AMD and Intel: How to upgrade in the months ahead

ThraxThrax 🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
edited April 2010 in Science & Tech

Comments

  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited April 2010
    My core 2 quad CPU is the first processor I have ever skipped a CPU generation entirely with. Apart from a passing fancy, I never saw any real reason to upgrade to a core i7.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    Also, that enthusiast level quad that you run at 140 watt TDP now, will be much less. maybe as much as half.

    I have this energy efficient quad that I am building a system with now, 65 watt package. Really exciting, thats a huge part of the future preposition, powerful systems, that draw less power lowering the total cost of ownership.

    Grandma is getting a quad!
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    I don't see much (if any) reason to upgrade my Phenom II X4 either. It seems to have more processing power than I'll need for years.

    Also, I'm so amused by this story. Back when I first joined Icrontic (last summer) everyone kept telling me "enjoy your dead-end socket" in regards to AM3. Now whose socket is dead-ending first? ^_^
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm looking for more processing power as I am overall platform improvements. My main rig is on a AM2+ 790fx sporting DDR2.

    New USB and SATA specs, the possibility of running really efficient low power DDR3 with a nice SSD, all really exciting prospects to me.

    I think if I upgrade my main rig, a mobo swap will be in order when the time is right.

    Though, Ardi, you are right, AM3 is not going to be a dead socket by next year.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    I went straight from an Athlon XP 2500+ to a Core 2 Duo E7300. It runs a little better.
  • photodudephotodude Salt Lake, Utah Member
    edited April 2010
    I jumped from a Athlon64 x2 6000+ to a PhenomII 965black C3, I can really see the difference. That was a two year CPU lifecycle for me. I also made the move from Vista 32bit to Win7 64bit, which was also a big difference. Still on DDR2, not sure it's worth moving to DDR3 until the next generation of CPUs; especially since the GPU is taking so much of the work from CPUs.
  • ZuntarZuntar North Carolina Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    Just went from a X2 5600+ to a PhenomII 965 black and it is much snappier, course the SSD OS drive no doubt plays into that. The Bios is the longest part of my boot sequence; click and its done. Yea I don't believe it can get much better for a LOOOONG time.

    ........New USB and SATA specs, the possibility of running really efficient low power DDR3 with a nice SSD, all really exciting prospects to me.

    That is why I picked what I have now. :cool:
    ........Though, Ardi, you are right, AM3 is not going to be a dead socket by next year.
    :rockon:
  • edited April 2010
    I have very recently upgraded two dual-core Intel systems (E4500 and E5200) with PhenomII X2 processors recycling the 4GB DDR2 on each system. They have unlocked to X4 and X3, overclocked to 3.6 and 3.7, respectively. And I paid ~$300 for 2 CPU+MB sets in total. After all these, I am ashamed to expect more :D but I am wondering if the new AM3 processors will still be compatible with DDR2 memory on the AM2+ socket. I guess not.

    On the Intel front, I did my last upgrade with DDR2 by retiring my trusty Q6600@3.3 and replacing with Q9550@4. It was a tight squeeze pushing my cheap motherboard and memory to 467 FSB but it worked out with extra cooling on the NB. I think, I will be using this system for another 1-2 years before upgrading to a DDR3 system (probably AMD).
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    tehe I went from a laptop sporting the Pentium M to my Phenom II X4 920, lovin' it and don't plan on another CPU upgrade for 2+ years. Though graphics and SSD drives are what I am looking forward to most.
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