View Full Version : Which CPU...?
First of all, hi everyone! Hope everyone is well, even if it is a Monday morning! *yawn*
I need some advice as im pretty undecided as to what to upgrade my system too. At the moment I have an Athlon 64 3200+, and seeing as my motherboard has a couple things wrong with it (USB ports not working - one of the SATA ports doesnt work correctly - or could these be a power issue? hmmm) I was thinking maybe its time for an upgrade :)
Im on a budget of a couple of hundred quid (upto around £300 actually), so my first idea was to get the DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR/G 939 along with a AMD Athlon64 X2 4400 1MB Retail (or AMD Athlon64 X2 4600 512KB Retail - which would be better?) - this would be ideal as that motherboard has 8 sata ports. I already have 4 SATA drives (1 x 74gb raptor, 2 x 300gb, 1 x 400gb) and have another 300gb sata ready to go in.
The problem is, that once I decided on this set-up, I started reading about AM2 and Conroes.... Now im just confused as to what I should go for! :?
Anyone wanna help with any suggestions? What will give me the most 'bang for my buck' as it were?
Mark :D
Well for £300 you pretty much wont be able to go for a AM2 / conroe as you will need to buy memory too as these both use DDR2 where as the 939 uses normal DDR. Unless you can buget another £200 or so for some decent DDR2?
Oh and welcome to the forum 8)
I'd go for the 4400 due to the larger onboard cache.
Welcome to the Lair dude.
Agree with Mac here, about a Conroe setup being to expensive.
Does seem like a X2 4400+ is the way to go.
Whats the full spec of your system at the moment?
Thanks for the tips :)
My specs at the moment are:
ABit AN8-Ultra
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
1GB Ram
1 x 74gb WD Raptor
1 x 400gb SATA
2 x 300gb SATA
1 x 160gb IDE
Excaliber X700 Pro PCIe
Soundblaster Audigy 2
1 x dvdrw drive
1 x cdrw drive
... and another 300gb sata waiting to go in... :)
What Power Supply is running that beast?
Its a 400w power supply - was going to order a new PSU with my new cpu, as I would be adding an extra HDD - what would you recommend?
The reason im not sure its a power issue however, is that its always the drive on sata connector 4 that plays up.. Tried changing sata leads/drives/disconnecting power from cd/dvd drives, but its always that drive...
Strange one really
I recommend:
AMD Athlon64 X2 4400 1MB Retail Socket 939
http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=18246 (£163)
TAGAN 530w TG530-U15 Power Supply Silent Modular PSU
http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=24283 (£65)
Just those parts, then put everything together and see if it solves the problems on the motherboard.
If it doesn't help then order a new motherboard.
I also recommend adding another 1GB stick of memory if you can stretch.
Still wouldnt sort out my shortage of sata connectors tho :cry: hence the inclination to go with a new mobo
Im not entirely sure that PSU would go in my case - looks like the fan is on the top? This is the case I have http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=09180
Nice case 8)
Then in that case i would get an Antec PSU.
Antec recommends choosing from our SP-500 power supply or Phantom, Neo/NeoHE or TruePower 2.0 series.
Aria dont stock Antec though :cry:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Seems like most boards have 1 - 4 SATA ports only.
Could work out better to buy a £20 Sata Ice Box then add the new hard drive into that. Atleast that way you have a way to backup.
Then buy a new motherboard for around £50.
[quote:c79a9d97c1=\"Belso\"]Nice case 8)
Then in that case i would get an Antec PSU.
Antec recommends choosing from our SP-500 power supply or Phantom, Neo/NeoHE or TruePower 2.0 series.
Aria dont stock Antec though :cry:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Seems like most boards have 1 - 4 SATA ports only.
Could work out better to buy a £20 Sata Ice Box then add the new hard drive into that. Atleast that way you have a way to backup.
