A7N8X Deluxe Mboard - Need to upgrade processor . . Suggestions

[ricwhite]

I have a Asus A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard and would like to upgrade from my AMD 2100+ processor to boost performance slightly. Just wondered what the highest processor available for that motherboard would be. Also, considering price, which processor upgrade would you recommend.

There is a AMD Athlon 2900+ available at microcenter for $79. Do you feel that is a good cheap upgrade that would be worth it?

I am not due for a major computer overhaul for another 2 years, so I'm just trying to do SLIGHT upgrades to my current system. I have purchased more memory and am now trying to boost processing performance. Since I am a rather novice computer person, I would appreciate any easy processor performance boosting suggestions for my current motherboard. I am not interested in replacing the motherboard and processor (and, thus, the operating system) and all of that right now. I just want to easily pop in a upgraded processor.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[openwheelformula1]

You can get new Semprons for that socket A motherboard. Or you can try to find used Athlon XPs or used Athlon XP-Mobiles. The fastest Athlon XP you can get is 3200+, the best overclocker is Athlon XP-M 2600+.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: openwheelformula1
You can get new Semprons for that socket A motherboard. Or you can try to find used Athlon XPs or used Athlon XP-Mobiles. The fastest Athlon XP you can get is 3200+, the best overclocker is Athlon XP-M 2600+.

Let's add this for our original messager: the XP-M's, OC'd, still tend to run cooler than the XP 3000/ 3200. I have an XP-M 2400 that has run at the same speed as a 3200. And the XP-M's cost less by a bunch.

Incidentally, that "XP 2900" must be a misprint. (Of course, I'd also believed that XP 2700's were figments of folks' imaginations, but so many kept seeing the same mirage, so in that case I was wrong.)

Between the XP 2100 and the Bartons, you do get a broader memory bandwidth, and a larger on-die cache, so the speed increase will be readily detectable. But it's still not going to be close to being a major speed increase. For that, you have to move out of the XP family.

 

[ricwhite]

Originally posted by: Kiwi

Incidentally, that "XP 2900" must be a misprint. Of course, I also believed that XP 2700's were figments of folks' imaginations, but so many kept seeing the same mirage.

Trying to read between the lines here. What did you mean by that?

 

[Wentelteefje]

Just being sarcastically I guess... It is prolly a misprint indeed... An AMD Athlon XP-M is your best bet indeed... They overclock like hell, and don't get as hot... Feature-wise they're completely the same as their desktop siblings...

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Kiwi

Originally posted by: openwheelformula1
You can get new Semprons for that socket A motherboard. Or you can try to find used Athlon XPs or used Athlon XP-Mobiles. The fastest Athlon XP you can get is 3200+, the best overclocker is Athlon XP-M 2600+.

Let's add this for our original messager: the XP-M's, OC'd, still tend to run cooler than the XP 3000/ 3200. I have an XP-M 2400 that has run at the same speed as a 3200. And the XP-M's cost less by a bunch.

Incidentally, that "XP 2900" must be a misprint. Of course, I also believed that XP 2700's were figments of folks' imaginations, but so many kept seeing the same mirage.

Between the XP 2100 and the Bartons, you do get a broader memory bandwidth, and a larger on-die cache, so the speed increase will be readily detectable. But it's still not going to be close to being a major speed increase. For that, you have to move out of the XP family.

The XP 2900+ is not a misprint ... I thought it was too, but I've seen them for sale in several places since that first one, also I had a 2700+ myself so they were real too!

 

[Wentelteefje]

We all know the XP 2700+ existed... BTW the so-called 2900+ has a clockspeed of 2.08GHz and 512kb of L2 cache... A Barton 2800+ of course!

EDIT: Some people claim it having a 400MHz FSB and a Multiplier of 10, so 2.0GHz... This doesn't really make sense (the abovementioned thing neither), because the FSB may be higher, but the speed is lower than a regular 2800+...

So maybe it gets the higher rating because of the faster FSB, but I would be very surprised if it'd outperform a 2800+... By all means an OEM chip of course...