Socket 754 to 939?

[shadowbreaker513]

I know I talk about upgrading a lot but I'm curious. My current specs are in my sig. Sometime mabye in Feb/March I was going to get a 6800GT for my computer. I was wondering however, if the bettwe, granted much more expensive, choice would be to upgrade more than that. Does anybody think that upgrading to an Athlon64 3400+ Socket939 processor, the new Asus board with 2 16x pci express slots (link), and 2 pci express 6600GTs in SLi would be better? Or should I stay with my socket 754 for a while longer.

[mc2phat]

My opinion? If you have the extra cash laying around, go for it. Or, if the 754 is doing what you need it to do, save your $$ for awhile and wait for even better and faster stuff to come out in a year or so. IMO, it's a judgement call. Our family has three computers that do what we need them to do. One is a 1.3 ghz Duron, one is a 600E PIII, the other is a Dell laptop. None of us are gamers, my daughter plays Sims all the time. I itch to rip the two PC's apart everyday and upgrade them simply because it's my nature. My budget and a wise spouse stop me from doing this.

[Vigo]

Ive been tossing both in the air recently because I might be building another ring after christmas... from everything Ive dug up the only difference between both sockets (other than the number of pins) is dual channel capability. Which from I keep reading isnt a big upgrade with 64 bit chips from amd since the memory is addressed directly from the CPU.

The verdict seems to be that it isn't cost effective for one small feature... but costs may drop significantly after Christmas. So I'm waiting till at least then, personally.

[imbest123]

Originally Posted by Vigo everything Ive dug up the only difference between both sockets (other than the number of pins) is dual channel capability. Which from I keep reading isnt a big upgrade with 64 bit chips from amd since the memory is addressed directly from the CPU.

Yep it makes almost no difference in performance but having 2x 6600Gt's in SLI would be so cool. I say go for it lol!

[shadowbreaker513]

I also would be upgrading from a 3200+ to a 3500+, the twin 6600GTs would be a substantial gfx card upgrade, I would be getting dual-channel capability, and I since Amd is going to support 939, it would be a bit of future-proofing

[GoldCoast48]

You should spring for the 939, and get the FX 53, or better yet get the socket 940 and the FX 55. A little expensive, but would be a lot of fun building a monster system like that.

[Vladiator16]

It really depends on how serious of a gamer you are. The new Asus board with the dual 6600GTs would be a nice upgrade compared to your current system, which is no slouch at present. Here's a good article that analyzes potential SLI upgrades http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2284.

I think that the biggest point that the article makes is that if you want to run your games at 1600x1200 with 4x AA and 8x AF enabled, a single 6800GT is your best bet at this time as it is outperforming SLI 6600GTs. SLI is definitely going to redefine upgradeability paths for graphics cards, but it may take awhile for compatibility problems to be ironed out. I'd definitely wait until Feb/March to see where pricing goes with your anticipated upgrades.

[shadowbreaker513]

Also 6800GTs in pci-e are still more expensive than the AGP ones. And to the person that said I should spring for an FX-53 - only if you give me the money. Right now I'm guessing the mobo would debut at approx $150 (correct me if there have been any prices released yet), the processor is $250, and the cards are about $130 each. By the time I buy the prices are liekly to be about 80% of what they are now.

[Moose on the Loose]

As far as the CPU aspect is concerned, I don't think it is worth it. I'd just replace the vid card.

[Andrew Downie]

Aye, check the sig,

then try and beat it.
I stress the words, BEAST and MACHINE

[Moose on the Loose]

Not to be a pain in the buttcrack, but as far as gaming is concerned that machine can easily be beaten

[shadowbreaker513]

Yeah, that Fx5900 drags down the whole system. And where did you find 2 gig sticks of ram? If your running in dual channel, as far as I know you can only have 2 sticks, and not 4 1 gig sticks. Anyways, back on topic. Is that a worthwhile upgrade?

[Moose on the Loose]

I'd stay with your current CPU / Mobo, and get a 6800GT for christmas if you really feel the 9800 pro isn't cutting it anymore. Replacing a motherboard and CPU that are just fine seems like a waste to me Also, it's very hard to get you hands on a 6600GT's, let alone 2.