Summer Upgrade

[Salacon]

I've decided to upgrade my PC, and I can't wait. I'll be doing it in August, and I'm going to give most of my stuff to a couple of cousins that could use the upgrade. Anyway, here's what I thought I'd get:

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI-DR (I hear it's really good for OCing)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (probably OC to 4800+ speeds)
OCZ 2GB (1GB x2) PC3200 (2-3-2-5 timings)
BFG Tech 7900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16

I'm going to the above from an AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 1GB (512MB x2) PC3200, and 9800 Pro 128MB. It'll be ~ $1,000. I figured it'll be my last upgrade for a few, so I figured I better spend big. You guys think it looks good?

[Lord AnthraX]

Get one either the 165 or 170 and OC it..

Opterons OC like mad and have twice the Cache

Evreything looks nice cept If I were you Id get an eVGA 7900 GT KO :d

[toxicity_27]

Well since you're upgrading in August, don't be too set on this, as new chips and video cards are coming out before then, and you may want to change so you can have the latest and greatest.

[john3]

i'd change mobo to either the DFI Ultra-D, or the MSI K8n neo4-F, the DFI is more for advanced users, we dont need any more n00bs ( not calling you a noob though) buying it, then not knowing what to do, then call it a POS. The MSI comes with a cd that updates bios n shiz. and its just as good for OCing. and yeah get the opteron 170 or 165 its way better.

[Salacon]

Originally posted by Lord AnthraX
Opterons OC...have twice the Cache

...Id get an eVGA 7900 GT KO :d

I see that the 4400+ has the same amount of cache... And I'll have to look into the eVGA card.

Originally posted by john3
...we dont need any more n00bs ( not calling you a noob though) buying it, then not knowing what to do, then call it a POS.

I definitely plan on researching how to OC CPUs before actually trying it.

[Brtnboarder495]

Hey Salacon, I think you know who I am, right?

Some food for thought ...

If your upgrading this summer, no sense in buying old technology (Socket 939). But at the same time, Socket AM2 isn't quite worth buying yet, because then you'll have to buy DDR2 memory which doesn't have low enough latencies yet IMO (for AMD).

So I'd really reccomend looking into Conroe for the CPU. That also means that you'll need either a 965 or 946 chipset, Socket T (LGA775) motherboard. And some DDR2 memory, try to go with 2x1Gb with low, low latencies. Also, eVGA is definitely the best Nvidia "company", and their KO 7900GT is easily the best 7900GT out there. That isn't going to change anytime soon, so that's your video card.

And if you do decide to go with your setup, stick with the Opteron 170, or if that's too expensive then a Opteron 165. And 2x1Gb G.Skill or OCZ PC4000 memory, the eVGA 7900GT KO and the DFI Nforce 4 Ultra-D.

No sense buying an SLI motherboard, because first off SLI just sucks for the most part, and you won't even be using SLI!

[Salacon]

Lol, yep, we definitely know each other.

And I just realize that if I get Conroe, it'll be my first gaming rig with Intel in it. Anyway, I'll look into changing my upgrade components. I just don't want it to end up too much more than $1,000.

[Salacon]

Just a quick question: Disregarding price, would the X2 4400+ or Opteron 170 give better gaming performance if neither was overclocked?

[Brtnboarder495]

It really depends, they're basically neck-n-neck. The Opteron 170 has 2x1Mb L2 cache, but only a 2.0Ghz clock speed compared to the Athlon 64 x2 4400+'s 2x512k L2 cache and 2.2Ghz clock speed.

The reason most prefer the Opteron 170 is because it OC's to 2.6-2.8Ghz and then you get the doubled L2 cache of the Athlon 64 x2 4400+. The Athlon 64 x2 4400+ will OC between 2.4-2.6Ghz, and has half the L2 cache of the Opteron 170.

So if your OCing (which you'd be stupid not to honestly with that hardware), then the Opteron is definitely the way to go.

[Salacon]

The 4400+ has 2 x 1MB L2 cache... Well, Newegg says so anyway: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+

When comparing the specifications on Newegg, it seems as though the 4400+ would be best if neither is overclocked, but I don't know everything about what makes a CPU best either.