HAY GUYS

Kaiten · Local time: Apr 24, 2006, 04:20 PM

When you do decide to get an AMD processor, the make sure you get the right socket count. Semprons and cheaper Athlon 64s use the Socket 754 interface. All recent Athlon FXs and Athlons X2s (plus several of the vanilla Athlon 64s) use the Socket 939 connection. By the way the Athlon FX 51 and 53 (one version at least) used the old Socket 940 interface, not to be confused with the socket type I'm about to describe.
The newer Opterons (server CPUs, most consumers don't need them) and upcoming Athlons (this summer) will use the brand new AM2 interface, it uses 940 Pins like the older Athlon FX CPUs did, but is much improved (also incompatible with those old FXs) and supports DDR2. Hopefully this gets you an idea of what to buy.

Socket A (Very Old): Athlon XPs- all 32bit
Socket 754: Semprons, Athlon 64s up to the 3700+
Socket 939: Athlon 64s, Athlon FX 53 and newer, Athlon 64 X2
Socket 940 (Old): Athlon FX-51 & 53
Socket 940 (AM2 New): Athlon X2, Athlon 64 (?), Athlon FX (?), Opteron

How ya doing, buddy?

Kaiten · Local time: Apr 24, 2006, 09:43 PM

Basically if you're in the market for dual core processing, then consider the AMD processors. The slightly higher framerate is only a bonus. You'd only see a noticable performace increase if you stepped up to a Athlon X2 4800+ or higher dual core or a Athlon FX-57 single core. So don't just buy a Athlon for game performace, or you'll be at least a little disappointed.
Otherwise the only way to give your games a kick in the ass is to add another 7900 GTX.

If you decide to buy a current Athlon X2 (or FX-60), get a Socket 939 board. If you want slightly better performance (or a lower price on the former metioned socket 939 CPU), wait for the AMD AM2 socket to come out, which would be May or June.
The best sub-$300 buy you could make is a Athlon X2 3800 or 4200 (depending on where you search, you could bag a 4200 for less than $300). It'll give you dual core for a reasonable price.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Kaiten · Local time: Apr 25, 2006, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by RushJet1

really, your easiest upgrade would be to get a pentium D and just drop it in there, if you use anything that can benefit from dual core processing.

Yes but he has a definite interest in AMD. Pentium D is the poor man's entry into dual core. In fact all but the newest dual core Pentiums couldn't even hold a candle to the Athlon X2 4800+. Seeing that he has a GeForce GTX 7900, his budget for a new CPU should be $300 or above.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.