Computer advice please

T

timbo2410

Charter Member
Hi all, I was wondering if I could get some quick and simple help regards an upgrade to my old system. I run:
Asus A8N sli deluxe mobo
Athlon 64 2.61 Ghz fx-55 cpu
Sli 7800 gtx cards
2 gig ram
Antec P180 case
win xp pro

Now on this computer I run all programs for the family and kids along with CFS3 (and the odd BF2 game). Now I don't want to go to the trouble of upgrading the mobo, but I know I can go a little way further with upgrading the cpu and gpu. I don't want to have software issues so I'm unsure if dual core is the way to go. I don't know how this will effect upgrading the gpu with associated bottlenecks .... can somebody give me an idea what I can do to get a balanced upgrade with both cpu and gpu please.
Oh I forgot ... I was thinking of whacking in a 9800 gtx ... will the fx-55 be the bottleneck?
 
I'll be watching this thread, as I'm getting the itch myself. I'm running on an old rig, an Athlon 3200 XP (Barton Core), 2GB low-latency RAM, and an AG 8x Graphics card on a single monitor. Needless to say, my sliders aren't maxed. Is that what you're after? Because it seems like you have a pretty nice rig now.

It brings up other issues, like the 64 bit vs 32 bit question. Are you running the 64 bit XP? Geeze I forget... was there a 64 bit XP?

And you brought up multi-core - supposedly, Windows 7 handles multi-core very much better than it's predecessors - there'sprobably threads around here on how much it helps programs compiled in the pre-multi-core, 32 bit days...

Curious, and good luck,

Tom
 
Ni I'm running 32 bit xp. I've got a couple of games that I want to keep on this system and the computer is used by all the family ... so it's an all round machine. But seeing as it's getting harder to source components (new ones), I thought I would max out the system with whatever I can in the cpu and gpu department. I am open to suggestions though. I just don't want to loose what's on my HDD at the moment so a reformat is out of the question ...
So I'm a little afraid that stepping up to dual core might cause other problems.
Down the track I will get another system that is solely for gaming. But I will wait until DX11 is worked out with Nvidia cards first.
 
Well, for what it's worth, I did what you want to do with my system a couple of years ago. I replaced my Athlon 2500 XP with the aforementioned 3200 XP and the AGP 4x card with a different-branded AGP 8X card; as you said, that's the best I could put on that mobo & get a few more years' life out of it.

All I needed was to update the software for the new graphics card. The processor was recognized by the BIOS.

I'm sorry I'm not up on switching from single to dual cor processors for your moo and chipset, perhaps someone will come along who is. Still, it seems to me that it should be something that the BIOS "sees"; at worst, you'd have to go into the BIOS and correct a few things. It may be worth it to gte it from AMD directly and have them help you with it.

And, by the way, welcome to the forums!

Tom
 
I think there are one or two step ups in cpu before I get to dual core ... I just need advice on problems that I would be unaware of. It might be as simple as sticking in the highest compatible (socket 939?) CPU and then as high end a video card as possible .... ?????
 
ok just got an email from a local store ... I quote....

You cannot upgrade the CPU as its a 939 and the cpu has not been available for over 3 years and memory will be ddr1 not ddr2 as used in all new motherboards.
You will most proberley hace to format system even if you upgrade the AMD route .



Does that sound right??
 
timbo2410 said:
Hi all, I was wondering if I could get some quick and simple help regards an upgrade to my old system. I run:
Asus A8N sli deluxe mobo
Athlon 64 2.61 Ghz fx-55 cpu
Sli 7800 gtx cards
2 gig ram
Antec P180 case
win xp pro
Click to expand...

My motherboard is also an Asus A8N SLI and the GPU fan has already started showing signs of demise. Perhaps that's not such a big deal since I don't use the integrated GPU. However, it does remind me that these things don't last forever.

Swapping out your motherboard and upgrading your processor may give you a good base for future operations while preserving your existing investment in graphic cards, memory, and such. Just a thought.
 
if i could upgrade it as far as possible with the same mobo I would be happy to leave it die a happy death .... I just thought maybe if I could get say a fx-60 and a 9800gtx it would see me through until a completely new system ... the old system would be relegated to family use then
 
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