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Upgrading

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I'm having dilemma here. I wanted to upgrade my system but my budget is limited and I don't know which one is a better choice. My rig primarily used for gaming. Here is the choices:

1) Buy Phenom X4 9550 (my mobo support Phenom through BIOS update)
2) Change to Pentium Dual Core E5200 (excellent overclocking, plus it seems to perform beter than Athlon/Phenom in gaming)
3) Buy HD4850

Please help, I only game at native resolution 1280x1024
 

p_o_s_pc

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I say buy a X4 9550 the cpu you have is a bottleneck

EDIT: nevermind 3ghz on that CPU isn't MUCH of a bottleneck. I would say buy a 4850
 
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You didn't give too much information but changing to Intel would obviously require a new motherboard, so I'm not sure if that's a go for you or not. Stay away from the 9550 and go for a 9850 or 9950 Phenom. The 4850 is a good choice.
 
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The Phenom 9550 is the cheapest of them three, I could buy it right now, the other two is the same price (E5200 + mobo and HD4850), for the same price as both I can get 9850

So Athlon X2 at 3GHz is OK at my resolution? Maybe I should focus on new graphics card instead, but still my 9600GT is a beast, reaching 775MHz core with 1.1GHz (2.2GHz effective) memory
 
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i would wait for the am3 chips if they fit in your board and/or get a 4850 i have one and love it!
 

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i actually think where your system is at is fine for a decent while, i'd stash that cash away and slowly add to it for a new mobo/cpu/ram and maybe gfx mid-late next year.
 

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yes, wait for am3 release in january, X4 at 3.0ghz! or don't upgrade at all, none of your stuff is super old and outdated.

if you simply have to upgrade now, go for the 4850. afik 9600 = HD3870 and HD4850 > HD3870X2, so a 4850 should be a good improvement
 
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hrrmmmm... i would buy the cheapest SLI board you can find for AMD and pick up another 9600GT.
 
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hrrmmmm... i would buy the cheapest SLI board you can find for AMD and pick up another 9600GT.
Already got one but it overclock like crap, the board is M2N-SLi nforce 560 chipset (actually a rebadged nforce 500 Which a rebadged original nforce 4 sli:ohwell: ) In that case should I buy new processor?
 
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nah new videocard... grab another 9600 GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500019 $78 if you dont fleabay... that proc is fine for now, you really wont notice much difference in games (+10-15% improvement vs 40-80% improvement) or better yet... then again its been a while since i had a k8... if you do get a new proc grab a conroe - its best in games even at lower clocks.
 

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i would wait for the am3 chips if they fit in your board and/or get a 4850 i have one and love it!

No, his board will not support the AM3 chips. None of the M2N series of Asus boards with the 5xx series of chipsets will support the next gen of chips. Hell they barely supported the AM2+ chips LOL.



Already got one but it overclock like crap, the board is M2N-SLi nforce 560 chipset (actually a rebadged nforce 500 Which a rebadged original nforce 4 sli:ohwell: ) In that case should I buy new processor?

Be very very careful if you do upgrade your chip!!! Your board WILL NOT support the 125w, and 140w chips! IE, the 9850's, and 9950's.
Bang for your buck would be to upgrade your video card to the HD4850;););)
 
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Bang for your buck would be to upgrade your video card to the HD4850;););)

but how :confused: 2x 9600GT is faster than one 4850 by alot... and its cheaper since you can pick one up for $78 bucks (he already has one).
 

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but how :confused: 2x 9600GT is faster than one 4850 by alot... and its cheaper since you can pick one up for $78 bucks.

Well thats probably true, and the cheapest route to take!!! Good pointing that out Phanbuey :rockout::rockout::rockout::rockout::rockout:
 
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Well thats probably true, and the cheapest route to take!!! Good pointing that out Phanbuey :rockout::rockout::rockout::rockout::rockout:
Thanks guys, but on that mobo I can only overclocked my CPU to mere 2.6GHz at most (on my current mobo it can reach 3.3GHz) :banghead: As I know SLi requires more CPU power than single card :slap:

EDIT: Thinking back again, I think 2.6GHz is good enough, as even on stock 2GHz it runs game quite smoothly
 
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I decided that I should stay with my rig right now, and slowly collecting money and buy when I feel the need, as currently even I run my CPU at 3GHz (have a headroom to 3.3GHz) and my 9600GT at stock is fast enough for all the games I play :)

One question though, I checked the Phenom II lineup, there is two socket AM2+ and AM3. When I look numerous mobo sites saying they support AM3 CPU (like 790 chipset with SB750 southbridge), but why do AMD released both AM2+ and AM3? Is there any difference? :confused:
 
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