Upgrading to Athlon 64 - Help me avoid bottlenecks

[Cindy]

Hey all,

You all have never let me down, so I come here once again for your help!!

Well I am going to upgrade to an Athlon 64 and would like your opinions on this build. I've been told that my current processor the Athlon XP 2600+ @1.8ghz on a Asus 87n8x-e deluxe is a bottleneck to my new video card, the BFG Geforce 6800 GT Overclocked.

The purpose of this upgrade is to increase system performance in the latest gaming technologies, video encoding, and cd ripping and making most of the components. I don't want any bottlenecks or spend the money on an upgrade and realize later that the performance gain wasn't worth the cost involved.

So, with that out of the way.....

I am open to socket 754 or 939. I probably won't upgrade this machine for at least another year. This is what I am currently considering:

Socket 754 configuration:

Motherboard- SOLTEK SL-K8AN2E-GR $89
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Newcastle 0.13Micron retail $190
Memory- Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 - OEM- $156

Total upgrade cost: $435

Socket 939 configuration:

Motherboard- MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra $136
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3200 Winchester 90 nm OEM $194
ThermalRight XP-90 $38.99
Memory- OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel Kit 184-Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail - $269

Total Upgrade Cost: $638.99

Two different configurations with a $203 difference. Will there be much of a performance difference between the two with no bottlenecks? I am not up to par on all the technicalities so these configs could be screwed up for all I know. The memory is what really confuses me, with so many different types. I am open to any different configurations you would recommend.

I do plan on this being my first overclock.

Thanks for reading and any input you have for me!!!

[nark]

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3974878

if ur not going to be overclocking, not great, but cheap.

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3645865

if u are overclocking, I think you will save some money over the OCZ and I do believe that these are pretty good sticks.

[bigheadache]

Hey all,

You all have never let me down, so I come here once again for your help!!

Well I am going to upgrade to an Athlon 64 and would like your opinions on this build. I've been told that my current processor the Athlon XP 2600+ @1.8ghz on a Asus 87n8x-e deluxe is a bottleneck to my new video card, the BFG Geforce 6800 GT Overclocked.

The purpose of this upgrade is to increase system performance in the latest gaming technologies, video encoding, and cd ripping and making most of the components. I don't want any bottlenecks or spend the money on an upgrade and realize later that the performance gain wasn't worth the cost involved.

So, with that out of the way.....

I am open to socket 754 or 939. I probably won't upgrade this machine for at least another year. This is what I am currently considering:

Socket 754 configuration:

Motherboard- SOLTEK SL-K8AN2E-GR $89
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Newcastle 0.13Micron retail $190
Memory- Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 - OEM- $156

Total upgrade cost: $435

Socket 939 configuration:

Motherboard- MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra $136
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3200 Winchester 90 nm OEM $194
ThermalRight XP-90 $38.99
Memory- OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel Kit 184-Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail - $269

Total Upgrade Cost: $638.99

Two different configurations with a $203 difference. Will there be much of a performance difference between the two with no bottlenecks? I am not up to par on all the technicalities so these configs could be screwed up for all I know. The memory is what really confuses me, with so many different types. I am open to any different configurations you would recommend.

I do plan on this being my first overclock.

Thanks for reading and any input you have for me!!!

thats hardly a fair comparison!!! Whats with the different RAM?? If oyu aren't going to overclock then you can use Corsair Value on either option. And again you can buy a cheap heatsink for your socket 939 rather than the thermalright (which you haven't included a fan) if you don't want to overcolcok, after all, you are comparing to a retail pack socket 754.

I'd say that you would be looking at a $50 difference between the options if you compared fairly, at which I would say go for socket 939, because I don't think extra $50 is much when you are already spending over $400.

Edit: sorry missed your comment on overclocking. I would definitely go winchester 3200 then as the 90nm chips are cooler. The price difference isn't that much if you compared fairly.

[Cindy]

Oh, and another thing. I mentioned that this is going to be my first overclock so please keep that in mind in my configurations. For instance, maybe I can overclock the Athlon 64 3200 to close to Athlon 3700 speeds. Not sure if possible but this is just an example.

I don't see any need to spend money on a higher rated cpu when it is possible to be able to overclock to get close to those speeds.

