Upgrade...how little to spend to get noticable improvement over 2.7GHz Opteron?

A

alkemyst

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 20, 2005
Messages
307
Specs now:
AMD Opteron 165 (1800MHz) Denmark LCB9E 0702WPMW @ 2.7 (300x9)
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI (MS-7100)
G.Skill F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX (2x1GB, 2-3-2-5 1T) @ 225.0MHz 3-3-2-5 1T

Looking for a stable motherboard definitely that can be tweaked. I had a Asus prior to my MSI but it didn't like my SCSI card (would not post).

Thanks
Å
 
Your biggest improvement will be the new ram speeds. I would look at the new Asus M3 motherboards (around 200) and a 5400 black edition (120?) with some 1066 ram (100?). There are also 3 and 3.2 ghrz X2s (6000, 6400) but they are super high wattage.

There are ALSO the new AM2 Opterons, which are pretty sweet and only use like 75 watts (again, I can't remember the exact, but its in the 70s). These start around 230.

I didn't bother to look for sure, but I looked the otherday and I think thats about right.

Good luck!
 
ZMTToxics said:
Your biggest improvement will be the new ram speeds. I would look at the new Asus M3 motherboards (around 200) and a 5400 black edition (120?) with some 1066 ram (100?). There are also 3 and 3.2 ghrz X2s (6000, 6400) but they are super high wattage.

There are ALSO the new AM2 Opterons, which are pretty sweet and only use like 75 watts (again, I can't remember the exact, but its in the 70s). These start around 230.

I didn't bother to look for sure, but I looked the otherday and I think thats about right.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I was looking to stay cheaper :) I don't have to stay AMD either. If I would have know the DDR ram costs when I ordered my 165 I'd have skipped it all sold off my OCZ Plat Rev 2 for a premium and bought a 21xx or whatever was out then ;)
 
How cheap are you looking to stay?

You can pickup a Pentium E2160 for about $50, plus $40 for 2GB of RAM (or a little less than double for 4GB) and a decent Intel based motherboard for $50.
 
You need to give us a budget to work with. Simply guessing and having you say that's too much or that's too cheap could take some time before we're able to guess what you want to spend.
 
That's why I asked in the format how little would I have to spend to see a difference. I wasn't saying that recommendation was too cheap, just that I wondered if it would be that noticable.

My machine is pretty snappy for everything I am doing now (multiple apps: email, tons of web windows, photoshop, web/IDE/development tools, Citrix/AD up and running, farcry, wow, etc...everything at 1600x1200).

Just figuring with DDR still a bit high and Opteron's still wanted by quite a few 939 guys, if cashing out and moving on now would be a plan.
 
If Toxics initial suggestion was too much, then anything that would be a wrothwhile upgrade would be too much. The e2160 will give you better performance seeing that it can OC to past 3GHz. But IMO, while it would be better, it won't provide enough of a jump to justify the upgrade.
 
Thanks...that answers it. I am still good. At about $500 I can hold off...the kicker is the stuff I have gets worth less ;) I was hoping I was just missing something out there that may be a great deal now.

I am happy with my performance once I install the 8800 I should be really happy. I only have a 6800 GT OC @ ultra speed now.
 
Find a Dfi board, I gave my son my old 144 opteron and he's up to 3.2 on an asus . My question is wheres your problem . You said that your machine does everything you want it to do.Sounds like your upgrading just for the sake of it, money burning a hole in your pocket. I've had mine running for 2 years and fast enough.I bought some extra ram a while back because I knew i was going to 64 bit and I knew that the price was going to go up. Pulled it out about a month ago and vista64 runs super with 4 gigs.
My son backed his cpu speed back down to 2.8 because his bottleneck was the video card, he was using a 3870 I loaned him, likes playing COD4 and found his framerate didn't improve at a higher cpu speed. My 165 opty runs 2.9 with out a hiccup into my 3rd year,After a few years you can read between the lines of what is bs vs fact, and my cost has subsided other then vid cards every 2 generations.
In your situation it sounds like your happy, why spoil it with spending on something new and not seeing the difference.
 
How would a different motherboard improve things?

I am mostly looking at what would be a cheap upgrade if anything because now I have a 8800GTX OC coming. Where before my 6800GT OC was my bottleneck...not that's going to move to the CPU probably.

