New system or upgrade current ?

Right now my main system is an AMD Duron Applebred , was the 1.6 it is now running at 2.0ghz. Cache mod will not work on it, I have looked into that already.
758Mb ram, a KM4AM motherboard. the GF card is a Radeon 9200 SE. The mobo isnt an overclocker at all.
I was thinking either stick with cheap old socket A and just upgrade the cufrrent chip maybe then get a new motherboard. Or just run a totally new system.
My main OS is *nix so I would prefer to stick with a Nvidia GF card if i could. As ATI doesn't have great driver support.
Now a few things to help me help you help me. I don't use it as a gaming rig, mostly old games as in Diablo 2 and such if anything. And the other thing is I would need to stick with the mATX for factor. I have a Aspire X-QPACK and im looking to keep this case and *maybe* in the future turn it into a small WC system case.
Thanks in advace , figured this would be the right place to ask.

its time to buy a new computer Your computer is quite outdated.

Now you must choose between two paths.

AMD AM2 system.

or

Intel Conroe system.

either way, you should wait till july 23rd. On july 23rd, intel releases conroe and AMD responds by dropping prices on all current s939 and AM2 cpus.

What is your budget?

I know its a bit dated
Yea from what ive seen there seems to be price drops coming and a new intel chip.
I guess waiting till then would be the SMART choice. Would be nice to see how this new intel chip comes out to really be, im trying to avoid talking about it as this really isnt the place.

Though my question is whic "current gen" system would be decent, as planning it now and then waiting for price drops seems to be a good idea.
As for budget, Around 400$US max I would say. Even that is a bit much considering I don't really use it to game all that much nor do I use it for heavy work loads.

W/ $400 might as well forget about conroe, since you need mobo, cpu, DDR2, a case, PSU, vid card and dont know what else. The 3800 x2 is going to be around $170 and will limit your budget for other parts.
I suggest just get an A64 3000 for $95, an ASUS M2N-E mobo for $99
Antec 640B 380watts for $80, it has plenty juice on 12v1, 12v2 rails.
PDP 2x512 DDR2 667 for $95 and a BFG Gforce 7300GS for $75.
That come to $444 without shipping charges. You can get ASUS Gfoce 6150 Integrated graphic mobo and save vid card money and $20 on the mobo, to give toy about $325 and later get a PCie graphic card. But If you get a good AM2 Mobo, you can upgrade CPU to K8L without spending any money on anything else just the CPU, because K8L 65nm's are also socket AM2 mobo.

EDIT: That Antec case may not work. get this or just get a case and a PSU individually.

Mobo: BIOSTAR TForce 6100 AM2 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail = $83 shipped
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Orleans 2000MHz HT Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA3200CNBOX - Retail = $105 shipped
RAM: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) = $154 shipped
Sub total = $342
Add a good PSU to the mix if you need one, or a faster HD, or DVD burner or whatever you like, and get a pretty damn fast system for very little money, that mobo should also be a pretty good OCer, if to be judged by its s754/s939 brothers.
No need for vid card as you have on board video.

EDIT: if you wait a little bit longer, you'll be able to buy a X2 3800+ very soon for the addition of $65 to the total cost. I think its worth the wait. You can also cut a corner by getting a lower priced RAM like the PQI 2GB kit and thus both getting an X2 and staying below $400.

ochungry said:

But If you get a good AM2 Mobo, you can upgrade CPU to K8L without spending any money on anything else just the CPU, because K8L 65nm's are also socket AM2 mobo.

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have you got a link to back this up? something official from AMD saying that for sure K8L will work in all current "good" am2 mobo's. just because its the same socket means nothing. "i'll believe it when i see it" comes to mind

to the OP, for your $400, you aren't gonna get much. yes it will be a nice step up, but if you can put together another $100-200 in the next month, then take advantage of the price cuts, you will be MUCH happier with the upgrade overall. whether you go AM2 or C*****, you are gonna have to buy all new everything. i would wait for C***** to come out, if only to take advantage of the price drops AMD is promising (although, there will be affordable C*****'s as well, and they should perform very very nicely ).

