Finaly Upgraded

Hi guys,

I posted a couple of weeks ago looking for some help, which I recieved a lot of.

My previous system was a p4HT at 3gig, an Nvidia 6600 and assorted others.

I've finaly settled on a 2140 and a 4COREDUAL-VSTA.

I've chosen the board because its cheap and uses my current GC and memory, and lets me upgrade further in the future.
So I can get a PCI-E graphics card at some point, along with a better CPU.

So, how much of a performance improvement can I expect, and have I made an at least half smart choice?

hmmm ... when i was running e2160 i couldn't really tell the diff between my p4 3.2prescott with stock speeds on both ... you really start noticing the diff past 2.5ghz on e21x0 in comparison to the p4's ... on stock cooler and stock voltage you should be able to get it to 2.5ghz without too much probs ...

what chipset is that board btw? ... i recently did a budget build for a friend with an old 945chipset mb and e2160 and it was oced at 2.6ghz with stock cooler and stock volts and he was really happy with the speed and he was upgrading form p4 2.8 so for budget build you made a decent choice if you plan on running it past 2.5ghz

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4COREDUAL-VSTA

Thats the page for the board, not sure what chipset it is, very old one, its just a temporary stop gap really, with it I can buy DDR2 at some point in the future, and a PCI-E card, a better CPU and then finaly a new board.

From what I've read the board OC's to about 300FSB, so conservativly Im hoping for at least 2gig from the thing, 2.4 shouldnt be unrealistic.

Its replacing a Northwood at 3ghz, so should run it into the ground at stock speeds.

VIA chipset. It's a hybrid board, and I wouldn't recommend it. It may serve its purpose, though. Don't expect much OCing from it, though.

Set it up last night, I dont think its going to OC at all, well, got it to 210 FSB, hoping (kind of) thats its just my RAM.
Not had a proper play yet though, busy trying to get it to recognise my drives ect.

There was something strange though, CPU Z calls it a conroe core, rather than an Allendale or a Pentium D.
Is it just a program error, or is it actualy a conroe?

Still, can buy DDR2 Ram at some point, then a PCI-E card and get a new board.

Oh well.

I had an ASCrap board once, it didnt overclock any better than an antique Tyrolean wall clock before i enabled spread spectrum, did you try that already?

Dont think so, at work right now, will try in about two hours, first real chance to have a play with it tonight

Currently stable at 1.92, however I lost the contents of my raid drive, noooooo

Update

Since I got so much help with this I thought it was only decent of me to pop back and let you know how its going.

The 2140 worked well, let me play 4 player 10km maps on sup com no problem.
I wanted more, so upgraded to a Q6600 shortly afterwards.

This will more than likely be my CPU for 3 years, so figured a quad but be beating a dual at that point by a serious margin.

My Ram has been replaced with 2x2gb DDR2 sticks, not had chance to test them much yet.

My 6600 finaly blew its top recently and the replacement has arrived today, an 8600GT.

All in all, this route has allowed me a structured upgrade spread over 6 months, and when I add a good motherboard, will have cost me about £70 in discarded componants, the 2140 and the VSTA.

All in all, not a bad route, its better to buy all at once, but this has worked.