Help with upgrading
By
Father Xmas,
Posted on: 2009-09-21 05:32 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
If memory serves me a 1.8GHz Athlon 64 is socket 939 which means you are using DDR memory. This means you will need to add DDR2 or DDR3 memory to your list of things to upgrade. Next question, do you have a PCIe or AGP graphics card? If you have an AGP video card you are going to need to save a bit more money before your upgrade.
For now I'm assuming you have a PCIe video card. bit-tech.net puts out a buyer's guide every month with UK and US pricing. Their Affordable All Rounder uses an Athlon II X2 250 CPU and an AMD 770 based motherboard. Note that an AM3 CPU can be used in a socket AM2+ motherboard and use less expensive DDR2 memory and slower HT bus.
An alternative would be an Intel E6300 Pentium Dual Core (Intel confuse-a-tron naming convention) with a P43 based motherboard from my $600 rig list. Sorry I don't know what pricing in the UK are for those parts.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Thanks for that, Father Xmas. I was hoping I'd get to keep my RAM, but I guess it's not to be. My parents will be glad to have the hand-me-down RAM I guess 
Fortunately I do have a PCI-E card which I think will suffice for now (GeForce 9500GT 1GB)
Looking at their all-rounder and replacing bits with items I already have (in italics) I think this is what I may end up with...
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 1GB
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 (£54.25)
Motherboard: MSI 770-C45 (£50.06)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB 1,600MHz Cl9 DDR3 (£60.94)
Chassis: Some kind of metal box
PSU: Enermax Liberty 500W
Cooler: Akasa AK-876 (£14.36)
Optical: TTSTcorp CD/DVDW TSH552U which is IDE but should be OK on that motherboard. I'll need to drop my other DVD drive (also IDE) but I never used it these days anyway...
Storage: 700GB SATA Hitachi
Which comes to a total of £179.61 + P+P, which is higher than I was looking for but I guess I can manage that.
Is there anything important I'm overlooking? Thanks for your help.
"The Hamidon is a what what of what?" - Brian the mission guy.
Not sure on uk prices but i would recommend a phenom II 955 x4 and a gigabyte motherboard-
Quote:
Since the Athlon II X2 250 is listed at £54.32 from the retailer linked to in the bit-tech.net guide. At the same place the Phenom II 955 X4 is £142.48, I would say that kind of blows their budget.|
Originally Posted by TRTerror
Not sure on uk prices but i would recommend a phenom II 955 x4 and a gigabyte motherboard-
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Leese
Thanks for that, Father Xmas. I was hoping I'd get to keep my RAM, but I guess it's not to be. My parents will be glad to have the hand-me-down RAM I guess
Fortunately I do have a PCI-E card which I think will suffice for now (GeForce 9500GT 1GB) Looking at their all-rounder and replacing bits with items I already have (in italics) I think this is what I may end up with... Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9500GT 1GB CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 (£54.25) Motherboard: MSI 770-C45 (£50.06) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB 1,600MHz Cl9 DDR3 (£60.94) Chassis: Some kind of metal box PSU: Enermax Liberty 500W Cooler: Akasa AK-876 (£14.36) Optical: TTSTcorp CD/DVDW TSH552U which is IDE but should be OK on that motherboard. I'll need to drop my other DVD drive (also IDE) but I never used it these days anyway... Storage: 700GB SATA Hitachi Which comes to a total of £179.61 + P+P, which is higher than I was looking for but I guess I can manage that. Is there anything important I'm overlooking? Thanks for your help. |
Second you also don't need to get the CPU cooler. The included cooler in the retail box edition of the CPU is more than adequate for stock clock speeds. If you have no interest in overclocking your CPU then it's simply an added expense. Anyways to get an idea of the kind of performance improvement you'll be seeing going from a single core 1.8GHz Athlon 64 to a dual core X2 250, here is a comparison between a 2.0GHz single core Sempron LE-1150 and the dual core Athlon II X2 250. Note: the game benchmarks are done with a much more powerful GPU than you have and those games are run at much lower settings to highlight what the CPU brings to performance.
You should see if the pricing for all the components you are buying are competitive from a single site instead of the hassle of buying them from individually from different sites. At the very least you may get a break on shipping and the likelihood that all the parts will be delivered on the same day.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Thanks again. I'll downgrade the RAM, drop the cooler, and start shopping around for good prices.
"The Hamidon is a what what of what?" - Brian the mission guy.
Like the avatar. I have a few Yuki ones myself.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Looks like a solid setup you got there. Xmas should be proud.
You'll be able to upgrade the CPU to a much beefier model later, as AM3 has plenty of life left in it. Phenom IIs, quad-cores, maybe even hex-cores are in your future. You won't have to upgrade that motherboard for a long while.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
Thought I'd drop a note to say that everything's installed and working great! Thanks again!
And Yuki is awesome.
"The Hamidon is a what what of what?" - Brian the mission guy.
I've been upgrading this computer in bits over the last few years, and it's come to the point where it seems like my CPU (Athlon 64 3000+ 1.81GHz) is dragging the rest of it down. Unfortunately I've not been following developments in this area, so I'm not sure what kind of chip to go for these days.
Can anyone give me a suggestion for what to look for? Looking to spend between £100 and £150 in total for both the CPU and a motherboard.
"The Hamidon is a what what of what?" - Brian the mission guy.