recommend a cheap upgrade bundle for pcsx2?

breadbin

hi, i had a asus m2ne, athlon x2 5800, 3gb, and 9800gt and could get playable speed in pcsx2 but not great really. i had intended on putting a phenom 2 in cos the mobo supported it once the bios was updated but guess what? after the update, the mobo is now dead so i am looking for a bundle to upgrade to that might be decent enough for pcsx2. i was gonna buy a direct replacement to the am2 board but i was thinking i may as well plan ahead for maybe an am3 or even an intel board, sort of future proofing it;)

i had a look at pixmania and here are some of the things i was looking at but too dear i think. maybe someone can show me where to get these cheaper? with postage it would come to about 200, which isn't bad like but maybe there is cheaper somewhere?

AMD Phenom II X2 550 - 3.1 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache, 6 MB...
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Remove product € 89 Inc. VAT

Corsair XMS3 2 x 2 GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 CL9 Memory...
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Remove product € 43,90 Inc. VAT


ASUS M4N68T-M LE V2 - AM3 Socket - GeForce 7025...
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Remove product € 49 Inc. VAT
the mobo supports unlocking the cores but i know its a bit hit and miss and thanks

partyatmygaff

Something Core i7 or Core i5 would work wonders for PCSX2. The CPU is far more important when it comes to emulation.

IrishMetalhead

partyatmygaff is right with emulators it's down to cpu power but to get pcsx2 running perfectly smooth your gonna need to overclock it past 4ghz so that mean get either of these great overclocking cpus:

Phenom II X6 1090T
Phenom II X6 1100T
Core i5 2500K
Core i7 2600K
or any of the LGA1366 line of CPU's

breadbin

thanks but them cpu's are out of my price range i'm afraid:( i think i'm gonna go with the below now and oc to get near the 4 ghz. i read a review that did it easily enough with pretty much the same board. if i can open another core or 2 then even better but pcsx2 only uses 2 as far as i know. any reason not to get these?

Product name Stock Status Quantity Item price Line price Move to wishlist Remove AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2GHz Black Edition Socket AM3 6MB 80W
Quicklinx:6NCHWS | Mfr#:HDZ555WFGMBOX
In stock
€81.50 €81.50 Gigabyte AM3 AMD 770 DDR3 ATX
Quicklinx:7637WS | Mfr#:GA-MA770T-UD3
In stock
€65.87 €65.87 Corsair Memory XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
Quicklinx:6ZPHWS | Mfr#:CMX4GX3M2A1600C
In stock
€43.83 €43.83
Delivery
(1.745kg) €14.01

Total (inc VAT) €205.21

IrishMetalhead

take it your price range is bout €200 then?

Tea_Bag

jaysus why is a ps2 emulator so demanding? 4ghz+? seriously? doesnt the ps2's native processor clock at something like 400mhz?

breadbin if you're getting an AMD X2 chip, make sure you get a motherboard that supports core unlocking, and you have a slight chance of getting an extra 2 cores out of it.

heid

An upgrade just for the emulator? I would just buy a ps2 instead.

breadbin

@irishmetalhead: well preferably about the 200 mark but i'm not sure now. was looking at a core i5 bundle would cost me 330 which isn't a huge amount in fairness but i'm a full time student hence the budget:(

@tea_bag: there's no guarantee it will unlock but i'm looking at one that will unlock them just in case:)

@heid: yeah i have my old ps2 but it doesn't connect to my lcd and its much handier having it on the pc too

marco_polo

I'd nearly get an Athlon II (X3 or X4) over a X2 Phenom at least that way you are quaranteed 3/4 fully working cores rather than just hoping, and it should be possible to push them to at least 3.8-3.9 GHz (4GHz seems just beyond their capabilities.

This is only 8 euro more than the X2
http://www.dabs.ie/products/amd-athlon-ii-x4-640-3-0ghz-am3-2mb-l2-73VH.html