best upgrade for multitasking?

[peekaboo]

my current build is an asus a8n-e (socket 939) with an amd 3500 (venice), evga 6600gt and 1 gig of ram.

i play no games at all but i multitask like nobody's business.
right now i have MSN messenger, skype, outlook and utorrent running in the background, 3 open folders, 3 open word files (quite large), 2 firefox windows with approx 9 tabs open in each, viewing 3 pdf files, TexnicCenter (LaTex software), JabRef (bibliography manager) and Photoshop running.
i usually also have either vlc or wmplayer streaming radio.
i've installed vmware so that i can play around with other OS and software but that's just too much for my computer. everything becomes painfully slow with 2 OS running.

what would be the best upgrade?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by peekaboo what would be the best upgrade?

A quad core processor.

Are you planning to stick with AMD or is INTEL an option?

Cricket

[peekaboo]

i meant best upgrade component for my current setup.
of course i'd like to build a new supercomputer that has more power than i'll ever need but that's beyond my budget (currently). when i can afford that, i'll go with whatever is best (amd or intel).
so would adding another gig of ram make a noticeable difference? changing the cpu?

[Cricket]

What are the complete system specs for this computer?

To find out the fastest, most powerful processor your motherboard supports you have to go to the ASUS web site and check the CPU compatibility chart.

Cricket

[peekaboo]

so you are saying that a cpu upgrade (not ram?) is the way to go?

specs:
mobo: asus a8n-e
cpu: amd 3500
gpu: evga 6600gt
ram: corsair value select 1 gig
psu: 450W i think (the one that comes with the antec sonata 2)
hd: seagate 7200.9 250 gig sata and 7200.9 250 gig ide.

did i forget anything?

[Cricket]

Since you have a lot of things open at the same time adding more RAM will definitely help. You can verify this by running your computer like you normally do and watch the hard drive LED...if it's blinking almost constantly then you know your computer is going to the swap file a lot and you need more RAM. Upgrading to 2GB would be a good idea.

Cricket

[flanzig1]

Right now, the upgrade to give you the most CPU horsepower would be the dual core Opteron IF your motherboard will support dual-core CPUs. Any faster single core won't provide much improvement and there isn't a whole lot of choices in the 939 socket line left.

[peekaboo]

is the little blinking light (orange) on the front of my case an HD indicator?
i thought it was a cpu indicator.

[flanzig1]

Yes, that is more than likely the HD activity LED. There is no CPU activity lites on cases.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by peekaboo is the little blinking light (orange) on the front of my case an HD indicator? i thought it was a cpu indicator.

The LED with the cylindrical symbol is the hard drive activity LED. There is no CPU activity LED.

If that LED is blinking a lot, your computer is going to the swap file a lot. Adding more RAM will reduce the swap file usage.

Cricket

[peekaboo]

so will any socket 939 work?
i see a few 3800+ processors for sale on ebay.

[Alaron]

You need to check on the CPUs your board supports. But it supports a long list, check it out here: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...Language=en-us

The 3800+ is indeed supported. Make sure to get the dual core (X2).

[peekaboo]

Originally Posted by Alaron You need to check on the CPUs your board supports. But it supports a long list, check it out here: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...Language=en-us The 3800+ is indeed supported. Make sure to get the dual core (X2).

so there's a single core 3800+ too?
now that's confusing.

[LeftyAce]

For the uses you're describing, a ram upgrade would probably be the most noticeable. (Hit ctrl+alt+delete to open the windows task manager and see how much ram you're using. If you're close to or above 1GB, more ram will help a lot).

Here's newegg's list of dual core socket 939 cpus. Not very many left :-(
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...name=Dual-Core

[peekaboo]

ok, what am i looking at here:
task manager

[LeftyAce]

PF Usage. You have 1024MB of ram, so if the Page File gets bigger than that it starts going onto the harddrive and everything will slow waaaaaay down. If that screenshot was taken when you were doing as much as you ever do, you're fine w/o the extra ram. If you go over 1000 to 1024, more ram will help a lot.

[peekaboo]

so i'm fine for ram?
i'll have a look at my page file when i run vmware.

ok, here's the task manager while installing ubuntu on vmware.

it doesn't seem like my cpu is maxing out. would a 3800+ (dual core) be a noticeable improvement on my 3500+ then?

[peekaboo]

not a big fan of bumping but anyway...

if my cpu doesn't seem to running at 100% (or close to it) will i see any improvement if i get a dual core 3800?

[LeftyAce]

I don't think so.

Based on your second task manager screenshot, you'll see improvement with more ram (you're using 1.02 GB there, which is more than you have...)

[peekaboo]

alrighty.
i think i'll add another gig of ram.

EDIT:
installed another gig (now a total of 2 gig).
WONDERFUL!

[LeftyAce]

Awesome!

[peekaboo]

now i think i'll upgrade my cpu as well.
can someone please confirm that this x2 4200+ is compatible with my asus a8n-e mobo?

[Alaron]

According to Asus' site, it is with BIOS 1006 and up.

[peekaboo]

Originally Posted by Alaron According to Asus' site, it is with BIOS 1006 and up.

umm, so that's a yes?

i read this thread where people are recommending not to upgrade to a X2 4200+ and just wait for a more complete upgrade later on (which will include a newer socket).

the truth is that with all my multitasking, it's not like i really need a more powerful processor than my 3500+ but i thought i'd treat myself.
while i'm running a matlab routine, the cpu goes up to 100% but hopefully i'll be done with my thesis in 3 months and i won't be running any number crunching software along with a million other processes after that.

i'm just sharing my thoughts here. your advice is appreciated.
should i just hold off on this upgrade and just enjoy my 2 gigs of ram and somewhere down the road either build a complete new system or just upgrade the mobo, cpu and ram to something really nice (maybe an octa-core or something)?

[LeftyAce]

Given that you're using matlab a lot (and want to be able do something else at the same time), you're someone who will benefit frequently from two cores despite none of the software you're using being double-core optimized. Given my experience running matlab (I hate it; waaaaaay resource intensive) I'm surprised you can do anything else at all while it's running a simulation. 2 cores, even if they're no faster than your current cpu, will let you ignore your matlabe simulations and do music or web stuff as normal.

In too many words, I'd get it.

*EDIT* To check the BIOS version, download CPU-Z. It'll tell you which BIOS you have. If you need to update it, ASUS has a good windows based tool to do that (Check your manual for instructions)

[peekaboo]

the truth is that i just restarted to use matlab because i'm reanalyzing my data for my thesis writing. i haven't used it in many months and i won't be using it again in a couple of months.
it spat out 144 graphs (my loop was a little out of control) in a few seconds while vlc was streaming radio, texniccenter, a word document and an excel workbook were open and msn messenger, skype, outlook and utorrent were running in the background.
i think the 3500+ is really working nicely.

yeah, i love doing many things at once but i'm running a fourier transform on tens of files and it's done in a matter of seconds. i hardly have time to do anything else while the numbers are being crunched.

i want to go dual core but i'm kinda stuck with the 939 socket (not so pleased with amd's quick retirement of socket 939), as i don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on getting a new mobo, c2d cpu and ram so i'm forced to pay a relatively high price for yesterday's technology.

[LeftyAce]

Ok. If matlab finished fast enough that it's done before you can start something else, you won't see a noticeable improvement with a dual core. I was picturing hours-long runs or something :-)

I'd stick with the added ram (it IS helping with the responsiveness) and enjoy it!