flyingfiddler Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 Good morning!My PC project for 2006 was to give the PC a bit of an upgrade. In November I decided to go shopping.Here's my old specs:MSI KM7M-V systemboardAMD 2600+ Socket A processor250watt psuonboard 64mb video2x 512mb PC2700 DIMMsSo I went bargain hunting... I knew I wanted to get a systemboard with a 775 socket to rejoin the Intel world. Here's what I got:ABit SG-80DC systembardIntel Celeron 351 (3.2ghz)580watt psuGeForce 6800XT DDR3 256mb (AGP)stayed with the 2x 512mb PC2700 DIMMsI was VERY reluctant to go celeron but at the time that's all I could afford. The graphics, as you can imagine, are WAY better now... but there are some 'stutters' and pauses and all that other stuff that people want to get rid of. I've decided that it's likely the processor.Here's what I can choose from to upgrade my processor in the near future:Pentium D 805, 820, 920 and 930.My question is... if I got the 805 which only has 533mhz FSB as opposed to 800mhz FSB will there be reduced performance? There are quite a few 805s on my local computer store but the 820, 920 and 930 seem to be hard to find. I believe with the increased cache my flightsim 2004 performance will be much better and will show off what the video card is made of.Thank you in advance for your assistance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmX.Memnoch Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 Personally, I wouldn't even entertain the thought of a 533MHz FSB CPU. Since you're upgrading you should definitely go with the fastest CPU you can afford (and find). Having said that, any one of those CPUs will run circles around the Celeron you currently have. Not only does the Celeron have reduced cache, but it also doesn't have any multi-threading capabilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 I see a AGP motherboard with SiS chipset, giving me the shivers...flyingfiddler, why would you go with an outdate system?I can understand that you like to keep your RAM, if so leave iNTEL and go with AMD. AMD S754 CPUs will outperform any S775 Celeron (at this time) and if you want a dobble cored CPU then look at the S939 with an X2, they are cheap now and still work with DDR(1). Make sure you buy a motherboard that supports PCI-E (16x and some 1x) so you can go with a good VGA card for les the price then a AGP card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggie Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 It also has far fewer pipeline's as I understand it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeFiend Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 AMD S754 CPUs will outperform any S775 CeleronWell, swapping his 3.2GHz Celeron for any of the Socket 754 offerings available here won't give much of a boost - not much for the money IMO. The only socket 754 CPUs left we can buy here are the 2800+, 3000+ and 3400+, none of which would be much of an upgrade (not enough to spend a couple hundred $ onto - as you gotta buy a motherboard a well).As for the X2, here you can only get them in AM2 socket, not in Socket 939 anymore (even newegg has only one left: the 4600+ at 200$, and I don't think it'll be there for much longer)And if you're going the AM2 way... Not only a nice CPU will cost almost as much as a Core 2 duo (the 4600+ sells for more than a E6300), but in both cases you're due to buy a new motherboard and new RAM anyways (both expensive overall), so why not pick the faster one? Picking a slower X2 might save 50$, but it'll be much slower than the Core 2 Duo.I had a couple GB of DDR PC3200 leftover, and I didn't find any way to use it (didn't want to buy an "older" slow-ish single core S939 system) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmX.Memnoch Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 I see a AGP motherboard with SiS chipset, giving me the shivers...flyingfiddler, why would you go with an outdate system?I can understand that you like to keep your RAM, if so leave iNTEL and go with AMD. AMD S754 CPUs will outperform any S775 Celeron (at this time) and if you want a dobble cored CPU then look at the S939 with an X2, they are cheap now and still work with DDR(1). Make sure you buy a motherboard that supports PCI-E (16x and some 1x) so you can go with a good VGA card for les the price then a AGP card.If a Celeron was all he could afford when he built the system then I imagine he was limited on his motherboard budget as well. I don't care for SiS (or VIA) chipsets but not everyone has the money to buy the best available. I didn't make any recommendations as to purchasing another motherboard + CPU + video card because if you read between the lines he's trying to say he doesn't have the money to purchase a lot. So his options are limited to upgrading his CPU.Since he is gaming and if he were doing a major upgrade, I'd still recommend he stick with Intel...especially since, as stated by his post, that's what he wants. The Core 2 Duos are hard to beat. Their overclockability along with the upcoming price drop (along with new SKUs) are going to make them an even better option.My recommendations still stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 http://www.ncix.com gives me diferent info .crahak, where are you from any way? USA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zxian Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 To give you a simple answer - the 820 should be plenty for your needs. It'll give you a significant boost in performance (being dual-core and having much more cache) for not too big of a hit in price.The 9xx series start becoming significantly more expensive, and the incremental performance increase won't match the price tag.For your next upgrade, I suggest saving about $500, and I can give you the details (more or less) of a system I built a little while ago.Motherboard - ASUS P5LD2-VM mATXCase - Antec SLK1650BMemory - 1GB Corsair Value Select PC2-5300Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB SATAVideo Card - BFG GeForce 7300 GT OCNote - those prices