Legit Reviews

Hey everyone!

I hope all is well.

I have a question:

What AMD processor should I look at buying in order to upgrade, OR should I wait on a newer cooler version that is coming down the pipe?

I have not had the time to research where things stand w/ AMD as of late, and want to upgrade from my San Diego 2.2 Ghz. Eventually at least. I don't have any issues, but with new games coming out my system is starting to show small signs of lag.

For extra info on my system: I have 2 gigs of Cosair Ram 7900 GT Nvida Graphics card and an Asus mother board.
450 Watt power supply. (stinks)

Thanks for your comments in advance!!!

Sting~

AMD Processor that can rival with Intel? Not this generation it can...

So do you just want to upgrade your CPU? I would first check to see what socket the CPU uses (socket 939?) And then go from there. And if it is a 939, you're not going to get very far.

You're best bet is to wait til the 3rd/4th quarter of '08 and get a full system upgrade. In the meantime, do some research on the latest Intel and AMD processors so you can better determine which one to get down the road. As of right now, it looks like Intel's CPU's are better.

Thanks. That was what I had heard. Yes, it is socket 939. I think it's discontinued right? So, looks like a motherboard will be in the works as well. And here I was thinking that my motherboard would be upgradable! Of course I have had it since April 06, so I should not complain.

I'll keep looking and start trying to do some researh on my own when time permits.

Thanks!

Sting~

well, you can get an AM2 or AM2+ board if you want to stick with AMD, is that your plan?

If you get a more recent mobo you'll have to make the switch to DDR2, might as well get an Intel platform.

Zertz wrote:If you get a more recent mobo you'll have to make the switch to DDR2, might as well get an Intel platform.

get the foxxcon ddr2/3 :D, this way he can afford the cheap ddr2 ram now and can still upgrade later on to ddr3

So I'll have to upgrade RAM as well????

DANG IT!

I like my RAM. hehe

Oh well, I might as well gut my pc and start over. I'm still going to stick w/ XP for at least 2 more years until Vista is a bit more stable. Do you guys think I should seriously look at getting 4 gigs of RAM? If so, what kind and why?

I want to be "all set" for say 3-4 years if possible, but in a cost effective way.

I really appreciate the advice!

Sting~

P.S. I would like to stick with AMD if it "makes sense" to do so. If I'm selling my self short, then I guess I could look at Intel. It's just hard for me as I have had great luck w/ AMD for over 10 years now. I don't want to change in my heart, but if it makes sense to do so in my head, I will.

You got alot of choices. How soon do you need to upgrade? If immediately then get a MSI 790FX or another 770X or 790X board($100-150) with the Phenom 9500($190+), get DDR2 800(cause you can get 2 gigs for $30-35 after rebate). Forget about OC cause Phenom will not OC. This is way you have a quad core system that is versatile for a cheap price plus you also get PCI- Express 2.0. This way for the next couple years all you got to do is upgrade GPUs.

Intel chips blow away AMD CPUs now, if you go with Intel, you can get a P35 board($100), Q6600($270), DDR2 800(30-35). Problem is no PCI-Express 2.0. You got to pay more for a X38 board($200+). Intel with with PCI-E 2.0 will run you +$130 over AMD.

Gaming is still mostly GPU limited so unless you do a lot of number crunching, AMD maybe the way to go for a budget system.

Good point Joel, that was a big factor in my last upgrade, pcie 2.0, HT 3.0, phenom forward compatibility without breaking the bank. Ended up with the Asus M3A value board, and an X2 6400, primarily gaming with a XFX 8800 gt. Intel might "own" AMD but it runs every thing I've thrown at it no lag no hesitation and can push 400FPS in lightsmark 2007, higher if I want to push it. I'd like to have $500 to throw into a pcie 2.0 intel board and cpu but instead went AMD for $260. Later on when the X39 X40 what ever they name the new chip set comes around and the X38 drops in price yea I'm all over it.

Great stuff. Especially Joel. Thanks so much for the input.

To answer your question: No, I do not HAVE to upgrade right now, but I wanted to know if it was A) a good time to do so and B) If you guys thought I might need to do so w/ a sweet spot price/performace processor that might be out there that I was unaware of.

Thanks again!!!!

Sting~

Looks like first generation Phenoms have been scrapped. 9700 and 9900 are now officially in the trash can. Look for 9750 and 9950 sometime at the end of summer. AMD cannot seem to get production chips to run above 2.4 without failing, I wonder if they will sell them as 9600s, hmmm. Might be a big overstock in 9600s soon. There is a design flaw somewhere which is strange as the 5000X2 blacks were on 65nm SOI same as the phenoms. I think it has to do with the L3 cache, TLB aside.

justjoel73 wrote:You got alot of choices. How soon do you need to upgrade? If immediately then get a MSI 790FX or another 770X or 790X board($100-150) with the Phenom 9500($190+), get DDR2 800(cause you can get 2 gigs for $30-35 after rebate). Forget about OC cause Phenom will not OC. This is way you have a quad core system that is versatile for a cheap price plus you also get PCI- Express 2.0. This way for the next couple years all you got to do is upgrade GPUs.

Intel chips blow away AMD CPUs now, if you go with Intel, you can get a P35 board($100), Q6600($270), DDR2 800(30-35). Problem is no PCI-Express 2.0. You got to pay more for a X38 board($200+). Intel with with PCI-E 2.0 will run you +$130 over AMD.

Gaming is still mostly GPU limited so unless you do a lot of number crunching, AMD maybe the way to go for a budget system.

PCIe ver 2 does nothing for performance btw!
The only performance gains are when you use high res or AA / AF setting in-game AND have a card with 256MB or lower.
Todays cards have 512Mb+ ram, so they don't rely on the PCIe bus as much.

If you look at all the marketing slides for PCIe 2 out there, they all use high settings on a mid to low range gfx card..........sure you'll see upto 20% performance, but only if you're using a 8600 or lower with 256MB and you're trying to play at 1280x1024+ res with AA/AF ---> 20% increase on 10fps still doesn't make it playable!

Umm, you must have missed sting's post. He said he wanted to be set for 3-4 years. If that's the case he really should get a PCI-E 2.0 motherboard. I can't imagine still running out of 1.0 3-4 years from now. Of course there people out there still running AGP8x so it is possible.

Been a price drop on the retail Phenom 9600 black again. You can find it for $225 shipped now.

justjoel73 wrote:Looks like first generation Phenoms have been scrapped. 9700 and 9900 are now officially in the trash can.

I saw a 9700 at Newegg this morning (gone now)

justjoel73 wrote:Been a price drop on the retail Phenom 9600 black again. You can find it for $225 shipped now.

Yeah, but Ken says that they have a design flaw? I might be reading that wrong though. Thoughts? Good buy?

Sting3000 wrote:

justjoel73 wrote:Been a price drop on the retail Phenom 9600 black again. You can find it for $225 shipped now.

Yeah, but Ken says that they have a design flaw? I might be reading that wrong though. Thoughts? Good buy?

Here is the error: http://forums.legitreviews.com/about13249.html

In reality though, it doesn't effect day to day use of the processor and very very few users are likely to see a system crash because of this 'flaw'

Dan