1400 Tbird w/ KT7A MB, need to improve speed

I'm running a Athlon 1400 Tbird, KT7a, 512sdram and a geforce 5200fx 128ddr

I was wondering if there are some things i could do in the bios to make it faster? Im getting 4550 marks on 01, which i compared to others and it seemed low.

I have a volcano fan for the cpu, my idle temp is 51 for the cpu and 30 for the case.

So are there things i could do in the bios to make it faster?

Welcome to the forums!

Yes, you ought to be able to squeeze some more performance out of it with some BIOS tweaks. I used this guide to get started when I first got my KT7A, http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Motherboards/KT7A-BIOS-Tweak-Guide/

Don't forget to check out Tom's, http://www.sudhian.com/showfaqs.cfm?fid=2

Upgrading your CPU would be a big boost. Take a look at this thread, http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=158672

Your CPU is probably unlocked. Lowering the multiplier, and raising the frontside bus will help performance. You can run up to 150 to a little over with the right KT7A and some good memory. Bumping the memory voltage up to 3.5 or so can help the memory tolerate a higher FSB.

ok lets say i wanted to just upgrade slowly on this computer just a little bit. I've been looking at a ECS "KT600-A" KT600 MB that will support my processor but uses DDR ram and 8x agp. Will this improve performence? with lets say 2x256ddr 3200 ram and my current processor and vid card?

There's no doubt that a KT600 and some DDR will walk all over your KT133/SDRAM combo. But the CPU will then be the choke point. If you were just going to use it for a short time until you had the funds to complete the upgrade, that would be fine. But if it is video/gaming performance we are talking about here, rather than general system performance, I think you'd be a little disappointed at the increase for the money laid out.

When I was scoring close to 12,000 in 3D2001 with my 8k3A, Ti4200 and my XP1700 at 2,000 MHz or so (170 to 180 FSB then), I tried putting the card in my KT7A with a Palomino at 1.8, with the FSB at 150. It scored just under 10,000 points. I remember thinking at the time that if I known that before, I would have just upgraded the CPU and video card on my KT7A, rather than buying the new motherboard and RAM.

You have many options, your budget will be the determining factor.

I had the exact same CPU as you, Thunderbird 1400, bought it back in summer of 2001 when it was just out. Great CPU and all...it smashed Intel for half the price, but for your situation it's not good.

Tou see, now you are with a totally outdated PC (even the FX5200 that I am sure you bought quite recently...last year probably, is a bad choice for gaming, very bad.)

So with such an outdated PC you cant upgrade only 1-2 things and expect better performance (and I mean BETTER, about a 20% increase at least, not 2-3 fps that wont matter in the end). So the only thing you can do without having to pay is overclock....well here comes your bad luck. However great your CPU was at the time, its the worse OCer this world has ever seen....its kinda overclocked by AMD itself having more vCore than the other Athlons, and reaching frightening temperatures even at default speed (65C+ in the summer). So the only way to overclock it is to get a very good cooler but that will cost you too much just to gain 200-300 MHz at most...

So my advice is, save some money and go for an AthlonXP system...with about 200 euros you could build a system with AthlonXP 2500+ (OC it to 3200+ easily) dual DDR mobo with all the cool stuff (usb2, firewire etc...) , and 512 dual DDR ram. Then depending on how much into gaming you are, you can add the video card of your choice. With 100 euros being the minimum but able to get you an 9600 pro for example....
So for 300 euros you can bake a new machine that does 15.000 3dmarks easily and you will be satisfied for at least 2 years (judging from the fact that you stil have your thunderbird).

I say buy an nforce2 board and get some overclocking out of it as much as you can. Then buy a 1.8Ghz duron. If getting new ram is an issue, see if your board can support thoroughbreds. If it does, just pick up a cheap 1.8Ghz duron.

The biggest problem with your setup now is the video card, even though it carries the FX title, its a really poor card, you would be good to find a used TI4200 and it will kick the crap out of that FX5200 Check out the following chart from Tom's:

The cheapest solution to getting more out of your setup is to overclock your CPU, but based on your idle temps I would be cautious about doing that. You can always get a better HSF that will hopefully lower your idle temps.

If you really want to see a performance upgade in gaming then getting a new graphics card would probably be your best option, though a complete system upgrade in the future will be needed. I would suggest looking at one of the ATi 9600 cards.