[Robilar]

I'm building a pc for an aquaintance. I can build him the pc outright with parts (with a 3500+ athlon) or I can sell him my 3700+ and move my 4000+ down to my second rig and pick up an fx57. If I build him the rig the way I originally planned it, I will have about $550 to spend. The 3500+ is $200 so I could sell him my 3700+ in its place and have $750 to spend on upgrades. The difference would only be $150 out of pocket.

So here are my two choices:

Upgrade rig #2 to 4000+ and Upgrade main rig to FX57 (Not interested in opteron or dual core).

My cost: $150

-or-

Build him the system stock: Buy a second 74 GB Raptor, sell him my NEC DVD-RW and pick up a slot fed Plextor, pick up a mitsumi combo drive (floppy/card reader, I need a card reader and if I get a second raptor it will be for RAID 0 and I'll need the floppy), selling him my card reader.

My profit: $190

-or-

Build him the system stock and pick up the new Viewsonic VX922 19" LCD (with 2 ms access time)

My profit: $70

I don't need to make money on this and $150 isn't much for me too be spending. I already have dual 7800GT's and all other components that I've chosen. I thought about getting 2 GB of RAM but the best timings I;ve found in the 2x1 GB sticks is OCZ with 2-3-2-5 (mine are 2-2-2-5 stock) and I'm not convinced that RAM will improve my performance regardless.

I guess the deciding factor is whether or not the FX57 will give me a signifigant boost in power. If it won't then the choice is tougher because I already have an excellent 19" monitor. I've had raid 0 in the past with raptors and am not convinced that I will see any gains (and I don't really need the Plextor, I just love slot fed DVD's).

All advice appreciated.

 

[erauman]

Are you overclocking? If not, then you should see a dramatic difference going to an fx57. However, your 3700+ or 4000+ should be able to overclock past stock fx57 speeds on air for, well, free. If you bought an fx57 and you plan to overclock, make sure your mb isnt limited to 1.55V Vcore, otherwise, I wouldn't expect much more of an overclock from your fx57 than your 3700+/4000+ or opteron 148.

 

[Robilar]

I prefer running at stock speeds (after all an fx57 and dual 7800GT's should be sufficent for awhile. I already overclock my gpu's and may experiment with moderate overclocks but I read that there was a Vcore limit on the Asus A8N32 that I currently have.

 

[KSIMP88]

Hmm.... couldn't you somehow combine the ideas in option 1 and 2? You could definatly use a new HDD, you will run out of space with just 74GB these days. But the CPU would be a huge advantage as well....
I could mess around with a list of parts.....
What all does he need (case, cpu, monitor, mouse, etc.) and what is the budget?

 

[Loki]

Pick up the new LCD monitor and spend an extra $50 for a second raptor for raid0 IMHO

Your 3700 should do 2.8 [email protected] and your 4000 should do 3.0 [email protected]

 

[Robilar]

I don't need anything other than what I listed (and I had to struggle with whats listed. My rigs, both of them are pretty decent). I have an opportunity to spend some cash on my rig but I don't have an unlimited budget (its call marriage!). If I go FX57, thats it for a budget. The other two options are cheaper but not as necessary. I'm just concernd that if I spend $900 on a processor and it gives me a small performance boost, it will really be a waste. Hence, I got thinking the new Viewsonic 2ms LCD monitor would be nice. I have the NEC 19" CRT with a sony tube. The pic is fantastic but I've been itching for a change. Also it would look really nice on my desktop with the saitek eclipse, mx518 and my creative speakers.

 

[Malaziel]

According to benchmarks I have seen the fx-57 will give you about a 10-20% boost in encoding and other mundane tasks while in gaming it will give very little extra performance especially if you are ocing. The gain would be something like 5%. I would keep your 4000+ and your monitor and go for an extra gig of ram it really does make quite a difference in load times for the newest games and in Battlefield 2 can give you as much as 12 fps boost. Your computer will also start up much faster.

 

[sccr64472]

I wouldn't dump a bunch of money into a socket 939 machine. It's almost time for a new socket type and it wouldn't help you much performancewise. I understand wanting to upgrade, but none of the options I saw looked juicy enough to spend any money. I'd hold off, but that's your call.

 

[Robilar]

After some thought and a bit more research I've decided against an FX57.

Here are my narrowed down choices:

Viewsonic VX922 Monitor $480 (19" LCD DVI which I really want, and 2 ms)
(Profit $70)

-or-

OCZ 2 x 1 GB DDR 400 PC3200 Platinum Edition (2-3-2-5 Timings) $290
(And sell the 1 GB OCZ in my second rig and move my corsair 1 GB down)

and

74 GB Raptor $205
Mitsumi Floppy/Card Reader Combo Drive $18 (and sell him a card reader)
(And go Raid 0)

(Profit $37 + what I get for the OCZ ram I sell to him)

 

[havoc531]

get the ram and raptor drive. that will make a good difference in performance. put the leftover moneys into a new monitor fund

 

[dragosmp]

I'd get the raptor, because as sccr64472 said, the soket 939 is dead (EOL), there is no point in upgrading the cpu. The ram, the same thing, as in 4 months AMD goes DDR2, so itwould be a dead end.
If that LCD supports 2048* resolution it can be an intresting option...