Advice on an upgrade

[Disturbedguy]

Hey all

Im looking to upgrade my current system, funds should be in my bank soon.

At the moment I have: -

Athlon 64 Dual Core 4400+
2GB DDR RAM
Abit A7N8 motherboard (or summet like that name)
512MB 7950GT KO Superclocked GCard

The system is good but I know am not getting the full potential out of the system because I am using the DDR RAM.

Im looking to upgrade my motherboard, CPU and RAM for the moment.

I am thinking of the following:-

Motherboard: Abit Fatal1ty AN9 32X NF590 SLI, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX

CPU: AMD AM2 Athlon 64 6400 + Black Edition Dual Core 3.2GHz, 2x 1MB Cache, Retail w/o Heat Sink Fan

(Not sure on the cooler yet)

RAM: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 Pro, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12

2Gb RAM to start with then maybe go up to 3 or 4 even though am on XP 32bit, I have heard rumours that there are ways of getting XP 32bit to recognize 4Gb RAM.

I was wondering what people thought of the above upgrade, I want to get the most I possible can out of my setup, PC is mainly used for gaming but the occasional film is watched and for University I have a laptop.

Eventually I will be looking to upgrade my graphics card but for the moment am relatively happy with the Graphics Card I have, im thinking of maybe waiting for the 9Series Nvidia cards to come out and hoping the 8800s will drop in price.

If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to suggest.

Thanks

[LegacyOne]

The E6750 from Intel is faster then the AMD 64 6400 + and costs less + overclocks better, other then that the ram is good.

I think you should wait for the 9Series Nvidia cards as you got a good card as it is.

[Disturbedguy]

hmm im not really an Intel fan and not into overclocking which is why Id prefer to stick with AMD.

Think I will wait for the 9Series Nvidia cards.

Thanks

[LegacyOne]

hmm im not really an Intel fan and not into overclocking which is why Id prefer to stick with AMD.

In that case I think the 64 6000+ would be better value.

[Disturbedguy]

hmm okie dokie..thanks

[staffsMike]

best value imo is the 5000+ black edition but only if you want to overclock.

Standard 2.6ghz but it has an unlocked multiplier (which means overclock is as simple as changing a number in the bios and it does 3.0ghz with ease on mine and stays very nice and cool. Its a 65nm unlike the 6000+/6400+ which are 90nm

I'm sure it will clock even higher but havn't had time to try yet.

[Disturbedguy]

i dont like the idea of overclocking really, its just not summet that interests me at the moment.

Im always worried about temps going abit high.

Thanks Mike

[staffsMike]

If it helps my temps are reported through the bios at around 15 - 20 degrees, and in windows they are around 7 degrees lol

That's with a scythe ninja.

The 6000+ and 6400+ run very hot as stock as they are litterally the last bit of power the nm 90chip can really give which is why they can't really be overclocked.

Also it may be worth noting the black editions (both 5000+ and 6400+) will probably hold their value (to the less informed) a lot better than other X2's so will be more saleable later on ebay etc..

[Disturbedguy]

good point about the values and temps.

am not yet sure which cooler i am going for..hmm your slowly twisting my arm towards getting the 5000 and overclocking it, do you think it could be pushed to 3.2 without too much increase in the heat?

thanks again mike

[staffsMike]

Yeah it certainly can.

Theres a guy on here that did it with very good temps

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...edition-2.html

post #29

[Disturbedguy]

How that is interesting, what would i have to change to get these kind of results and im assuming the Scythe Ninja will be sufficient for cooling at that speed?

Also does overclocking cut down on its life time by any chance?

Also would the motherboard be ideal for overclocking?

Thanks again mike

[shaithis]

hmm im not really an Intel fan and not into overclocking which is why Id prefer to stick with AMD.

Silly reason to cut out your (best) options.

[Disturbedguy]

I know Intel is my best option but I just dont like Intel, never have and prefer to stick to AMD.

[staffsMike]

The ninja is running mine at 3.0ghz @ default volts with the temps i mentioned so I think its perfect for the job (AM2 fittings are soooo mcuh easier than intel 775 )

To be honest if it runs at low temps it should last as long as it would stock. I can't think of the last time a pc broke and it was the cpu that broke lol.

Best thing about the unlocked multiplier is that it doesn't need an overclocking motherboard (just the ability to change the multiplier in the bios)

I'm using an Asus 690g uATX board..which is certainly not built to be overclocked and its quite happy in it.

[Disturbedguy]

Would the abit board I have chosen in my original post allow for changing the multiplier and how would i find out if i wanted to check on other boards?

thanks

[staffsMike]

Silly reason to cut out your (best) options.

Probably right but i have my e6600 clocked at 3.4ghz and this amd black edition at 3.0ghz and they both rip a dvd and encode to avi with 5 minutes of each other.