Athlon64 and a free motherboard!?

nForce3 chipset *was* a great chipset.

I highly recommended NOT doing this upgrade since it is sooooo slight and sooooo behind the times. It's just not a good idea. Unless you are on such a budget that you can barely afford internet access. (in which case, just use the PC you have)

I advise for the budget concious looking into AM2 socket processors and MoBo's. Over the next 6 months, they are gonna be VERY good bang-for-your-buck performance/cost wise.

You can get an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800 for $149!! Or if that is too much an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ is only $89. And at least getting these AM2 processors gets you into current gen hardware that could be upgraded a few years from now.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

No... I say wait. Save your money for a different day.

This deal sounds great, but with what you are getting, it is essentially no gain. It sounds like you have patience and little urgent need for an upgrade, you just don't want to miss a deal.

I would say this is not the one you are looking for .

There's nowhere I can't reach.

You are pretty well off in general... If you wanted to CPU upgrade for just smoother performance, that's not a bad idea. I'd say screw the mobo and just get the processor if you really are fed up with your CPU performance. EBay hawk the mobo, or donate it to something.

Also, do note that the CPU is OEM, so you might need to buy a heatsink/fan & thermal compound to install this CPU (unless you can use your old heatsink, but you will need compound).

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Sir VG

And Dayvon, there's a great AMD64 3700+ for $99. It has more L2 cache than that 3500+ you listed.

You are right about this processor being better, but I don't recommend upgrading to a Socket 939 system (as it is being phased out), and secondly I really only recommend the X2 line. It is pretty pointless to go with a single-core system as that will only hurt more down the road as applications become multi-threaded.

Ok, here's my final take on this whole issue. I think that if you are fed up with your current systems performance, and don't plan on upgrading your entire computer (CPU, mobo, RAM, Video card specifically) in the next 365 days, then buying the 3500 754 socket processor w/ free mobo isnt a bad idea. It will get you by a little longer with your aging AGP system, the $99 doesn't break the bank, and you will have an extra mobo hanging around (which is never a bad thing). You will need to purchase thermal paste as well (Arctic Silver w/ the Cleaning solutions), and pray that your current heatsink works well with the new processor. If you decide to put the new Biostar nForce3 board in, you WILL NEED to reinstall windows. Your other option is to keep the board that works now and you paid good cash for, and leave Windows alone and swap the processors.

If you don't mind your computers current performance too much, or you plan on upgrading your computer (CPU, mobo, RAM, Video card specifically) in the next year, DO NOT BUY. Save your $99 to get a better video card or more RAM on a new system.

I hope this helps.

Double Post:

Originally Posted by Render

He would pay more for anything Socket A than he would for this deal and get worse performance.

What does socket A have anything to do with anything?

Do note I recommended Socket AM2 for a system upgrade, there is a difference.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Duron is Socket A? Ouch.

Well, this is definitely your call. You would need to buy a new heatsink/fan for the different Socket 754 Type, paste equipment (sounds like), as well as the processor/mobo combo, bringing your total up to about $149+ shipped.

I don't know man. At that price, you could get a retail AM2 socket CPU ($149), find a good nForce500 $70-80 mobo, and You'd RAM upgrade to a 1GB DDR2 stick for about $80; which would bring a whole system upgrade to about $300 total; $150 more than you are looking at spending now. And such a system would be 5x higher performing for 2x the money spent.

The hardest part about upgrading the whole system is you'd have to replace your video card cause of moving to PCI-Express from AGP. Especially if you game, you will generally need to spend $200+ get the kind of graphic performance you want. If you don't game significantly any ole $30-50 card will do.

I hope this shows you what I'm talking about, how this is really not a good deal. I before was thinking your Duron was Socket 754, and that basically you were just processor upgrading. How much performance do you want versus money you are willing to spend? Spending $360 or so will get you a fully upgraded system (CPU, Mobo, 1GB RAM, and cheap vid card) that will be ready to take on the next 2-5 years, and you can get a great video card upgrade in time. Or you can spend $150 now and limp along for the next 1-2years, unable to upgrade anything unless you do an entire system overhaul. To me, the choice is clear. Either save your money for an AM2 system upgrade, or stretch your budget and buy an AM2 system right now. The hard drives and optical drives you have would transfer fine, as well as the Audigy card and the NIC wireless. So you are basically ready to go.

I was speaking idiomatically.