To upgrade or not to upgrade

HEy all I have a question

Right now I have a 1700+ CPU that I have running at 12*150 @stock voltage aka 1.8Ghz

The question I have is will I see a big improvement if I upgrade to a Barton 2500+ ?

I can push my current CPU more since my temp at load is 44 C but I am not the adventurous type.

If I will se an improvement how much can I sell the 1700+ for?

This was the one @ excaliburpc that everyone wanted a year ago, I never pushed it to 2.2 ghz that everyone with my cpu has reached because my ram will not go that high and I have not touch the voltage. Also I am not that daring.

I might upgrade my ram later and the CPU. I will not upgrade my Mobo until about Q4 of 2004 or 2005. I want to see what Intel and AMD will do the next few months and most likely go for a AMD64 or a Yamhill CPU if the price is right.

well if you ask me.. the upgrade would be nice.. but not really that necessary, as you can prolly up the multi on your current processor... but the newer barts are superlocked if you will and you would have to raise the fsb to oc them... unless you happen to get a unlocked one...

well, 2500+ = 11x multi

11x 200 = 2200 (3200+)
11x 220 = 2420 (my norm OC)


my other 'norm' is 11.5x 220 but really the unlock isn't needed except for xtreme OC's (like my 2.65ghz OC's )

well if I get some good ram I can hit 2.4 aka 12*200 with my 1700+ but I want to know if the extra cache will help since I will never try and hit the upper 2ghz

From my personal experience, when I use an Athlon XP 2200+(1.8GHZ + 512MB RAM + Win2000) at college, I just don't feel the same as I am using the system in my sig. My insensitive human feeling tells me it's so NOT smooth, feeling empty.(even with open IE, open WORD, etc.) When I use a Barton at 2.2GHZ with 1GB RAM in dual channel + WinXP, I feel exectly the same as when I use the system in my sig. I can't tell any difference with my human feeling, except the benchmarks(both sandra and PCmark02) told me there is a 15~20% difference in CPU power. It's just as smooth, feel good.


If you have a little extra budget, I suggest go for a Athlon 64. A 3000+ will outperform my computer in gaming and office applications.

I'm thinking of just a minor upgrade for now until the Althon64 939 pins become somewhat inexpensive and the the PCI express become standard

Basically the question I am asking if an extra 256k of L2 cache worth it giving up my 1700+ ?

No I don't think it is worth it because you have (in all probability) a gem of a chip on your hands there.

You have a great heatsink and a hand picked chip. There is absolutely no reason for you not to push the chip further.

See how far you can go by upping the multiplier without raising the voltage. With your cooling 1.6 and even 1.7 volts are perfectly safe.

The fact is that these chips can take a lot of punishment, and by running it at 1.8ghz with 1.5 volts, you are doing it an injustice.

Trust me when I say it won't die on you. And on the .001% chance it does...you were thinking of upgrading anyways.

My system runs most apps fine. If you're a fanatic gamer like me who cant stand playing Desert Combat with a lower fps and limited from playing in large servers, upgrade.

Otherwise, what for?