Project Reality Forums

With all the recent upgrades I've made, I'm still not 100% happy with performance. What would give me the most bang for my buck right now? Right now I have;

AM2 Anthlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8GHZ - Processor
2048MB DDR2 667MHZ - Ram
Gigabyte GA-M68M - Motherboard
HIS HD 4870 1024MB - GFX Card
Cosair TX650W - PowerSupply
Western Digital 160GB Sata - Harddrive
Windows XP 32-Bit SP3 - OS

What under ~$180 would give me the biggest Bang?

Looks pretty solid to me. But I'd go with 2 more gigs of ram and set them in dual channel if possible. Or if your HDD is 7400 rpm, get a 10.000.

With that price i'd go with the athlon ii x 3 425 triple core and an extra gig of ram. The good thing about that triple core is you can unlock the 4th core and have a quad core. I think it only runs about 80 bucks usd on newegg.



This link might help you to see how much more of a boost you might get by getting a better processor, and help you choose one for your price range.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/778- ... ssors.html

But that link doesn't include how much more you will gain by unlocking the 4th core.

With that price i'd go with the athlon ii x 3 425 triple core and an extra gig of ram.

If I were you, I'd go with the Athlon II x4 620 or 630. Both about $100 usd on newegg. Great quads, running the 630 myself. It'd be good to get a 2gb kit of ram now if your planning on getting Win7 in the future. Sure, XP will only recognize 3gb but will save you money in the future.

I have Win7 Ultimate 64-bit, just waiting to get more ram so its useful. And If I was gonna get a Quad Core I think I'd just get a Phenom II. Also, This mobo only has 2 DIMMs, So I think I'll save up ~$200 and get a Phenom and a 4GB Kit.

I'd avoid the Athlon II quad if I were you, they seem to only get around Q6600 performance. You're a lot better off saving extra cash and going for a Phenom II imo.

Well I read on Gigabyte.us that my mobo will support the Phenom X6 sooo I know what I'm waiting for.

Yep that bad boy is only gonna be 199 usd. I'm gonna get one if my phenom II quad ever starts bottlenecking on very high. Which i doubt for next few years.



http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=16214

They come out next month i believe. Congrats. You will have the best computer out of any of us.

Amd has really good Price-To-Preformance Ratio Imo. I think I'll just save $300 and get an X6 and 4GB, I dont really need 6 or 8 GB yet anyway.