New CPU advice - please help!!

[damian44]

Hi,

At present i am running a pentium 4 3.4 processor and a 6800 ultra gfx card - running on an agp mobo.

From my very basic knowledge i haver found out that in order to update my mobo to a pci express one i will need to change my processor too as it will not fit in a 775 intel board so that got me thinking about changing to an athlon cpu instead - I use my pc primarily for gaming and am not that interested in overclocking - so could someone advise me on a good Athlon cpu that is the equivalant or more powerful than my current intel one?

I am also looking at getting a new gfxcard too in the shape of a x1900.

thanks

 

[volt9291]

how much do you want to spend?

 

[damian44]

About £700 but I am open to suggestions on the cpu and gfx card - was also looking at 7800gt card but not too sure what performance upgrade I would get over my exsisting 6800ultra

 

[Squidge]

If your not into overclocking, I'd go for a Athlon 64 X2 3800 or X2 4400 depending on how much you want to spend. Would be quite a bit more powerful than your current intel one.

 

[volt9291]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM
£159.95
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£12.95
Subtotal £172.90
VAT £30.26
Total £203.16


Leaves you £497 for Gfx and mobo, Do you need ram?

Btw if you did want to overclock 2.4/2.5Ghz should be done easy.

 

[damian44]

Would an x2 3800 cpu be a lot faster than a ntel p4 3.40ghz?

 

[Livestrong]

your " pentium 4 3.4 processor and a 6800 ultra gfx card " is still very fast, if you can hold out for a couple of months there's new stuff from both Intel and Amd.

 

[volt9291]

Would an x2 3800 cpu be a lot faster than a ntel p4 3.40ghz?

Yes + its dual core

Even better if you overclock

 

[damian44]

I know but we have a baby on the way (in a few months) and I need to do this asap before all my spare cash gets used else where!!

 

[Squidge]

I think you'll be impressed by the 3800 X2. If you overclock it, it can be made to run the equivalent of double the speed of a 3.8Ghz P4 But then again, if your overclocking, I'd recommend the Opteron 165 or 170 instead, as they are better for overclocking.