are in Canadian Dollars. Take the processor I mentioned above (or a CD/C2D if they're within your budget) and you'll have a system that'll easily handle anything you do today, and probably most of tomorrow. AND... the motherboard has everything that you need to upgrade in future. DDR2, PCI-E, and LGA775 are all standards that are here to stay for a while. The reason why I don't like to build on AMD systems is that there's just about no guarantee that a certain socket will stay. Look at S939 - it lasted... a year or so? LGA775 has been here for a little while, and there's no sign of it disappearing any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeFiend Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 (edited) http://www.ncix.com gives me diferent info .crahak, where are you from any way? USA?Different info than what?3 different S754 models (not much of an upgrade at all)The S939 CPUs (No X2 models at all - not one!)4600+ is 260$, E6300 is 220$ and much faster too. For 8$ more than the 4600+, you get a E6400 (here -- or it's actually CHEAPER than a 4600+ if you bundle it!)I'm from Canada, and ncix is my usual store indeed.The cheapest upgrade he can probably do is get a P4 that fits his board, like perhaps a Pentium D 820 for 132$ total investment (well, plus tax). It's dual core, much faster, and overall is rather cheap. A slower S754 setup would cost more (just because of the price of the new motherboard) and not be much faster than what he has. And anything more than a P4 CPU alone will cost a lot (more than he's willing to spend likely).Zxian: how dare you reply before me? Not sure I'd pick those exact parts for an upgrade, but I agree mostly. Edited January 22, 2007 by crahak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 okay OKAY! guys, don´t jump all over me please .I indeed missed the spot here, no X2s on S939 more, well, I was outdated my self here...But, the problem is that flyingfiddler is on a budget, and he wants to keep his DDR1 RAM, no problem with that, but in combination with AGP? Don´t think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmX.Memnoch Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 What's wrong with AGP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeFiend Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 okay OKAY! guys, don´t jump all over me please Didn't want to, just wanted to know if I really had missed something.But, the problem is that flyingfiddler is on a budget, and he wants to keep his DDR1 RAM, no problem with that, but in combination with AGP? Don´t think so.Well, the P4 820 is a 130$ upgrade (decent performance boost for the money). Anything better than that and he's better off with a Core 2 Duo (hence new motherboard too, and new RAM), plus a new video card as well. That's not exactly cheap... and it's not like the a 6800XT is a weak card anyways (likely better than everything I have), AGP or not.If he really wants a new video card too, then he's pretty much due for a whole new system, and that surely won't be cheap (doubt he wants to spend that much 3 months after upgrading to this system). Nobody would buy a AGP system anymore, but if the card's fast enough for him, then why not stick with it? I'm perfectly happy with onboard video myself (I'd get by with a pre-radeon PCI ATI Rage XL 8MB no problem) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggie Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 You can get X2 939's no problem, I got a X2 4600+ about a month ago no problem and they are still being soldhttp://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/inde...bolShowAll=truefor example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I'm perfectly happy with onboard video myself (I'd get by with a pre-radeon PCI ATI Rage XL 8MB no problem) Same here, but then AMD is a better choice with AM2 and a nVidia 6100/6150 chipset.Any of you guys know how the X3000 from iNTEL performs? I Googled on that yesterday but could not find ANY good benchmarks. Got my self a Celeron 2.53 here and don´t know what to do with it, and to spend 115 CAD on a mobo with an VGA card of 50 CAD... well, ...The real thing is, iNTEL and BUDGET are opesites in my eyes... altrough a 820 is 130 CAD, the mobo for it is way more expensive then an AM2 mobo... And for sure the X2 outperforms the 8xx/9xx series...Just my thoughts... but let´s see what other people have to say about it to flyingfiddler... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeFiend Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 You can get X2 939's no problem, I got a X2 4600+ about a month ago no problem and they are still being sold*Some* stores still carry that 4600+ model (I had mentionned before that newegg still has it too). But it's just a matter of time before none are available like all the other models. Likely, he'd have to do an international mail order to get one (annoying, sucks if you ever have to RMA it, pricey shipping, slow because of customs clearance and all). And it's 10$ more expensive than a E6300 which is WAY faster anyways (well, before shipping, your credit card company taking its cut on the un-optimistic exchange rate and all, so in the end likely 50$ more at least).The real thing is, iNTEL and BUDGET are opesites in my eyes... altrough a 820 is 130 CAD, the mobo for it is way more expensive then an AM2 mobo... And for sure the X2 outperforms the 8xx/9xx series...The point is he *DOESN'T* need a motherboard to use it so it's irrelevant (again, unless you want to ditch the AGP card right away).And AM2 combo means a new motherboard, new RAM, likely a new video card, and a new CPU (the X2s being faster than the 8xx/9xx series, but not being much cheaper than a much faster Core 2 Duo). If you're going to build the absolute cheapest system AMD might win by a few $, but if you look at the performance/price ratio of what you're getting, it doesn't really look that attractive right now. Either AMD X2 or Core 2 Duo means a much more significant expense than 130$ regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now