Replace My AM2+ Setup For Around $500

[geokilla]

I'm looking to spend up to $500 to replace the CPU and motherboard in my PC during the Christmas holidays. Everything else will be reused as there is no point in replacing the other parts. Plus I don't game much anymore, as I spend more time now just playing SC2 and/or watching TV shows while talking to friends. In short, I guess I place multitasking over gaming now. I also have a Kingston 8GB DDR3 RAM kit here as it was on sale and well, I don't really see it dropping much more in the future.

Should I go for a AMD Thuban, AMD Bulldozer (very cheap now ), or Intel Core i5 setup? I feel that going from quad core to quad core won't give me a good boost in multitasking performance, and a Core i7 setup is overkill.

Of course, SSDis an option, but I don't think it'll speed up my PC's performance by a huge margin. Plus it's very expensive.

[great_big_abyss]

EVERYBODY on here is going to recommend going with Intel and an I5. But consider this:

If you continue to go the AMD route, you can buy an AM3 board like this which supports your current processor. You'll be able to use your DDR3 RAM and will have the upgraded chipset as well as Sata 6Gb/s and USB 3.0. Seeing as I'm running all the latest games with a 965 without any problems, your 955 should be more than enough to play some SC2, skype and watch TV. If you find it's bogging down a little while multitasking, I'm sure you can find a Hex-core thuban at some point.

So, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a new Intel board and processor, spend $107 on a new motherboard. You can use the money you saved to buy an SSD and speed up your boot times.

[Bond007]

Originally Posted by great_big_abyss

EVERYBODY on here is going to recommend going with Intel and an I5. But consider this:

If you continue to go the AMD route, you can buy an AM3 board like this which supports your current processor. You'll be able to use your DDR3 RAM and will have the upgraded chipset as well as Sata 6Gb/s and USB 3.0. Seeing as I'm running all the latest games with a 965 without any problems, your 955 should be more than enough to play some SC2, skype and watch TV. If you find it's bogging down a little while multitasking, I'm sure you can find a Hex-core thuban at some point.

So, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a new Intel board and processor, spend $107 on a new motherboard. You can use the money you saved to buy an SSD and speed up your boot times.

True in one respect. I actually think he has a few options to pick from.

1. a) As mentioned above, just get a new board with some updated features and reuse current CPU. Gives you the option to grab a nice SSD as well with your budget.

b) New board and new processor (AMD). If you go this route I only suggest a 1090t. BD is not worth the extra IMO.

From the HWC review





2. If you want a bigger improvement in CPU speed then the i5 route is the way to go with a CPU/MOB.




My Opinion:

Go with a 2500k/p67 or z68 MOB if you want the most improvement in your processing power. If you want an overall improvement, but are happy with your current CPUs processing performance, then just grab an SSD. If you want usb 3.0 and are content with your CPU, then grab a new MOB and reuse your CPU. I wouldn't upgrade AMD CPUs from what you already have (if you need a new MOB/CPU, then go intel).

[great_big_abyss]

I concur with that. If you're really set on getting a newer, faster processor, go with an I5. You'll spend a lot more money, but you'll gain a lot more power.

Keep in mind that having an updated MOBO with DDR3 will speed up your computer quite a bit from what it is now.

[geokilla]

DDR3 makes such a huge difference in performance compared to DDR2? I'm not extreme multitasking so I'm not so sure if I would want to drop in a new motherboard while reusing my CPU which can barely overclock now. I think money would be better spent if I upgraded to just a AMD Thuban CPU rather than spending money on a new AM3+ motherboard.

With regards to Bulldozer, well I guess there's no need to consider Bulldozer anymore?

[great_big_abyss]

Originally Posted by geokilla

DDR3 makes such a huge difference in performance compared to DDR2? I'm not extreme multitasking so I'm not so sure if I would want to drop in a new motherboard while reusing my CPU which can barely overclock now. I think money would be better spent if I upgraded to just a AMD Thuban CPU rather than spending money on a new AM3+ motherboard.

With regards to Bulldozer, well I guess there's no need to consider Bulldozer anymore?

Cost for performance, you 're better off going Thuban than any bulldozer. But really, if you're going to drop the dough anyway and get a new motherboard/processor, go Intel i5. My initial suggestion was only to save you a bit of money up front, and upgrade to a Thuban only IF you need to.

What's more, I was judging the performance of your 955 based on how my STOCK 965 runs. You mentioned you like to multitask, but don't really run anything crazily intensive. My 965 has no problem doing all these at the same time: Folding, skyping, music/HD movies, downloading, transferring files between HDD's, surfing multiple tabs. That's basically what you'll be doing, right?

[Rasparthe]

As seems to be the theme in this thread I would probably upgrade the mobo and keep the chip. Those Phenoms are pretty good, especially for gaming and multitasking. If you are experiencing lag and slow down you might see the most improvement from a Boot SSD. I found this to be the case. I've been using a Pentium D 945 for a couple of years and decided I should upgrade but found a SSD on sale cheap before I was ready to pull the trigger. Funny thing was, a clean install of Windows on the SSD made a world of difference and for the light web browsing/downloading/movies it was super fast. I mean you just have to be careful to keep your storage stuff (movies/photos/etc) on a separate drive and the programs you use all the time on the boot drive (games/OS/etc). I doubt you would even see much difference between the 6 core Thurban and the Phenom you have. Not many programs have the ability to spread tasks over more than 4 cores.

[geokilla]

Originally Posted by great_big_abyss

What's more, I was judging the performance of your 955 based on how my STOCK 965 runs. You mentioned you like to multitask, but don't really run anything crazily intensive. My 965 has no problem doing all these at the same time: Folding, skyping, music/HD movies, downloading, transferring files between HDD's, surfing multiple tabs. That's basically what you'll be doing, right?

It's pretty much what I'm doing when I'm not playing SC2. In fact, I don't even Skype much, and downloading. And I got other games to play too, but I'm not going to justify spending huge amounts of money just to run them at max detail. I'll sacrifice a bit of detail.

Your computer doesn't feel sluggish at all? Mine is starting to feel slow ever since that downclock. Maybe I should do a format first before continue to consider upgrading the CPU/mobo/RAM/SSD

Originally Posted by Rasparthe

As seems to be the theme in this thread I would probably upgrade the mobo and keep the chip. Those Phenoms are pretty good, especially for gaming and multitasking. If you are experiencing lag and slow down you might see the most improvement from a Boot SSD. I found this to be the case. I've been using a Pentium D 945 for a couple of years and decided I should upgrade but found a SSD on sale cheap before I was ready to pull the trigger. Funny thing was, a clean install of Windows on the SSD made a world of difference and for the light web browsing/downloading/movies it was super fast. I mean you just have to be careful to keep your storage stuff (movies/photos/etc) on a separate drive and the programs you use all the time on the boot drive (games/OS/etc). I doubt you would even see much difference between the 6 core Thurban and the Phenom you have. Not many programs have the ability to spread tasks over more than 4 cores.

Guess I have to start considering SSD as an option. The problem is, how should I use an SSD? 60GB is too small for C drive, and 120GB is enough, but again it's very pricy. Plus my motherboard doesn't support TRIM

[great_big_abyss]

my computer feels fine. If anything, the only time it feels slow is when i open up my media folder and the slow-ass 2TB Green drive has to populate it. But that's the drive's fault, not the processor's.

[geokilla]

In that case, I guess I'll get a SSD before upgrading the CPU and mobo. Any SSD that you'd recommend? The Vertex 3 is overkill and I heard that there's lots of problems with the drive dying.