462? 754? 939? What will be the best way to upgrade PC?

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 28 Dec 2006, 00:17

So, I noticed, that my Sempron 2600+ on Socket A is too slow for my Radeon X1650 Pro (only ~11k in 3DMark 2001 SE, it should be ~18k, also the games have similar FPS at 800x600 and 1024x768). My question is: what would be the best way to upgrade my comp? I don't have much cash, I won't change gfx or RAM (1 GB DDR1 PC3200).

1) buying (again...) Athlon XP 3200+ Socket A (2200 MHz, 512 kB L2, FSB 400 MHz)? I bought it some time ago, but it was broken... But I'm ready to buy used example again, if it will be necessary...
2) buying new MoBo with Socket 754 (AGP 8X, DDR1 slots) and e.g. Athlon 64 3000+ or 3200+ S939?
3) buying new MoBo with Socket 939 (ECS

because it's the only available MoBo in Poland with Socket 939 which has AGP 8X...) and Athlon 64 3000+ or 3200+ S939?

Which of those processors is the fastest? What should I do? I won't O/C my Sempron, because multiplier is locked and I can't increase FSB - I have Gigabyte MoBo with VIA KT600 chipset (7VT600P-RZ), so when FSB is increasing, AGP and PCI clocks are also increasing...

I only want to say, that used XP 3200+ (Socket A/462) costs almost the same as new Mobo S754/939 (well, quite cheap... Gigabyte with VIA K8T800 chipset or Gigabyte with nForce 3 250 chipset for S754///ECS with nForce 3 250 chipset or ECS with VIA K8T800 Pro chipset for S939) and Athlon 64 3000+/3200+ for this Socket.

I'm just afraid to buy MoBos with nVidia chipset - will it work correct with my Radeon?

And the last question - if Windows 98 SE works at 64-bit processors?

Abrams · Post by **Abrams** » 28 Dec 2006, 00:35

3200 Socket AM2(Thats what you meant by A?) would work best imo.

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 28 Dec 2006, 01:19

AM2 socket is probably the best way to go. AMD will stay on that socket for a while now, and you will also gain the benefit of a possible upgrade to quadcore and octacore processors when they come out. Octacores will probably not come out as Socket 939s, and even if they do they'll probably be the lower end of the product line.

nVidia chipsets and Radeons have no trouble existing together. You may not be able to squeeze out every bit of performance from them (I wouldn't know, I haven't tested the theory), but you won't experience any penalization for using the combo. I have personal experience with the situation (ASUS nVidia3 K8N + Radeon X700), and I had no problems whatsoever to speak of.

Jmac- · Post by **Jmac-** » 28 Dec 2006, 06:02

Socket A and Socket 754 are both dead ... Socket 939 is on its way out ...

AGP is dead as well ... I would personally just overclock and wait until Vista comes out ... I don't understand why you can't overclock, as your PCI and AGP bus speeds will overclock with the FSB on almost any board ... It's not like it will damage anything ...

Post by **GT3x24x7** » 28 Dec 2006, 06:16

Nerds.

xHaZxMaTx · Post by **xHaZxMaTx** » 28 Dec 2006, 06:17

Spammer.

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 28 Dec 2006, 06:17

939 is about to die as well. AMD is upgrading all it's chips to AM2 sockets which it will use on it's chips for a while now. Your best bet is to go with an AM2 motherboard.

GT3x24x7 wrote:Nerds.

What do you expect? You're in a hardware forum

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 28 Dec 2006, 11:32

I mean Socket A=Socket 462 (for Duron, Athlon XP, Sempron), not AM2. I know, that AGP, Socket A, Socket 754 are almost dead, but I have no choose. I must have a MoBo with DDR1 and AGP. I don't have cash to change all PC components.

And about O/C - Socket A MoBos with nVidia nForce 2 chipset are better in this case, because when FSB is increasing, PCI/AGP clocks are always 33/66 MHz. And I have VIA KT600.

And I'm not waiting to Vista. I have Win 98 SE and Win XP HE, so they must both work on the new CPU... That's why I'm asking if Win 98 SE works on Athlons 64 (well, my Radeon don't even have drivers for 98... But I need at least 98 working in VGA mode).

Oh, and BTW - my current CPU has 1833 MHz, 256 kB cache L2 and FSB 333 MHz.

