Looking for advice

[oragus]

Hi there. I have a ASUS A8N-SLIR Deluxe running an AMD 64 FX-57 2.8ghz, 4 Gbs RAM, Dual 512mb nVidia 9800GTs and looking to upgrade using existing mobo. What would my best options be? I have already upgraded the RAM from 2GB to 4GB (max for this mobo). The 9800GTs (max for my power supply). Only thing left is the CPU I believe. I have tinkered around with OCing it, but not much success. (I am a novice with OCing) I have used nTune to "autotune" it. But I don't want to have to run it and load a profile every time I start up. I would take suggestions on OCing also.

 

[Look]

That motherboard is a socket 939, so the best you could do would be a dual-core 939, which are insanely expensive. I.E an Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz is almost $300 on Amazon. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=amd+socket+939+processors&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=905741368773298919&ei=4OLQS826KJD4NeX0xPgP&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CC0Q8gIwAw#

Would be a much better route to go with a new Mobo/CPU.

 

[saaiello]

That motherboard is a socket 939, so the best you could do would be a dual-core 939, which are insanely expensive. I.E an Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz is almost $300 on Amazon. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=amd+socket+939+processors&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=905741368773298919&ei=4OLQS826KJD4NeX0xPgP&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CC0Q8gIwAw#

Would be a much better route to go with a new Mobo/CPU.

Yea new it will cost but you can get a Athlon 64 x2 4800+ which is the best that will work in that board for $50 to $60 might even be able to find one cheaper.

Opetrons also work in that board An Opetatron 180 or 185 would be great if you could find one cheap but the cheapest I saw was $175

 

[Look]

The 4800+ and Opteron are 2.4 GHz and 2.6 GHz respectively, correct? If you can get a used one that would be best option if you want to keep that board, if you are comfortable with used tech. Sucks that the board isn't AM2.

 

[oragus]

Its an Old Alienware. I bought it back in '05. AM2 wasn't around then! I am a gamer, of the ones you guys have listed which would help me out the most?

 

[saaiello]

The 4800+ is 2.4ghz and the opty is 2.6ghz now the opetron will overclock really good and should be a little faster then the Athlon 64 x2 but like I said they arent cheap.

You really should just upgrade motherboard all together you could reuse your DDR2 RAM on certain AM2+ motherboards and that will allow you to get a nice Athlon II processor.

Its an Old Alienware. I bought it back in '05. AM2 wasn't around then! I am a gamer, of the ones you guys have listed which would help me out the most?

I wouldnt bother spending too much on that board if you can get an Athlon 4800+ for under $50 it should give you some better performance but in all reality its time to upgrade the board the 9800GT in SLI is still plenty for modern gaming but any processor you throw on there will still bottleneck those cards.

 

[shawn157]

250$ on tiger direct u can get a:
M4A785-M ASUS
Phenom 2 X4 955 BE 3.2GHZ

 

[oragus]

I am trying to stay with the 939 socket so I can continue to use my liquid cooler! If I change boards I don't know if I could use it or would have to get a new one of those too?

 

[Look]

What liquid cooler are you using? If you have a model number, we can check to see if it would be possible to keep it.

 

[oragus]

According to my invoice its PC POWER AND COOLING TURBO COOL 850 ETX 2.0 PSU!

 

[randomkid]

I am trying to stay with the 939 socket so I can continue to use my liquid cooler! If I change boards I don't know if I could use it or would have to get a new one of those too?

Seem's odd that the cooler is holding back your PC upgrade. The cooler is supposed to maximize the performance of your PC, not hold it. A newer motherboard+CPU on stock will perform better than your current CPU+mobo even in liquid cooling.

 

[oragus]

Heck I would take OCing tips at this point too.

 

[oragus]

Sorry, I am new at this. First attempt at this degree of upgrade. Usually only upgrade RAM and video card till its max, then buy whole new PC.

 

[randomkid]

Well its not difficult to take the PC apart and put new components in. Since you have put together a liquid cooling system (which I can not say the same for myself) I bet you will be up the job.

OC'ing is a good start. I saw that you already done it with software based OC but the best way to do it is via the BIOS. ASUS is always good at providing flexibility in setting FSB ( or HT ), the multiplier and the voltages in the BIOS. I'm sure a lot of experts will jump at giving you worthy advice on this department.