Help with this cheap upgrade choice - P4, Athlon 64 or Athlon XP?

[RAndersen]

Right now I have a system with an Athlon XP 2100 processor, Asus A7N8X board, 1GB DDR400 memory, Geforce 7600 AGP video card.

I'm looking for a cheap upgrade to last another year or so until I build a new system (Less than $125). These are the options I'm looking at based on reusing all my components except for the processor and MB (which means I need a MB that supports DDR memory and AGP):

1. I could keep everything and buy a used Athlon XP 2900+ processor for $110 to replace my 2100.

2. I could buy a new AMD based motherboard and a Sempron 3400 processor for a total of $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104231
HTTP://WWW.NEWEGG.COM/PRODUCT/PRODUCT.ASP?ITEM=N82E16813138247

3. I could buy a P4 motherboard and new P4 3.06GHz processor for $119.
HTTP://WWW.NEWEGG.COM/PRODUCT/PRODUCT.ASP?ITEM=N82E16819116014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138275

The P4 board looks the best because it supports both AGP and PCI-E and also supports both DDR and DDR2 so it has a lot of upgrade potential although it will always be limited by the processor.

Right now I only use the computer for playing an older game (papyrus nascar racing 2003 which in which the frame rate is cpu limited right now) and the usual email/web surfing/etc.....

Any advice as to what the best upgrade might be would be appreciated. Also, I would appreciate advice on any other possible upgrade options.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Blain]

Just hit ebay for a refurbished Dell.

 

[RAndersen]

Originally posted by: Blain
Just hit ebay for a refurbished Dell.

Thanks, but I'm really just looking for the cheapest way to upgarde processor speed right now so that's why I'm looking at the above options.

-Rob

 

[dfuze]

Since you are looking for a cheap upgrade to last only a year or so, I would go with the AMD64. If you are only looking to hold on for a short time, then I wouldn't worry about a board supporting ddr2. By the time you want to do a major upgrade, they might be up to ddr3.

 

[Sensai]

if your asus board is based on the nF2 Ultra 400 chipset then i would get a used Mobile Athlon XP 2400/2500 and overclock it for under 50 shipped in place of the 2900. Those chips have the potential of reaching the XP speeds of a 3200-3500 rating or the newer athlon 64 3000. all you need is a decent cooler and silver thermal paste. the geforce 7600 is top 5 fastest cards avail for agp so you are stuck there.

it is not worthwhile just change the core system for just 1 year worth of use unless you go with the sempron 3400 AM2 platform.

-pentium 3 system would equal the both systems above though for more price.

EDIT--
"borrow" a system from Costco for the time being : )

 

[RAndersen]

Originally posted by: Sensai
if your asus board is based on the nF2 Ultra 400 chipset then i would get a used Mobile Athlon XP 2400/2500 and overclock it for under 50 shipped in place of the 2900. Those chips have the potential of reaching the XP speeds of a 3200-3500 rating or the newer athlon 64 3000. all you need is a decent cooler and silver thermal paste.

it is not worthwhile just change the core system for just 1 year worth of use unless you go with the sempron 3400 AM2 platform.

-pentium 3 system would equal the both systems above though for more price.

Thanks for the info.

Yes the board supports 400mhz FSB, so the Athlon Mobile is an option though I haven't seen these for $50?

Why would the AM2 Sempron be better that say a P4 upgrade or an Athlon 64 processor?

Thanks again for the advice,
Rob

 

[Sensai]

sempron though ample processing for now (also with headroom for some good overclocks, lower energy/heat than P4), can be very upgradeable 2 years later due because AM2 platform is here for awhile. think faster and quad core compatibility.

check this guy:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=45&threadid=1954632&enterthread=y
or someone with an UNLOCKED Barton XP 2500.

if not here, try elsewhere - ebay, hardforums..

 

[VTrider]

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ and Biostar socket 939 motherboard for about $125.00

You can use your old memory (and put that DDR400 to good use ) and that nice 7600 AGP card, sell your old xp2100+ and board and buy some new games. This won't break the bank and will keep you happy for a while.

