Will I See Noticeable Performance Boost In This Upgrade??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert Nurse
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R

Robert Nurse

Hi All,

I'm considering upgrading my PC running an ASUS A7V/Athlon 850 to a
matching 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz Athlon processor and doubling the RAM to
1GB. This upgrade will cost me about $200. This will be far cheaper
and less time consuming (no OS/apps reinstall) than a new mainboard,
chip and memory. Will I really see a noticeable performance increase?

Thanks.
 
Robert said:
I'm considering upgrading my PC running an ASUS A7V/Athlon 850 to a
matching 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz Athlon processor and doubling the RAM to
1GB. This upgrade will cost me about $200. This will be far cheaper
and less time consuming (no OS/apps reinstall) than a new mainboard,
chip and memory. Will I really see a noticeable performance increase?
Click to expand...

Depends what you use it for

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The processor upgrade will definitely help, but the memory
upgrade from 512MB to 1GB is problematical. Unless
you do things like editing large video or picture files it won't help
at all. However, I don't game. Perhaps the best test is do you
end up using virtual memory a lot or not.
 
Hi All,

I'm considering upgrading my PC running an ASUS A7V/Athlon 850 to a
matching 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz Athlon processor and doubling the RAM to
1GB. This upgrade will cost me about $200. This will be far cheaper
and less time consuming (no OS/apps reinstall) than a new mainboard,
chip and memory. Will I really see a noticeable performance increase?
Click to expand...


What applications do you want to run faster ?

Added memory won't help unless you are running an application mix that
needs more than you have, now. Task Manager will tell you what
you are using.

512MB is lots of memory and unless you are running a specific package, like
photoshop, you don't need it.

As far as the CPU, i read this as upgrading from 850mhz to 1.4ghz.
That might double the frame rate on a video game, but you won't notice
the difference while browsing the web, or using a word processor.
 
It will not be a night and day difference, but you will see an increase in
performance. By the way, you didn't say which OS you are using. Just in
case, you know that Win 98 and Win98SE CANNOT use more than 512MB of RAM.
Otherwise you get system conflicts and freezes.
 
It will not be a night and day difference, but you will see an increase in
performance. By the way, you didn't say which OS you are using. Just in
case, you know that Win 98 and Win98SE CANNOT use more than 512MB of RAM.
Otherwise you get system conflicts and freezes.
Click to expand...

I don't know how much credibility one should give to someone who makes
such an obvious error. I (and many more people) regularly run Win 98SE
with more than 512 MB of RAM without any problems at all.

Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/
 
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc Robert Nurse said:
Hi All,
Click to expand...
I'm considering upgrading my PC running an ASUS A7V/Athlon 850 to a
matching 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz Athlon processor and doubling the RAM to
1GB. This upgrade will cost me about $200. This will be far cheaper
and less time consuming (no OS/apps reinstall) than a new mainboard,
chip and memory. Will I really see a noticeable performance increase?
Click to expand...

If the OS is Win XP, you might have to rinstall. I fought with
this pice of trash for 3 days until it worked again after an
upgrade from an Athlon XP 2200 to 3000. Aparently it forgets
all installed drivers (or something like it), if the CPU is
changed.

Arno
 
If the OS is Win XP, you might have to rinstall. I fought with
this pice of trash for 3 days until it worked again after an
upgrade from an Athlon XP 2200 to 3000. Aparently it forgets
all installed drivers (or something like it), if the CPU is
changed.
Click to expand...

If it's an OEM copy of XP you'll have to buy a new copy if you change
the mobo, I'm told.
 
Al said:
If it's an OEM copy of XP you'll have to buy a new copy if you change
the mobo, I'm told.
Click to expand...

You were told wrong. You just have to call MicroSoft for
a new product activation code.
 
What applications do you want to run faster ?

Added memory won't help unless you are running an application mix that
needs more than you have, now. Task Manager will tell you what
you are using.

512MB is lots of memory and unless you are running a specific package, like
photoshop, you don't need it.

As far as the CPU, i read this as upgrading from 850mhz to 1.4ghz.
That might double the frame rate on a video game, but you won't notice
the difference while browsing the web, or using a word processor.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have mentioned my apps. Primarily, I'll be
programming (Java/Eclipse, C/Visual Studio, Dreamweaver MX, ), online
gaming (UT2004) and lots of downloading (McAfee updates, AntiSpam,
etc). Some Photoshop. But not really much.
 
Charlie said:
I don't know how much credibility one should give to someone who makes
such an obvious error. I (and many more people) regularly run Win 98SE
with more than 512 MB of RAM without any problems at all.

Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/
Click to expand...

