Bandaid or Full Upgrade?

[Trigger Aurelius]

Hello all -- I'll keep this short and sweet.

Current Rig:

EVGA 7800 GTX (256MB version)
3700 Sandy
2x1gb RAM
OCZ GameExtreme 700
2 Raptors in Raid

Don't remember what the mobo is, if it matters I'll look in the case. Obviously socket 939 though.

I'm a gamer -- play a little bit of everything. 2142, Total War, most of the new shooters, etc. Gonna play crysis (at low fps i know). I've mainly kept a midrange system most of the time.


Well, like a lot of people the 8800 GT caught my eye and has the upgrade juices flowing. After a little research I've come to following options.

Option 1

8800 GT -- If I go EVGA I'd probably look at stepping up after the 90 day period if there's anything out there.
Upgrade to a dual core AMD -- the egg has a 4400 or something for $65

Is evga the only company that has a step up program? The local best buy has the BFG 8800 GT's in stock.


Option 2

Full upgrade -- probably something very similar to the budget build on firing squad or buyer's guide on this site.


Would option 1 get my by? I know it's not uber and that i'd be cpu limiting the card a tad, but $65 is nice on that chip versus a new mobo, cpu, and RAM.

Thoughts? Thanks all!

 

[AzN]

option 1 is still a very good alternative with less $$$ used.

 

[TecHNooB]

Upgrade GPU until CPU fails. Then full upgrade

 

[nyker96]

I would endorse option 1 you will see more improvements in games that way for certain. Then when time for a quad upgrade, do a full then.

 

[nitromullet]

If your full upgrade is only going to be to a budget system, then I would think that option 1 would still serve you better. The 4400+ X2 is still a decent chip compared to other chips in that price bracket, so you'd have spend a bit more on the chip itself plus the cost of a new motherboard and DDR2 RAM to notice a considerable difference.

 

[n7]

While i await my RMA, i'm running:

Opteron 165 @ 2.6 GHz
2x1 GB Mushkin DDR
8800 GTX

Runs anything out there, often even at 2560x1600.
Obviously for Crysis, i have to turn things down.

So yeah, get option 1. Dual core, overclock, & 8800GT will be a huge improvement.

 

[imported_Keiichi]

Option 1 all the way, my system was almost exactly like yours except I had a 7950GT. With a 8800GT the performance leap has been fantastic even with my ol' 3700. While I agree CPU-limiting can be a problem, I think people over-exaggerate it.

EVGA is your only choice for a step-up, and trust me their cards are worth the wait. Best customer service and warranty by far.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Keiichi
Option 1 all the way, my system was almost exactly like yours except I had a 7950GT. With a 8800GT the performance leap has been fantastic even with my ol' 3700. While I agree CPU-limiting can be a problem, I think people over-exaggerate it.

EVGA is your only choice for a step-up, and trust me their cards are worth the wait. Best customer service and warranty by far.

Actually no.

eVGA warranty would be not be the best.
XFX & BFG have the best.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...ord1=lifetime+warranty
I've also posted about this in other threads; but people insist on blindly recommending eVGA w/o realizing they're not correct.

That all being said, eVGA is great if you want the stepup option.
But their warranty is NOT the best.

 

[imported_Keiichi]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: Keiichi
Option 1 all the way, my system was almost exactly like yours except I had a 7950GT. With a 8800GT the performance leap has been fantastic even with my ol' 3700. While I agree CPU-limiting can be a problem, I think people over-exaggerate it.

EVGA is your only choice for a step-up, and trust me their cards are worth the wait. Best customer service and warranty by far.

Actually no.

eVGA warranty would be not be the best.
XFX & BFG have the best.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...ord1=lifetime+warranty
I've also posted about this in other threads; but people insist on blindly recommending eVGA w/o realizing they're not correct.

That all being said, eVGA is great if you want the stepup option.
But their warranty is NOT the best.

All retail 8800GTs being put out by EVGA right now are eligible for their Lifetime Warranty. I'm not sure what you're trying to point out, do you have issue with the required registration within 30 days?

EDIT: Ah I read a bit deeper into the thread and I see the issue (people unhappy about the wording in the warranty?). Certainly a concern one is entitled to have, but my EVGA recommendation is anything but 'blind'. I have dealt with their customer service and RMA departments and service was exceptional. The warranty wording seems fine to me, but I can understand how it might bother others.

 

[n7]

Keiichi, let's not going to further take this thread off topic; i'll PM you.

 

[imported_Keiichi]

After being kindly educated by n7, I will modify my statement: I believe EVGA has the best service and a very good warranty lol. Oh, their 8800GTs look the best too!

 

[bryanW1995]

get the toledo chip if you stay skt 939. manchester is very old school and probably won't oc as well.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
get the toledo chip if you stay skt 939. manchester is very old school and probably won't oc as well.

Actually Toledo and Manchester are both old school. IIRC, Manchester is just Toledo with half the cache disabled. That being said, Toledo is still the better chip because it has more cache per core, but I doubt that it would over clock any better.

 

[vanvock]

Option 1 is what I'm looking to do. I've allready got the dual core & the 8800GT (When the price settles down) may be the last upgrade for this rig. I'm hangin' on as long as I can.

 

[bryanW1995]

toledo is that latest and greatest for skt939, although it is definitely old school since it's been obsolete for 18 mos manchester dual core was realeased as 2x256 and 2x512, toledo was 2x512 or 2x1024. The manchester and toledo at newegg are both 2x512, however. OP would actually be better finding a 4200+ or 4400+ toledo imho, but they are pretty scarce these days. I can't believe that newegg still has new manchesters!

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
toledo is that latest and greatest for skt939, although it is definitely old school since it's been obsolete for 18 mos manchester dual core was realeased as 2x256 and 2x512, toledo was 2x512 or 2x1024. The manchester and toledo at newegg are both 2x512, however. OP would actually be better finding a 4200+ or 4400+ toledo imho, but they are pretty scarce these days. I can't believe that newegg still has new manchesters!

Actually, it looks like we're both wrong...

I didn't remember this, but apparently, Manchester is actually newer than Toledo...

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2484&p=1

A New Core
AMD didn't sit on the X2 3800+ just because they were greedy and expected everyone to gobble up the $500+ parts. Instead, today's release is the result of a slightly revised core, codenamed Manchester, specifically designed to cut costs.

The original Athlon 64 X2 (Toledo core) processors all had the same exact specifications:

- 233.2M transistors
- 199 mm2 die size
- 110W max power

....

As manufacturing ramps up, yields improve and it is now possible to actually create a cost-reduced Athlon 64 X2, using the smaller Manchester die - and that's where the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ gets its cost savings.