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Havn't updgraded in at least two years, I'm not on the cutting edege HELP!

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rippedsocks

Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2001
Wasssup, long time since i've been on the OC boards

My days of overclocking, as well as having the best hardware, are long over *never say never*. However I think my processor needs an upgrade. My specs are the same as they were 4 years ago, and should be in my signature. If not :

Athlon XP (when they first came out) 2400+
Abit NF-7
1gb Corsair
Radeon 9700 pro

My question is influenced by windows vista performance of course. Ok so on with the question. Is there a socket A CPU compatible with the NF7 that would be worth the upgrade perfomance wise over my current 2400+ ? I was looking at a 3300+ sempron or a 3200+ barton core athlon XP, would the performance boost warrant a 100-150 dollar upgrade?

Thanks again in advance
 
I would say no , you have 2 options Overclock the pc you have ( my 2400+ did 2.6 ghz ) or time for a compleet upgrade.

But if the only reason you are going to upgrade is for Vista i would forget it , as it is slower than Xp and hte only think it has that Xp doesnt is dx10 ( and you will need a new 400$ gfx card for dx10)
 
I'm with Console here. There is no point into putting more money into an obsolete Socket A setup. Either overclock what you have and live with it, or do a complete upgrade.

If you could still find them I would have suggested getting a 939 Dual-VSTA and an Athlon 64 3200+ which would run you about $120 total and be a pretty sizeable upgrade from your current system without requiring replacement of your other equipment.

Another option is getting a Biostar TForce 6100/939 and a 3200+ (again around $120) and using the integrated graphics until you can afford to get a decent PCI Express video card if not possible now.

Another option is to simply overhaul the whole system and move to a DDR2 platform such as AM2 or LGA775. If you don't feel like you want a dual-core system then you could get an A64 3200+, Biostar TForce 6100/AM2, 1gb of DDR2 for around $230. If you feel like you want a dual core you can get a Core 2 Duo system for about $170 more or get an X2 3800+ for $80 more.

I wouldn't drop $100+ into your Socket A system, the performance benefits will be minimal. I would only upgrade your current CPU if you can find a nice clocking used mobile Barton or something form like $30 that can do over 2.5ghz.
 
I personally would do a mobo/cpu upgrade combo. As above, A64 3200+'s are pretty cheaply acquired these days, and mobos are plentiful and cheap. You'd notice a far bigger difference in performance with an AM2, or even a S939 A64 upgrade, rather than trying to beat the dead horse with a stick and keep your current socket A setup. No offense intended of course; I still have a couple of socketA rigs somewhere in the closet >.>

Careface*
 
I was in the same position a few weeks ago. I decided on an ASRock Dual SATA2 board as it has AGP, so I can keep my current card, and PCIe so I can upgrade eventually. Also, buying a fast SATA drive is a nice boost in performance, I'm using my old SP but I plan on getting a Seagate Perp soon ;)

I used the same RAM as my Socket A rig, and bought a 3700+ as its only a few quid more than a 3200+ and has twice the cache; 512k vs. 1MB.

This set me back £115, £55 for the mobo, £48 for the CPU (OEM) and £12 for a good heatsink. My PC has a new lease of life, it runs nice and I hope should last me (with a new graphics card soon) for another year or so :)

(My previous system was a 2500+ Barton @ 2045Mhz, an MSI mobo, and all the stuff currently in my sig).
 
funnyperson1 said:
Another option is getting a Biostar TForce 6100/939 and a 3200+ (again around $120) and using the integrated graphics until you can afford to get a decent PCI Express video card if not possible now.

That sounds good, could you find me the link to where i can get those things at that price? I don't really want to upgrade my ram or GFX so that makes the most sense.
 
would it really be worth it to updgrade the motherboard and processor, and still use my old memory?

Also I think the onboard Geforce 6100 is far better then my old radeon 9700 pro, can anyone comfirm that?
 
If it were me I would upgrade the ram as well as the Mobo and Processor. Just my 2 cents. :beer:

I just had a friend that had an older Athlon computer, He just wanted to upgrade a little bit and keep his old DDR ram, I let him play on my machine for a little while and gave him my opinion....he went out and upraded most all the componets.

Good Luck!
 
rippedsocks said:
would it really be worth it to updgrade the motherboard and processor, and still use my old memory?

Also I think the onboard Geforce 6100 is far better then my old radeon 9700 pro, can anyone comfirm that?

Honestly...no, if you had 1gb of DDR then it might be worthwhile staying with it and getting the 939 combo.

I would get the Biostar TForce AM2 version, a socket AM2 3200+, and 1gb of DDR2. This would set you back around $220.

Also the Geforce 6100 is DEFINITELY not faster than your 9700Pro. I'll see if I can find some benchmarks (I have seen them at some point), but the Geforce 6100 is slower than a Radeon 8500 last I remember.

edit:
I can't find any direct comparisons between a 6100 and something resembling a 9700Pro, but here are some benches:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/chipsets/display/gf6150-gf6100_13.html

Look at the 3DMark scores, with that testbed at stock speeds, a 9700Pro would be scoring between 15-20 thousand in 3dMark 01.
 
Last edited:
funnyperson1 said:
Look at the 3DMark scores, with that testbed at stock speeds, a 9700Pro would be scoring between 15-20 thousand in 3dMark 01.
yep with my 9700pro and my old 2.4c @ 3.6ghz, my highest score was just over 21k. there is no way onboard can touch it.
 
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