A Curiosity

[Terry1953]

As electronic components advance a near light speed it seems that the value of things drop between the time you order something and the time it's is installed and running. As I was browsing around looking for some parts to throw together with the odds and ends I already have to build a few crunchers I happened to run across this add: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...condition=used Now I purchased this same CPU on 10/22/06 from Newegg for a little under $300 (Had to look it up) Would anyone have any idea why it not only kept it's value but seems to have climbed a little bit? I have had it sitting on a shelf for over 4 years because I just haven't gotten around to tracking down another 939 motherboard. I just can't remember this happening with any other item having anything to do with computers. LOL I bought this cooler with it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835702001 and somehow I doubt it's gone up on value bit I did get the chip up to 3.8 for awhile.

[Dirk Broer]

I can remembered another example: Suppose you would want to run a socket-A mobo with the best CPU possible for that soocket, ergo the Athlon XP 3200+ Barton.
This will cost you around 130 Euros here, which is the same price as in 2005!

My advice: buy the cheapest FM2 mobo with at least an A75 chipset and 4 ram slots and fit in a AMD Athlon II X4 740. This will cost less than before mentioned Barton...
As the AMD Athlon II X4 740 will need an external video card you can fit in whatever you still had lying on your shelf, provided it is PCIe.
In case you do not have a reasonably recent card: take the A8-5500 instead of a AMD Athlon II X4 740. DDR3 RAM is dirt cheap, compared to DDR2
(I know, received two hand-me-downs, one Athlon X2-5000 with DDR2 memory and a Intel E-5500 with DDR3. Upgrading memory of the former costs twice as much as the latter.
So I will take my own advice with the AM2 box and transform it into a FM2).

[NeoGen]

It's the same thing with DDR2... I can't justify myself to keep upgrading family members old computers with more DDR2 memory because it's so expensive these days comparing with DDR3. The default answer for 2013 has been changed to "Get a new computer!"

[Dirk Broer]

I can't justify myself to keep upgrading family members old computers with more DDR2 memory because it's so expensive these days comparing with DDR3. The default answer for 2013 has been changed to "Get a new computer!"

Even when upgrading: Especially when you can't transplant the old CPU into a new DDR3 mobo (and wanted to upgrade the old CPU too anyway) "Get a new computer!" is a sound advice.

It costs me around 100 Euro's to buy 4 sticks of 2 Gb DDR2 RAM (system in question already has 4 sticks of 1 Gb -slow- DDR2 RAM) and it's not even certain the ECS mobo of the Fujitsu-Siemens will take a quad-core Phenom-II instead of its present Athlon X2-5000. For the price of the DDR2 RAM + Phenom CPU I can easily buy a DDR3 mobo that will fit the same casing, give it a Llano, Trinity (or even FX-4100) quad-core CPU and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM. Incredible, but true. In terms of long-term economics this gives me the chance to fit in a less power consuming Trinity, along with build-in graphics that has computing power way much better than it's present nVidia GT 315 (let alone it's original GT 8400). Combined with a HD 6670 the system will still use less power, while having 2 more cores and a GPU capability way beyond the original.

In Terry's case he has a socket 939 CPU, so he's stuck with DDR1 memory. If he's in luck he might have 4 sticks of 1 Gb lying on the shelf and can fit the system with them, if he's extemely lucky he might have sticks of greater capacity. His main problem though is to try to locate a socket-939 mobo for his CPU, he might have to try the 2nd hand market/eBay to get the CPU to work.

And then there's still the question: "How much Watts am I consuming for the given BOINC credits output?", where single core CPUs in general have a disadvantage compared to dual-cores, and a severe disadvantage compared to quads.

[Terry1953]

Well I did find a 939 mobo on Ebay for $45 and am going to drop the 4800+ in it. The problem is I gave away 10 or 12 Gig of DDR 400 and now I end up paying $80 for 4 Gig. No big deal I just want to see what this old chip will do. When this mobo dies that's it. LOL the mobo cam with 2 sticks of 512gb and a 3500+ single core and cooler. Gonna scrap them, shoot I have a 3700+ Sandy sitting here doing nothing but collecting dust. I am looking forward to tomorrow to see how this 4800+ X2 goes through wu's. I have friend that has a small comp shop and he gets in old boxes on occasion and I have him on the lookout for any 939's that he might come across. He tells me he just tossed 2 out in the trash last month. Another case of one man's trash being another man's treasure.

[Dirk Broer]

I have a 3700+ Sandy sitting here doing nothing but collecting dust.

Talking about fat and lazy cores...I bet it is a i5-2500 or even a 2500K. Would be a stellar replacement for my i3-2100.

[Terry1953]

Talking about fat and lazy cores...I bet it is a i5-2500 or even a 2500K. Would be a stellar replacement for my i3-2100.

No Dirk the Sandy 3700+ is an old 939 socket single core that I found on a shelf. It was a real workhorse for a single core though. I did find a 3800+ X2 that I guess I'll order another mother board for. For no longer than the 939 was around I sure bought a lot of cores in that configuration. As the mobo's died I just stuck them away.

[Dirk Broer]

AMD Socket wise I went from Socket Super7 via Sockets A (462) and 754 to Socket FM1, never had any 939's. Jason/Ramjet might have a spare 939 mobo perhaps.

[Dirk Broer]

The problem is I gave away 10 or 12 Gig of DDR 400 and now I end up paying $80 for 4 Gig.

You better ask the people you gave away your DDR1 RAM to whether they're still using it, or buy complete 2nd hand systems/offer people to scrap their old PCs for free.
Far cheaper than paying $80 for 4 Gig, and you might end up with other fancy goodies (Casings, Coolers, Video cards, Sound cards, Tape drives, you name it).

[Terry1953]

You better ask the people you gave away your DDR1 RAM to whether they're still using it, or buy complete 2nd hand systems/offer people to scrap their old PCs for free.
Far cheaper than paying $80 for 4 Gig, and you might end up with other fancy goodies (Casings, Coolers, Video cards, Sound cards, Tape drives, you name it).

Great idea but I moved to a different state since then (About 300 miles). I do pick up an old system from time to time but I just wanted the 4 gig now so I paid.