cheapest upgrade possible

[Subversion]

So i just installed a 4890, and it looks like my Athlon 64 X2 4200+ is bottlenecking the card.

My question is what do you think is the cheapest upgrade i can go for to prevent the bottleneck?

Guys price is really the biggest factor here, plz no core i7 suggestions

tnx!

 

[PostmanPot]

What mobo have you got?

 

[wpswart006]

Amd Phenom II X3 720.
Much Faster than your current cpu.
R1600 @ Take2

 

[Subversion]

i have an MSI k9N Neo v2.

Think thats an AM2 platform?

wpswart i dont think my mobo can run that chip?

Whats the best chip I can get on AM2? Can I run AM2+ chips?

edit: its an nforce 520 chipset.

here is a link to it: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2611

so basically it can take AM2+ chips?

its says the bus speed will be downgraded tho.. how severely will that affect performance?

 

[killadoob]

AMD Athlon II X2 245, 2MB L2 Cache, AM3, 2.9Ghz R 599 excl. R 682 incl.

www.pcint.co.za

I bought this for my gaming machine and it's actually damn good.

 

[Subversion]

that looks great killadoob, but i dont think my board can take AM3?

edit: i see tho pcint have listed it under AM2. I'm confused lol

edit again: altho i see AMD list it as AM3 : http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...ocessor-model-numbers-feature-comparison.aspx

sigh another edit: But I've just read now AM3 chips will work in AM2 boards? that mean that chip u listed there killadoob will run fine? cos thats great news

 

[PostmanPot]

Both CPUs mentioned are AM2/AM2+ backwards compatible.

 

[killadoob]

Ya dude remember that these days games are not cpu bound so you do not need a really amazing cpu for good gaming, obviously your 4200+ is a slow thing so yea this cpu is cheap and very good.

I just made a cock up buying such a shytty board for it .

 

[Pablo]

Try a Phenom II 550BEx2 or Athlon 620x4 both will work on your board.
Did you try overclocking your cpu, you may get a little more performance. BTW what fps do you get in Crysis at 1080p at high settings?

 

[Subversion]

tnx guys, thats very cool think i'll go for that one - should solve my issues

edit: will this: http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...-240-boxed-cpu-2-8ghz-socket-am3-4940105.html solve the problem? I mean is this chip a major upgrade on my current one?

 

[Pablo]

It will be a big performance upgrade but if you can stretch for a Phenom II 550x2 or Athlon II 620x4 it will be much better. Go for the 620 actually as it's a quad so will do better in future multi threaded apps.

 

[Chevron]

tnx guys, thats very cool think i'll go for that one - should solve my issues

edit: will this: http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...-240-boxed-cpu-2-8ghz-socket-am3-4940105.html solve the problem? I mean is this chip a major upgrade on my current one?

For that price you won't find better. Just remember to update your bios first.

 

[Subversion]

tnx killa007 will have a look!

shot for reminding me about the BIOS update Qwikslvr! Better do that

i just have one more question guys: when i put an AM3 chip into my AM2 board, apparently HT3.0 goes to HT1.0. what does this mean? and how greatly will this affect performance?

tnx so much for all the advice

 

[Nameite]

Either way it'll still whip ur current CPU.

OC it before u buy a new CPU

 

[Pablo]

^^^^

 

[Subversion]

nameite could u possibly point me to a guide on oc'ing?

been looking but rly cant quite figure it out

 

[Nameite]

First google for overclock 4200+ reviews to get an idea of what frequencies they top up at and take the lowest one.

Then read this and clock ur HTT X multiplier in the bios to that lowest freq and ram divider to anything lower than ur DDR2 freq (e.g. 800)..restart and see if system boots...then keep increasing the HTT by 5 increments until u can boot into windows anymore...

Then start lwoing HTT until system is stable...can test system stablity with prime95 or OCCT or if u impatient like me, just use SuperPI and do a 8meg test.

Oh and get a temp monitor program, make sure ur temps dont go over 65 degrees...if u have an Uber cpu cooler u may wanna do some volting but I wont recommend it for a beginner...