Picking parts to upgrade the PC

Tim

I'm thinking of upgrading my main PC, which is used mostly for gaming and general internet usage.

I have a couple different motherboards and 3 CPUs here already to choose from. I'm wondering if any of these will make an improvement before I go buy other parts.

Motherboards - Gigabyte EP45-DS3R Socket 775
MSI K9A2 Platinum Socket AM2+

CPUs - E7300 dual core Socket 775 2.66 Ghz, AM2+ Phenom X3 8750 3 core, AM2+ Phenom 9650 4 core 2.3 Ghz

The main PC parts will be the same. No need to change the case, power supply, CPU heat sink, hard drives, DVD burner, etc. Just a motherboard / CPU upgrade.

I have 6 GB worth of DDR2 RAM total, but until I go to Windows 7 I can't use more than 4 GB on Windows XP.

The EP45 has 2 GPU slots and the K9A2 has 4. I'll keep the thing folding with as many GPUs as possible.

Would the K9A2 with a quad core 9650 be better than the EP45 with a dual core? That's the biggest question here now.

If both motherboard / CPU combinations are more or less the same in terms of performance, what would be a good upgrade without being too expensive?

Cliff_Forster

Tim wrote:

I'm thinking of upgrading my main PC, which is used mostly for gaming and general internet usage.

I have a couple different motherboards and 3 CPUs here already to choose from. I'm wondering if any of these will make an improvement before I go buy other parts.

Motherboards - Gigabyte EP45-DS3R Socket 775
MSI K9A2 Platinum Socket AM2+

CPUs - E7300 dual core Socket 775 2.66 Ghz, AM2+ Phenom X3 8750 3 core, AM2+ Phenom 9650 4 core 2.3 Ghz

The main PC parts will be the same. No need to change the case, power supply, CPU heat sink, hard drives, DVD burner, etc. Just a motherboard / CPU upgrade.

I have 6 GB worth of DDR2 RAM total, but until I go to Windows 7 I can't use more than 4 GB on Windows XP.

The EP45 has 2 GPU slots and the K9A2 has 4. I'll keep the thing folding with as many GPUs as possible.

Would the K9A2 with a quad core 9650 be better than the EP45 with a dual core? That's the biggest question here now.

If both motherboard / CPU combinations are more or less the same in terms of performance, what would be a good upgrade without being too expensive?

That MSI board is AM3 ready with a bios update, maybe you should consider dropping a Phenom II on it?

Tim

I could, if it were better than putting a 4 core on the Gigabyte board. Is it?

Would a Phenom II X6 1055T work on the MSI K9A2? 6 core! It already has the updated 1.90 BIOS. Unless there's a newer BIOS now. Only problem is my K9A2s are version 1 which can only handle 95 watt CPUs, I'd have to get a version 2, and at that point I might as well sell 1 and buy a new motherboard.

Tim

What about adding a quad core or 6 core (if available) to the Gigabyte board? Would that be enough of an improvement to be worth it?

Tim

No one has anything to say?

I was thinking a good quad core on the Gigabyte board would be the most cost effective improvement.

jazzgrenade

Unfortunately, there's no hex core for the P45/socket775. I'm not too familiar with older AMD cpu's performance level, but this anandtech cpu benchmark comparison page might help:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/23?vs=62