Thanks again all you mighty AMD geniuses

[Cindy]

thats hardly a fair comparison!!!

Thank you.

You're right. That was all screwed up!!

However, I was hoping for an opinion on how much of a performance difference there would be between the 754 and 939 configurations that I provided. But one has memory that is overclockable, and I guess the budget configuration doesn't. They both have similar processors.

I just want to do the right thing. Get a nice bump in performance from my current setup, without needlessly overspending.

Thanks Nark for the suggestion!

[_dangtx_]

stay skt 754 vnf3 + 2800/3000+ retail will do.ul lrun mem async,and be on a budget but u'll be able to push that sucker good ,given that u get teh cg core or ax proc

[Cindy]

stay skt 754 vnf3 + 2800/3000+ retail will do.ul lrun mem async,and be on a budget but u'll be able to push that sucker good ,given that u get teh cg core or ax proc

Thanks dangtx,

But what exactly is vnf3, cg core, and ax proc?

I can make a guess at vnf3. Nforce video 3 chipset?

Sorry, I'm a little behind in the current computer abbreviations. So you have to spell it out to me

[oralpain]

Everyone is a little behind on Dangtx's abreviated shorthand abriviations.. His posts are usually unintelegible, but that last one was almost lucid. It's pritty hilarious actually, go to his profile and find all of his posts and count how many you can read. No offense Dangtx!

Anyway he was refering to the Chaintech VFN3-250 (uses the nvidia nforce3 250 chipset) motherboard, wich I had and it is an excelent board for the money. The CG he was refering to is the revision of the core, C0 where the older less overclockable ones, CGs tend to be much better. AX is the last 2 letters of the modle number of a socket 754, CG core, newcastle processor, and again his recomendation is a good one, though I would recommend at least the 3000+ for the 10 multiplyer.

[Cindy]

Thanks Oralpain!

Now I understand

Just to make sure, is this the the processor you are referring to? Has great reviews as well!!

[oralpain]

That is the very processor in my computer and sig right now.

[Cindy]

That is the very processor in my computer and sig right now.

Great! Just curious, why did you make the switch from the chaintec motherboard to the aopen you are currently using? Also, would you recommend the Samsung memory that is in your sig? You happy with it? I really like Nark's recommendation on the Kingston's, but open to others

[insider]

I have a pair of those Samsung TCCC ram, not the best overclocking modules but then it doesn't make that much of a difference on an Athlon64 rig running the memory at 200MHz (400DDR) or 300MHz (600DDR) like you can with certain OCZ modules but they are around 100 bucks more expensive here than my pair of Samsung memory, you'd notice a bigger difference using that 100 bucks to get a better graphics card or faster CPU!

Benchmark freaks will disagree of course!

[Cindy]

they are around 100 bucks more expensive here than my pair of Samsung memory, you'd notice a bigger difference using that 100 bucks to get a better graphics card or faster CPU!

Thanks for the good info! Well I already reluctantly spent around $400 for the BFG Geforce 2, so I guess a video card upgrade is out of the question for now. But what you suggest is good advice for maximizing system performance for each dollar spent. That's exactly what I am looking for, putting the dollars where they count most!! A bottleneck free and efficient system!

This is where I stand:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ RETAIL - $151
Chaintech VNF3-250 - $72 (Excellent reviews! Thanks dangtx for pointing me there)
Kingston (2)512MB PC3200 - $160
Total $383

Or if I go with the Samsung PC3200, the upgrade will be $417.

But how can I tell what memory is better? The specs between the two look very similar except for the CAS latency. Is that the key spec here? Also, I seem to recall reading somewhere that CAS latency of 2-2-2-5 is optimal for Athlon 64 performance. Not sure on this, but for some reason that is in my head.

Well I'm just going to make a decision soon, hopefully by the morning. Been putting this off for 3 weeks researching and trying to make up my mind! I've been as far as having the shopping cart filled in, and just couldn't hit the submit button because I've been so indecisive.

Thanks again everyone!

[MassiveOverkill]

Stick with the Soltek board. See my results in sig.

[oralpain]

Depending on how much you plan to overclock the memory, I would recommend a single 1GB dimm.