Athlon 2400 XP vs 2800 XP

[Sam Carleton]

I have a machine that I build about 18 months ago. It currently
contains an Athlon 900 MHz. In looking at the motherboard spec's,
it looks like I can upgrade to any 266 MHz Athlon Xp/MP chip.
Further it looks like the fastest 266MHz Athlon XP is a 2800.

Now I have noticed at www.pricewatch.com that the 2400 is less then
half the price of the 2800 ($144 vs $67). I am going to be using
the machine as a second gaming machine. The key word being second,
not gaming This is second in the respect that my kids will be
using it to play games (Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Halo, and the
like) along with friend my friends.

Considering I can pick up a respecable video card, which I also
need, for the difference, is the 2800 worth the extra money?

Sam

 

[kony]

I have a machine that I build about 18 months ago. It currently
contains an Athlon 900 MHz. In looking at the motherboard spec's,
it looks like I can upgrade to any 266 MHz Athlon Xp/MP chip.
Further it looks like the fastest 266MHz Athlon XP is a 2800.

Now I have noticed at www.pricewatch.com that the 2400 is less then
half the price of the 2800 ($144 vs $67). I am going to be using
the machine as a second gaming machine. The key word being second,
not gaming This is second in the respect that my kids will be
using it to play games (Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Halo, and the
like) along with friend my friends.

Considering I can pick up a respecable video card, which I also
need, for the difference, is the 2800 worth the extra money?

Sam

The XP2800 on pricewatch is a Barton core, having twice as much L2 cache
(512MB) and DDR333 FSB. An XP2600, $97 on pricewatch, is the highest XP
with DDR266 FSB, the fastest your board can use if what I mention below
about KT133 chipset doesn't apply.

Get the XP2400, though it's going to draw quite a few more amps than your
current CPU, you might verify that your board is really up to the task.

In case your board is a KT133 chipset, not a KT133A, remember that the
KT133 is not actually capable of 133MHz, DDR266 FSB... most were only
stable to around 108-110 MHz, DDR220. Also, some boards supporting DDR266
FSB can't run anything faster than Palomino core, which only went up to
XP2100... it's usually a bus signaling issue, not voltage or bios support
that matters (though of course the newest bios is highly recommended,
prior to such an upgrade).

Of course you'll also need a heatsink, unless you had an atypically good
one for your Athlon 900... the *average* Athlon 900 'sink isn't adequate
for an XP2400.

 

[Sam Carleton]

The XP2800 on pricewatch is a Barton core, having twice as much L2
cache (512MB) and DDR333 FSB. An XP2600, $97 on pricewatch, is
the highest XP with DDR266 FSB, the fastest your board can use if
what I mention below about KT133 chipset doesn't apply.

Get the XP2400, though it's going to draw quite a few more amps
than your current CPU, you might verify that your board is really
up to the task.

In case your board is a KT133 chipset, not a KT133A, remember that
the KT133 is not actually capable of 133MHz, DDR266 FSB... most
were only stable to around 108-110 MHz, DDR220. Also, some boards
supporting DDR266 FSB can't run anything faster than Palomino
core, which only went up to XP2100... it's usually a bus signaling
issue, not voltage or bios support that matters (though of course
the newest bios is highly recommended, prior to such an upgrade).

Very interesting. I have the Giga-Byte GA-7ZX
<http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-7ZX.htm>.
The web site says that I do have teh KT133 chipset Thus I guess I
will stick with simply an upgrade to the 2100, which ain't bad, if I
must say so

Of course you'll also need a heatsink, unless you had an
atypically good one for your Athlon 900... the *average* Athlon
900 'sink isn't adequate for an XP2400.

Ah, interesting. I did build the machine myself. The Athlon 900
does have a fan on the heatsink. How can I tell if it will be
adequate or not other the hooking it up and seeing if it overhearts?

Sam

 

[kony]

Very interesting. I have the Giga-Byte GA-7ZX
<http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-7ZX.htm>.
The web site says that I do have teh KT133 chipset Thus I guess I
will stick with simply an upgrade to the 2100, which ain't bad, if I
must say so

Reread what I wrote above, and see the spec on the link you provided...
your board has the KT133, it's probably not stable with any CPU using
133MHz, DDR266 FSB. The fact that KT133 wasn't actually stable at
133MHz, was the whole reason why they released a KT133A, when they *fixed*
it, before moving to the KT266 for the next generation of boards.

In other words, the max CPU you could use is an Athlon Thunderbird 1.4GHz
(but the T'Bird came in both DDR266 & DDR200 FSB varieties, you'd need the
DDR200 version).

Frankly, it's not worth it, the time and expense... better to buy a base
version of a semi-modern motherboard and then choose whatever CPU you
want, though of course you'd need the memory too... but it's inevitable,
sooner or later you'd be moving on anyway, a 1.4GHz CPU running with PC100
memory seems slow today, and the KT133 chipset itself isn't very
efficient, gets less done per MHz than modern boards regardless of the CPU
installed, not to mention it's one of the boards with potential PCI
latency and IDE issues, potential hard drive corruption due to 686A
southbridge.

Ah, interesting. I did build the machine myself. The Athlon 900
does have a fan on the heatsink. How can I tell if it will be
adequate or not other the hooking it up and seeing if it overhearts?