It's just the OS was never designed to take advantage of that much RAM,
not that it dosn't work, it just isn't used optimaly. But then who back
then ran a Win9X OS with 512M RAM or more? more than likely they would
have been using Windows NT or 0S/2. Hence why the programmers didn't
take the time to optimise the OS, it wasn't ever thought people would
need 512M or more with Win9X.
 
|
| Sorry, I should have mentioned my apps. Primarily, I'll be
| programming (Java/Eclipse, C/Visual Studio, Dreamweaver MX, ),
online
| gaming (UT2004) and lots of downloading (McAfee updates, AntiSpam,
| etc). Some Photoshop. But not really much.

AHA. The extra memory is pretty much essential with UT2k4 for smooth
game play. When I had a mere 512 meg of ram, I saw glitches with
ut2k4, but now with 1 gig of ram, no more glitches.
 
| Charlie wrote:
| >
| >
| >>It will not be a night and day difference, but you will see an
increase in
| >>performance. By the way, you didn't say which OS you are using.
Just in
| >>case, you know that Win 98 and Win98SE CANNOT use more than 512MB
of RAM.
| >>Otherwise you get system conflicts and freezes.
| >
| >
| > I don't know how much credibility one should give to someone who
makes
| > such an obvious error. I (and many more people) regularly run Win
98SE
| > with more than 512 MB of RAM without any problems at all.
| >
| > Charlie Hoffpauir
| > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/
|
| It's just the OS was never designed to take advantage of that much
RAM,
| not that it dosn't work, it just isn't used optimaly. But then who
back
| then ran a Win9X OS with 512M RAM or more? more than likely they
would
| have been using Windows NT or 0S/2. Hence why the programmers didn't
| take the time to optimise the OS, it wasn't ever thought people
would
| need 512M or more with Win9X.


win98(se) uses all the ram you got. The problem that crops up is with
the code handling the vcache HD caching subsystem. One need only use
the vcache limit fix to overcome this minor annoyance with win98(se).
 
Al said:
You were told wrong. You just have to call MicroSoft for
a new product activation code.
Click to expand...

OEM copies are licenses to the machine and may include install code that
checks the BIOS to ensure that the board is still the OEM board that the
vendor provided.

In many instances the OEM copy is licenses to the vendor since the
vendor is the one providing technical support for the system/OS, that's
the reason for the price break on it. If you change the board, unless it
was a OEM purchase with "hardware" then you may be unable to reinstall
or get a new key from MS.

You can purchase OEM software/OS with a purchase of a new drive and/or
motherboard in most cases. Windows XP Prof is about $140 OEM, Office
2003 SBE is about $230 OEM.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Sorry, I should have mentioned my apps. Primarily, I'll be
programming (Java/Eclipse, C/Visual Studio, Dreamweaver MX, ), online
gaming (UT2004) and lots of downloading (McAfee updates, AntiSpam,
etc). Some Photoshop. But not really much.
Click to expand...

Any graphics editing app will appreciate more RAM, 512MB is the min I
would use with PhotoShop - 2GB and Dual P4's runs very nice when doing
large images :)

As for the rest, you won't get much benefit of having more than 512MB
from any of them - not even a game. Games benefit from FAST video cards
and load faster from FAST (high RPM) hard drives. In a properly
configured XP Prof. system, at idle it should be using about 110MB of
RAM, with UT or CS (games) loaded it might hit 400MB as it caches maps
and other objects, but it will only chache that high if you have that
much RAM.

With W98SE, just dump it, get a better OS.
 
On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:38:43 +0100, "Phil"

Really?, I doubt that work with my Dell OEM copy of XP Home....
Click to expand...

What makes you think that it wouldn't work? Try, you might be
pleasantly surprised. Of course, the agent will question you to see if
you're trying to install your copy on a "second" computer. But if you
simply explain that the MB was replaced, and that otherwise it is the
same computer, you should get the activation code.

Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/
 
What makes you think that it wouldn't work? Try, you might be
pleasantly surprised. Of course, the agent will question you to see if
you're trying to install your copy on a "second" computer. But if you
simply explain that the MB was replaced, and that otherwise it is the
same computer, you should get the activation code.
Click to expand...

In a lot of cases you will get a support/call rep that will just go
ahead and let you install it, but, if you get one that sticks with the
rules, a Dell or Gateway (or other named OEM) version is only
installable on the named OEM's system - they get a price break for
providing support and if the motherboard is no longer in the system they
are not going to support it - so it's not a legit install any more.
 
JTS said:
You'll still have an antique :>)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. But, for now, this is what I have to work with. I'd
love to build a new system. But, cash is tight right now.
 
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