AthlonXP 3200+ upgrade options?

jlyttle · Oct 4, 2005

I currently have an AthlonXP3200+ on an Abit NF7-S2 board, pretty happy with the performance. However, I am getting the itch to upgrade again. Are there any worthwhile CPU's in socket-A that would be a significant upgrade, or am I already there? (I am guessing yes)

If so, I would be considering an upgrade to the socket 754 platform. What in this arena is the best CPU balancing price, performance and overclockability? The goal is to get a good bump in performance from the XP3200+ (although that is still pretty good), without spending an absolute fortune. Thanks in advance!

-Justin

BRIMCV · Oct 4, 2005

Not really Socket A is pretty much dead, only thing which is worthwhile was the Athlon XP-M which is a very gd overclocker, but if u feel the need would have to be a Socket 939 as an Upgrade...

Sleepy_Steve · Oct 4, 2005

welcome to the forums!!!!!

now im sad to say that the 754 family is likley at the end of its ropes.... you may consider saving up for a 939 board and 939 proc... but then ur almost at a fresh build =/

i say this because of the vast preformance diference between my friend's A64 754 and my other friend's A64 939...

the 754 can be on par with the prescott system in my sig.

but as soon as you get the 939 with the dual chanel memory...

my memory bandwidth advantage vanishes and im blown right out of the watter by a guy with a video card about 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of mine - my strugle was futile

rseven · Oct 4, 2005

to the Forum!
You have posted your specs which would be helpful. Are you currently overclocking the XP3200? An XP-M will overclock better than an XP3200 however, IMO it's pretty late in the game to upgrade your cpu on a socket A system. I wouldn't update to a 754 either because that platform does not have much life left either. I would either go to a 939 or look at waiting for an M2 next year. If you are planning to keep your current AGP card then you should look at a ULI 1695 based chipset. These can use AGP or PCI-E. The only one out right now is the ASRock. Many forum members have had good success with this reasonably priced board. There will also be more brands out in the near future.
CPU wise you could get either a 300, a 3200 or one of the new Opteron CPU's, which are all the buzz here at the Forum.
Good luck.

lukumce · Oct 4, 2005

Socked A is vary vary close to his end. You should save some money and take s939 CPU.

jlyttle · Oct 4, 2005

Good info, thanks. The current CPU is overclocked to around 2.3GHz, not too much. I am not sure if it is real or fake, don't really care at this point. My board does support dual-channel memory, so I could stick with it and be fine, but like I said, the upgrade bug is biting.

I am running one stick of 512MB DDR400, will be picking up a second one. My video card is an NVidia GF 440MX 64MB card. The video card is one that I have held onto for far too long, a new card is on my list too, but I will wait until I get a new board so that I can get a PCI-E video card. I am considering a 6600GT, but would also compromise on price. What would be my best choice in the $100 range?

I will be looking for 939 due to your recommendations. I was considering a faster Sempron64, but those are 754 only, correct? What would be my best choice in a new proccesor that will perform at a level far above my current one, be overclockable and not cost more than $200?

austinbmxnig · Oct 4, 2005

well, if the x1300 is at good as ati says its gonna be, it should be a better pick over the 6600

Xtreme Barton · Oct 4, 2005

price ranges at newegg.com

cpu -cheapest 939 146.00 (venice 3000)

mobo - dfi ultra d 118.00 excellent overclocking

do you game ?? what games do you play ??

your looking at a nvidia 6600le or ati x700 in 100.00 range..

The Coolest · Oct 4, 2005

Or wait a month or two and u get the x1300 for even less and it'll perform at about 6600-6600GT level

jlyttle · Oct 4, 2005

OK, talked me into a 939 CPU...but there are so many choices! What the heck are the differences between the 64, the FX, the X2 and the Opteron? What is the best bang for the buck? What will be a good OC candidate? IMHO AMD has too many choices right now.

Xtreme Barton · Oct 4, 2005

clock rates, cache, number of cores, core

how much money you got to spend for cpu ?

i would suggest just getting a 3000+ or 3500+ venice core

c627627 · Oct 4, 2005

If you are at 2.3 GHz, it may not be a good idea to upgrade Socket A.

To keep AGP / spend very little indeed, go for the E6 revision Socket 754 Sempron.

Otherwise wait for the new Socket 939 Opteron that should drop in price toward the end of the year, it's coming out now, bot low supply inflated the initial price.

Or else go with Socket 939 E6 Venice.

jlyttle · Oct 5, 2005

Ok, I changed my mind. I am not in a hurry, so I am going to do my research and educate myself before I jump forward. I still want/am going to upgrade, but I thought about it and I still have a strong processor with a great motherboard. I will be better off I think starting to push this OC and learn about it and memory timings and voltages before I move on. I will then be prepared for my next step forward, have some fun and learn and if I kill it.....

I will plan on an upgrade to 939 around the end of the year I think, then video card.

cuda70383 · Oct 5, 2005

here's teaser:

$68 - mobo- asrock 939 sata2 (both a PCI-E & AGP) ewiz
$132 - cpu - amd venice 3200 e6 (oem) ewiz
~$200 - vid card - sapphire x800gto (bios upgrades to a x850)

TheGreySpectre · Oct 5, 2005

X2 processors have 2 cores, for better multitasking
FX Processors have unlocked multipliers
Opterons are server processors that have more cache and are tested more than there counterparts

As of right now I would wait for the socket 939 opterons to come out, results with these are very promising+ there cheap to AMD has teh MSRP of the Opteron 144 (essentailly a 1.8Ghz Sandiago core) listed at $125

These should be redily available by the endo fo the month.

rseven · Oct 5, 2005

That, ASRock that Cuda70383 linked is really quite a deal for a decent board.

jlyttle · Oct 5, 2005

Opteron looks interresting, especially for the price...I am not interrested in spending $400-$1000 for my next CPU, I like good value. The plain Athlon64's (except for the fastest most expensive ones) don't seem like they would give me a dramatic bump in performance over what I have. The more I look at things, actually, the more impressed I am with the XP 3200+, all things considered. Not the newest or fastest, but considering it's age it is impressive that it can still hold it's own with some of the processors being sold today.

I may just grab another stick of RAM to go dual-channel and a mid-level video card and sit tight for a while.

y2jed_2000 · Oct 6, 2005

if u r planing to stay with ur processor for a while, consider nvidia 6600gt or 6800gt.

rseven · Oct 6, 2005

jlyttle said:
Opteron looks interresting, especially for the price...I am not interrested in spending $400-$1000 for my next CPU, I like good value. The plain Athlon64's (except for the fastest most expensive ones) don't seem like they would give me a dramatic bump in performance over what I have. The more I look at things, actually, the more impressed I am with the XP 3200+, all things considered. Not the newest or fastest, but considering it's age it is impressive that it can still hold it's own with some of the processors being sold today.

I may just grab another stick of RAM to go dual-channel and a mid-level video card and sit tight for a while.

I had some of the same doubts when I upgraded from my xp2500, which was OC'd to the speed of a 3200, that buying a cpu with a P Rating of 3000 would not be much, if any, upgrade. I turned out to be very wrong. First the P Rating of the xp3200 is inflated, next the 3000 has lots of headroom to OC. As a result if my cpu had a P Rating for it's current clock it would be 4000. When I use photoshop or Adobe Audition or render a a video the difference is huge.

cuda70383 · Oct 7, 2005

placed my order today for these:

asrock 939 sata2
opteron 144

will let you know next week how it goes w/the oc....my only concern is running out of headroom w/my 3200 ram.........

AthlonXP 3200+ upgrade options?

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