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Time for an upgrade, switch to intel?


glent

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My trusty old AMD dual x2 4000+ was replaced with 7750 Dual a month or so ago if im honest i dont see that much difference, I have been out of hardware scene for sometime now. The q6600 was dominant Cpu was i was active. So i figure it's time switch to intel, im a budget however and i would like to do things in monthly stages. I want to start with a new CPU and motherbaord. I currently have some DDR2 6400 whoch id like to keep for now. Btw UK prices suck right now so an i7 as much as it looks all new and shinny is plain out of the question!

Ideas? An overlocked Dual intel or Quad? This new rig would be for very occasional gaming but mostly DVD/video work.

thanks

I'll list my current full specs soon

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I'd say motherboard, cpu and ram...

If i920 is out of the question... then I'd go with Q6850 or so. I don't know if your DDR2 6400 is going to work with that, I kind of doubt it, but DDR2 is cheap right now (4 gigs under $80). X48 or P45 chipset motherboard (X48 preferred)... asus or gigabyte.

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I would not expect to much. You replaced a 2100 Mhz dualcore with a 2700 Mhz one (correct me if I'm wrong). Sure it's faster but if you really want a push, go for more cores. Especially for DVD/video encoding. Even a 2100 Mhz tri-core is going to be 33% faster with video encoding than your old 4000+. You already noticed that your new 7750 does not give you such performance.

AM2+/AM3 Quadcores should probably work on your mainboard too. Still a lot cheaper than Intel CPU+ new mainboard. Says another AMD fan :)

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the ram i have can run at 1066 no probs, its the bus speeds of intel cpus are confusing me to be honest. AMD cpus just cant keep up for video related tasks no matter how many cores it has. are they any decent INTEL cpus out there that will work with my ddr2 ram?

I currently have

Patriot 2GB PC2-6400,800MHz, CL 4-4-4-12 as i said they work fine at 1066Mhz, 2x1gb sticks. im thinking now however 2gb or 4gb single sticks will be better.

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the ram i have can run at 1066 no probs, its the bus speeds of intel cpus are confusing me to be honest. AMD cpus just cant keep up for video related tasks no matter how many cores it has. are they any decent INTEL cpus out there that will work with my ddr2 ram?

I currently have

Patriot 2GB PC2-6400,800MHz, CL 4-4-4-12 as i said they work fine at 1066Mhz, 2x1gb sticks. im thinking now however 2gb or 4gb single sticks will be better.

Any non-i7/i5 CPU will work with that RAM. The high end quad core CPUs from Intel have a 1600MHz FSB but it is quad pumped so is really just 400MHz which is the same as your 800MHz (really 400MHz, cause its double data rate) RAM is. I have a 1066MHz FSB (really 266MHz) with 800MHz RAM (really 400MHz) but the RAM still runs at its normal speed and does not drop down or anything. Hope you can understand this LOL.

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Ideas? An overlocked Dual intel or Quad? This new rig would be for very occasional gaming but mostly DVD/video work.

First, as for the dual or quad, when it comes to encoding, the choice is obvious. Most modern codecs (e.g. x264) will make use of all cores just fine so it's a lot faster using a quad (basically twice the speed, at the same clock more or less)

It very much depends on how much you're willing to spend.

On a large budget, Core i7 at first seeems like the obvious choice (which you don't want seemingly). But below that... Both Intel and AMD have quads that encode quite fast (unless it's high def content, in which cases all existing CPUs sem ridiculously slow)

With AMD (assuming your board supports it), you could get a AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE. Total expense? Around $190.

With Intel, going with a CPU with very similar performance (within 10% or so) in most benches i.e. a Core 2 Quad Q9550, you're out about $210 for the CPU, and then another $100 or so (more if you want fancy) for a P45-based motherboard i.e. about 2/3 more money for the same performance. Again, assuming your existing motherboard can use the newer AMD chip, otherwise it's nearly a tie (both in performance and price)

If either of these choices isn't fast enough for you (basically the same speed in both cases) then you're basically back to the Core i7 option (for perhaps 15% or so more encoding speed and twice the price or more). Not that I'd be buying a Core i7 even if I had the money, Lynnfield being better performance for less (and not using the same socket either -- most Core i7's with be EOL'ed early next year) i.e. a Core i5 750 is faster than a Core i7 920 and costs less as well, and the motherboards are cheaper too. The cost is essentially the same as getting a Q9550 + motherboard, except here you'll need DDR3 as well (small price to pay for such a move IMO)

Then again, not knowing which board you have (and which CPUs it'll take), which video apps or codecs you're using, what kind of source content, it's hard to be more specific than that. In some cases, I/O speed can be quite a bottleneck too.

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