Hi folks,

Having not spent a penny on my machine for a couple of years, I feel the need to breathe a bit of life into the old beast.

Im currently running:

DFI LanParty UT NF4 SLI-D
Athlon 64 3200+
GeForce 7800 GTX

As I will be using this machine mainly for video encoding and photoshop, Im thinking my best option is to throw in a new CPU (may invest in a new graphics card later this year).

Im a bit (totally) out of the loop, but as far as I understand, the fastest S939 CPUs are:
(1) Athlon 64 FX-60, dual 2.6ghz
(2) Opteron 185, dual 2.6ghz
(3) Athlon 64 X2 4800+, dual 2.4ghz

Is there actually any noteworthy difference between the Opteron 185 and the FX-60? Any thoughts on which is the best option of the above?

Best thing Id say is go for new mobo as 939 is old now.
But for a cheap fix now then a x2 cpu would be the best bet, I think any of them chips would only be available s/h
scan have a new x2 3800+ for £34ish, I had one of them and it overclocked a bit and encoded video quick.

More due to laziness than anything, Im not going to upgrade the motherboard (will require new memory and new heatsink too...)

Simply looking for the most I can get from my system with the least effort possible!

Quote from: ISJX_Ian(3) Athlon 64 X2 4800+, dual 2.4ghz

I didnt think the x2 went above 3800+ on 939.

I was working from the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Athlon_64_microprocessors

Appears only the 3800 is commonly available at retailers... the 4800 requires a bit of ebay action

An Opteron 185 would be your best bet.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=480116

Maybe get 3GHz out of one OCed, my Opteron 165 has been doing 2.7GHz from day one, aircooled.  Thats a 50% overclock!

Thanks

Just a thought... Im running Win XP - If I change my single core CPU for a dual core one, am I going to need to reinstall or run any updates to take advantage of both cores?

Quote from: ISJX_IanThanks

Just a thought... Im running Win XP - If I change my single core CPU for a dual core one, am I going to need to reinstall or run any updates to take advantage of both cores?

You probably will need to re-install, I would anyway.

yep, need to re-install

Which is highly annoying... considering I just did that yesterday

1 Opteron 185 on its way - thanks for the advice.

just do a repair install

its painless

Ive gone from

Athlon 64 3000

to Opteron 170

to Core 2 Duo

just doing repair installs each time and keeping all my windows apps/settings.

not a single problem

CPU arrived.

I have to say, Im a little suprised that my Core Duo T2600 laptop is basically the same speed for video encoding as my new Opteron 185.

Nevermind, at least its proving to be about 80% faster than my old 3200

I have a nasty feeling Im going to end up buying a new graphics card too... oops

I went from my x2 3800+ to an Opteron 165 and noticed no speed increase, even with the Opteron overclocked.
Im now on a c2d and thought it would have been the right time for you to go for a new mobo and chip, you could have got a c2d or even a quad for the price of that Opteron.