Ok I'm planing on upgrading this: AMD 4800+ / 2gb RAM / EVGA 8800gts 640mb / vista 32 / ASUS M2N-E / PSU??? / samsung 24" 1900X1200 With these parts: AMD Phenom 9950 125W $184 / BFG GTX 260 (216stream) OC'd too 655/2250 vs 576/1998 standard and in comes with farcry2 for $289 Total: $485 What I want to know is: 1. Is AMD about to release a new AM2+ line of proccesors that will outshine the Phenom? Would it actually be worth waiting for? 2. Should I wait and see if the core i7 line up pushes prices down further? 3. Is the BFG overclocked enough to be worth $89 (60 euro??) more than a $200 non overclocked version. The two main proccesors in my computer aren't even used in comparison chartes anymore so I belive it's time for an upgrade!
Core i7 actually shouldn't affect AMD that much, I know that the new AM3 processors are being released soon (and are compatible with AM2+ sockets) and BFG are a damn good brand, you're not paying for it being overclocked, you're paying for it being BFG (which their customer service is brilliant, from my experiences)
why spend more on a graphics card just because its pre-overclocked? All GTX200 series are still OEM so 5-10 minutes on google will help you understand graphics overclocking which will help you save a bunch of cash! Terms of which CPU is better, well after cutting threw the fanboy crap and looking at reviews, there are just a few options that make sense. Super tight budget then the Intel E5200 dual core, if you want serious workstation muscle then the Q6600 is a good option for its price. Intels I7 might be destroying benchmark scores across the internet, but for the average user and gamer the Q6600 is more than enough CPU power. I suggest spending your money wisely, pick up an Intel P45 or X48 board, and load it up with as much ram as you can afford and fit. Then decide if you really need a Dual or Quad, games have started to use Quad cores better, so i would go for a Q6600. Make sure the board you pick up has dual PCI-E slots for a potential Crossfire system, as i think ATI will be at the top for a while now. My honest hard earned cash would go on, Intel Q6600 £130 ATI 4870 1GB £200 Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R £90 Any 4GB DDR2-6400 C4 rated kit £30-40 (will OC pretty well) Then when ATI release there next super duper card, i would drop the 4870 down a slot and run crossfire with the new card i.e 4870 + 5870. As this is one beautiful thing about ATI and there crossfire technology. Nvidia GTX260 and GTX280 are great cards, but ATI are beating them especial on price. I was lucky to pick my GTX280 for £244 when the 4870 512MB edition was fresh out at £200, i really wish i went ATI now as it would have been a better investment.
AMD will be relaesing their Deneb 45nm Quads soon. The rumours vary from this month to Jan 8th. They will be released as a AM2+ initially with an AM3 version coming out next year. The first two to be released are: Phenom X4 20550 @ 3.0 Ghz Phenom X4 20350 @ 2.8 Ghz There are rumours that their performance will be competitive against Yorkfield. I am waiting to see the reviews before I believe anything though.
Thanks for the advice, I might hold out for the Deneb stuff. However I don't have the option to spend anymore, I'm at the edge of my budget already so a new mobo and ram is not going to happen. I'm planning on re-embursing this stuff by re-selling my old parts on ebay, or to my gullible friends! How good is yoirkfield exactly, I just checked and found Deneb is planned for early january, so I could just get a gpu right now.
A cheapish Yorkfield such as a Q9300 performs maginally better than a Q6600 but is more than marginally more expensive. An E8400 (Core 2 Dual) outperforms a Q6600 in most games but does not perform as well at tasks such as photo editing. All the Intel CPUs out-perform a 65mn Phenom.
Well I do mentalray renderings, so the more cores the better! I'll do a little reserch into the Deneb stuff later, untill then thanks for all the help people
ooo thats a CPU burner there, suggest you sell a kidney and get a Intel I7 920, there new chips are workstation gods. Love my Q6600, its starting to sound a little old, but its still quick!
From experience, the M2N-E doean't really support the Phenoms. Mine kept crashing anyway. (I think it can't support 125W)