Then buy a new motherboard for around £50.[/quote:c79a9d97c1]
Thanks 8)
Looking at the pics on that case link, it looks as if there is space above the PSU slot - but I guess it depends how big the PSU is in the first place! :)
The mobo I was looking at has 8 sata ports http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=24426 but as I said, reading about all this AM2/Conroes stuff, im not sure if splashing that much out for a 939 board would be worth it - future proof and all that 8)
As for storing the extra drive externally, I wanna try and keep everything inside the case - its nice and cool inside there, and my room is messy enough as it is 8)
the picture shows the tagan psu upside down the fan will point down into the case, unless your case is weird and you fit them the other way up :wink:
[quote:c6aded96d5=\"mac124\"]the picture shows the tagan psu upside down the fan will point down into the case, unless your case is weird and you fit them the other way up :wink:[/quote:c6aded96d5]
My case is weird ;)
The PSU sits at the bottom of the case! - see http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=09180#
That board is made for overclocking, stick with the cpu you have, they can hit 2.5, and more in some cases.
Enermax liberty psu's are quite smaller and better for fitting in those smaller cases.
500W Liberty has ran my x1800xt, 3 120mm fans, sound card, dvd drive and 4 hard drives just fine.
Ideally if you're gonna upgrade the cpu go for an AMD X2, but try and see if you can grab one on special aria (or eslewhere).
Apart from the mobo problem unless your system struggles you could save yourself the cash by just replacing the mobo. Prices are still going down, slowly, but surely, so waiting could get you a better deal.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
[quote:f1180f86b9=\"djrinsa\"][quote:f1180f86b9=\"mac124\"]the picture shows the tagan psu upside down the fan will point down into the case, unless your case is weird and you fit them the other way up :wink:[/quote:f1180f86b9]
My case is weird ;)
The PSU sits at the bottom of the case! - see http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=09180#[/quote:f1180f86b9]
:lol: fair enough. I'd still take a Tagan over an Antec any day. I'm sure the fan being placed on the large sid of the case wont be a problem, even if it does still face the bottom of the case it looks like there is a gap to allow air flow.
[quote:cebe480add=\"mac124\"][quote:cebe480add=\"djrinsa\"][quote:cebe480add=\"mac124\"]the picture shows the tagan psu upside down the fan will point down into the case, unless your case is weird and you fit them the other way up :wink:[/quote:cebe480add]
My case is weird ;)
The PSU sits at the bottom of the case! - see http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=09180#[/quote:cebe480add]
:lol: fair enough. I'd still take a Tagan over an Antec any day. I'm sure the fan being placed on the large sid of the case wont be a problem, even if it does still face the bottom of the case it looks like there is a gap to allow air flow.[/quote:cebe480add]
What about this one http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=21012 ? Slightly cheaper than the Tagan - not being a PSU connoisseur myself, is there much differance? :)
Hiper aren't bad psu's by all accounts, i have one in my work pc though not a posh modular one (persuaded the IT buyer to use Aria a while ago :wink: ) and it seems ok though i will say for a \"silent\" psu its a little louder than the stock psu that was in there. Also im not a fan of modular psu's, i can see the benefits BUT you will be tempted to run as much as you can off of as few cables as you can which (assuming it has dual 12v rails) means the load maybe unevenly spread AND the connectors add a little bit of resistance to the cable and once you start pulling a bit of current this will add up to voltage drops.
Thanks for that mac. Excuse my ignorance but what problems do voltage drops cause?
Considering how much I will be running off the PSU - will the 580w Hiper be a better bet than the 530w Tagan?
As regards to the modular PSUs, ive never used them before, so any other veiws on them would be much appreciated. Do they actually reduce the amount of internal cabling (taking into account macs point)?.
I think im going to go for a PSU (undecided as yet!), AMD Athlon64 X2 4400 1MB Retail Socket 939, and a 4-port SATA controller card (+ possibly 1gb RAM http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=23941 - seems the best bet at the moment
Sounds good to me.
Modular Power supplies are good if you work inside the case alot.
I also like them if the case has a window. But if i remember correctly yours doesnt, so its really up to you.
Yeah that Memory will do you fine, and will help with every day tasks.
Processor excellent choice.
Sata card will be a good cheap way of adding more drives.
Sounds good to me! :wink:
Well, I had a moment of madness and saw the AMD Athlon64 X2 4800 1MB Retail Socket 939 was on special, so ordered that instead of the 4400, along with the 1gb memory and the 580w Hiper modular PSU...
Now... Why do I get the feeling ill have trouble removing the old cpu from the mobo :roll:
Dont worry dude its easy :wink:
If you get in trouble just find a guide online.
