescott, a oh-my-god-this-thing-could-cook-a-turkey-in-3-hours Pentium D, and a damnit-damnit-damnit-why-won't-this-friggin-game-work X2.
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The game affinity issue, well, it's a NON issue.....there is a tiny program called "Win2k launcher" (I can email it to you or link it) that lets you set affinity, cpu priority, and command line options to the game. Easy as chocolate pie!!!! If that is stopping you from getting an X2, order one right now.

And your current cpu is a bottleneck, at least, it would be with a faster vid card :p
 
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