X-QPack Upgrade...Push an E2160 on the cheap?

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Meridian

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Jul 14, 2004
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Ok, folks, I'm giving my X-QPack some upgrade love. I was planning to just swap out the XFX 7600GT XXX for a BFG 8800 GT OC2, but I was worried about my Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice) (on a Biostar TForce 6100-939) becoming a bottleneck (see Tom's Hardware article). After reading reviews, posts, and articles ad nauseam I've concluded an overclocked E2160 would probably be the best solution for me. My upgrade budget is ~$450. Given the 8800GT and the E2160 burn off about $330 I find myself having to scrimp where I really shouldn't - an overclock friendly motherboard & memory.

Can this be done? Is there a motherboard + memory solution that will take the E2160 to 3.0~3.2 for ~$120?

TIA for the inputs.
 
I would say that you have a great motherboard for overclocking, so for $50 - $100 you can get a decent dual core 939 cpu, push it to close to 3.0gHz, add a new video card and you are good to go, rather than buy all new ram / board / processor...

that should work within your budget.
 
burnin8r said:
I would say that you have a great motherboard for overclocking, so for $50 - $100 you can get a decent dual core 939 cpu, push it to close to 3.0gHz....
Click to expand...

Interesting idea. Do you have a CPU recommendation? I've got a decent PS, and the 7600GT is pretty good about not heating up the case. However, the 8800GT is supposed to pump out a lot more heat, and that makes me a little more mindful of the thermal arrangements. I guess the question is which 939 CPU could be overclocked to performance comparable to an overclocked E2160 without generating a lot more heat.

As an aside, my current setup lasted me almost two years, so I'm hoping the upgrades will give me another two years on the system.
 
If you can get the cpu to 2.6GHz it wont be a bottle neck theoretically speaking. They say you need at least that to run a 8800GTX without being a bottle neck problem. So any AM2 or new Intel chip (ie., e2xxx, e4xxx, e6xxx, etc.,) at or above 2.6GHz should be good enough.
 
He's got a 939 motherboard, so AM2 won't work. If he got an AM2 mobo he'd have to get new ram & a new CPU anyways - he'd be in the same boat. The only 939 CPU that would be cost effective would be the X2 3800+(2.0Ghz). This could be a workable stop-gap for now, but he'd be investing in an obsolete system, besides for a new video card.

For a little more than the 8800GT & X2 3800+ you'd probably get a better experience with the 3850, 2160, P5E-VM & DDR2. Also it would open the door to further upgrades, such as quad or even octacore :).

So you'd have to judge if the $70 - $80 on a CPU with limited life span would be good enough for now, or to take the plunge.
 
An OEM S939 X2 3600+ is only $40 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103222

It would be a great/cheap stop gap upgrade alongside the 8800GT until you save enough money for a total rebuild.

Oh and there is no 939 or AM2 CPU that can overclock to performance comparable to an overclocked E2160. Clock for clock, an Intel C2D is faster than any AMD CPU. So even if you could get a S939 CPU to hit 3.0Ghz, an E2160 OC'd at 3.0Ghz will still outperform it.
 
Thanks for the advice, guys. I think I'm going to just suck it up and spend (only) as much as is absolutely necessary for the motherboard + memory to get that E2160 to 3.0~3.2. At this point I'm considering the P5K-VM ($120) and the OCZ Gold 2GB DDR2-800 Kit (on sale for $21 AR).

Based on reports, the memory should get to 1066MHz w/ a voltage bump. The catch, however, seems to be with the P5K-VM. According to one reviewer, ASUS tech support says this board requires 28-32A for the 3.3V rail, 30-40A for the +5V rail, and 18-20A for the +12V rail. I can't find these specs on the ASUS site, but this would be a problem for me: my 400W Enermax Liberty only puts out 26A on the 3.3V rail and 28A on the +5V.

Is anyone using a P5K-VM with a PS rated less than the specs above?
 
Meridian said:
Thanks for the advice, guys. I think I'm going to just suck it up and spend (only) as much as is absolutely necessary for the motherboard + memory to get that E2160 to 3.0~3.2. At this point I'm considering the P5K-VM ($120) and the OCZ Gold 2GB DDR2-800 Kit (on sale for $21 AR).

Based on reports, the memory should get to 1066MHz w/ a voltage bump. The catch, however, seems to be with the P5K-VM. According to one reviewer, ASUS tech support says this board requires 28-32A for the 3.3V rail, 30-40A for the +5V rail, and 18-20A for the +12V rail. I can't find these specs on the ASUS site, but this would be a problem for me: my 400W Enermax Liberty only puts out 26A on the 3.3V rail and 28A on the +5V


Is anyone using a P5K-VM with a PS rated less than the specs above?
Click to expand...


I have the same RAM and i love'em. Except i have 4GB's of them.(4x 1GB sticks). So i recommend them for anyone that wants cheap RAM but still wants 2GB's of RAM.
 
Meridian said:
According to one reviewer, ASUS tech support says this board requires 28-32A for the 3.3V rail, 30-40A for the +5V rail, and 18-20A for the +12V rail. I can't find these specs on the ASUS site, but this would be a problem for me: my 400W Enermax Liberty only puts out 26A on the 3.3V rail and 28A on the +5V.

Is anyone using a P5K-VM with a PS rated less than the specs above?
Click to expand...

SilentPC Review ran the P5E-VM HDMI on a 400 watt Seasonic rated for 20A on 3.3v & 20A on 5v, so I think that review you read is in error. Those seem like some pretty killer numbers just for the motherboard alone.
 
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