Worth upgrading from Barton 2500+ to 165 Opteron?

N1vek215 · Apr 8, 2006

Well Oblivion, Call of Duty 2, and Battlefield 2 have been making think about upgrading my system from my beloved 2500+ Barton to a holy Opteron 165. My specs are in the sig but I'd like to know whether it would be a good upgrade. The games play fine on my current setup, but I want to experience 100% quality and have it run smooth.

I was thinking of going for the Opty 165 paired with a DFI Ultra-D mobo and overclocking the living crap out of it, but dropping nearly $500 on the combo has had me iffy as to whether it is REALLY worth it to upgrade. Should I wait until the prices drop a bit or should I definitely go for it seeing as how well the Opteron performs.

Another question. Is the NB fan on the Ultra-D loud or barely audible? (for reference, I have one rear exaust fan, my PSU fan and a stasis thermal cooler on my card. I also sleep 3 feet away from the comp).

Thanks for any suggestions

EDIT: How are ASrock mobo's? Never heard of them before

rseven · Apr 8, 2006

Yes, it is certainly a worthwhile upgrade, but you may end up spending more than you think. If you wait, there is a chance you won't find a 165 or the price will be up. You are probably looking at a new PSU as well as a pci-e video card. The NF4's require a 24 pin PSU. I would strongly urge you to go with an NF 4 as it is easily the most stable and best overclocking platform for socket 939. The ASRock is not a bad board and the agp/pci-e slots are an attractive feature, but it is still a budget board with limitations. If you want to save a few dollars then go with an Epox 9NPA+ Ultra as it will overclock quite well and is more user friendly than the DFI.

bumsquad · Apr 8, 2006

Ok.
1) Ultra D chipset fan is loud. It whines. U should go w/ a passive fan if u want it to b super quiet.
2) Asrock's 939dual sata is extremely good quality considering the cheap O price. I got the nf4-d and the asrock. I think the asrock is actually faster, but i can't say for sure unless i run them side by side. However, bad thing about asrock board is u can't get beyond 1.5 volts without a voltmod for the cpu. And u can't get beyond 2.7v for ram voltage.
3) I'm not sure if its a good idea that you upgrade your cpu and mobo. I don't think its going to matter too much considering that ur graphics card isn't that fast. My systems opt 146 @ 3ghz runs oblivion, bf2 fine on nf4-d but it still slows down every once in a while and I have a 6800gs. But i'm running 512mb ram cuz I rma'd the other stick.

So basically, u might want to change gfx cards as well.

rseven · Apr 8, 2006

I forgot all about the buzzy little NB cooler fan. It can be changed to something quieter for a reasonable investment.

I built an ASRock rig for a friend a few weeks ago and I was disappointed with it in many ways. I just think it's something of an odd duck. When you sell a board for that price it has to be cheapened, but that's just my opinion for whatever it's worth. I know there are many people here in the forum who are very enthusiastic about it.

DareDevil_747 · Apr 8, 2006

That NB fan is so annoyingly loud that I could actually HEAR it running with my tornadoes! The bigger tornadoes are louder decibel wise - but they are a deep, low-toned "roar" , where the little DFI fan has a high-pitched wailing noise.... almost as loud and ALMOST as annoying as a Thermaltake Giant III vga cooler, if you've ever heard one on high

I would recommend the DFI Lanparty UT NF4 series boards to anyone wanting to overclock, as NO other S939 board can even compare when it comes to overclockability. Heres comes the- However... these boards can be quite a headache if you dont know what all these added settings and options do, so I'd suggest doing your research on these boards, and look at how much trouble some other people have just getting them up and running for the first time... If you are somewhat experienced, you should have no trouble with it though. Once you learn what everything does, and do your research, it really pays off. Check out the AMD DFI board forum here, has everything u need to know. I have had ZERO trouble with my board, even from day one. It posted the very first time I ever hit the pwr switch, and wouldnt trade it for anything. As for the chipset fan, this is a popular alternative:
http://www.jab-tech.com/Evercool-VC-RE-Twinkling-VGA-Cooler-pr-2291.html
Or, if you wanna spend some more money, heres the chipset cooler I am using, and its the best available, in my opinion...
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/fochco.html
Also, I might add, you'll have the sexiest A64 board available

Im not saying the aforementioned boards are bad, they are probably great boards, but for the enthusiast overclocker/tweaker - you just cant beat DFI right now.

P.S. - Nice HIM avatar

fordsierra4x4 · Apr 8, 2006

CPU wise, you're looking at a massive horsepower increase. However, the motherboard you've selected in the DFI....well, i wouldnt choose it. Personally, unless you really know what you're doing and you're a real tweaker, DFI can be a real pain in the anthony harris to get right. I'd say unless you want SLI, go for the EpoX 9NPA+ Ultra, rseven and myself have the same board, it's rock solid stable and has a good range of options in the BIOS.

N1vek215 · Apr 8, 2006

Hmm, well the Ultra D sounds more trouble than it's worth, mainly all I want to do is adjust the multipliers and voltage. I really don't want too many extra features and I don't think I want to get an SLi video card just yet. I'm checking that Epox board out adn it looks more my speed. But the same question, how loud is the Epox chipset fan?

Also I didn't know that I would need another PSU upgrade either. And I thought my Antec Truepower 550 would last me many many years

Anything else I should be aware of?

Also, does the stock Opteron heatsink support 80mm fans?

