Upgrade from tbird to athlon XP...Reinstall XP?

[sonar]

I would like to know if I am just upgrading the CPU, from a standard tbird to an AthlonXP, do I need to reinstall the OS(XP pro), also can Sisoft tell me if it is seeing the new SSE code?

 

[AndyHui]

No need to reinstall. SSE code use is supposed to be independent of the OS.

 

[microAmp]

<< No need to reinstall. SSE code use is supposed to be independent of the OS. >>

 

[John]

FWIW, several AMD reps/techs that I spoke with last year @ an AMD conference said you need to do a clean install of the OS in order to gain SSE optimizations.

 

[sandorski]

That may have been true with some OSes, but I dunno. I re-installed Win98SE when I first got my Athlon XP, whether I had to or not is another question.

 

[Modus]

Extremely unlikely that you have to reinstall. Even if the OS is too poorly written to re-detect the CPU on each boot (a trivial thing), then at least any competent SSE-optimized program would look for an SSE-capable CPU every time it ran.

The bigger problem with AMD's SSE support is that some programers are too stupid to actually test for the presence of the SSE instructions but instead test for a P3 or P4 CPU.

Modus

 

[Utterman]

<< FWIW, several AMD reps/techs that I spoke with last year @ an AMD conference said you need to do a clean install of the OS in order to gain SSE optimizations. >>




Yeah, that's what an amd rep told me at the tech tour.

 

[Dan]

This is an interesting thread since I'm upgrading from a 1.4GHz T-bird to an XP 1900+ later today. This issue (a clean install of my OS) never even occurred to me. I'll be at a "Tech Tour" seminar tomorrow afternoon and will run the question by AMD's reps. Pending that, I just sent an e-mail to AMD's tech support.

 

[Siddhartha]

I did the same upgrade and the system ran faster after I formated the hd and did a reinstall of the OS.

 

[gunf1ghter]

From my own personal experience with the marketing idiots that work for my company, the marketing reps that go around spouting this kind of crap don't know what the hell they are talking about.

 

[gunf1ghter]

<< I did the same upgrade and the system ran faster after I formated the hd and did a reinstall of the OS. >>



Which operating system did you install/re-install?

It might have been "faster" after the re-install for all the normal reasons (driver cleanup, etc)... it very likely has nothing to do with loading any new optimizations.

 

[sonar]

I appreciate all the responses and this forum. It seems that so far there is no clear cut answer, perhaps the best solution in a situation like this is bite the bullet and do a reinstall, the only big deal about MS OS?s is it takes a long time to tweak em? just right and eliminate all the crap that you don?t want or need. If anybody has a clear answer that would be great. Thanks

 

[Goldfish]

<< the only big deal about MS OS?s is it takes a long time to tweak em? just right and eliminate all the crap that you don?t want or need >>

This time, as soon as you get your computer formatted and tweaked how you like it (minus all your software programs, etc), grab yourself a copy of Norton Ghost and ghost the drive to a few CD-R discs so it will be easier next time.

 

[sonar]

Uhh, I have a ghost image of my system Goldfish, but since the ghost image is also not going to take advantage of the SSE instruction set that makes no difference. but thanks for the advice.

 

[Dan]

Here's the "official" word from AMD:



<< Hello Dan,

Thank you for contacting AMD's Technical Service Center. No it should not require an O/S install, but depending on the motherboard it may require a new chipset driver. Contact your motherboard manufacturer for upgradeability of there motherboard.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Dean
Customer Support Analyst
AMD TSC
>>



In addition, I just did the upgrade on my personal system and I can't see any need to re-install WinXP Pro.

 

[jm0ris0n]

I've been under the impression when the os 2000/XP compiles itself it detects which instructions the processor is capable of. I recommend the re-install.

 

[Whitedog]

<<From my own personal experience with the marketing idiots that work for my company, the marketing reps that go around spouting this kind of crap don't know what the hell they are talking about.
.>>

How funny... that reminds me of a time, way back when... These Dell salesmen were at our company trying to convince us we needed to buy their computers instead of the Compacschit be had been buying... oh well, anyway...
This was right around when the Piii's with On Die cache came out. The Socket370 Piii's were brand new, but the Slot1 Piii's with the On-Die cache were a bit more popular simply because there were fewer Socket370 mobo's.

