System Upgrade

General Computing Hardware & Networking
1

Ok I think my xp2500 baron is finally starting to get a little long in tooth and am thinking about upgrading it.

This machine is used 95% for crunching and the rest for games ( LAN games when the gang come round ) so I want something cheapish and fast. I was looking at a X2 3800, and then a mobo with an AGP slot so I can keep my ati 9600xt ( it runs everything i want so don’t really wanna bin it ). I can currently get a x2 3800 for about £187 inc vat.

what do people think go with the 3800 or splash out on something a little more meaty?

2

If it’s more so for gaming then the A/64 4000 has better bench results but you also say it crunches mainly as well in which case a 3800x2 would be best.

If you’re not 100% AMD focussed then maybe hang on until the Conroe processors arrive. They look better than ANY AMD chip made so far.

3

but Conroe is ONLY PCI-E…wont support his AGP card. I have the 3800 X2 and its lovely at crunching, plus plays all the current games wonderfully (little to no CPU bottleneck). You will have to get a NForce3 motherboard though, but most should have a Bios update available for dual core support, plus it supports AGP

4

I looking at either
Gigabyte K8NSC-939
Abit UL8 Socket 939
MSI K8T Neo2-F V2

or even the Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 and then use the onboard graphics. Then i’ll at lest have the option of upgrading to a PCI-E card later

5

If you want cheap and chearfull theres the Asrock 393dual - sata2 motherboard that has both agp and pci-e slots, I use one and for around the £40 mark not a bad choice for a basic upgrade board.

ps. also has the option to add a riser card for socket AM2

Curly

6

For crunching, I’d go for the x2 3800+ any day.

Oh look, I already have;)

7

If you go with an Asrock, be sure to check the component lead protrusion on the bottom side of the board for components which are close to the mounting holes. I had one which had an inductor lead close enough to the mounting hole (which is a ground to the case) that it could touch the mounting point on the case. I didn’t notice it when I assembled the mobo into the case, and upon power up, burned a 5volt trace in half (plus other minor damage). Asrock’s choice of component placement was very poor, so be aware of this potential problem.

8

Biostar TForce 6100 939 was the overclocking board of choice for the farmers @ XS for a while. May be uATX but does have on-board GFX + PCI-e…

9

thanks for the advice people… I think I may have changed my mind and decided to drop the on-board graphics and the AGP and get a Epox EP-9NPA7I or Abit KN8 and then a cheap PCI-E graphics card to drop in it… I’ve gone off running matx boards 27/7 crunching ever since I melted my shuttle.