Along with

[AoDHoLyWaR]

I wanted to thank you guys for the info you gave me on the 8800 series. That is what I am going with. I want to update my CPU. I have a A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo, which when I bought my gear to build was pretty good. Now I see that they discontinued that mobo and it was a 939 socket. Now I want to get the AMD 3.2 ghz but I see that it's a AM2 I guess socket. But it is still an AMD X2 series which my mobo supports. Do the sockets change with every new CPU or are they just changing the 939 socket lets say, to a new name of AM2??????

[Sirex]

if i remember right the am2 (which i have) is a different structure from the 939's
the sockets are different (at least i'm told that), so answer is you'd need a new mb.

[darth_nevus]

ug. i hate to confuse you more....

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175

There an update on the 800 cards to buy. still recommend the GT512 8800 card though.



to answer yoyr question. AM2 is not compatible with 939. they come out with a new socket for every new "grade" of processor every few years. you will have to upgrade the mother board to use an am2 socket processor.

and for the performance, you can either go with a good new lga775 Intel mobo/cpu combot, or there are some fairly inexpensive am2/phenom processor combos out. it really depends on your budget.

what cpu do you have for your 939 mobo? mauyhaps there is a cheap upgrade considering they are phasing out the 939 chips art clearence prices?

The X2 monikor designates that it is a Dual Core Processor. nothing more.

[juneau]

Also depends on your resolution. If your playing at 1680x1050 or above your current CPU won't bottleneck an 8800 as much as you think. Currently running my old faithful AMD64 3200+ with a 8800GTS. :)

[AoDHoLyWaR]

I have a amd 2.2ghz 4400+ toledo. Going to have 1 8800 don't know yet which one. Looking for a little more juice. LOL my mobo is no longer made and now cpu's are old man what a year and a half does.

[WalkinTarget]

The AMD architecture as it stands was:

S939 - older model, discontinued - highest CPU support was either an FX 62 or an Opteron 185.

AM2 - newest design, but not any more than a 10% improvement over the 939.

Intel is now lauded for offering only one platform for a few years compared to AMD, the 775 socket, but even that means nothing when you remember that their older boards don't support newer architecture due to the higher FSB settings and the lower voltage requirements.

The 4400+ is going to be a slight bottleneck, but similar to the Asrock boards with their AGP and PCIe support (albeit at 4x instead of 16x) it won't make enough difference in game playing to justify a complete dump of your existing hardware unless you REALLY like to spend money.

I'm lucky enough to have one of said ASrock boards and I'm moving from the S939 socket to an AM2 5000+ Black Edition (unlocked multiplier, best overcloking chip AMD makes) simply by popping a CPU upgrade card in place on that board.

[darth_nevus]

The 4400+ is going to be a slight bottleneck, but similar to the Asrock boards with their AGP and PCIe support (albeit at 4x instead of 16x) it won't make enough difference in game playing to justify a complete dump of your existing hardware unless you REALLY like to spend money.


True. the ASrock boards while @ 4x pcie, suffer very little with the 7x00 cards. i am not sure how they handle with the 8x00 series though. Limey's 7900 GT OC AC3 is only MARGINALLY slower than if it were dropped into a similiar rig with a 16x. its been proven time and time again, you never use all the bandwidth provided by 16x lanes, and now that we have pcie2.0 on the way, i am not sure how much of even that we are going to use...

[AoDHoLyWaR]

ok give me the bottom line. i want the 8800 series, which i will get after xmas. i have a amd 4400+, asus a8n-sli deluxe which is 939 socket. will my 8800 be bottle necked? i really wanted to upgrade to a 3.0+ghz cpu but none for my board. so......... let me have it, tell me what to get....especially for crysis. mobo,vid card,cpu??

[darth_nevus]

depends on when your buying. post christmas or pre? and what resolution do you want to run it at?

[AoDHoLyWaR]

Probably after xmas and res I normally keep low for some reason. 1152x864. I may try higher, but even when my 7800 gtx was new I kept it at that or the one right above that.

[darth_nevus]

and what budget do you have?

[AoDHoLyWaR]

Don't have one. Figured gpu-450.00 cpu-179.00 mobo-150.00-250.00.

[juneau]

8800GT
E6750/Q6600
Abit IP-35/Abit IP-35Pro

:2thumbs:

[AoDHoLyWaR]

8800 will do. I am an AMD man though.

[juneau]

8800 will do. I am an AMD man though.

So you don't mind paying similar amounts for a lot less performance? I'm an AMD fan too, and my current rig is based around one of their chips. I'm upgrading to a C2D or C2Q next year though as it's the only good option out there.

Even the new Phenom CPU's are under performing.

