Choice to upgrade...

dborgill

Obliviot
To make a long story short, I have a 3200+ Venice 939 with 2 gigs of Corsair Value RAM. The highest I can overclock to is 2.4 Ghz with about 39c full load.

I have a chance to upgrade either my RAM or my CPU.

Here are my choices:

1 - Upgrade to better RAM to push my 3200+ to it's max

2 - Upgrade my CPU to a 3700+ for a higher multiplier and 1 meg cache

3 - Upgrade my CPU to an Opteron 148 939 for supposedly great overclocks

Any suggestions?
 

madmat

Soup Nazi
I'd say go with the Opty, you can always use a divider on your ram to prevent it going out of spec so that won't be a hold up.

Later get some faster "Enthusiast" grade ram but try to stick with a 2x1gig kit for the best performance.
 

dborgill

Obliviot
madmat said:
I'd say go with the Opty, you can always use a divider on your ram to prevent it going out of spec so that won't be a hold up.

Later get some faster "Enthusiast" grade ram but try to stick with a 2x1gig kit for the best performance.


Thanks!

I've heard that the Opty runs hotter but I am only at 37 C on full load as it is.. I dunno.

I gotta decide today.. :confused:
 

madmat

Soup Nazi
What cooling setup are you using? You might consider getting a Thermaltake Big Typhoon which is a really effective cooling unit.
 

dborgill

Obliviot
madmat said:
What cooling setup are you using? You might consider getting a Thermaltake Big Typhoon which is a really effective cooling unit.

I have a Thermaltake Venus and have been VERY happy with it. Overclocked from 2.0 to 2.4 I am 28 C Idle and 39 C full load.
 

Jakal

Tech Monkey
Just my input. Go with the Opty. I've got a Opty 150 running at 2.7Ghz with Patriot ram. I haven't even messed with the core voltages. I'll be getting some Pc4000 ram to see how high I can boost it. I'm using a Zalman 9500 and the motherboard fan controller. I haven't seen the temps peak above 30c. A good water cooling system would help push it even further.
 

dborgill

Obliviot
Jakal said:
Just my input. Go with the Opty. I've got a Opty 150 running at 2.7Ghz with Patriot ram. I haven't even messed with the core voltages. I'll be getting some Pc4000 ram to see how high I can boost it. I'm using a Zalman 9500 and the motherboard fan controller. I haven't seen the temps peak above 30c. A good water cooling system would help push it even further.


Cool -- I am going with the Opty and my friend will take my RAM as trade in. Any suggestions on going with DDR466 or DDR500? Is there any difference between 4 x 512 of the 466 or 2 x 1 gig of the 500?
 

madmat

Soup Nazi
Go with the 2x1 gig kit, with 4x512 you'll be forced to run 2T command rate and that's a big performance hit. With a 2x1 gig kit you'll keep your 1T command rate so your overall memory bandwidth will be higher even at looser cas timings.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
CAS 2 is the best really. CAS 3 is *ok*, but you will want to make sure that specific module will OC well. In the end, you want to make sure you have at least CAS 2.5, because you want the fastest possible response in new games.
 

dborgill

Obliviot
Rob Williams said:
CAS 2 is the best really. CAS 3 is *ok*, but you will want to make sure that specific module will OC well. In the end, you want to make sure you have at least CAS 2.5, because you want the fastest possible response in new games.


Hmmm.... 4x512 DDR433 CAS2 or 2x1 gig DDR500 CAS3

:confused:

EDIT: The problem is my computer store owner friend only has limited supplies so I don't have much choice.
 
Last edited:

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
2*1GB for sure. Just pump enough voltage so that it can handle CAS2, hehe. What set are you looking at?
 

dborgill

Obliviot
Rob Williams said:
2*1GB for sure. Just pump enough voltage so that it can handle CAS2, hehe. What set are you looking at?


Ummm... I don't dare to speak the blasphemy...

But in my price range, the only ones I can get are the Super Talent with heat spreaders.
 

dborgill

Obliviot
Crap... I wish my supplier had more choices.

I really think the G-skill would be best for the budget and I have read good things about then... I just don't think he can order from anyone besides Ma Labs..
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
What's wrong with ordering from a place like NewEgg? Having your choices cut down like that is not a good thing :p

The ST will probably suit you fine, but like I said, they will not be great for overclocking.
 

dborgill

Obliviot
Rob Williams said:
What's wrong with ordering from a place like NewEgg? Having your choices cut down like that is not a good thing :p

The ST will probably suit you fine, but like I said, they will not be great for overclocking.

Oh, I love Newegg. It's just my supplier takes my used hardware in for credit and he has a credit account with MA Labs. He gets like 14 day credit with MA Labs.

He is kinda falling on hard times and so am I LOL!

EDIT: I wonder if the Super Talent 2x1 gig would be better or worse than my current Corsair Value 4x512...
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
You currently HAVE 4*512? It may not be a huge upgrade, unless the Super Talent you want is DDR500. Either way, if you are only using 1GB right now, you can't go wrong with 2GB of any brand, really.
 

dborgill

Obliviot
Rob Williams said:
You currently HAVE 4*512? It may not be a huge upgrade, unless the Super Talent you want is DDR500. Either way, if you are only using 1GB right now, you can't go wrong with 2GB of any brand, really.

Right now = 4*512 Corsair ValuMem DDR400 (2 gig total) - 3200+ Venice @ 2.4
Only thing I can order = 2*1 gig SuperTalent DDR500 (2 gig total) - Opteron 148

EDIT: The only other semi decent stuff MA Labs has it Kingston HyperX but they only have 512 meg chips and they are expensive

I am just trying to decide what to do...
 
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