Sam

Well you can do that, but since you built it yourself you should already
have a good idea... if it wasn't the best of the best when you bought it,
it's going to be questionable. At that time 'sinks were made towards a
much lower thermal dissipation requirement. I recall 'sinks of that
time, supposedly good up to 1.4GHz were pretty poor for the newer
Palominos and T'Breds, due to their smaller core size, higher thermal
density.

At a minimum the 'sink you use ought to have a large copper baseplate
and either a very loud 60mm fan or more tolerable 70-80mm.

 

[Sam Carleton]

Frankly, it's not worth it, the time and expense...
better to buy a base version of a semi-modern
motherboard and then choose whatever CPU you want,
though of course you'd need the memory too...

Yes, memory is the problem. I am trying to keep cost
down. It is simply becoming too painful to continue to
function with the slow machine. I did double check the
memory and it is one 256 Meg PC133 DIMM. Can you
recomment a motherboard/CPU combo that would be worth
upgrading to which will use the existing memory? I care
not if it is AMD or Intel, just that it be cost
effective

Sam

 

[kony]

Yes, memory is the problem. I am trying to keep cost
down. It is simply becoming too painful to continue to
function with the slow machine. I did double check the
memory and it is one 256 Meg PC133 DIMM. Can you
recomment a motherboard/CPU combo that would be worth
upgrading to which will use the existing memory? I care
not if it is AMD or Intel, just that it be cost
effective

Sam

The ECS K7S5A Pro is a board that will take PC133 memory and Athlon XP up
to DDR266 FSB, which as mentioned previously is a max of an XP2600, but
the XP2400 is still a better value. I'm not certain what the max CPU
support is for the K7S5A Pro though, you may need do some research,
perhaps updating the bios with the old CPU in before installing the new
one.

I'm not very fond of that motherboard though, I'd sooner advise you to buy
a newer board, for example Asus brand, that requires DDR memory... your
current 256MB memory isn't worth much and a 256MB replacement can be had
for <=$40. Just as with the CPU, this faster (DDR) memory will improve
performance, especially with a CPU near 2GHz. To be honest, you're better
off just buying a 512MB DDR module, since part of the performance issues
you're seeing now could be cause by insufficient memory... quite often
256MB isn't enough, even with Win98 instead of WinXP.

 

[Sam Carleton]

I'd sooner advise you to buy a newer board, for example
Asus brand, that requires DDR memory...

YOu are starting to become predicable, in a good way I
knew you where going to say that! I just did not want to
deprive my machine (this is all for the wifes machine) of
the 768 Megs it currently has of DDR memory, but I guess I
can pull out 256 of it for my wife

your current 256MB memory isn't worth much and a 256MB
replacement can be had for <=$40. Just as with the CPU,
this faster (DDR) memory will improve performance,
especially with a CPU near 2GHz. To be honest, you're
better off just buying a 512MB DDR module, since part of
the performance issues you're seeing now could be cause
by insufficient memory... quite often 256MB isn't
enough, even with Win98 instead of WinXP.

I agree I would like her to have 512 Megs, but I know what
she does and she really does NOT need it.

Ok, so we have 384 Megs of 400 MHz DDR ram, what
board/chip combo would you recommend? I would LOVE to buy
from this local resaler, <http://www.winotek.com>, because
they have good prices and they are local (send me a
private email and I can give you my username/password). I
am willing to buy off the web, if there is a noticable
difference in either the upgradability or in price.

Sam

 

[kony]

YOu are starting to become predicable, in a good way I
knew you where going to say that! I just did not want to
deprive my machine (this is all for the wifes machine) of
the 768 Megs it currently has of DDR memory, but I guess I
can pull out 256 of it for my wife


I agree I would like her to have 512 Megs, but I know what
she does and she really does NOT need it.

Ok, so we have 384 Megs of 400 MHz DDR ram, what
board/chip combo would you recommend? I would LOVE to buy
from this local resaler, <http://www.winotek.com>, because
they have good prices and they are local (send me a
private email and I can give you my username/password). I
am willing to buy off the web, if there is a noticable
difference in either the upgradability or in price.

Sam

I'm not so sure I have enough details of your needs to make a
recommendation. Since a new board can have so many features, you'll have
to decide how important things like USB2, firewire, quality of integrated
sound, etc, are to you.

I was under the impression that this was to be a minimal cost upgrade, so
with that in mind the Athlon XP2400 you saw on pricewatch for ($66
delivered, today) is the best value, unless your local retailer can match
that price.

As for the motherboard, Winotek only lists 3 Athlon socket A boards, not
much of a selection at all. Of those, I'd choose the Gigabyte,
GB7VTX600L. As for upgradeability, of course it depends on what, how you
might want to upgrade it. Spending nearly twice as much on a motherboard,
then waiting a couple years before upgrading it, may not be such a great
deal since at that point any CPU the board would accept, will seem slow
compared to the (then) contemporary CPUs available.

A good place to buy online is http://www.newegg.com
I haven't had the pleasure of trying anywhere near the majority of boards
they sell, but I'm partial to Asus, and can recommend the A7N266-VM
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-433 , or
one of the A7N8X series boards
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=22&manufactory=1315