Looking to Upgrade

Associate
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
853
Location
West Yorkshire
I'm looking for some advice on an upgrade of my system.

I am currently running an Athlon 64 3000+ socket 754 CPU with 1Gb Corsair Value Select RAM, with an X700 Pro housed in the cheapest possible case and PSU.

I am looking at getting a new case, board and CPU as well as a fast hard drive.

Initially I was thinking of the following:

Akasa Eclipse 62 case
580W Hiper 4R580 psu
Lanparty UTnF4 Ultra-D mainboard
Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939 cpu
74Gb Raptor 10kRPM 16MB Buffer hdd

I will be keeping my current RAM and Graphics card (I know they will cause a bottleneck but I wont have enough to complete the upgrade until after my house is sold) and my 250Gb HDD will become a storage drive.

A colleague has said he wouldn't bother upgrading to 939 at the moment so I thought I would ask for your advice on whether to upgrade and what to change, or whether I should wait etc.

As for budget, I am looking at £450 initially, and after the house sale goes through I will be adding a high end graphics card and at least 2gb of decent RAM

Any help is appreciated.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Feb 2003
Posts
29,636
Location
Chelmsford
I don't think your upgrade to a 3500 from a 3000+ would be worth it tbh.. despite being a different socket type. The only benefit is slightly faster chip technology, dual channel memory and a slightly faster clock speed.

I think you might be disapponted with the results.. however it does increase your potential for upgrading to better CPUS at a later date.. FXs and X2s for example) but if your doing that then it might be worth thinking of skipping 939 and going for an AM2 solution instead but you'll need to change your memory too i'm affraid.

My advice, stick with what you have for a while and buy a better Graphics card if you are a gamer.
 
Last edited:
Don
Joined
5 Oct 2005
Posts
11,143
Location
Liverpool
Admiral Huddy said:
I don't think your upgrade to a 3500 from a 3000+ would be worth it tbh.. despite being a different socket type. The only benefit is slightly faster chip technology, dual channel memory and a slightly faster clock speed.

I think you might be disapponted with the results.. however it does increase your potential for upgrading to better CPUS at a later date.. FXs and X2s for example) but if your doing that then it might be worth thinking of skipping 939 and going for an AM2 solution instead but you'll need to change your memory too i'm affraid.

My advice, stick with what you have for a while and buy a better Graphics card if you are a gamer.

I agree (as usual) with Mr A Huddy there mate...

Stelly
 
Suspended
Joined
17 Mar 2006
Posts
9,055
Yeah not worth upgrading...could do with another HD if you're running out of space, 74GB isn't a lot when you consider games are 4-7GB nowadays, plus if you have music collection...
 
Associate
OP
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
853
Location
West Yorkshire
The reason for the 74Gb Raptor isnt storage - I have a 250Gb drive for that (and will probably add another 250Gb when I do my main upgrade). Its for a new install on a fresh drive and decided that a nice fast drive would be a good addition.

A suggestion I just received (which closely matches Admiral Huddy's) is to change my board to a decent socket 754 PCI-E board (mine is a cheapy foxconn/winfast), leave the CPU as it is and get a 7900GT or similar as he says I will notice more of a difference doing that, and I can keep the high end card for my main upgrade which will happen when I move house.

I'm at a loss as to what to do now.

I finally get my wife to agree to an upgrade and now I dont know what to spend the money on! :D
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Feb 2003
Posts
29,636
Location
Chelmsford
I'f it's an AGP board you have then your best bet is to get a second hand 6800Gt ot 6800Ultra. They still rock and you can get them for around a ton if hunt wisely. Although they won't compare to latest PCI-E cards, they give you good playable frame rates and will keep you going for a while yet.

It's always a tough call and none other than the switch from AGP to PCI-E because it means replacing everything nearly except the damn case and memory. Sometime you just have to go all in.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
853
Location
West Yorkshire
The board and card I currently have are already PCI-E.

I think the only reason he is suggesting I change my board is because he doesn't rate it very highly.

The board I have will take a PCI-E 7900GTX, but I will certainly need a new PSU.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Feb 2003
Posts
29,636
Location
Chelmsford
Braeden said:
The board and card I currently have are already PCI-E.

I think the only reason he is suggesting I change my board is because he doesn't rate it very highly.

The board I have will take a PCI-E 7900GTX, but I will certainly need a new PSU.

would still be a cheaper upgrade. The PSU and card can be carried over to what ever system you get next :)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
853
Location
West Yorkshire
I don't have the hiper yet, it's one of the things I am looking at buying.

thanks for all the replies - I still haven't made my mind up yet as to what to do but I'm sure I will do soon.
 
Back
Top Bottom