What CPU For Me? S939

[Vini]

Just acquired a cheap Abit AV8 (£20) and now needing a CPU for it. The main reason for my upgrade from my SoA Abit NF7 & 3000XP is solely for a VT8237 southbridge chipset. It just so happens that the Abit AV8 was available at a stupid price, so now im stuck needing a cheap CPU.

I mean i could go for the bog standard £50 AMD64 3000+ but, im wanting to know what the best bang for the buck is at the minute?

Any joy unlocking cores on the Manchesters?

[sawyen]

uhh.. best bang would be the 3800+ X2 tbh..

[kalniel]

I mean i could go for the bog standard £50 AMD64 3000+ but, im wanting to know what the best bang for the buck is at the minute?

Depends what your usage is. If you're only doing one thing at a time (as most of us do) then single core chips are best bang for the buck. If you need multitasking then the x2 3800 is the best bet.

Any joy unlocking cores on the Manchesters?

No, they only have two cores total, there's no hidden quad core cabability.

[Isy]

x2 3800

[Vini]

just looking at the x2 3800, same price as the SD 4000+...

Hmm...

I rarely use the PC. but seeing as i got the board so cheap and specced £120 for an upgrade. I can either max my budget and get a £100 cpu or stay cheap and spend little as possible.

Im using a SoA NF7 & 3000XP at the minute, and all it does is download. The only reason im upgrading is for vt8237 sata.

i guess i'd probably do a lot more avi -> dvd on a dual core, cos presumably it would whip it? infact maybe i need to look into the dual core faffles and see what it really is all about.

could it in effect let me convert avi -> dvd on core one, whilst having max performance on core two?

whats the deal with the ghz they run at, why so low?

[BUFF]

whats the deal with the ghz they run at, why so low?

because they are very efficient & have 2 cores ...
also overclock quite well (although the K8T800 Pro isn't the best chipset for overclocking).

btw why in particular did you want an 8237 sb?

[Vini]

not gonna be overclocking, my pc does nothing nowadays.

btw why in particular did you want an 8237 sb?

less hassle for certain things

[Dark Horse]

not gonna be overclocking, my pc does nothing nowadays.

If your pc does nothing then there isn't much point in shelling out when you don't have to.

The 3000, 3200 and 3500 + are all pretty even at £ per ghz so go for whichever one you prefer. The difference isn't much so the 3500 is probably the best bet.

[Vini]

If your pc does nothing then there isn't much point in shelling out when you don't have to.

The 3000, 3200 and 3500 + are all pretty even at £ per ghz so go for whichever one you prefer. The difference isn't much so the 3500 is probably the best bet.

It's finding a 3500 for the right price then. Someone on AVForums just sold theirs for £25. It'll be a while until one that cheap surfaces i would have thought.

[kalniel]

i guess i'd probably do a lot more avi -> dvd on a dual core, cos presumably it would whip it? infact maybe i need to look into the dual core faffles and see what it really is all about.

could it in effect let me convert avi -> dvd on core one, whilst having max performance on core two?

Depends on the converter, but yes, that's one possibility. The other is that the converter could be set up to take advantage of dual core, in which case you can knock up to 40% off the time taken.

whats the deal with the ghz they run at, why so low?

Compared to a pentium 4? Simply they do more work per clock, so you do the same amount of work while using less clock cycles, meaning you don't need to run as many cycles per second. Intel's latest chip takes that even further, and does the same work for even lower ghz than AMD chips.