Processor upgrade?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nicholas
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Nicholas

I have a 1 year old machine with a 2500 Athalon XP 510mb ram and SATA
hard drive. Assuming my Mobo is capable, what kind of improvement could
I expect if I upgraded to a 3200 Athalon 400? Would there be a
perceivable difference?
 
" Assuming my Mobo is capable, what kind of improvement could I expect if I
upgraded to a 3200 Athalon 400? "


If you already have the right equipment, then you may not need to spend
anything to get 3200+ performance. What motherboard, RAM and PSU do you
have?
 
Nicholas said:
I have a 1 year old machine with a 2500 Athalon XP 510mb ram and SATA
hard drive. Assuming my Mobo is capable, what kind of improvement could
I expect if I upgraded to a 3200 Athalon 400? Would there be a
perceivable difference?
Click to expand...

What applications do you run? For games, you are much better off buying a new
motherboard and getting an Athlon 64. 510 meg? Does your system have graphics integrated
on the motherboard? If so, you might want to invest in a $30-100 graphics card(see if you
have an AGP port or not).Going from an Athlon XP2500+ to an XP 3200+ won't give you that
much performance boost.
 
I have a 1 year old machine with a 2500 Athalon XP 510mb ram and SATA
hard drive. Assuming my Mobo is capable, what kind of improvement could
I expect if I upgraded to a 3200 Athalon 400? Would there be a
perceivable difference?
Click to expand...

No
 
I have a 1 year old machine with a 2500 Athalon XP 510mb ram and SATA
hard drive. Assuming my Mobo is capable, what kind of improvement could
I expect if I upgraded to a 3200 Athalon 400? Would there be a
perceivable difference?
Click to expand...


Perceivable, yes, but worth the cost and bother, probably
not. It's only about 20% clock increase and the higher FSB
will help some too, but the rest of the system will still
have same components. If you'd planned to sell the XP2500
and expect fair return on it, the upgrade might make more
sense, but even so you might be better off to get another
512MB of memory if you're itchin' to upgrade something.

For more substantial performance increase it's time to
rebuilt an Athlon 64 box.... but then again you didn't
mention what (tasks) need more performance.
 
I use my machine for AutoCad, CorelDraw/Photoshop and other graphic
software. Internet access and simple word processing/spreadsheet work.

The particulars.

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
Mobo: Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro2 nForce2
Video: NVIDIA gForce FX5200
System Model AWRDACPI
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 10 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~1837 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 8/11/2003
SMBIOS Version 2.2
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 174.96 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
 
I use my machine for AutoCad, CorelDraw/Photoshop and other graphic
software. Internet access and simple word processing/spreadsheet work.

The particulars.

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
Mobo: Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro2 nForce2
Video: NVIDIA gForce FX5200
System Model AWRDACPI
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 10 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~1837 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 8/11/2003
SMBIOS Version 2.2
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 174.96 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Click to expand...

As a general rule of thumb you shouldn't upgrade a system unless you are
going to at least double the performance, I don't do it for less than 4X.
The only way you can double the performance of your present system is to
get a dual Opteron. However given your workload it's not clear that a dual
Opteron will help you. You should wait another 18 months before replacing
that system. In the meantime you should up your RAM to 1G, that can make a
big difference and it's not very expensive.
 
Nicholas said:
I use my machine for AutoCad, CorelDraw/Photoshop and other graphic
software. Internet access and simple word processing/spreadsheet
work.

The particulars.

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
Mobo: Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro2 nForce2
Video: NVIDIA gForce FX5200
System Model AWRDACPI
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 10 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~1837 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 8/11/2003
SMBIOS Version 2.2
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 174.96 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Click to expand...

I hate top-posting.

What speed is your memory rated at? Does that board support a 200Mhz FSB? Is
your CPU currently running cool enough?

I'd just change the FSB setting in BIOS to 200 and monitor the temp. Run
Prime95 to test stability, if it fails, bump up vcore a bit at a time until
it doesn't fail. _Keeping an eye on temps_. I've never bought an XP3200 yet
but I've set up plenty of machines using an XP2500 that run at 3200 speed
perfectly well and reliably.
 
" I use my machine for AutoCad, CorelDraw/Photoshop and other graphic
software. Internet access and simple word processing/spreadsheet work. "


Your Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro2 is a dual-channel 400FSB motherboard. If your
RAM is rated at PC3200, I would suggest getting another identical stick. If
you then set the FSB to 400, and implement dual-channel, you'll have
upgraded your system on four levels:

1. Ram size increased from 512MB to 1GB.
2. FSB raised from 333 to 400.
3. Dual-channel implemented.
4. CPU clock raised from 1833MHz to 2200MHz.

You didn't state the amount of RAM your FX5200 has. For your graphic
software useage, there could be a noticeable difference between the 64MB,
128MB and 256MB versions.
 
Cuzman said:
" I use my machine for AutoCad, CorelDraw/Photoshop and other graphic
software. Internet access and simple word processing/spreadsheet work. "


Your Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro2 is a dual-channel 400FSB motherboard. If your
RAM is rated at PC3200, I would suggest getting another identical stick.
If
you then set the FSB to 400, and implement dual-channel, you'll have
upgraded your system on four levels:

1. Ram size increased from 512MB to 1GB.
2. FSB raised from 333 to 400.
3. Dual-channel implemented.
4. CPU clock raised from 1833MHz to 2200MHz.

You didn't state the amount of RAM your FX5200 has. For your graphic
software useage, there could be a noticeable difference between the 64MB,
128MB and 256MB versions.
Click to expand...
few case fans if he wants to overclock the 2500 to 3200 speeds
 
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