Yeah - normally it is! Tried to remove the heatsink and fan when i transferred everything into the new case but didnt have any luck for some reason.
At least ill have something to do when im hungover on sunday I guess ;)
Grrrr...
Everything went quite well, just took a bit of time because of the sheer number of things in my computer... But a couple of problems...
1) Windows will freeze within 10 mins of startup - requiring a hard reboot - lots of threads on this issue with x2s but nothing has helped me so far
2) (Less serious) my new SATA controller card detects the drives connected to it, but they do not show up in windows (nothing in disk management either)
Anyone have any ideas?
can't help on the crashing bit though there is supposed to be a \"driver\" of sorts for dual core cpu's on amd's website it might be worth looking into that though i have never needed to install anything other than windows to get my dual core amd cpus to work ok, does it see both cores in task manager?
As for not seeing the drives are the brand new? if so it's probably because they havent been formatted and you need to goto
Control panel > Administrative Tools > Computer management (this should pop up a new window) Select \"Disk Management\" in this new window and it should show all the connected hdd's and allow you to format an new unformated drives.
If that doesn't work then it might be a driver thing for the controller card.
Windows crashing could be many things mate.
But try a fresh install or some updated chipset drivers.
Mac's basically covered what i was thinking about the hard drives, but i'll eleborate on the sata controller card driver.
Basically Go into Device manager and make sure that nothing has a yellow exclamation mark onto it.
If it does then they either need a driver or you've installed the wrong one 8)
I have sorted the freezing problem - turns out its an issue with the CPU and my mobo, so have downgraded the bios and it all seems fine
See article here (http://www.motherboardpoint.com/t86682-p-an8-ultra-with-athlon-x2-4200-dual-core-22ghz.html)
However, my cpu idle tempreture has jumped from being ~32 degrees on bios version 20, to ~53 degrees on bios version 15, and there goes my margin for overclocking - may try and update the bios again, see if it does the same thing, but want to get everything stable before starting to crank it up :)
As for the SATA controller card, everything seems fine in windows. The strange thing is that on boot-up, it detects the drive connected to it no problem - then flashes up saying 'no such device' (or something like that, at work so cant double check!), before it continues loading. Has totally stumped me...
Dont always listen to what the bios says the temperature is!!
Search for some more Bios's to try, also make sure the Date & Time are correct in the bios.
Glad you sorted the Windows problem out. 8)
Im inclined to trust my BIOS temperature as the whole mobo is designed for overclocking! Got a handy temperature monitor in windows
I wouldnt know where to search for alternative Bios' to be honest, any ideas? Dont really want to change as everything is geared towards overclocking - Im hoping that if I upgrade and flash the BIOS it may sort the problems out.
Try the manufacturer website 8)
What board did you get? Ill find ya one.
I have an Abit AN8 Ultra
The problem is, that the latest revision of the bios (Version 20) seems to be what was causing the freezing problem in windows. I have rolled back to version 15 (as the fix on the link i posted earlier shows) and it seems alright thus far!
I could try flashing to version 20 again, but I think this may bring back the freezing problem :evil: Will try it when I get home later tho
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/uk/download/download_bios_detail.php?pFILE_TYPE=Bios&pMAIN_TYPE=Motherboard&pTITLE_ON_SCREEN=AN8+Ultra&pSOCKET_TYPE=Socket%20939
Bios's available for you motherboard. 8)
Yep - I know! I thought you were talking about 'Alternative' Bios'
As I said, I had 2.0 (not 20 as I said before but you get the idea...) and had to downgrade to 1.5 to get it to work
Good idea ;)
Will upgrade through each one and see what ones give me the same problem
Personally i wouldn't trust Abits temperature programs as far as i could throw them, they reported my oppy 148 at almost 60c on stock cooling @ stock speed and volts and i know thats rubbish as on my msi mobo it rarely hits 50c.
Sounds to me they \"fixed\" the temperature problem in the newer bios but created another incompatibility problem.
I wouldnt trust speedfan with ASUS either, keeps showing northbridge temps of 148, even tho i know its cooler, coz i can feel its not that hot!
does your nb even have a sensor on it? if its showing 148/c, that would say to me that its not got one on it which is why its so out.. And if it does have a sensor, is speedfan reading the right bit on the motherboard? its not reading a non-existant sensor, is it?
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