Which CPU to squeeze the last bit of juice out of old Socket 462?

[mikeford]

I am not ready to leap into the 939 PCIe world just yet, and we have several Socket 462 based motherboard PCs that need to get the last bit of joice squeezed out of them. Currently one has a Sempron 2600+ and the other one, GASP a 1800+. Motherboards are ECS nforce 2 N2U400 and K7s5a (I think).

ECS shows these as fastest cpu (respectively)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (.13u) (512K,400,Socket 462) YES

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (.13u) (256K,266,Socket 462) YES

Does that sound correct?

Are those going to be meaningfull step ups, Sempron 2600+ to Athlon xp 3200+ and I think athlon 1800+ to a xp 2600+?

3200+ in a casual search looks too pricey for my old box, cheaper to buy a new faster combo like a 3800+ Frys special, any suggestions?

 

[dexvx]

Probably try:

3000+ 512KB or 256KB
2800+ 256KB

The "last" of the upgrade aka 3200+ 512KB is always the most priciest.

 

[betasub]

Any Barton core should be suitable for the newer board (able to handle a 400FSB), and if the 3200+ is too pricey then the lower rated Bartons (2500+ upwards) give decent performance and can easily overclock to 2200MHz. The older board (limited to a 266FSB) benefits most from a high multiplier i.e. older Tbred 2400-2600+ chips or XP-Mobile CPUs.

If you are open to overclocking, then the XP-M (mobile) chips are the way to go. Those rated 2400+ and above are Barton cores (512kB cache), stock low voltage/heat, and typically do 2300MHz with little extra voltage. If your motherboard(s) have voltage/FSB/memory options for overclocking, this will give you the best performance results. N.B. They have high default multipliers because they need to be capable of running on mobile chipset limited to 266FSB (i.e. should be suitable even for older Skt 462 motherboards).

 

[cmrmrc]

yes a 2600+ is worth the upgrade to 3200+ if you have the cash and if you have ddr400 memory

 

[mikeford]

Geeks.com has the 3200+ for $115 vs AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ & ECS KN1 Lite Motherboard $119.98 at Frys. Doesn't look like the N2U400 is going to get an upgrade. Ebay has a few 3000+ between $50 and $75, and WOW a LOT of scammers, but this system doesn't have that kind of a future.

The K7s5a is a maybe, depending on what I find, but my target budget is pretty low, so this system may just get retired. Its currently my unused HTPC with a old Radeon AIW, that it just didn't seem to have the power to make work smoothly.

I just bought a used 9800 pro AIW, should be my last AGP video card, and I am thinking instead of putting it in the K7 and hunting for a better cpu, maybe the K7 gets retired and I put the 9800 pro in my N2u400 and keep its 2600+ and just make that the HTPC. That is sounding better then sinking money in old cpus.

Thanks for help everybody, just took me a bit to see the light.