I am currently happy though the way the rig sits, I just want to try crysis. I game at 1600x1200.

It looks like if I want a decent upgrade I am looking at about $500, probably close to $300 pending the sale of my current items.
 
You'll definitely need to upgrade your platform to get a noticeable improvement over a 2.7GHz Opty.

Obviously a C2D or C2Q would be a noticeable improvement, but if you're on a tight budget, it might be wise to wait for the upcoming E5200 chip, its the 45nm replacement for the E2x00 chips and early reports have it overclocking really well (albeit an ES): http://en.hardspell.com/doc/showcont.asp?news_id=3687

An E5200 @ 4GHz, or even 3.5GHz, would be a big step up over an Opty @ 2.7GHz.

On the AMD side, the only way you'll get a noticeable improvement is by going Phenom, and overclocking to 3GHz+. However, with Deneb 45nm just around the corner, its probably not the wisest decision to get a 65nm Phenom right now.
 
RamonGTP said:
The CPU upgrade will do little for Crysis, especially at 16x12
Click to expand...

Thanks, others have told me I will be bottlenecked by the CPU now in almost all highend games.

I am hoping it all just falls into place. I am debating selling my Opt for $130ish, memory at $75 and motherboard at about $40ish. Would give me the first $250 towards an upgrade.

I am figuring a motherboard around $80-125 (gigabyte and dfi have some options), the cpu around $100 (that E5200 looks really promising now) and 2gb of ram for $65...I think everything else would just move over and I'd be looking at $50-75 bux.
 
You want to play Crysis get the latest Ati vid card 4870 for 250 or the 4870x2. for 450. and if you can't play it with what you have, which isn't going to happen. Some people need to make recommendations to justify there own purchases.
 
i used an opty 185 with a8n sli deluxe mainboard.+a-data vitesta ddr 500mhz memories:)it was good enough for me to play Assasin's Creed with sapphire 3870 ddr4 toxic at max details:)i think we shouldnt take notice of crysis anymore:)we all know that it is an nvidia optimised game and cryengine tires the system (especially cpu)too much.
the games we will play in this winter will be console ported games.i think to advance(?!) an X2 amd cpu is a waste of money...keep your workstation processor and wait for the 45 nm amd cpu serie.this is the best thing to do now:)
 
alkemyst said:
I am debating selling my Opt for $130ish, memory at $75 and motherboard at about $40ish. Would give me the first $250 towards an upgrade.

I am figuring a motherboard around $80-125 (gigabyte and dfi have some options), the cpu around $100 (that E5200 looks really promising now) and 2gb of ram for $65...I think everything else would just move over and I'd be looking at $50-75 bux.
Click to expand...

If you can get that much for your current parts, sell them.

Microcenter has the E7200 for $100 right now. The E5200 should be somewhat less and should be out around the 31st. You can find 2GB ram deals for $30 (after mail in rebate) all the time.
 
harpoon said:
Actually, it'll help quite a bit, according to Guru3D:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/cpu-scaling-in-games-with-quad-core-processors/9

At 1600x1200, an X2 @ 2.5GHz gets 33fps, compared with C2Ds/C2Qs at 46fps, thats a huge jump, nearly 40% difference. An Opty @ 2.7GHz would probably get ~35fps, so you're still looking at 30%+ improvements with a CPU upgrade.
Click to expand...

I went from an X2 @ 2.6GHz to a Q6600 @ 3.2GHz and didn't notice much improvment in Crysis. And that's only at 12x10. Crysis wasn't even maxing out both my X2 cores.
 
ZMTToxics said:
Your biggest improvement will be the new ram speeds. I would look at the new Asus M3 motherboards (around 200) and a 5400 black edition (120?) with some 1066 ram (100?). There are also 3 and 3.2 ghrz X2s (6000, 6400) but they are super high wattage.

There are ALSO the new AM2 Opterons, which are pretty sweet and only use like 75 watts (again, I can't remember the exact, but its in the 70s). These start around 230.

