AMD UPGRADE Help please !

[a1cnissen]

Well after about 4 years of intel i am willing to admit that AMD blows p4s out of the water for games.

Plus i am told that they have come out with a windows 64bit which blows my mind.
I have seen my friends AMD and it blows my sh#t out of the water.


I am looking to buy a chip and motherboard for a total of about $500 what would be the best bang for my buck.

[washe]

Hold your horses for next month, Nforce4 with 939 socket mobos are on its way with PCI express.

I believe the best bang for the buck its a A64 3500+.

[sakray]

If your price is 500 for only a CPU and Mobo then I'd say an AMD64 3500+ and if you can find it the ASUS A8N-SLI, if you can't then some good choices are the Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 or the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum should cost you around 350-500 dollars.

[a1cnissen]

I know this sounds stupid but thats why I love this site becuase I can ask smart people what they think, but i never understand the whole socket thing. Why will this 939 socket with pci express be better ? Is there no mobo out right now for AMD that have pci express and what does pci express really do?

I know you all must think I am a tool but I just never have the time to really read and learn to much about them becuase they keep sticking me in the dirt with a gun and a jug of water.

I always had questions like:
Why is there 5 different types of the same chip all for diff prices they all say AMD64 3500+ but one is better?

What is pci express and what does it do?

What really matters when you want to make a good gamming cpu ?
( I was told get amd64 with the new windows64 and a sata harddrive and keep my ati 9600 128mb video card and get rid of my old gig of ram and get better ram)

What is the deal with ram how much better really is the 500 gig of ram over the 300 gig

what should i really be doing even touching a computer at this point and why do i like them so much

if anyone could give me a reply on this i would be very happy

[a1cnissen]

also
on the new 939 socket board

http://www.computerbrain.com/applica...u=A8NSLIDELUXE

does SLI mean i can put 2 video cards on one board or does it make my one video card act like 2?


and do they both have to be the same card to work?

[washe]

Ok going by parts..

PCI express will replace the current AGP cards, It will make your system a little more future proof if you want to upgrade video card later, after asking around looks like 2005 will begin the mass market for PCI express and outpace AGP.

Altought support for AGP will exist.

Why PCI express was recommended, only for a future video card upgrade, there is no performance gain right now between AGP and PCI express, If you plan to get a good video now and never change it, then you can get a mobo with AGP now.

SLI: As you described it above it will let you put 2 pci express cards and connect them, to get the job done, i havent seen any benchmarks yet to say its good or not.., next year more mobos will be avaiable, take your time for the right desition.

Socket: it only means the number of pins the processor will have first generation of AMD64 where socket 754, they improved the process and get the die smaller and producced a socket 939, there is no performance difference i have seen yet between a socket 754 and 939 but processor after 3200+ are socket 939, the AMD64+ 3500 is 939 only, so if you plan to upgrade later the processor you will be more ready with a 939 socket mainboard.

About memory well if you have a stick of 512 MB and its PC3200 you can transport that ram to your new system.

Your ati 9600, begins to show its age, I can say it will hold half of next year, and you will need to decrease a lot of setting to get it to a playable level, If you are going to do the upgrade for a faster system, Ill suggest plan on getting a better card.

[Peter M]

Originally Posted by washe

Socket: it only means the number of pins the processor will have first generation of AMD64 where socket 754, they improved the process and get the die smaller and producced a socket 939, there is no performance difference i have seen yet between a socket 754 and 939 but processor after 3200+ are socket 939, the AMD64+ 3500 is 939 only, so if you plan to upgrade later the processor you will be more ready with a 939 socket mainboard.

Hell no. 754 is the "budget" platform, featuring a single-channel RAM controller. 939 is "desktop performance" segment, using identical processor cores but featuring dual-channel RAM. 754 goes lower in entry price, 939 reaches higher on the performance end. If you're spending $500, go with 939.

[washe]

Originally Posted by Peter M

Hell no. 754 is the "budget" platform, featuring a single-channel RAM controller. 939 is "desktop performance" segment, using identical processor cores but featuring dual-channel RAM. 754 goes lower in entry price, 939 reaches higher on the performance end. If you're spending $500, go with 939.

Forgot about the dual memory... but i havent seen on actual applications any benefits from dual memory to single channel, in gaming. even when was introduced on the XP line.

[palden]

Hey.

I'm reviving this thread because I also need to do some upgrading. I work a lot with photos and video. I'm swapping out my monitor in the very near future to one that has a native display of 1600X1200. I'm happy with the HHDs, optical drive, CD-RW drive and the other components I have. I'm just not happy with the decline in video quality since I upgraded my video card. When I upgraded the card, the display began scrolling more slowly and the refresh rate is abysmal, even when I've tweaked it. Plus, in the problem devices list in System information, I get the message that "RADEON 9600 SERIES cannot start". I'm thinking that neither my monitor nor my processor can handle the card, so perhaps I should move up to an AMD 64 CPU and compatible mobo.

Here are my current specs:

Mobo: Via AK35
CPU: AMD XP 1800+
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
Audio Card: Creative Labs Audigy MP3 Platinum
Monitor: Viewsonic E70f
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies LTD 6.00 PG
Power Supply: Mad Dog SuperPower 450W
OS: Windows XP Media Center

I have an ordinary ATX mid-tower beige case. Will I have to buy a new case as well? Suggestions?

[sm8000]

Run dxdiag and check if (under Display tab) DirectX features are enabled.

What was the previous video card? Did you uninstall its drivers? Use Driver Cleaner to clean out the rogue files remaining.