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seraphant
01-07-2009, 02:56 AM
Lookin at getting upgrades for my desktop and got 2 different suggestions and would like some advise on which would be better to go with or even a better suggestion.

Mostly what I do is 3D work (Lightwave, Maya), some video occasionally, photoshop, and gaming (L4D, TF2, nothing really overkill). With this upgrade I'm switching everything over to SATA but the upgrades needing advice on is mostly the motherboard, processor, and memory. Right now I just wanna go with a dual core but have the option of upgrading the processor later to a quad core.

Also another concern would be if I have to upgrade my power supply aswell, I believe without opening up my case at the moment it's either a 500 or 550 watt. Things that I have that are staying in would be: Nvidia 8800 GT, Sound Blaster audiology, Network Card.

Suggestion 1:

MB: ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131320

P: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272

M: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

Suggestion 2:

MB: ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131295

P: Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115132

M: Same as above
davmoo
01-07-2009, 11:44 AM
#2 is going to out perform #1. AMD has really dropped the ball in the last few years.

And a 500 watt supply should be okay. I'd at least try it before I'd buy a new one.

Although mine is Gigabyte and not Asus, I'm running a P45 chipset motherboard now and it kicks butt.
fishtoprecords
01-08-2009, 01:19 AM
Why not quads? They can be twice as fast as dual cores when you use professional software that is written to use them. And both the AMD and Intel quad processors are very reasonable (if you stay away from the i7 for a few months)
phil-mize
01-11-2009, 12:27 AM
your power supply should be alright what u need to look into is the quality of your power supply... just cause u have a 600w power supply doesnt mean it will be better then a higher quality 500w...
technojunkie
01-14-2009, 04:57 AM
For #1, replace that motherboard with ASUS's AMD 780G chipset board. I've been happy with mine. NVIDIA has had too many problems lately. Go with the newer X2 7750 if you can only afford a dual core:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300
And pair it with G.Skill's DDR2-1066 4GB kit.
burkhartmj
01-17-2009, 07:51 AM
Why not quads? They can be twice as fast as dual cores when you use professional software that is written to use them. And both the AMD and Intel quad processors are very reasonable (if you stay away from the i7 for a few months)

Quad core is still a mixed bag as far as software support. While theoretically it can be twice as fast, this is solely dependant on if the application does multithreading. I would suggest looking into your most intensive software and see if it's multithreaded. If so, quad core is the way to go, if not a dual-core of the same price will perform much better.
slynine
01-29-2009, 10:30 PM
Quad core is still a mixed bag as far as software support. While theoretically it can be twice as fast, this is solely dependant on if the application does multithreading. I would suggest looking into your most intensive software and see if it's multithreaded. If so, quad core is the way to go, if not a dual-core of the same price will perform much better.

lol It's not theoretically, It is 2x as fast if the app can support it, and many 3d rendering programes do, as well as video editing and games. In fact quad is a much much better futur investment. Just like having bought a Athlon X2 back in the 939 days, if you had bought one you wouldnt need to upgrade today, and that extra core today really provides 2times the performence.

This is no different then the single core vs dual core argument of yesteryear. If you dont upgrade every year then you should defently go quad if you can afford it.
spazmatic
01-30-2009, 07:52 PM
lol It's not theoretically, It is 2x as fast if the app can support it, and many 3d rendering programes do, as well as video editing and games. In fact quad is a much much better futur investment. Just like having bought a Athlon X2 back in the 939 days, if you had bought one you wouldnt need to upgrade today, and that extra core today really provides 2times the performence.

This is no different then the single core vs dual core argument of yesteryear. If you dont upgrade every year then you should defently go quad if you can afford it.

Doubling cores =/= doubling performance, even if the applications ARE designed to do so.