*edit* the setup The Coolest put together looks really sweet for less than $400. the 2gb of ram has me sold on it, i would go for that if you can't wait

Thank you for the sugestions. I was actually looking into something like what "The Coolest" sugested. That same MB was actually what I was thinking of getting. Yea the graphics card can be last on my list. Also the case that was sugested isnt needed as i stated I already have a
I would rather not cut a corner here or there and then regret it later on, though on the other hand I'm not looking to get the BEST out there either.
Main reasons are because the whole point of OCing is to get the most out of your money. Buy something cheap and make it into something just as good that costs more.
I already have two SATA HDDs and a small lite-on dvd burner. I was in luck that I had that dvd burner as I saw the normal ATX PS doesnt fit my case without the shorter drive. I lucked out there.

To the person who posted RIGHT when i did, heh. Yea it looks like im going to hold off and see what unfolds with the little war between the two companies. Also I would too like to see if the new K8L would 100% work in these current MB. But I have a feeling its going to be the same way with what Intel did. The new chip is the same socket but a slightly differnt voltage, therfore MOST will not be a simple drop in.

i agree with everything coolest says. 3200 if you can't wait, but 3800 X2 if you can.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

have you got a link to back this up? something official from AMD saying that for sure K8L will work in all current "good" am2 mobo's. just because its the same socket means nothing. "i'll believe it when i see it" comes to mind

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You've been spending too much time on the otherside of the fense.
If had started reading about AM2's and upcoming K8L and all the good things happening here instead of " *****", you would have known the answer.
Edit: hUMANbEATbOX dont wait. Buy Conroe because it is due before K8L and no one knows if K8L is 40% faster than K8

ochungry said:

You've been spending too much time on the otherside of the fense.
If had started reading about AM2's and upcoming K8L and all the good things happening here instead of " *****", you would have known the answer.

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so you have no link to back it up? please, if there is a thread i've missed here, that has actual official confirmation from a credible source, i'm all ears. so far, i've heard nothing about initial AM2 boards supporting k8l at all, and despite what you may think, i actually read this forum A LOT, and i actually read lots of other forums A LOT.

please, back up your claim with a link, or concede that you just don't know.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

so you have no link to back it up? please, if there is a thread i've missed here, that has actual official confirmation from a credible source, i'm all ears. so far, i've heard nothing about initial AM2 boards supporting k8l at all, and despite what you may think, i actually read this forum A LOT, and i actually read lots of other forums A LOT.

please, back up your claim with a link, or concede that you just don't know.

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we will know when they are produced and retailers selling them, just as when retailers sell core. Only then we will know what actual production can do, instead of running around in every thread claiming miracle by the hand crafted samples.
You say you read a lot and visit a lot of forums. Then why dont you ask about it, or read some actual tech news instead of reading forum gossips.
Why is it your concern anyway? you have already stated many times how good Intel's core is and what would be your next upgrade. Are you considering AM2 since K8L's are going to be same socket and is now more attractive to you? and could influence your decision in future upgrade?
If so that's great news. Now we know some diehard Intel loyalists are thinking jumping ship (because of this). would it be fair to assess that the intense interest you have just developed toward AM2's is because of the acquired knowledge that K8L's might be of same socket? Or are we wasting our time?

EDIT: I will be nice to you since it appears that you might like AM2's after all, and thinking smart move to K8L thru. cheap AM2 setup now.
http://www.computerpoweruser.com/ed...=articles/archive/c0607/20c07/20c07.asp&guid=

oc, i've probably owned more AMD chips than you have. just because i have an interest in technology (and yes, a64's are mighty interesting) does not mean i am going to run out and purchase one. i will buy what i want to buy, simple. its my money, i'll do with it what i like.

you saying i'm wasting everyone's time because i have no intention to buy a am2 is rediculous and insulting. i was merely calling bull on your claim that you can just drop a k8l chip into any existing am2 board, when you have absolutely no knowledge of this. it is not fact, but you made it out to be. you were spreading false info, sorry bub. it may turn out to be true, but that doesn't mean you are right.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

you saying i'm wasting everyone's time because i have no intention to buy a am2 is rediculous and insulting. i was merely calling bull on your claim that you can just drop a k8l chip into any existing am2 board, when you have absolutely no knowledge of this.

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I was right, you're just wasting our time(our=you and me).

