I have a bit of a dilemma here and maybe some of you can help me out. I have the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Socket 939 CPU. It is water cooled and running on an ASUS a8N32-SLI motherboard. I have 2GB of Super-Talent DDR-400 Memory and a 680Watt Raidmax PSU.

I need more hosepower for video games and for when i do video editing on my PC.

What do I do?

1. Overclock my current CPU.
2. Sell it and buy a FX-60 Socket 939 CPU.
3. Sell my MB, CPU, and RAM. Then buy an Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo.

I need some help here people. Any input is appreciated.

I also am currently running a XFX Nvidia 8800GTS running @ 575/1800mhz.

~Tim (aka HouseOfBugs)

It's a nice board you've got.

To get where you are now would be $150 in DDR2 and a $150 mainboard, right out of the gate.

ISTR hearing the 3800+ is a good clocker; why not try opening it up first, and seeing if it does what you want before spending more money?

Hak Foo hit it on the dot. You've got nothing to lose by overclocking your cpu and you might gain quite a bit---especially with the water cooling & sweet mobo. If it's not enough then go for option 3. Option 2 isn't worht it in the least. In fact you could probably get your X2 to FX-60 speeds without much trouble at all.

Overclocking FTW, it also seems like a big waste spending any money on S939.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan Overclocking FTW, it also seems like a big waste spending any money on S939.

True. Ok then my next question is how to effectively do that with my setup. I know my cooling is suffcient and i was reading that higher volts is how you do it. I cant get it up to 2.2 stable with just adjusting the FSB.

i did see people getting the 3800+ up to the 2.7 range on air cooling setups. I will look through the forums for people with a similar setup. If anyone has found some interesting threads that will help me OC my rig let me know.

~Tim

houseofbugs, check out $SOLID$ Necros guide to overclocking Athlon64. I think its stickied somewhere in the overclocking section of the forums.

That'll definately help you out, Pat's a master

W00T W00T!!!

Stock (CPU @ 2.0/GPU @ 500/1600):


OverClocked (CPU @ 2.45/GPU @ 575/1800):



Thanks fellow OC'ers. My MB is more than capable but my ram is not willing...... Oh well better than nothing.

~Tim

Quote: Originally Posted by houseofbugs W00T W00T!!! Stock (CPU @ 2.0/GPU @ 500/1600): OverClocked (CPU @ 2.45/GPU @ 575/1800): Thanks fellow OC'ers. My MB is more than capable but my ram is not willing...... Oh well better than nothing. ~Tim

Would the fact that I have a Toledo core make any difference with how well it overclocks?

I google'd toledo core overclock and apparently it isn't so good against the X2 3800+ Manchester core.
But heres a link:
Athlon X2 Overclocking Guide [Archive] - TwistedForums

I sold my ASUS MB, RAM, and 3800+ X2. What should I buy?

Intel C2D E6600 w/Asus P5N32-E SLI MB
AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ w/Asus Crosshair MB

~Tim
P.S. Ordering this coming Monday so need help!

Go for the intel. I just built one and I love it. I can raise the FSB up to 400 stable and 425 not so stable with stock cooling and cheap o kingston ram.

Get a Core2 E6400 and OC or get a E6600 and leave it or OC too.. Intel's chips FSB tollerance has always amazed me (with disregaurds to the P4 line exempting Pentium D and Celeron D models)..
Seeing you're kinda out of the DAMIT game, why not get a nice 320MB nVidia 8800GTS, 2GB of (whatever you can afford - I know intel's are alot less picky than AMD with this) - DDR2 @ 800MHz. Get whatever Asus Norce-based board you can (they have alot of users - gaming and office - thus alot of useful feedback on any issue).. Them AMD 6000+ are truely nice chips though, - thier latency I hear is just amazing, however I don't see many of them outdoing more than an E6400 in multimedia without OC's so I'd reccomend waiting to buy anything from AMD until thier real next gen architecture hits..