One of those dorky salesmen made a comment about how these new Dells still had the Slot1 CPU's instead of the "old style" socket370 and he was telling us how the "Slot1" made the PC run faster and was a more advanced design. hehehe
I had to interupt him by asking...
"Can you run that by me again? The Slot1 interface makes the CPU faster?" I said.
"Uhmm, er, Yes! It's a more advanced Processor interface and is faster than the socketed CPU."
"Oh." I said, "I thought the SLOT1 Cartidge was necessary because the "older" P2's had to have External L2 and they couldn't get it to work well in a socketed package like the PPro. So Intel came up with this temporary design until they could get the L2 on the CPU itself?"
After 15-20 seconds of an unforgettable Uhhhhhhhh look, he responds again.
"Yes." he said. "The SLOT1 is more advanced"
"Oh, OK" I said. "When will the socket 370 models be available? We will want those... because they are even More advanced"
By this time, I could see him thinking he wished I would go burn with Satan or something.. hehehe


I Love messing with Salesmen. hehehehehe

 

[Insidious]

So, wouldn't the *prudent* thing to do be try it without the re-install? What have you lost except 5 minutes?

If it isn't to your liking, then do the re-install thingy

 

[Dan]

Check it out. I just got another e-mail from a different tech guy at AMD:



<< Hello Dan,

Yes, you'll need to run a clean installation of Windows in order to gain SSE optimizations.

Regards,

Phil
Customer Support Analyst
AMD TSC
>>



I guess I'll do a fresh install after all. (I know one thing for sure: this should spark some interesting discussion when I bring it up at AMD's Tech Tour tomorrow.)

 

[BFG10K]

If you've only swapped the processor you shouldn't need to do anything unless you've also changed your motherboard. The OS should (and will) start using SIMD it if it supports it and programs will use it independent of the OS. I suspect that AMD is only covering their bases and just trying to be safe, especially since most users often also swap motherboards when they change CPUs.

SSE code use is supposed to be independent of the OS.

But obviously it isn't in the case if the OS actually supports SSE. Of course as I said before, the OS will automatically start using it if it's available.

 

[Innoka]

I've got a great idea. Rather than do a search, or talk from any personal knowledge, I'll just spout off or shoot in the dark. Even better, I'll make a statement like fact without trying to enlighten you with a link, because I've got nothing better to do than authoritatively talk shi-it. Every once in a while, I'll start an argument and tediously fill 10 forum pages trying to win it when the rest of the human race just wishes I would drown because I'm a tedious ass and I need my existence recognized.

Just kidding, I will have mercy on you : TCW: SSE/2 is not plug'n'play
"the OS needs to be installed from scratch (or at least re-installed) in order for certain libraries and registry entries to be put into the OS that will utilize these features"
Time to find this information... <2 minutes.

 

[MisterBombastic]

<< Here's the "official" word from AMD:



<< Hello Dan,

Thank you for contacting AMD's Technical Service Center. No it should not require an O/S install, but depending on the motherboard it may require a new chipset driver. Contact your motherboard manufacturer for upgradeability of there motherboard.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Dean
Customer Support Analyst
AMD TSC
>>



In addition, I just did the upgrade on my personal system and I can't see any need to re-install WinXP Pro. >>



It's pretty sad that a company representative like AMD's Technical Center don't know the difference between 'there' 'their' and 'they're'.

 

[sonar]

Thanks Innoka, I believe that your link is the definitive answer.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Well, I thought windows installed everything and when it found a CPu that could use the instructions on startup it enabled them. Some of my programs like powerDVd say

3d NOW!: Enabled
SSE: Enabled
SSE2: Not Detected

so wouldn't that mean that it has the instructions built in and just looks for what can be used?

 

[slackware1995]

<< Well, I thought windows installed everything and when it found a CPu that could use the instructions on startup it enabled them. Some of my programs like powerDVd say

3d NOW!: Enabled
SSE: Enabled
SSE2: Not Detected

so wouldn't that mean that it has the instructions built in and just looks for what can be used? >>



I agree, when I upgraded my PII 350 to a Duron 1Ghz, i never reinstalled Windows 98se.

These programs all detect SSE and 3Dnow,etc. :
3DMark, WCPUID, SISOFT Sandra, and a few games.

Just my 2 cents worth.