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 28 Dec 2006, 11:34

I doubt you'll find device specific drivers for an AMD64 for Win98. You might be able to get by with generic drivers though.

Carcrazy · Post by **Carcrazy** » 28 Dec 2006, 13:05

I just upgraded (or downgraded, whichever) From socket A to socket 754, I couldn't tell you what difference it made because i added a GB of ram and a new mobo so, screw that lol. Sry, dude.... But i do like my 754, but 939 or am2 will be the best to go for just a little more money.

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:18

I still need opinions and comparisons of those CPUs...

BrontoX · Post by **BrontoX** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:26

I suggest you gather some more money so that you can buy a AM2 Mobo or even better a mobo with LGA775 with Core 2 Duo (AKA Conroe).
But if you really can't afford it (even by gathering more money) i suggest you get a 939 mobo.

prince1142003 · Post by **prince1142003** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:28

939 is dead. AMD won't make any 939 chips in 2007. Go 939 if you're running low on cash. Otherwise the best bet is to save up and get an AM2. AM3 processors will be backwards compatible, so you will be covered for a while to come.

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:37

When will you bear in mind, that few months ago I bought new AGP card and power supply and I just don't have money for AM2 MoBo, new CPU, new GFX, new RAM? I'm just asking about Socket A, Socket 754 and Socket 939!

BrontoX · Post by **BrontoX** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:39

Well we already answered that go for 939 and Athlon 64 4000+ or something

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:42

And I already wrote that the best CPU which I can buy is Athlon 64 3200+ or Athlon XP 3200+...

vellu · Post by **vellu** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:43

It's pretty hard to find Socket A products (cpus or mobos) these days, new ones anyway (atleast where I live).

But if you are going to go for mobo upgrade I would definitely go for the newest socket available in order to maximise it's upgrade path. Which would mean AM2 at the moment. But AM2 mobo would also mean DDR2 memory instead of your current DDR, so 939 would be a less costly upgrade as you could still use your current ram sticks.

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 29 Dec 2006, 18:46

The problem is, the only available 939 MoBos with AGP are ECS products

Carcrazy · Post by **Carcrazy** » 29 Dec 2006, 22:26

FrogsterPL wrote:When will you bear in mind, that few months ago I bought new AGP card and power supply and I just don't have money for AM2 MoBo, new CPU, new GFX, new RAM? I'm just asking about Socket A, Socket 754 and Socket 939!

From those three it should be 939 hands-down. The mobos cost around the same... you can get them for about $50. YOu have a much larger proccesor choise. You can even start getting into hyper-thredded and multi-core for not more money.

So 939 is the best hands down.

Hey whats wrong with ECS? I have an ECS Mobo!!!
Also, you might want to go for a 3400 proccessor because they will let you overclock further if you want to.

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 29 Dec 2006, 23:24

Well, better ECS models aren't bad, but the cheaper ones have a bad opinion in Poland.

Jmac- · Post by **Jmac-** » 30 Dec 2006, 04:02

ECS sucks

/thread

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 30 Dec 2006, 12:02

The MoBos about which I'm thinking are:
http://sklep.benchmark.pl/pelny_10704.html (Gigabyte GA-K8VT800, Socket 754, VIA K8T800)
http://sklep.benchmark.pl/pelny_13468.html (Gigabyte GA-K8NS 2.0E, Socket 754, nVidia nForce 3 250... but many people have problems with this MoBo, it often brokes down after ~1 year)

http://sklep.benchmark.pl/pelny_22242.html (ECS KV2 Lite, Socket 939, VIA K8T800)
http://sklep.benchmark.pl/pelny_32909.html (ECS NFORCE3-A939, Socket 939, nVidia nForce 3 250)

IMO the best choose from those would be Gigabyte GA-K8VT800...

Carcrazy · Post by **Carcrazy** » 30 Dec 2006, 12:21

The 3rd on edown would most likely be your best choise, since it is 939 and can handle 4GB ram instead of just 2GB. Plus since you already have a graphics card the chipset won't matter.

FrogsterPL · Post by **FrogsterPL** » 30 Dec 2006, 12:51

Well, as I know, nForce chipsets offer a bit better performance than VIA (or especially SiS

). And I don't really need 4 GB RAM