DareDevil_747 · Apr 8, 2006

Antec has really fallen behind in quality over the last couple of years... they didnt design them to stand up to the power requirement of AMD64s.... I got lucky with mine, because if I have a low rail, I can just force it back up to spec...
That PSU should work, as long as u dont have a lot of devices in there.. IE, if u have more than 1 HDD, and more than 1 optical drive, forget it. Also, ur gfx card is probably power hungry as the newer ones, and probably wont like that PSU either.
I think you should be able to squeak by with it for at least long enough to get a bigger/better one, just dont expect no great OC with it

Good luck!

x3lda · Apr 8, 2006

DareDevil_747 said:
Antec has really fallen behind in quality over the last couple of years... they didnt design them to stand up to the power requirement of AMD64s.... I got lucky with mine, because if I have a low rail, I can just force it back up to spec...
That PSU should work, as long as u dont have a lot of devices in there.. IE, if u have more than 1 HDD, and more than 1 optical drive, forget it. Also, ur gfx card is probably power hungry as the newer ones, and probably wont like that PSU either.
I think you should be able to squeak by with it for at least long enough to get a bigger/better one, just dont expect no great OC with it
Good luck!

!!!, Antec and FSP are pretty damn good compare to some of the other power supplies out there. My Antec TP380 is running a 2.4GHz AMD64, three hard drives, 2 optical drives, and two 120mm fans. v12 stays around 11.7 - 12.2 under load.

rseven · Apr 8, 2006

DareDevil_747 said:
That NB fan is so annoyingly loud that I could actually HEAR it running with my tornadoes! The bigger tornadoes are louder decibel wise - but they are a deep, low-toned "roar" , where the little DFI fan has a high-pitched wailing noise.... almost as loud and ALMOST as annoying as a Thermaltake Giant III vga cooler, if you've ever heard one on high
I would recommend the DFI Lanparty UT NF4 series boards to anyone wanting to overclock, as NO other S939 board can even compare when it comes to overclockability. Heres comes the- However... these boards can be quite a headache if you dont know what all these added settings and options do, so I'd suggest doing your research on these boards, and look at how much trouble some other people have just getting them up and running for the first time... If you are somewhat experienced, you should have no trouble with it though. Once you learn what everything does, and do your research, it really pays off. Check out the AMD DFI board forum here, has everything u need to know. I have had ZERO trouble with my board, even from day one. It posted the very first time I ever hit the pwr switch, and wouldnt trade it for anything. As for the chipset fan, this is a popular alternative:
http://www.jab-tech.com/Evercool-VC-RE-Twinkling-VGA-Cooler-pr-2291.html
Or, if you wanna spend some more money, heres the chipset cooler I am using, and its the best available, in my opinion...
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/fochco.html
Also, I might add, you'll have the sexiest A64 board available
Im not saying the aforementioned boards are bad, they are probably great boards, but for the enthusiast overclocker/tweaker - you just cant beat DFI right now.

P.S. - Nice HIM avatar

The DFI is the best overclocking board, but there are a number of issues people have had with them. It is very picky about ram. DFI support has been criticized by many people here in the forum. Their documentation is poor and they seem to have an inordinate number of board failures. I am an experienced user and I refuse to deal with them as I have enough frustration in my life without adding to it. I'm not saying it's a bad board because it is not, but it certainly isn't the best board for everyone seeking to overclock. I recommend Epox because it OC's nearly as well with less hassle and expense. Also, the Epox does not have the NF4 chip under the pci-e card, so you can mount just about any cooler you like on it.

hUMANbEATbOX · Apr 8, 2006

if you've waited this long, consider waiting just a bit longer (like i've decided to). once conroe is out, even if you want to stay with AMD, it should drop the price of a good 165 setup.

fordsierra4x4 · Apr 8, 2006

N1vek215 said:
Hmm, well the Ultra D sounds more trouble than it's worth, mainly all I want to do is adjust the multipliers and voltage. I really don't want too many extra features and I don't think I want to get an SLi video card just yet. I'm checking that Epox board out adn it looks more my speed. But the same question, how loud is the Epox chipset fan?

Also I didn't know that I would need another PSU upgrade either. And I thought my Antec Truepower 550 would last me many many years

Anything else I should be aware of?

Also, does the stock Opteron heatsink support 80mm fans?

The fan on my EpoX board is almost silent. Dunno about the opteron heatsink though, i run an aftermarket hsf...

rseven · Apr 8, 2006

I run an after market NF4 heatsink and it's noisier than the one that came stock.

greenshift · Apr 9, 2006

on the dfi board thingy, all i can say is i came from a moble xp2500 in a nf7-2 to a opty in a dfi about 4 months ago (in dec) i didnt have any problems in the switch. although i dont understand the ram settings but i think thats mostly cause i dont mess with the ram too much cause i have my cheap ram from the barton still it dose run 1t tho heh.....

anywho the noise issue there is a whine from my computer, i wouldnt say it is loud tho compared to a tornado fan on the barton i had. if your not the type of person that can take noise when they sleep then it might bother you. personally it isnt loud enough i have a small floor fan to make noise so i can sleep. also when i changed to this board/chip i instantly thought i killed it when i started it and it was.... quiet compared to my other set up

beavismorpheus · Apr 9, 2006

I like my asrock board. it allowed me to use my old agp card for a few months while waiting for the 7800gts to drop in price. You could squeeze a little bit more life out of your 6600gt and have the option of upgrading to the latest and greatest pci-e card, which is nice.

AMD is going on a tech showcase in a month or so where theyre gonna be selling the 165, mobo and software packages for dirt cheap. i saw it in the cyber deals. dunno how patient and close you are though.

Worth upgrading from Barton 2500+ to 165 Opteron?

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