Brian The Dog on 18/9/2008 at 10:22
Dear fellow TTLG'ers,
I am interested in upgrading the CPU in my current home-build PC. Here is my current PC:
Athlon 64x2 3800
(
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/113974) Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe
2Gb 800MHz RAM (4x512Mb dual-channel)
GeForce 7950GT 512Mb
(
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/116412) Zalman CNPS 9500 CPU Cooler
(
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/109552) Hiper 580W PSU
The CPU seems a bit light-weight, so I was wondering about upgrading it. Is it worth it? I have 3 options:
1) Do nothing, save money!
2) Get a good AM2 processor, e.g. (
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149211) this one.
3) Wait for (
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146751) one of these Phenoms to come down in price and get it for about £80.
I have upgraded my BIOS to the latest one, so it can recognise the new Phenoms. But since they are AM2+ processors, I'm unsure as to (a) whether they are worth the extra money over a normal AM2, and (b) how fitting an AM2+ processor into an AM2 socket will reduce it's effectiveness. Plus the Phenoms look like they take a large amount of power, so is my PSU and cooler good enough?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. I mainly use the PC for single-threaded command-line C++ programming (for my PhD project), and playing fairly basic games (Thief, Rome Total War and so on). The only game that's coming out soon that I am interested in getting is the Empire Total War game.
Thanks in advance!
Brian The Dog on 19/9/2008 at 09:46
Hi Biker, thanks for the advice. In that case, I will probably wait until the January sales and get a 64x2 6000 then - hopefully they will be even cheaper then (and I may even have some money to buy one as well!)
Just out of curiousity, I don't know much about the Phenoms. Why do you think AMD need to change the architecture of them?
bikerdude on 19/9/2008 at 12:33
Quote Posted by Brian The Dog
Just out of curiousity, I don't know much about the Phenoms. Why do you think AMD need to change the architecture of them?
Because the current marchitecture of the Phenoms, while inventive is still too slow. When compared to AMD X2 dual core chips, there is no improvement in speed and in some cases its actually slower..!!! Don't even bother comparing Phenoms to intel equivalents...:bored:
As your just using your pc for gaming/internet/office rather than 3D rendering or other cpu intensive tasks there is no need to have a quad core cpu.
biker
Brian The Dog on 19/9/2008 at 13:59
I see, thanks for the info. As is often the case, it's best to go for technology that's starting to mature - you get more reliable products for cheaper!
My 3800 is OK for now, so I will just wait until the 6000 comes on offer and then snap it up. The number-crunching side of the programs I write will definitely prefer faster processors rather than multiple-core multiple-threading, as my programming skills are not good enough to take advantage of such things :( The Intels would cost a lot more since I would have to change the motherboard as well.
Righto, thanks for the advice :thumb:
Bjossi on 19/9/2008 at 14:32
The quad cores could come in handy if you participate in one of those science projects like Folding or SETI.
And that is just for the present, in future gaming that utilizes 3+ cores you're gonna welcome the extra horsepower.
bikerdude on 19/9/2008 at 20:25
Quote Posted by Bjossi
The quad cores could come in handy if you participate in one of those science projects like Folding or SETI.
And that is just for the present, in future gaming that utilizes 3+ cores you're gonna welcome the extra horsepower.
Most gfx cards will completly smashing a cpu in "folding at home" and by the time ANY games support multi cores (as atm most only support 1) the phenom will be completely old skewl...:cheeky:
biker
Bjossi on 19/9/2008 at 21:04
Of course most games only support 1 core, the legacy of the past far outnumbers the present and the far future. ;)
CaptSyn on 25/9/2008 at 15:22
There's absolutely no reason to ever buy a Phenom. Intel quad cores are much more widely supported. The Q6600 can be had right now for under $200.
Phenom quads are slightly cheaper, but you will be severely limited in your motherboard selection.
Intel has already moved on to the 45nm process, while once again AMD is lagging behind.
Also, I don't like the fact that AMD has been losing money instead of making it. They have been posting their quarterly statements on their site and they show a net loss each quarter of at least $250 million for the past few years.
If that keeps up, there will be no more AMD which means you won't have any sort of support when they close their doors.
While Intel was storming the world with kick ass quad core processors, AMD sat around with their thumbs up their butts and thought it would be really neat to make triple core cpus, something no one else even considered.
All the while, Intel's quads were already saturating the market over a year before the first Phenom rolled off the line.
It's obvious AMD is doing something very wrong and it's costing them dearly. Avoid them at all costs and consider your future upgrades.
Get a sweet Intel Yorkfield cpu now and you won't have to upgrade it for many years to come and it won't cost you your first born.
The Q9300 Yorkfield goes for $260 right now. I paid nearly $30 more for my Q6600 Kentsfield less than a year ago.
