What's the best proc for the ultra-d?

[Hobag]

Hi there! I'm planning on ditching my nf2 board and do a temp upgrade to nf3 ultra-d cause i don't want to get rid of my x850xt pe yet. since i know that the ultra-d can use the dual cores, i'm assuming i have some future upgradability. So my question is: which proc would be the best value to put into this mobo? in terms of oc'ing? bang for the buck? everyday use and no oc'ing?

thanks a lot, i appreciate this as I'm a complete noob when it comes to anything above a nf2 board (i've been out of the game for a while).

cheers,

 

Hobag

[Brando]

Although I'm still not overclocking, the rig in my sig is running low temps and steady and I can guess that there's room for pushing it.

The boost to my x850xt pe has been astounding - I was also using it with an nF2 board and an unlocked 2800+Barton @ 2.2Ghz - but now I see what all the fuss was about. With the recent shift to AM2 a fall occurred in 939-pin CPU prices and I took advantage of it.

 

There are plenty of good deals about for dual cores too.

 

Have fun,

 

Brando

[smolt]

then board are about as easy to find as the first plain that flew good luck finding one new

[Hobag]

I wasn't really planning on getting a the board new (i've also tried, and it is very difficult to find one). I'm in the market for a used one, and i've been following up on some leads, so it shouldn't be that hard to track one down.

 

But Brando, what kind of increase in performance did you see after upgrading from nf2? Your situation is very similar to mine, and i really appreciate your thoughts.

[Fast Hot Rod]

I upgraded from NF2 (cough... cough... ASUS... cough...) and the increase was... well, interesting.

 

My new rig has a 3800+ X2, whereas I had a 2700+ T-Bird in the NF2 rig. The CPU difference is quite noticable when running multiple apps, and has a huge impact during gameplay. I haven't had a need to overclock my rig, but I can hit 240 fsb/2400 MHZ no problem.

 

When I upgraded, I went from 1 gig to 2 gigs of XMS ram. That made a huge gain in BF2 during map loading, as I was able to load all the resources into RAM. (I run about 70-75% ram use during gameplay.) I wonder what difference it would have made in my NF2 rig... I might have to reassemble it and try it out.

 

I already had a 400 gig RAID-0 array, so there wasn't much difference (if any at all) there. The old setup was bulletproof and easy to setup. The DFI MB solution made me work hard to get it operational... and I have to use a seperate drive with my boot info for some reason. (I think it has to do with the drivers being loaded to recognize the RAID array... but I haven't investigated that in depth as I had another drive I could use for that purpose.) I was pulling my hair out on that one... but the good folks here helped me get it up and running.

 

I stuck with my BFG 6800GT OC for the same reasons as you. I had paid about four bills for it and wasn't about to upgrade just yet.

 

I will say that the DFI MB is quite a bit more 'finicky' about hardware and setup than my NF2 board. Choose RAM and PSU wisely using the guides here, and you shouldn't have too much of a problem.

 

Ultimately, I would say it was a good upgrade until I am ready to go PCI-E. Gook luck with your decision!

 

Mark