. it may turn out to be true, but that doesn't mean you are right

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So AMD just made AM2's for heck of it and only going to last till end of this year. does that make sense to you? I am just assuming neither of us know if K8L is AM2 (for sake of argument). does that make sense to you?

it is not fact, but you made it out to be. you were spreading false info, sorry bub

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who is spreading false claim? you or me?
what you are stating is going to make those readers seeking info. confused.
Be 100% assured that K8L is Socket AM2's. and let's not make a fool of ourselves. That's my advise to you.

So AMD just made AM2's for heck of it and only going to last till end of this year. does that make sense to you? I am just assuming neither of us know if K8L is AM2 (for sake of argument). does that make sense to you?

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<cough> Socket 754 <cough, hack>

Oh, and this whole argument could've been avoided had you simply posted a link to said information. Asking someone to back up a claim you make isn't all that unusual.

Here's a link for you, OP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_K8L

So it sounds like that the first gen of K8L will probably use AM2. Obviously no completely official word, but that's what AMD is hinting at. However, it is also just as likely that K8L will then migrate to AM3 as the architecture develops.

I know this is starting to go off topic. But. My thought about hte new K8L is that there might be differnt versions of it to come, Socket F , the server, AM2 for current systems. And some other new socket they come out with , and this new socket working with the new DDR3 to come.
I mean look at the CPUs they have now , both 939 and AM2 versions.



And to keep this on to the first topic,
this motherboard from what ive been reading is actually a good buy
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813138027
thanks.
As for memory what should I be looking for ?

oh don't worry, i know that K8L is socket AM2. i'm not dense.

there is no guarantee that just because it is socket AM2, it will run in the same board. you very well may have to buy a whole new AM2 board to support the new cpu.

what you said was

ochungry said:

But If you get a good AM2 Mobo, you can upgrade CPU to K8L without spending any money on anything else just the CPU, because K8L 65nm's are also socket AM2 mobo.

Click to expand...

and i asked you to post info showing that current AM2 mobo's are K8L ready. you can't. case closed.

I'd also like to just state that you should do what you want. Don't feel pressured to wait for upcoming price drops and performance boosts that may or may not materialize. Conroe sounds awesome, but it won't be the end-all of computing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with going with a great Cheap n' L33t (tm) s939 system. You won't be disappointed either way.

Makaelin said:

<cough> Socket 754 <cough, hack>

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Socket 754 still exist, it is single channel memory cough, cough, technology gowing faster than life of a socket.

Oh, and this whole argument could've been avoided had you simply posted a link to said information. Asking someone to back up a claim you make isn't all that unusual.

Click to expand...

so? what's your point?

So it sounds like that the first gen of K8L will probably use AM2.

Click to expand...

Wrong. not probable but certain. Get it right

Obviously no completely official word, but that's what AMD is hinting at.

Click to expand...

Wrong again. almost every tech reviews have stated K8L is socket AM2.
do some readings.

However, it is also just as likely that K8L will then migrate to AM3 as the architecture develops

Click to expand...

Wrong again.
AM3 is nothing but rumor and possibly in late 2008 for 45nm.
AM2 is transition to DDR2, getting ready for K8L that is bandwidth hungry, and is reality, not a rumor. what is a rumor is that K8L is going to be 40% faster than K8, cough, cough.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

oh don't worry, i know that K8L is socket AM2. i'm not dense.

there is no guarantee that just because it is socket AM2, it will run in the same board. you very well may have to buy a whole new AM2 board to support the new cpu.

what you said was



and i asked you to post info showing that current AM2 mobo's are K8L ready. you can't. case closed.

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I dont understand a word or the logic here.
Are you saying that there are going to be 2 kinds of AM2 sockets, one for present cpu's and one for k8L cpu?
If so that sure is crazy (to even think that).
No. The present motherboards will work on K8L and we can put a wager on it.
How about you give me your conroe if you are wrong.

man, it has nothing to do with the socket itself.

just look at C*****. 99% of current socket 775 boards won't run it. the boards themselves need updated power management. it isn't the socket so much as the board.

i haven't seen anyone confirm that CURRENT am2 boards will be able to run K8L. that is all. i am done with this now, thank you.