I didn't bother to look for sure, but I looked the otherday and I think thats about right.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I can attest to this. the performance gain I saw leaving my 939 system was far more then just the phenom processor. also I would get the value out of your cpu while you can.

really for what you want 300 dollars would buy you what you need. also if you already have a 8800GTX you might want to consider a SLI board. a 750i with 2gb of ram with and a e8400 and you would be set, and have a good upgrade path in getting a seconded 8800GTX
 
Uncle said:
You want to play Crysis get the latest Ati vid card 4870 for 250 or the 4870x2. for 450. and if you can't play it with what you have, which isn't going to happen. Some people need to make recommendations to justify there own purchases.
Click to expand...

not on his current rig. and where can you get a 4870X2 for less then 500? best buy closed that preorder and his system could not support it
 
Valset said:
not on his current rig. and where can you get a 4870X2 for less then 500? best buy closed that preorder and his system could not support it
Click to expand...

Whats wrong with his rig, don't tell me his cpu is a bottleneck.:confused:
 
:) I found out in reality my CPU is ok. My FPS is great with my 8800GTX (I am still going to try to up the volts on it ;)).

3DMarks is really the only place better CPU's shine.

I am just looking for playable framerates.

Now when I buy a DVD or CD and want to rip it I could pick up a lot with a uber processor, but I am not using my rig so much I can't wait a few extra minutes for it to be done.
 
alkemyst said:
:) I found out in reality my CPU is ok. My FPS is great with my 8800GTX (I am still going to try to up the volts on it ;)).

3DMarks is really the only place better CPU's shine.

I am just looking for playable framerates.

Now when I buy a DVD or CD and want to rip it I could pick up a lot with a uber processor, but I am not using my rig so much I can't wait a few extra minutes for it to be done.
Click to expand...

Good for you for doing your homework and saving some money. The guys recommending quads ask them what software the regular folks use that thread four cores, unless their programmers that write special code for their company using four cores. Then ask them if a, lets say a two core 2.7 gigahertz opty is how much slower then a 4 core 2.7 phenom . Look play your games and burn at the same time you have the power, heck we were playing these games with single cores not to long ago. If you get the odd stutter while playing the game go into task manager and under "processes" find your program and right click and assign one core for your game and another for your burn then when you multitask your not jumping around from one core to the other. I don't think you have to go that far tho.
 
alkemyst said:
:
3DMarks is really the only place better CPU's shine
Click to expand...

No big deal its synthetic, that's why Kyle and the men do Apples to Apples tests. From previous postings and articles from past years gone by, 3dmark likes to doctor up their conclusions depending on the need to know basis and the monetary value that comes with it.
 
Uncle said:
Whats wrong with his rig, don't tell me his cpu is a bottleneck.:confused:
Click to expand...

The power supply (unless he has upgraded recently) is probably not up to snuff, a lot of the older PSU were not built as 12 volt heavy and such. And he will be system bottle necked, not necessarily CPU bottleneck. I can tell you from experience (I came from a 939 board with a 8800GTX, still have it) that there is a big difference in a lot of games. Just plays a lot smoother. and to an extent he will be cpu limited, not by much but a lot of games are not going to hit 60 FPS (that doesn't mean they will not be playable) If he was going to buy something like a 4870X2 (the post I was responding too) it would really need a little more out of the system to get the full usage out of it.
 
I don't have any problems gaming anything with an opteron 170 at 2.82 & 8800gtx so I don't see the need to upgrade. However I wouldn't buy a 4870X2 or another 8800 to SLi with my opty as I am pretty sure my cpu will bottleneck a great deal trying to run 2 GPUs at the same time.
 
matadorluis said:
I don't have any problems gaming anything with an opteron 170 at 2.82 & 8800gtx so I don't see the need to upgrade. However I wouldn't buy a 4870X2 or another 8800 to SLi with my opty as I am pretty sure my cpu will bottleneck a great deal trying to run 2 GPUs at the same time.
Click to expand...

on my old 939 system I upgraded my aged 6800 (4 pipeline version) to a 8800GTX I didn't see much in a way of increase in frame rates. now the amount of eye candy I could turn up was unreal. (so it seemed at the time) this was before my new monitor. with my new monitor I think that old system would have really been about the same, cpu limited but still very playable. two 8800GTX really would be sweet even with it being cpu limited. you may not crank out the FPS but all the eye candy on at high res is still damn nice.

Though I should say that I really noticed an increase in the fluidity of the game after I upgraded my system though
 
my framerates went through the roof going from 6800GT OC to the 8800GTX with my 2.7 dual opt.
 
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