is a cpu upgrade worth it?

[kemplen]

... I am just going to 1gb of ram and I am contemplating a cpu upgrade, to a amd xp2800 or 3000 barton to go in my socket A mother-board .....from the xp2000 that I currently have (see spec below).... will it be worth it ? will I notice a differance ? .... I have looked into building a new PC with an amd 64 and PCI graphics but currently its beyond the funds I can spare .....my gaming is currently good but I still get the odd stutter at high load times .... replies appreciated.

[congo]

The CPU upgrade is certainly worth it.

You will need to purchase PC2700 RAM (DDR 333mhz) however to get the most out of a new cpu which also runs at 333mhz.

Actually, you should buy PC3200 RAM (DDR 400mhz) as it is the same price and will eventually be ok in a 64 bit PC upgrade. Just make sure you run it at 333mhz so it's in "sync" with the CPU you buy.

The RAM's speed of 333mhz is fairly important in your machine's CPU upgrade, I can't stress this enough. If you already have PC2100 (DDR 266) then you'll need to use new sticks of faster ram.

A Sempron CPU is fine, say a 2800+ or a 3000+, but if you buy PC3200 RAM for your PC, with a view to overclocking, you may be better off with say a 2600+, as your chances of overclocking the FSB to 400mhz will be better, but you must research that yourself if interested.

The difference between the AMD XP and Sempron CPU's is that the L2 cache is halved on the Sempron, other than that they are identical, and performance is very close between the two types. This info only applies to Socket A CPU's based on the thoroughbred core as far as I know.

A CPU/RAM upgrade enables the 333mhz Front Side Bus speed on your mainboard, and that is another area where you will really get a performance boost.
Overclocking the FSB, (if possible), will enchance it even further, giving you a pretty fast gaming rig in the end.

Your system is begging for the upgrade, don't even hesitate.

[kemplen]

... thanks, that confirms my line of thought exactly!

[congo]

Just so long as you are confident in your BIOS setup and capable of BIOS flashing your mainboard it should go smoothly.

I would imagine a BIOS flash will be needed to enable recognition of the Sempron family and later XP cpu's, as your mainboard is a bit long in the tooth.

[kemplen]

.... my mother board came with a flash utility, but reading the book this evening it says it will accept a fsb333 so long as the memory is 333 also .... the bit I don't understand is the 'internal frequency' setting jumper switch as it gives settings of 100,133 & 166? .....
.... see new post for other problems! ( and I thought I could improve things!)

[congo]

Your PC may not recognise the new CPU without the bios update because the bios file was written well before the new cpu's were in production. You could try it though. It certainly won't give the new CPU a correct ID at bootup, unless of course the bios is already updated.

166.5mhz x 2 = 333mhz  

x 2 because it's double data rate technology (DDR)

So your current jumper setting should be 133  ( x 2 = 266mhz )

The new CPU needs the 166 setting.

Is there another jumper setting that allows FSB adjustable from BIOS? If so, use that perhaps and find more options within BIOS.

[kemplen]

... yeah , that is making sense now .... I will check out the bios .... thanks for the help.  ;)