Thinking about an upgrade

[stan]

Hi Im looking for an experienced opinion a upgrade.
Im currently running .

epox 8kha+ mainboard
amd xp 1600 1.4 gig  266 fsb
768 mb pc 2100
gforce 4 4600 128 mb asylum

I found a processer on newegg.com amd 2600 2.08
gig for $ 88.00

an asus mainboard  A7V8X-X Retail for $54.00 it runs at 333 fsb. For now I would use my current memory.For
a total of $142.99 Would I notice a worthwhile perform-
ance increase or would I be wasting my money.I know
I could do a bios upgrade and install a faster processer
but my current mainboard is only 266 mhz fsb. Thanks
for your opinions

[congo]

I replaced an XP1600+ with a XP2400+ and the difference was amazing.

But your planned upgrade is even better!

However, you could do better with the mainboard, that asus uses a Via Kt400 chipset.

The chipset you want for an AMD 2600+ CPU is the nVidia nForce2 chipset. There are lots of good ones.

[stan]

Congo,
Thanks for your reply . I found a epox EP-8RD3+
it is a nforce board.
If I put the xp 2600 and run my current ram with is
kingston pc 2100. Will I notice a significant increase?
Will the 768 mb of pc 2100 hold back the bus speed
increase of the mainboard and processer. Or will I have to buy pc 2700 or 3200 ?

[congo]

The board looks good.

Quite frankly I'm not sure if you can run the PC2100 in it or not and maintain the 333mhz FSB the RAM will auto config by SPD if your modules support SPD, but I'm still not sure it will work, hang on...... I'll reboot mine and check to see if I can downgrade thru bios.....

unfortunately my new bios version wont let me do it......

Maybe they tied it to the SPD modules...

Anyway, the go with nForce2 chipsets is to run the RAM in dual channel mode with 2 identical sticks. ( buy them together).

I used 2 Kingston value ram sticks and set the memory timings  to turbo which runs the modules overclocked to CL2 from CL2.5 and they work fine.

PC2700 (DDR 333) will give you better results than the faster PC3200 with that CPU (XP2600+).

If you plan to go to a 400mhz CPU, definitely get the PC3200 Ram though.

Also, your upgrade options, (depending on your wallet) extend to a P4 system at this stage.

[swanny338]

P4? ! ? ! ? ! ? ! ? ! ? dont recommend P4s

[stan]

Well I  decided on a  different route for the upgrade. I
looked into how to flash my bios for my mainboard.
Downloaded the bios file from epox . researched some
more . drank about 3 michelobs to work up the courage
and flashed the bios praying the whole time. Thankfully
it worked . So I ordered a xp 2400 2.0 gig. Installed it
and everything works. FS 2004 is much improved. I
think the xp2400 is pushing the ti 4600 to greater heights. Hope my aging system will last awhile. Next
upgrade probably after the 64 bit operating systems
come out.
Can anyone give me a simple suggestion on how to overclock my cpu to 2.2 gig I noticed alot are doing
that with the 2400.

thanks for your comments.

[nickle]

Suggestion:
Look for MOBO's with multiple FSB speeds.

[congo]

Hi again Stan,

Yes, there is a simple overclock solution for AMD CPU's.

It is to increase the CPU multiplier through your mainboard's BIOS, or physical jumper settings, depending on your mainboard.

It's pretty easy to damage your  shiny new CPU, so I don't advise you to try it, but, hey, it's your life!

The increases need to be made in small increments, while monitoring the CPU temperature with a good program. If you go to high, your system may crash, bios may reset to defaults, or it may not boot up and you'll need to jump your bios back to defaults to get it up and running again.

There are probably better ways to overclock, and for these, the solution is not simple, but requires specialist knowledge, and some extra cooling hardware.

My advice for overclocking is to research it and research it more, understand it fully before making the attempt.

I'm not going to research your particular mainboard to find it's overclock potential, you need to understand that yourself.

It's worth the excercise of researching overclocking, just so you gain a better understanding of the hardware you own.

Weigh up the cost / risk factors against any percieved benefit. It's usually not worth it.

I don't know what your window's version is, but Win XP handles gaming better and it will give you the same results as a small overclock if you have an older op sys.