 

[RAndersen]

Originally posted by: VTrider
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ and Biostar socket 939 motherboard for about $125.00

You can use your old memory (and put that DDR400 to good use ) and that nice 7600 AGP card, sell your old xp2100+ and board and buy some new games. This won't break the bank and will keep you happy for a while.

Thanks for the advice, but do you have a link to the motherboard? I have not seen a socket 939 board that also has an AGP slot?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[RAndersen]

Originally posted by: Sensai
sempron though ample processing for now (also with headroom for some good overclocks, lower energy/heat than P4), can be very upgradeable 2 years later due because AM2 platform is here for awhile. think faster and quad core compatibility.

Will a current AM2 board be able to support dual and quad core processors in the furure or will I end up needing a new board again? This actually sounds like a great idea, but I can't seem to find a AM2 board that uses DDR memory and has an AGP slot....

-Rob

 

[VTrider]

Sorry bout that, the Biostar board I recommended does not have AGP (integrated GeForce 6100 GPU).

Still not a bad route though if you want to entertain this idea.

1) Get by temporarily w/onboard graphics
2) Sell XP 2100+, Asus board, and 7600 then use money to buy PCI-express
video card.

Hmmm?

 

[ForumMaster]

i have an ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe with an AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+. it is oc'ed to 2200Mhz without much trouble. very good performance.

 

[RAndersen]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
i have an ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe with an AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+. it is oc'ed to 2200Mhz without much trouble. very good performance.

I'm thinking this is probably the route I'm going to take for now until I can do a major upgrade. How do you think the performance of an OC'd 2400/2500 modile will compare to a new Atlon XP 2600 processor?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[siyan]

Originally posted by: RAndersen

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
i have an ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe with an AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+. it is oc'ed to 2200Mhz without much trouble. very good performance.

I'm thinking this is probably the route I'm going to take for now until I can do a major upgrade. How do you think the performance of an OC'd 2400/2500 modile will compare to a new Atlon XP 2600 processor?

Thanks,
Rob

If I recall correctly the 2400/2500 mobiles should OC to at least 2.2Ghz / 400FSB, which is the stock level of a 3200+ Barton. There might be some cache size differences but I think at this level, the differences are pretty minute when your main concern is penny pinching.

Shame about the Biostar without-AGP thing

 

[Nick5324]

Normally I wouldn't recommend buying a socket 754 set up, but since you'll be doing a major upgrade in a year, it might fit the bill for you.

You could get an Athlon 64 3200+ and a 754 motherboard for about $100 shipped from Newegg. You could use your existing RAM, Video Card, and PSU (20 pin, as opposed to newer motherboards with 24 pin).

Link
They list a combo with a Biostar NF325-A7 or a ECS NFORCE3-A for $93. It's an OEM chip, so you'll need a HSF, $10, plus about $7 shipping for all three items, $110.

Sell your existing CPU/MB, and you'll be in for under $100 for the upgrade, not bad at all in my opinion.

 

[Sensai]

Originally posted by: siyan

Originally posted by: RAndersen

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
i have an ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe with an AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+. it is oc'ed to 2200Mhz without much trouble. very good performance.

I'm thinking this is probably the route I'm going to take for now until I can do a major upgrade. How do you think the performance of an OC'd 2400/2500 modile will compare to a new Atlon XP 2600 processor?

Thanks,
Rob

If I recall correctly the 2400/2500 mobiles should OC to at least 2.2Ghz / 400FSB, which is the stock level of a 3200+ Barton. There might be some cache size differences but I think at this level, the differences are pretty minute when your main concern is penny pinching.

Shame about the Biostar without-AGP thing

i have plenty of knowledge in this arena also... all Barton chips have 512k L2 cache so thats the same. Mobile bartons are on a lower 266 mhz FSB with higher multiplier, and regular desktop ones are 333 mhz.

I have an unlocked desktop barton which i pushed from 1.833 ghz to 2.45 ghz also on a7n8x-e del. just have decent memory (swap what you have now for some good ddr400 latency timings) cooling, play with the bios settings for memory, fsb, multiplier, and memory/chipset voltages and... tadaa~!

go do some searching.. you'll find databases where people have gotten 2.5 - 2.8 ghz (somewhere along the lines of an athlon 64 3500 -3700) with these el cheapo chips along with their combinations. its just now after you do that, its a dead end upgradewise.