I'm currently very happy with my lil' X2 3800+ monster for my music/video editing and production..
(I watch Tom's hardware charts though to distinguish when I need an upgrade in CPU perf - and they just haven't seemed to quite [affordably] hit the same delta I was at with the P4 which was actually twice as slow as the $150 upgrade to dualy 3800+)

OOPS!!! Thought I'd pardon myself, - X2 6000+ does indeed beat them all - even E6600 in 3dmark06 - it simply slaughters E6400 and ties the Core2 EX6800 in iTunes!! shiznt.. Hope I didn't sink the ship..

iTunes:
CPU Charts | Tom's Hardware

3DMark:
CPU Charts | Tom's Hardware

impressive stuff..

Quote: Originally Posted by konai_konai666 Get whatever Asus Norce-based board you can (they have alot of users - gaming and office - thus alot of useful feedback on any issue)..

Yup, I got me an Asus P5N-E Sli, and there's about 4 other people here with that board - very cheap, excellent overclockers...great boards.

Quote: Originally Posted by konai_konai666 OOPS!!! Thought I'd pardon myself, - X2 6000+ does indeed beat them all - even E6600 in 3dmark06 - it simply slaughters E6400 and ties the Core2 EX6800 in iTunes!! shiznt.. Hope I didn't sink the ship.. iTunes: CPU Charts | Tom's Hardware 3DMark: CPU Charts | Tom's Hardware impressive stuff..

Yup, but it is clocked at 3ghz, which is nearly 900mhz faster than the E6400, and obviously all of Intel's chips will overclock far further than AMDs...bringing you a better bargain. However, it is indeed an impressive result for an architecture that I thought was on it's knees. Good for AMD.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Yup, I got me an Asus P5N-E Sli, and there's about 4 other people here with that board - very cheap, excellent overclockers...great boards. Yup, but it is clocked at 3ghz, which is nearly 900mhz faster than the E6400, and obviously all of Intel's chips will overclock far further than AMDs...bringing you a better bargain. However, it is indeed an impressive result for an architecture that I thought was on it's knees. Good for AMD.

DAMNIT!!! LOL You people arent helping. LOL

But i am leaning towards the intel E6600 with an asus p5n32e-sli or the evga 680i motherboard. I want the striker but the cheapest is $313 with shipping.

And I already have a XFX 8800GTS @ 650/2200. W00T W00T!!!!

~TIm

P.S. the max oc on the 6000+ i have seen is only 200mhz over stock. 3.2 max

Quote: Originally Posted by houseofbugs DAMNIT!!! LOL You people arent helping. LOL But i am leaning towards the intel E6600 with an asus p5n32e-sli or the evga 680i motherboard. I want the striker but the cheapest is $313 with shipping. And I already have a XFX 8800GTS @ 650/2200. W00T W00T!!!! ~TIm P.S. the max oc on the 6000+ i have seen is only 200mhz over stock. 3.2 max

If you get the 6600 and a decent motherboard, provided you have good cooling, you should easily be able to reach 3.6ghz. And that will blow almost anything else out of the water. I say go Intel.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux If you get the 6600 and a decent motherboard, provided you have good cooling, you should easily be able to reach 3.6ghz. And that will blow almost anything else out of the water. I say go Intel.

Speaking of water I will be water cooling the CPU. I also have some ram picked out already:

LINK: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail OR
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail OR
Newegg.com - Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

(which ram would be better for ocing?)

and i will be running a 630Watt Raidmax PSU (NOT STOCK its the volcano and its stable )

and my cooling is good as i have the CM Stacker Case (see slides)

What would be a better motherboard? THe EVGA 680i? THe ASUS P5N32-E SLI? The ASUS Commando?

The only downfall to the commando is no SLI support but is sports ALL solid state caps.

and by better motherboard i mean stock performance and overclocking performance

i budgeted 200 for ram 300 for cpu and 200 for motherboard and 50 for my swiftec apogee gt waterblock.

