Upgrading my 939 rig soon...

T

TheCAD

Gawd
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Oct 12, 2007
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Heres the current specs:

Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo-4F

Processor: Venice 3000+

Vid card: Gigabyte x800 256mb

RAM: 1GB(2x512mb) PC3200 corsair value ram

HDD: WD Caviar 80gb

DVD drive:Lite on burner

Right now it is in a thermaltake soprano with a 430w PSU. However, I hate the case and will likely switch to the chenming dragon I have my intel rig in if I upgrade it.

Thinking of the following upgrades:
Processor: Upgrade to X2 4400+
Video card: Upgrade to 8600GTS
PSU: Upgrade to Hiper 580W modular.
RAM: Adding 2 more 512mb sticks for 2GB total.

THe processor and vid card are pretty staight foward I think. I would need a better PSU for a 8600GTS or better I am pretty sure. I could get something else for cheaper, but I love the look of the Hiper PSU so I don't mind spending extra for aesthetics.

Mainly I want to make sure everything is compatible and make sure there isn't a better video card choice.

Also, I consider my "tech level" to be around medium. I have built 2 computers in the past couple of years, but have never flashed a bios(which I think may be necessary as I believe I bought this mobo before there were even X2s around). Also, have never upgraded a processors and definately haven't moved an entire setup from once case to another. Which I plan to do if I make this upgrade. Basically moving all these parts makes me a little nervous whether it should or not.
 
Bios flashes are quite easy these days, on the manufacturer's website they have a bios flashing utility to do it right in windows. However make sure when you do the flash you have clean, stable power cause if the power goes out while you're flashing, the bios will be toast.

To be honest, I think you should upgrade your Ram first, then processor and then video card, see how you like the performance. You have an X800 card which isn't THAT bad, if I were you, I'd wait until Nvidia's/ATi's next generation cards are the lower power consuming type cause otherwise you'll for sure need to upgrade the power supply and to the hiper I would not recommend. So for now, upgrade the processor and ram then wait. What games exactly are you playing?
 
Play CSS a lot.
I play it with everything at low so I have highest FPS(when playing competitive games in leagues etc you tend to not care about having super high settings...just BOOM HS'ing people). No upgrade is really needed to play CSS...though it may help when demo'ing(recording) matches.

Play a ton of other games too...would like to be ready for crysis,etc

Basically I don't have any games that need it now, but surely there will be.
Also I wouldn't mind being able to play my current single player games at higher settings(Portal,HL2,Dark Messiah,etc).

Heres a good question:
It seems that 939 X2s seem to be going in/out of stock all over the place.
Should I go ahead and grab one of the 4400+/4800+ the next time I see it somewhere due to the fact they may not be available much longer?
Or do you think these will be around for a few more months?
 
TheCAD said:
Play CSS a lot.
I play it with everything at low so I have highest FPS(when playing competitive games in leagues etc you tend to not care about having super high settings...just BOOM HS'ing people). No upgrade is really needed to play CSS...though it may help when demo'ing(recording) matches.

Play a ton of other games too...would like to be ready for crysis,etc

Basically I don't have any games that need it now, but surely there will be.
Also I wouldn't mind being able to play my current single player games at higher settings(Portal,HL2,Dark Messiah,etc).

Heres a good question:
It seems that 939 X2s seem to be going in/out of stock all over the place.
Should I go ahead and grab one of the 4400+/4800+ the next time I see it somewhere due to the fact they may not be available much longer?
Or do you think these will be around for a few more months?
Click to expand...
Well you could always pick one up from ebay and save a few $$ as quite a few people have left the 939 systems for the core systems.

If I were you, I'd wait out on the video card upgrade until you can get a card that is cheap and the fastest your system can utilize considering you don't appear to be one of those who are constantly upgrading. If you want to play crysis, I'd get the CPU and RAM upgrade now because those will effect the game playability of crysis in your case a lot more than you'd think.
 
I'd suggest waiting until you actually need an upgrade -- when your computer no longer performs to your satisfaction. Wait as long as you can. When you can't wait any more, buy.

With that said, the 4200+ s939 OEM chips at newegg can do 2.8Ghz on stock voltage, or so I keep hearing. Pair that with a Freezer 64 Pro for 20 bux and you've got a nice dual core upgrade. The source engine benefits from dual core, btw.
 
I just purchased a 4400+ X2 and another 1GB(2x512mb) of corsair valueram from tigerdirect.

Decided to pull the trigger while I could still get a higher end 939 processor(really wanted a 4800+).

Just to be sure...this won't be any more stressful on my PSU will it?(430W)

Also, as long as a flash my bios. Then install the processor it will be recognized on boot and voltages and everything will be correctly changed.
Just want to know if there is anything I need to do besides flash bios and physically install the chip. Have never done this...(upgraded a processor).

I am almost 100% the bios must be flashed. As the X2s weren't even around when I bought the mobo and they are listed as being supported but the "CPUID" has been updated on almost every bios update...I am assuming that means CPU support.
 
you could wait a few weeks and get that new 8800gts 512mb videocard coming out.
 
TheCAD said:
Just to be sure...this won't be any more stressful on my PSU will it?(430W)
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be but then again uncommon shit does happen with PCs. What PSU do you have? Like make and model?

Also I recommend this modular PSU instead over the Hiper for whenever you ugprade.:
Corsair HX520 520W PSU - $100

@ darktiger:
It's the 8800GT 512MB thats coming out, not the 8800GTS 512
 
Yes, all you should need is a BIOS flash.

As Danny mentioned, it depends on your PSU brand/model. The new CPU and more RAM will add more power requirements, but most likely not enough to warrant a new PSU -- but it depends on what your old PSU is, of course.
 
I don't know the specs off hand for the PSU(I am not sitting at that computer atm).

It came with my Thermaltake soprano(so it is a thermaltake).

Will post specs for it later...
 
That corsair someone mentioned above will likely be going in at the same time as the ram and processor.
Along with possibly a video card...depending on how quickly I get/sell my intel bundle :)
 
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