serious upgrade help

[dirtbiker5418]

I have been using my athlon xp 2800+ (1gig ram, 6600GT) for about 3 years now and i feel it is time for me to upgrade. In February when I heard about amd's new am2 processors I figured that would be the core of my new system. Now after looking at benchmarks which show small performance increase over the 939's and people saying that the am2's will die out quickly, I am not sure I want an am2 any more. I don't want to spend a lot of money on an overpriced processor and then have the socket die out after a year, killing upgradeability. Here is a list of all the possible things I could do:

1. go out and spend a ton of money on an expensive rig, so i wont have to upgrade for a while.

2 buy a cheap am2 and upgrade as soon as the next revision of the am2's (or am3s) come out.

3. Save a little money over option 1 and buy a high end 939.

4. Save a little money over option 2 and buy a cheap 939.



I know that there i still over a month between now and the am2 launch date and now but what would you do in a similar scenario?


Thanks in advance

p.s. - this is my first post so don't flame me if my post sucks

 

[crimson117]

Your post is fine!

But I'd say for now WAIT. Once AM2 does come out, you'll be able to get some great deals on used 939 stuff in the For Sale/For Trade forum, or at least you'll have a better idea of whether AM2 is worth it.

High End vs. Cheap 939 mobo probably won't give you as much bang for your buck as spending that extra on a better processor, more ram, better graphics card, or a hot sound card. Just find a good rated mobo with the features you need. For example, don't be dazzled by all that SLI crap if you're not ready to invest in two really high end graphics cards.

 

[dirtbiker5418]

Thanks for the reply.
One thing I have been wondering about is does anyone think that there is going to be any am2 revisions or are they going to move onto a completely new socket. Currently I am saving up money for college and trying to buy a new computer so I really can't afford to do a complete system upgrade for a while (after this one). I am hoping that there will be am2 revisions instead of a complete socket change, so I will only have to upgrade the cpu, not the whole computer. Also, would it be possible for amd to put the rumored 65nm chip (that people are talking about) in a 940 pin am2 socket.

 

[mhahnheuser]

If you don't want to completely rebuild your system then may i suggest a look at the 939 Dual - SATA2 mobo from ASROCK. Why? 1. it's very affordable. 2. Has SATA, 16 X PCI-E and 8 X AGP slots both at full speed. Can reuse both your current RAM and AGP card without performance penalty. 3. Runs X2 CPU's. 4. has slot for AM2 processor daughter board. Board is not without some flaws, eg some minor boot issues, and BIOS access can be interesting too, but on the whole stable and fast. Since the speed step up from 939 is only 10-15% will allow you to improve performance by later adding faster GC or upgrading to faster AM2. X2 3800+ is = 3500+ single core performance. Using ATI X800 Pro 3D Mark 05 score 4950+ and DOOM3 ~80+ FPS at 1024 X 768 high quality settings when system at normal clock speed. Well over 5000 if GPU is clocked up. 6600 GT gives similar results. This is the route i took and am happy. Incidently my prior rig was Barton 2800+ as well. With same card (X800 Pro) gained 1000 3D 05 Mark points and 20 - 30 FPS in DOOM3.

 

[Dribble]

If you are willing to wait for AM2 it's probably worth waiting for a month or so more for Conroe. Indications are it will be faster and cheaper then AM2, and even if you are a die hard AMD fan the competition should bring down A64 prices.

 

[A554SS1N]

I'm on a budget too, and thus planning to wait until these major releases from AMD and Intel are out the way - then I'll either go for an ultra cheapo S939 system, or try and get a dual-core system on, for example, AM2 (me thinking X2 3800+ with 35Watt TDP). Reason for me possibly considering AM2 route is so there is less pressure on me to get 2GB RAM straightaway - you see, I'm a bit worried about pricing on DDR after people move over to AM2/Intel Conroe systems that use DDR2, and I'd prefer to just start off with 1GB first, then upgrade later in about a year. Also the thinking behind AM2 over S939 is it may then be cheaper for upgrading to 65nm processors next year (as I'd already have the motherboard).... all depends on how well Conroe's are once official (not previews) reviews appear.

 

[996GT2]

I'm waiting it out for Conroe too...was previously going to build in June, but now I think I'll wait until August and then get S939 is Conroe doesn't make it by then. IMO Conroe is worth the wait. Just check some reviews on it and you'll easily see that its performance is well worth waiting for.