PS MY VIDEO CARD IS THE 640MB VERSION

Quote: Originally Posted by houseofbugs Speaking of water I will be water cooling the CPU. I also have some ram picked out already: LINK: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail OR Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail OR Newegg.com - Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (which ram would be better for ocing?) and i will be running a 630Watt Raidmax PSU (NOT STOCK its the volcano and its stable ) and my cooling is good as i have the CM Stacker Case (see slides) What would be a better motherboard? THe EVGA 680i? THe ASUS P5N32-E SLI? The ASUS Commando? The only downfall to the commando is no SLI support but is sports ALL solid state caps. and by better motherboard i mean stock performance and overclocking performance i budgeted 200 for ram 300 for cpu and 200 for motherboard and 50 for my swiftec apogee gt waterblock. PS MY VIDEO CARD IS THE 640MB VERSION

Newegg.com - ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Newegg.com - EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Newegg.com - ASUS Commando LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Just thought I might drop my two cents again..
Heres the 4/20 headline:

AMD Athlon demolishes Intel Core in games


LEGIT REVIEWS TESTED AMD's answer to Intel's Conroe offensive. With the latest price cuts of AMD CPUs, it was interesting to see whether an X2 5600+, a sub-$200 CPU fare with Intel's own E6300, which fits nicely into the same category. When testing in real world games, a surprise happened in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., where Intel took a beating. AMD took the lead in Doom 3 as well, while Quake 4 returned point for Intel. However, AMD demolished Intel in Serious Sam 2. Head over there and read a highly surprising review. But to see almost 50% faster frame rate in Serious Sam... even worse than Athlon 64 vs. Intel Pentium 4 in Unreal Tournament 2k4.

[Ahhhh.. ]Pretty neat read I must say!! - This is pure old fashioned AMD justice..
Anyway, the X2 6000+ is around $200 now, - I wouldn't dare call it ANYTHING less than a slaughtering match (price-wise) and perks in gaming and even encoding..
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - OEM
Besides, - its coming with a free stick of memory for christsakes, all atleast $70 cheaper than C2D!!

(extra money that could be wiser used on more memory or nicer GPU)..

S.T.A.L.K.E.R currently being the harshest game on systems, I think this speaks for itself:


ED: Happy 420!!

Quote: Originally Posted by konai_konai666 Just thought I might drop my two cents again.. Heres the 4/20 headline: AMD Athlon demolishes Intel Core in games LEGIT REVIEWS TESTED AMD's answer to Intel's Conroe offensive. With the latest price cuts of AMD CPUs, it was interesting to see whether an X2 5600+, a sub-$200 CPU fare with Intel's own E6300, which fits nicely into the same category. When testing in real world games, a surprise happened in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., where Intel took a beating. AMD took the lead in Doom 3 as well, while Quake 4 returned point for Intel. However, AMD demolished Intel in Serious Sam 2. Head over there and read a highly surprising review. But to see almost 50% faster frame rate in Serious Sam... even worse than Athlon 64 vs. Intel Pentium 4 in Unreal Tournament 2k4. [Ahhhh.. ]Pretty neat read I must say!! - This is pure old fashioned AMD justice.. Anyway, the X2 6000+ is around $200 now, - I wouldn't dare call it ANYTHING less than a slaughtering match (price-wise) and perks in gaming and even encoding.. Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - OEM Besides, - its coming with a free stick of memory for christsakes, all atleast $70 cheaper than C2D!! (extra money that could be wiser used on more memory or nicer GPU).. S.T.A.L.K.E.R currently being the harshest game on systems, I think this speaks for itself: ED: Happy 420!!

Ok after long hours of research and reading forums. I went with the Intel E6600 and the FoxConn 680i motherboard with PDP patriot memory. let me say that is is AMAZING!!! At STOCK speeds i get 8680 in 3DMark 2006. OC'ed results to come.

i have just one question... why was your cpu WCed and not OCed?

most people WC so that they can OC their cpu farther. I know a small minoirty WC for sound levels.

what WC components do you have. this will help making an upgrade choice.

if you have good WC you can get a 2.6-2.8 OC with a 3800 X2 which would be a viable option and it would cost no $$