looking to upgrade.

T

tranceworld1178

New Member
I am looking for a cheap upgrade, mainly because I have the urge. I am looking at a AMD Athlon 64x2 3800 939 socket

Right now I have a amd sempron 3400+ and a Motherboard manufacturer's name: ASUS A8AE-LE aka amberine m from compaq.

Is there anything I need to know about swapping this out? Will this swap work? Will I notice a performance increase in gaming, dvd creating, general computer usage?
 
The first problem you would run into when swapping boards on a prebuilt system besides the need for more memory and a faster cpu would be the small power supplies they use in them. Typically the 300, 301, maybe 350w will simply cover what the system is sold with. For actual upgrading a custom case leaves the room for that where you can easily swap out a 300w supply for a 700w+ if the need is there.

The 3800+ X2 wouldn't demand a great deal of power since the newer cpu models are meant to be more energy efficient. When you are going to replace the board+cpu also look at what supply is now in use and see about a larger model for the CompaQ model there if only a 300-301w model.
 
Well I have already upgraded my psu a while ago to a 580w. I am not replacing the mobo yet. I still have to contact Compaq on the compatibility issue if any. With my mobo the max is 4gb pc3200, right now I am 1.75, need to update my sig.
 
First the 580w is the first thing in your favor there. One thing you may want to consider with that in mind is why not upgrade out of the CompaQ into a custom case to allow for upgrading even more at a later date? Having a good supply is a start since you may find a good deal at this time on getting into an AM2 board with cpu and DDR2 memory along with a good upgradable case to work with now and later.
 
Talk about temps dropping with better air flow try simply moving everything out of one case seeing only two 80mm fans(rear, top) into a new case seeing a front 140mm intake and rear 120mm set of case fans then. The 48C board ide temp dropped right down to 31C!
 
well I have no problem what so ever with cooling. Idle for cpu I am at 31 and under load I have seen as high as 42. While my graphics card at idle is 40 and at load under benchmark testing I got it up to 55. So speedfan tells me. Rarely does anything get over 50 in my case. I Really don't want to go to an am2 yet because I am happy with my rig for the most part. I just have the itch to make it a little better. I contacted compaq and they said there is no compatibility issue with the 3800 x2. What performance difference will I see if any?
 
If your amd semp is single core, you should see pretty decent performance gains upgrading to dual core. You're computer will be able to multitask much better, because the different cores can focus on different tasks, or divide a task between them [depending on the application]. I have dual core, and it is almost frustrating to use single core computers at school and such, as they get bogged down so easily.
 
Thye problem being seen mainly at this time is the availability of 939 model cpus. Vendors like newegg and TigerDirect are stocking mainly AM2 models with newegg seeing only one 939 model(3800+ X2 OEM) at the present time. It will take a good search for a model like the 4800+ and 4600+ X2 models and lower.
 
mep916 said:
:eek:

Did you bother to look at the prices of those CPUs? :confused:

Get this CPU and this CPU heatsink/fan. ;)
Click to expand...

One look at those prices... :eek: EGADS!!! When browsing around a retail box saw about a $225 tag there and I thought that was steep! But $909.99 or whatever?! :rolleyes:

The lkink there is for the 3800+ X2 model mentioned before as the only 939 model newegg has instock at least for the time being. I looked around at amazon.com, nextag, bizrate, and other shopping sites to come up somewhat empty. Forget TigerDirect or mwave since they were only seeing AM2 models.
 
PC eye said:
One look at those prices... :eek: EGADS!!! When browsing around a retail box saw about a $225 tag there and I thought that was steep! But $909.99 or whatever?! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah, at first at thought they were bulk prices or somethin'. :rolleyes:

PC eye said:
The lkink there is for the 3800+ X2 model mentioned before as the only 939 model newegg has instock at least for the time being.
Click to expand...

That's a good upgrade for under $100. I installed that same CPU in a build for my sister. It's perfect for casual computer usage. :)
 
GSAV55 said:
Oh wow, sorry, lol, I didn't even look at those prices, geez. Have you tried http://www.pricewatch.com/?
Click to expand...

Still high there while about 1/2 of what was first seen for about $435. You might want to look over the pricing first for something under $200 even lower for a 939 model.

The 3800+ X2 is still a dual core to get out of a single core model while running at a slower clock speed from the 2.3ghz down to 2ghz even. Here the move from 939 to AM2 saw a jump from a 2.22ghz single core to a 3ghz dual core model. Worlds apart in a variety of ways.

If you can get into at least a 2.2-2.4ghz model you would then notice a performance gain.
 
Well right now I don't have the money to buy new memory, which is why I am not buying an am2 with a new mobo. Was looking for a simple cheap upgrade, ideally under 100 dollars.
 
Well that is the one that I was originally looking at, just wasn't sure what kind of gains I would acceive with the cpu considering my Sempron 3400+ runs at 2GHz.
 
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