Buy a new cpu or upgrade to 775?

Ok, in the event that my cpu is in fact fixing to kick the bucket, I'm wondering what would be the better option.

would I be better off just getting a 3.0C and keeping my IC7G mobo or upgrading to a 3.0 775 cpu and mobo?

I've got a gig of 3200 hyperx ram that I still has good life left in it and I'm wondering if it'll work (overclock) well with the 775 chipset?

I was looking through 775 mobo's and I've always been a big supporter of the abit boards and the only one that supports AGP is the AS8. AGP is a must with the board since I'm using the 6800GT. Are there any other good 775 boards that are stable overclockers and have agp?

What would you guys do?

The 3.0 775 is about $20 cheaper than the 3.0C and if I can get a decent mobo for $150 or less, I'd be willing to consider upgrading.

The 775 platform wouldn't be any faster than the IC7. You'd have to worry about getting a 775 board that supports 'legacy' stuff like DDR1 and AGP, and you'd have to get proper CPU cooling too.
I recommend getting just a new CPU as the 775 would be a hassle and would not result in any performance benefit.

FIZZ3 said:

The 775 platform wouldn't be any faster than the IC7. You'd have to worry about getting a 775 board that supports 'legacy' stuff like DDR1 and AGP, and you'd have to get proper CPU cooling too.
I recommend getting just a new CPU as the 775 would be a hassle and would not result in any performance benefit.

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I do not agree. I'm not one to throw away my money (ok, I did with the 560 Prescott instead of going with the 550), but out of my systems I have built over the last 10 years, I have always went the extra mile for the "next generation" chipset that just came out. As I always have great luck with them lasting me 2, 3, or even 4 years!

Two systems ago I bought the Tyan flagship S1836. It was a dual Pii 66mhz FSB mobo (i always went dual). THat sucker lasted me almost 6 full years! I last de-commissioned it after the 3rd round of upgrades could take it no father (first round had pii 266mhz chips, 2nd round was a bios flash to 100mhz FSB, and I could run 650mhz chips, 3rd round was another bios flash and was able to run dual 1Ghz!).

My Supermicro dual P4 Xeon mobo lasted me quite some time as well as it started at 400mhz FSB only, but went well beyond that over the years.

I see LGA775 going very far. So I've stepped down from dual CPU mobos to get into the overclocking game, and speed for gaming.

So in other words, I'd invest into the next platform. The 478 lasted a while, but it's dead to any new chips and advances. If you like to stick around the upper 3Ghz range by overclocking, and don't want to bother upgrading in the next 2 years or so, then stick with 478 and AGP.

If you have a little extra cash, get a chip $125 PCI_-X card and a good mobo foundation that will last. I like the Abit's 775LGA mobo, as well as my Asus P5AD2. They are built for 1066FSB cpus as-is, and beyond.

Guess it comes down to if you are that type of person that just wants enough to get by now, and not upgrade. Heck if you want the board I have at a cheap price, come look me up when the dual PCI-X mobos for SLI comes out in a few months. (yes I know, I'll be throwing away my board that I jsut touted. Hey, it's a tax write off now!)

eduncan911 said:

... So in other words, I'd invest into the next platform. The 478 lasted a while, but it's dead to any new chips and advances. If you like to stick around the upper 3Ghz range by overclocking, and don't want to bother upgrading in the next 2 years or so, then stick with 478 and AGP.

If you have a little extra cash, get a chip $125 PCI_-X card and a good mobo foundation that will last. I like the Abit's 775LGA mobo, as well as my Asus P5AD2. They are built for 1066FSB cpus as-is, and beyond.

Guess it comes down to if you are that type of person that just wants enough to get by now, and not upgrade. Heck if you want the board I have at a cheap price, come look me up when the dual PCI-X mobos for SLI comes out in a few months. (yes I know, I'll be throwing away my board that I jsut touted. Hey, it's a tax write off now!)

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You would have a point if there was an actual benefit of the new platform, either presently or down the road. I don't think there is, at least nothing to warrant a complete system overhaul at this time. Let's specify:

The first point is that the original poster already has a fairly current system, he's not buying a new box from scratch. If he was to buy a S775 system now it would mean that he has had limited value out of his present system, if nothing else. This 'loss' must be accounted for with any new hardware.
The very vision of being able at some point in the future to 'just buy a new CPU' and have a lasting system is the choice the OP has now. Just a CPU will get a nice speedbump at limited costs.

Second, the S775 platform is currently limited, even if you sacrifice all legacy support and do without AGP and DDR1 (which would increase the costs to the OP considerably). Let's take PCI-E for example. The PCI-E is nice, but as you mentioned, will not allow you to go SLI (you need 2x PCI-E x16/x8 slots), which would be a future-oriented upgrade path. There are also currently problems with the PCI-E bus speed, i.e. it cannot be locked when overclocking. Not a very solid basis.
Current S775 boards are also still ATX format. If Intel has its way, this standard will be obsoleted sooner rather than later. It could well be that this does not happen, or that you will be able to mount a BTX videocard upside down and still have it work, but some uncertainty is apparent.
You mention 1066Mhz bus speed, which is indeed nice from an overclocker's perspective, but the question is how nice it will be when new CPU's have a 1066 base speed? Perhaps the "800Mhz era" 1066Mhz board will not support 1333Mhz or more all that well? S478 systems like the OP has are also able to clock to 1066Mhz FSB withouth much trouble. The perspective is further limited when the current concerns with Intel's Prescott chips continue, which translates into slow CPU speed increases, massive heat problems and an early stop to fast Prescott descendants (think how little room you'd have if 4.2Ghz or so remains the limit for another 18 months... surely a 3.8Ghz S478 would not look so bad then).

Yep. I was debating getting into detail about the PCI-X issues, but I was assuming the user would do his research as all of us do. Thier is one major drawback to PCI-X now that is tied to mbos still using the PCI slots. UNtil PCI completely disappears (not going to happen until 2006), there will be limits any way you look at it.

I could sit and reply with a lot of benifits of the 775, but actually I'm behind in work. So perhaps another day.

To the author: Do your homework. It's a preference thing.

if you dont jump on the current technology now, you'll always be waiting for some new and improved to come out.

i say go for it !

I would wait for the new intel chips to mature a little and also wait for more motherboard selection as well.

I tend to agree with one thing that Fizz said, Fastredponycar already has a good mobo and RAM with good AGP vid card. While the new i915/i925 chipsets are more futureproof, if he wants to keep the RAM and vid card, I say just get another socket 478 CPU. That's certainly the cheapest route.

Seems like a waist of cash to me as you will have to buy a new motherboard and get no real gain and you already have great mobo.
Doesnt the IC7-g handle presscots well which seem cheaper the northy`s

nortwood or prescott
no matter , cose that solution is cheaper than new system