For all those who are considering upgrading or new builds... READ THIS

[Squilliam]

epsilon72 said:

Squilliam said:

epsilon72 said:
Ugh. My 3800x2 is starting to show it's age, especially with Quake Wars. It doesn't help that I can't overclock the thing and have it be stable at all (most people can get to 2.8 or higher, I can't get it past 2.1 without random crashes). I guess I must have a lemon CPU or a bad motherboard.

You could always upgrade to a 4600+black edition and overclock that, or maybe an X3/X4 Phenom if your motherboard can support it?

Well, the problem is that I was one of those who was screwed over by the switch to AM2 (I built my current rig at the end of 2005, with a 939 motherboard). If I had an AM2 socket I would've ditched this proc a while ago.

It's not all bad though; my previous post inspired me to take another stab at overclocking after about a year and a half of not trying it. I actually got the CPU up to 2.4ghz this time and it didn't crash in the 3DMark 06 cpu test as it has always done. I'll see if I can push it up to 2.5 or 2.6 (this is from 2.0).

edit: I'm testing it out at 2.5.  I don't think it's going to go any higher.  My processor must be a dud or something. 

 

2.5ghz isn't too bad, if you're CPU limited you probably increased your performance 20% or so. Is that enough to make it playable? The longer you can make it last, the better your upgrade will be for the money.