Upgrade or start new?

[JeffK91]

I've been thinking of upgrading my computer which I built two years ago. However, many of the parts are quite old now so I figured if I wanted to upgrade the CPU, I'll have to upgrade the motherboard because it's a socket 939. And when I do that I'd probably have to switch out my ram as well and so on.

So would I be better off just saving up for a little longer and building a new computer from scratch? It would probably take me a while as opposed to if I upgraded now I'd be slowly switching out parts one at a time.

Your advice is very much appreciated.

edit: For my current build (Biostar TForce4 SLI, AMD X2 4200+), would this be a nice CPU fan? Newegg.com - ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail I'm currently using the stock AMD fan.

 

[dario03]

I say overclock the cpu and buy new video cards.

 

[JeffK91]

I tried overclocking but as soon as I save it in the BIOS the computer just shuts down and can't boot up again. Normally I have to wait a while or reset the CMOS. Is it because of the insufficient cooling or the motherboard? I had this same problem trying to overclock when I had my Zalman CPU fan. I do like the idea of overclocking and just spending money on say an 8800GT which would save me a ton of money in the long run but even with the overclocking, won't the GPU bottleneck the CPU?

 

[veg1992]

oooh... Socket 939

but you should go with a whole new rig

also Arctic Freezer pro 64 > any Zalman Fan in terms of bang for the buck

 

[JeffK91]

Yeah... too bad it's only for Intel...

 

[Gustave5436]

ACF7 is Intel, 64 is AMD.

 

[dario03]

Theres all kinds of things that could cause your overclock to fail. If its not booting at all then you might need more voltage to the cpu. Your motherboard could be the problem but I think it would at least boot if its a heat problem. Also on my old 939 setup the weak point was the ram, so you might wanna try a ram divider.

Your setup isn't that bad and a overclock on the cpu could really help. However even if you can't overclock it I would get a new video card first. Then upgrade the mobo, ram, and cpu.

 

[Eric1]

I would build a new computer but you could still use your power supply, hard drive, and case unless you want a different case.

 

[JeffK91]

Oh sweet, so this is the fan to get? Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

I actually mentioned getting an 8800GT for my current rig in another thread but there were a lot of people saying that it would bottleneck the CPU.

So where should I start to see what the problem is? How do I up the voltage on the CPU? How do I try a ram divider?

 

[veg1992]

Oh sweet, so this is the fan to get? Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

I actually mentioned getting an 8800GT for my current rig in another thread but there were a lot of people saying that it would bottleneck the CPU.

So where should I start to see what the problem is? How do I up the voltage on the CPU? How do I try a ram divider?

thats the right link

Yeah... too bad it's only for Intel...

wrong, believe me I am 100% sure that its for AMD, because I've recommended it a 1000+ Times and that I'm using it for my future build

ACF7 is Intel, 64 is AMD.

correct