An Upgrade Conundrum

[Kaej]

I'm doing up my pc case and fitting a watercooling outfit to the pc before i go to university at the end of september and everything is going swimmingly. The only thing left to buy is a CPU waterblock for my socket 939 CPU. Or is it?

To supplement my increased cooling capacity I was going to buy a DFI Lanparty SLI-DR Expert mobo to give me the extra voltage options needed to beef up my FBS and CPU clocks. But then again, the prices in S939 CPUs have dropped rapidly due to the release of Intel's new Core CPUs. So i then thought about buying a new CPU with 1Mb of L2 cache to increase my performance.

Ah, but then it struck me. if i'm willing to buy a new mobo and processor, is it not worth throwing an extra £100 or so (~$175) to fully upgrade to Core Duo or Core 2 Duo? I've read good things about the overclocking ability of these CPUs and wondered if it would be worth the extra splash (offset by selling my S939 kit on eBay) and lapping up the future proof nature of Core Duo?

But uni is expensive so i'm not sure about throwing money at a brand new tech. Do AMD have anything better lined up or are we looking at the best for the near future?

Aargh!:(

[Cevinzol]

In the end its up to you but you might want to consider this.
Do you really need cutting edge tech (with its higher pricetag) to do what you want?
There will always be something faster coming around the bend. Since you are going to School and need the money for other things I'd suggest saving the extra for your next upgrade or for vista when it comes out.

Personaly I wouldn't take my best machine to school. I'd take an older beige case that wouldn't attract a lot of attention.

[Silenced_Coyote]

If you are worried about the money, maybe you shouldn't go watercooling.

Also, is your PC doing what you want it to do? Like still being able to play the games you want to play at a decent frame rate? If so, then don't rush to upgrade.

You probably don't want to bring something like that to school. It might get stolen or damaged. At least see how your roommate is like first. Like see if he locks the door all the time. This may sound stupid but some people are like that in the dorms. See if they are messy too. One day, I found a bit of orange chicken sauce on my laptop... I am assuming it was a friend of his eating on my desk.

[DaveW]

I know a secret of Intel's. They have a secret Kensington (i think) Quad Code CPU coming out in about 16 weeks. I believe there's only a few test ones currently in existance, and the only one in the UK is privately owned.

Basically it kicks Conroe square in the rocks. And that's saying something. As much of an AMD fanboy as i usually can be, i'm saying goodbye to AMD's processor roadmap for the next year at least.

Note: This information could be wrong. Be careful with it. But i received it from a reliable source.

-Dave

[Silenced_Coyote]

Intel's quad core is code-named Kentsfield. It is basically two Core 2 Duo E6700 CPUs stuck together. It will be under the Core 2 Extreme line (like the X6800). Heard it was going to cost $999 in 1000 unit quantities. Comes out in quarter 4.

Note: this is the news/gossip I picked up around the web. I could be wrong also.

[Kaej]

I'm from England and the accomodation where i'm going is different thought. Its a 6-bedroom flat (apartment) that has its own locked door and each of the single bedrooms have their own locks as well, plus the accomodation fees i'm paying include insurance againt theft, since the building is well maintained security wise.

No room-mate FTW.

It does play pretty well, considering that most games are GPU dependent and i have a 7800GTX thats aching for W/Cooling for some serious performance boosting from OCing.

Thanks for all the advice, i think theres life in the S939 systems yet, and i can always upgrade to SLI for a performance boost before a major leap like a MOBO format change.:)

[DaveW]

There we go, a confirmation. ;) You know where you heard it first folks ;)


i think theres life in the S939 systems yet

Couldn't agree more, the only thing better is Conroe. So it's the second best on the market-never a bad title to hold.

-Dave