Tom Hamelrijckx Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hi folks, I have a desktop that I would like to upgrade a little bit. Socket was 939 so no further processor upgrade possible (I think), which leaves me te video card and RAM. Current specs are: > Processor : AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2000 MHz > Physical Memory : 2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR-SDRAM ) > Video Card : Nvidia Corp GeForce 6600 GT (256 RAM) -does XP32bit support 4G of RAM? -which video card makes sense? (I tend to stick with Asus Nvida cards) I'd like to fasten my modelling in sketchup, postprod in Photoshop and that on 2 screens... Thanks for helping me out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceAged Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 If you are running socket 939, you should be able to upgrade to the Athlon64 X2 4200 (You haven’t however specified the make and model of your motherboard, so it is impossible to say for certain). Likewise I assume your video card is AGP, which means you would not be able to run a PCI-E graphics card such as the 8800, (so you are limited by the capabilities of your motherboard). Changing your video card probably won't give you an enormous speed increase anyway - focus on the RAM and the CPU if you want to see any noticeable change. XP32 doesn't support much more than 3GB, so either add an extra 1GB, or consider upgrading to XP/Vista64, (in which case you can have as much memory as your motherboard permits, if you need that much). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hamelrijckx Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 Thanks for that quick reply! Motherboard is asus A8N-E (http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=171&l4=0&model=455&modelmenu=1) -Athlon64 X2 4200 possible on this board? Question is, are these processors still to find... -PCI express is available on this board as well, so 8800 is to recommend? ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Just from a quick look at what 939 chips Newegg sells, it looks like it would be possible for you to upgrade that MB to at least a 2.4GHz dual-core Athlon, maybe a 2.6GHz Opteron 185 dual core. That would be respectable by today's standards. I think what you need to do is some research: -Find the fatsest CPU available for your board -Find a discount vendor for it -Find the price for the second-fastest CPU (you'd be amazed at how the price/performance curves can work) and make a decision on what you want -Find the best price for an 8800GT card (there's no compelling reason to buy any other card right now when doing an upgrade like this) -Decide whether you need an upgraded power supply -Figure out what the spec of your RAM is and how much it would cost to buy another 2x1GB Come up with the total price, then compare that to the cost/benefit of replacing the computer completely or replacing the motherboard (which would also require a new CPU and probably RAM). I think you'll find that with your current motherboard, if you're okay with 2 cores, you'll be able to modernize your computer at a fairly reasonable price without needing to reinstall Windows or other software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tecton3d Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 fwiw: the opteron 185's (and all dual core, single socket 939 opterons) overclock like gods... do a little research and if this what you go with a few dollars well spent on an aftermarket cooler will help out with the bang/buck factor of your upgrade. prost! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hamelrijckx Posted February 24, 2008 Author Share Posted February 24, 2008 What concerns the processor: -any socket 939 processor will work on my motherboard, is that right? -extra cooling will be necessary with the duals? (I remember those opterons where actually very good indeed, I thought at one moment that they didn't produce them anymore...) graphics: -using mostly sketchup, 3dmax and photoshop, do more than 512M make sense? -can I use any PCI express card? -how do I figure out if I have to upgrade the power supply as well? I'm running everything on XP32bit now, if I change to 64, will all my soft work flawless on that OS? I can't decide If it's worth the effort to do such radical change, only for 1G of RAM... Thanks again for following up this thread guys... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 In order: -If you're really concerned you can just Google the name of the CPU and the name of the motherboard and you'll get hits of people talking about trying to use them together, or you can check with the motherboard manufacturer. Rather than relying on a bunch of architecture and graphics geeks to know stuff like that, which I really don't understand. -Yes, probably. If the CPU comes with a cooler, that will be sufficient unless you overclock, then you want something larger. -No. -Yes. -Every man must make that decision for himself. -Some will, some will not, you need to check with the software companies instead of a bunch of architecture and graphics geeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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