Need advice on socket 939 Processor

Hello,

My computer is slightly outdated in terms of processing power and I need your help. It is a 939 socket gigabyte board, 2gig ram, 8800 GT and currently housing a AMD 64 3500+

The problem is, being a student I don't have the finances to upgrade my motherboard and processor. I am trying to achieve more fps in games, which I feel my processor is bottlenecking. Could anyone suggest a good replacement?

I was contemplating a AMD 64 4000+ But unsure if this would make much of an improvement.

Thank you

The fastest model being the former FX-60 for a 2.6ghz dual core model was unfortunately discontinued rather fast by AMD. For many gamers the fast single cored FX models like the FX-57(2.8ghz) worked well while a 4600+ or 4800 see a slight gain at 2.4ghz over a the single core 3500+'s 2.2ghz clock speed. But those are dual core better for any multitasking in that sense.

The 4000+ is still a single core model still only seeing the .2ghz increase. Here the last build run temporarily while upgrading a family member saw a 3500+. Once into the current AM2 build the 6000+ X2 saw a leap there at being dual core and 3ghz. For the 939 board a 4600+ or 4800+ for dual core or the higher FX55 or FX57 looks the best. You can look over the information on all 939 models at http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskt...&f3=&f4=&f5=939&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=2000&f10=False&

toggle said:

Hello,

My computer is slightly outdated in terms of processing power and I need your help. It is a 939 socket gigabyte board, 2gig ram, 8800 GT and currently housing a AMD 64 3500+

The problem is, being a student I don't have the finances to upgrade my motherboard and processor. I am trying to achieve more fps in games, which I feel my processor is bottlenecking. Could anyone suggest a good replacement?

I was contemplating a AMD 64 4000+ But unsure if this would make much of an improvement.

Thank you

Click to expand...

Going from a 3500 to a 4000 you will see a small improvement, not much. Its harder to find 939s anymore since they (all) have been discontinued. Maybe ebay or somewhere. But if you can get it for a good price go for it. But 939 is kinda of a dead end socket.

PC eye said:

The fastest model being the former 6000+ X2 for a 2.6ghz dual core model was unfortunately discontinued rather fast by AMD.

Click to expand...

They never made a X2 6000 for 939. It was a FX 60.

StrangleHold said:

Going from a 3500 to a 4000 you will see a small improvement, not much. Its harder to find 939s anymore since they (all) have been discontinued. Maybe ebay or somewhere. But if you can get it for a good price go for it. But 939 is kinda of a dead end socket.



They never made a X2 6000 for 939. It was a FX 60.

Click to expand...

I corrected the typo there. When going for an FX-60 for the last build being a 939 here the FX-60s that were instock initially were suddenly gone from newegg. A quick search at the time and a look at AMD found those to be discontinued within a blink of an eye early last year. Those were gone fast long before the rest in that line.

I was also quite upset after I bought my AMD Athlon 4000+ Socket 939 and Foxconn 6100K8MA-RS motherboard in June 2007. I then found out I couldn't upgrade the Socket 939 processor as they weren't being made anymore without paying a stupid price for a dual-core processor (likely over $120) for a processor that would run a faster than what I currently owned.

I went out and just bought an Athlon 4600+ Dual-Core, Gigabyte motherboard that is Socket AM2+ and two gigabytes of RAM (cost me about $218 total). Likely Your best option is to save more money for another motherboard, processor and RAM. Go with Socket AM2+ if you want to be able to upgrade to a Phenom processor in the future.

With 939 I simply jumped up to the AM2 board now seeing a 3ghz cpu. The large increment in cpu clock speed is one thing AMD still sees a lack in there. At one time the work for clock cycle gave them the edge. But for the next build in mind since the quads were late will be a wait for an AMD quad seeing over 3ghz.

The simple jump from 2.2 to 3.013ghz made a big difference like what was seen some time back working with the older Atholon XPs. The move then from a 2600+ to a 3000+ and 3200+ just that .2ghz plus seeing 400mhz over 333mhz for the fsb made hte difference.

At this point 939s are becoming like Socket As and 754s simply gone from the feasible list. I have to agree with 2048Megabytes there on choosing wisely in saving for the eventual next build seeing a much faster system there rather then a quick waste.

I realize that you stated that you are a student and are looking for a faster processor, but if you are looking to increase video game frames then the first thing to consider is a graphics card upgrade. You can upgrade your processor but money spend on a faster graphics card will net more frames. Socket 939 processors are getting harder to find but faster PCIe cards are getting faster for fewer dollars.

Here's a recent graphics card test from Anandtech which has an ATI HD 4850 putting in some decent numbers. If you have a preference for Nvidia card then they are expected to respond to ATI's new card in early July with something in the same price range with higher performance.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3338

If you feel that you absolutely have to move to a faster socket 939 processor then I would move quickly because although they've dropped in price they are also getting harder to find.


Here

toggle already has a 8800GT

The boost that would have been seen with an FX-60 would be the dual core model seen in the performance series seeing the .4ghz increase over 2.2 seeing 2.6ghz for stock. That would the ideal while the best now for a 939 would be the 4600+ or 4800+ while still found. You would have to move fast however.

Thank you for all your replies.

I have looked around and finding a processor higher than 4000+ are either very sparse or expensive.

I guess you are right, and I will have to save up some more money. It's just that I hate doing overtime in a supermarket. Seriously, you do like 8 hours work for £40.

Thankyou once again for your help.

sell your old hardware on ebay...people buy anything lol that should help a bit

Anything to defer the cost on a new build will help. But unfortunately a new build will have to be up and running first in order to recoop on expenses unless you plan to be "out of commission" for a period of time. You won't like that much!