[darth_nevus]

intel's c2d will yield better frame rates with crysis. however, if your an amd man, i can accept that. let me look into the phenom front. nice thing about amd is they force etailors to adhere to an approx pricing scheme as part of their contract.

i am eyeing the 790 amd boards quite a bit, and a phenom might be the way to go. BUT, the errata TLB issue currently is quite a bit, and enough to make me at least offer to you an Intel alternative. the 790 looks to bring some decent improvments to the table, but its not available yet. let me check into the time frame.

Firefox was REALLY hit performance wise by the tlb patch, as it lost 57% performance to it. and AMD has said the corrected cores will not appear until late Q1 2008.

video is also questionable, as there have been some decent rumors flying around to the G92 variants coming out here soon. but i'll look into that as well.

here's some info on the upcoming replacements for the G80s as they are discontinued by the end of this year:

http://www.dailytech.com/What+a+Mess+Nextgeneration+NVIDIA+Codenames+Reveal ed/article9506.htm

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10033

as well, whether its intel or amd, you'll need to get new ram. the 939 boards used ddr400 ram, where as the new AM2 and 775 boards use ddr2 as a standard. so don't forget to figure that into the equation.

[juneau]

intel's c2d will yield better frame rates with crysis. however, if your an amd man, i can accept that. let me look into the phenom front. nice thing about amd is they force etailors to adhere to an approx pricing scheme as part of their contract.

i am eyeing the 790 amd boards quite a bit, and a phenom might be the way to go. BUT, the errata TLB issue currently is quite a bit, and enough to make me at least offer to you an Intel alternative. the 790 looks to bring some decent improvments to the table, but its not available yet. let me check into the time frame.

Firefox was REALLY hit performance wise by the tlb patch, as it lost 57% performance to it. and AMD has said the corrected cores will not appear until late Q1 2008.

video is also questionable, as there have been some decent rumors flying around to the G92 variants coming out here soon. but i'll look into that as well.

here's some info on the upcoming replacements for the G80s as they are discontinued by the end of this year:

http://www.dailytech.com/What+a+Mess+Nextgeneration+NVIDIA+Codenames+Reveal ed/article9506.htm

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10033

as well, whether its intel or amd, you'll need to get new ram. the 939 boards used ddr400 ram, where as the new AM2 and 775 boards use ddr2 as a standard. so don't forget to figure that into the equation.

What you just typed would be enough to put me off. AMD's chips are not in a very good position right now. :(

I don't know about the US pricing by the Phenom 9500+ (lowest available) comes in at the same price as a Q6600G0. Choosing a Phenom above that chip is nothing short of insane.

[darth_nevus]

thats just it. Intel is winning, overall, and by a huge margin. the current phenom are being touted as AMD's worst blunder of 2007, if not ever.

Personally, i'd stay away from them until the errata is corrected on the next die revision. but hats a few months off. for the next 3 months, Intel owns the waters. and after theat they will as well, but it just makes AMD uncompetitive on the price and processing standpoint.

IMO, Phenom is similiar to UT3. lots of hype, but it TOTALLY tanked once it hit the shelves. that doesn't mean its bad(in either case), but, it brings some pretty heavy negatives to the table.

but folks sticking with a particular lineup are going to do so. and i don't blame them. i have always been an amd man. but as of late, they just didn't bring to the table what was needed, and really did poorly with what they did bring. their GPU's and CPU's sucked the last few months, with no immeadiate hope of reprise in the near future. the only thing they have going for them is price. they are still a strong competitor in the world because 90% of all pcs are NOT gaming rigs. but the enthusist market is beginning to doubt them.

atm, if i need a cheap, stable pc, i build an amd. if i want a gaming powerhouse, i go intel. as it stands, amd really isn;t trying to win the enthusiest market. and i don't blame them. there is very little profit in it.

to give you an idea of what the current phenom TLB patch present, here is an article:

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13741



Now, let me end by saying that it is not IMPOSSIBLE to build a decent AMD gaming rig. they have priced everything(except the phenoms as of late) very nicely for the end consumer. many decent rigs have been assembled with the 6000+ am2 chips, and they are nicely priced. but above that, and newer, Intel is just winning.

its just a matter of mating exactly whats truly needed.

curently, with the Phenom dead in the water, the best current bet is a 6400+ or 6000+ processor. the phenoms just aren't going to cut it, at their price point until the errata is fixed.

Motherboardwise, you are going to want to get an AM2+/AM2 board. reason being that once the phenom are fixed, its a good choice for an upgrade. and since am2 boards won't take a phenom processor, the hybrid boards are better. i am biased to Gigbabyte, so i;d say the GA-MA790FX-DS5 is a great choice.

the phenom is a great chip. but the for $100 additional price tag for a chip that in the end is better but on "what you pay for" scale doesn't stack up, i can't justify recommending it.