dual core means getting new HDD?

[guynexdoor]

So I recently went from AMD 3000 to an X2 3800 both socket 939

I can't say if I notice the difference much, but I was told that getting dual core, also means upgrading my HDD? I have a seagate barracuda SATA drive. 160gb.

Can someone explain this?

 

[Cutthroat]

nope not at all, don't know where you heard that from.

 

[AmberClad]

Erm, no... And I have no idea why someone would tell you that. I have that same 160 GB Seagate SATA drive by the way.

 

[guynexdoor]

no, someone mentioned something about bottlenecks in the system. So I may have a fast CPU, but if the HDD takes a long time to search, write, etc.

Would I benefit if I just get faster RAM?

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: guynexdoor
Would I benefit if I just get faster RAM?

Possibly, but you didn't list how much of and what your using now (brand, speeds, timings,etc)

Why don't you give us the spec's of your complete system so we can answer your questions better

 

[Cutthroat]

HDD is always the biggest bottleneck in the system. If the drive isn't too terribly old I'm sure it's fast enough. What is it?

 

[guynexdoor]

it's a SATA seagate barracuda 160gb model
ST3160827AS

I don't know how to find out the kind of RAM I have...I know i have 1 GB.
I know i have K8 Neo Platinum 4, 939 MB
NEC DVDRW drive
6600gt vid card PCI

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: guynexdoor
it's a SATA seagate barracuda 160gb model
ST3160827AS

I don't know how to find out the kind of RAM I have...I know i have 1 GB.
I know i have K8 Neo Platinum 4, 939 MB
NEC DVDRW drive
6600gt vid card PCI

For the sake of you being wrong, use pc wizard.
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

 

[guynexdoor]

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1

Originally posted by: guynexdoor
it's a SATA seagate barracuda 160gb model
ST3160827AS

I don't know how to find out the kind of RAM I have...I know i have 1 GB.
I know i have K8 Neo Platinum 4, 939 MB
NEC DVDRW drive
6600gt vid card PCI

For the sake of you being wrong, use pc wizard.
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

CPU info
Type : AMD Athlon 64 X2
Internal Specification : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
Model Number : 3800+ (estimated)
Codename : Toledo
General Information :
Number of Core : 2
Number of Core Enabled : 1 <------------how come it only has 1 core enabled?????

MB info
General Information :
Manufacturer : MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD (MSI)
Product : K8 Neo4


RAM info
Type : DDR-SDRAM PC-3200 (200 MHz) - [DDR-400]
Size : 512 MB (2 rows, 4 banks)

 

[Cutthroat]

That is a 7200.7 HDD, it's pretty good, but aging. You won't see much of a difference between that and a new one except in load times, file copying, etc. If you're looking for more space there are new 7200.11 HDD's coming out soon, they are faster.

I haven't used an AMD dual core, but I know there was a patch for AMD dual cores that some people need to install, look into it.

 

[zach0624]

Originally posted by: Cutthroat
That is a 7200.7 HDD, it's pretty good, but aging. You won't see much of a difference between that and a new one except in load times, file copying, etc. If you're looking for more space there are new 7200.11 HDD's coming out soon, they are faster.

I haven't used an AMD dual core, but I know there was a patch for AMD dual cores that some people need to install, look into it.

The patch you are talking about is not needed to run windows and programs but is supposed to help in getting the load more even on both cores I have installed it but I didn't notice a huge difference although with a lower clock you might. Also your hard drive is plenty fast. If you do alot of file copying a newer sata drive might be nice new egg has some pretty fast ones and a 500gb 7200rpm(16mb buffer) drive is about $100 right now. You may want to add a stick of ram since it seems you only have 512mbs right now. This will probably give you a bigger boost than getting a faster hard drive would.

 

[guynexdoor]

Great! About the RAM...I have DDR 400 obviously...based on the specs I got.

SHould I just get 2 more 512 sticks? Or get 1 1GB stick, and does it have to be the same speed? DDR 400?

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: guynexdoor
Great! About the RAM...I have DDR 400 obviously...based on the specs I got.

SHould I just get 2 more 512 sticks? Or get 1 1GB stick, and does it have to be the same speed? DDR 400?

More RAM is always good, and you could buy faster than DDR400, but it will slow down to DDR400 speeds.

Also, s939 was dual channel memory, meaning you need to install the RAM in identical pairs in order to use dual channel memory and get the most performance.

Depending on your budget, you could get two more 512 DDR400 sticks, or you could get two 1GB DDR400 sticks, both would allow dual channel operations, though with 4 sticks of RAM, you might have to slow them down to 2T. Not sure how much of a difference that makes though.

Getting a single 1GB stick installed with your two 512 sticks will not allow dual channel operation though.

 

[InfoTiger]

You need to install duo core patch from AMD and M$.

:beer:

 

[bryanW1995]

if you can get 2x512 cheap then that would be your best bet. 1T vs 2T is a much bigger deal with amd than with intel, iirc. I always ran my skt939 systems at 2T b/c my memory was the cheapest I could find

 

[guynexdoor]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
if you can get 2x512 cheap then that would be your best bet. 1T vs 2T is a much bigger deal with amd than with intel, iirc. I always ran my skt939 systems at 2T b/c my memory was the cheapest I could find

I don't get this 2T business. What does that mean?

I'm willin to buy 2 512mb sticks, but I don't understand how this would slow me down...

 

[perdomot]

One of the best investments I've done is getting a Raptor HDD and making it the C Drive of my rig. The low access time and 10,000 rpm speed is awesome.

 

[betasub]

There's no urgent reason to buy more hardware; what you really need to fix is this:

Originally posted by: guynexdoor
Number of Core : 2
Number of Core Enabled : 1 <------------how come it only has 1 core enabled?????

If this is a drop-in CPU upgrade (A64 3000+ to X2 3800+) using the same Windows installation, then you'll need to change the ACPI driver for the processor.

Go to: Control Panel / System / Device Manager / Computer / ACPI Uniprocessor PC

Select: Action (or RightClick select) / Properties / Driver / Update Driver

Choose ACPI Multiprocessor PC driver and reboot.

 

[skreet]

Originally posted by: betasub
There's no urgent reason to buy more hardware; what you really need to fix is this:

Originally posted by: guynexdoor
Number of Core : 2
Number of Core Enabled : 1 <------------how come it only has 1 core enabled?????

If this is a drop-in CPU upgrade (A64 3000+ to X2 3800+) using the same Windows installation, then you'll need to change the ACPI driver for the processor.

Go to: Control Panel / System / Device Manager / Computer / ACPI Uniprocessor PC

Select: Action (or RightClick select) / Properties / Driver / Update Driver

Choose ACPI Multiprocessor PC driver and reboot.

Lol, that's so easy. I used to work at a computer store with a know-it-all tech who told me you had to do a soft-install of XP to get it to support the dual-core... When I read this I almost died laughing...

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Originally posted by: betasub
There's no urgent reason to buy more hardware; what you really need to fix is this:

Originally posted by: guynexdoor
Number of Core : 2
Number of Core Enabled : 1 <------------how come it only has 1 core enabled?????

If this is a drop-in CPU upgrade (A64 3000+ to X2 3800+) using the same Windows installation, then you'll need to change the ACPI driver for the processor.

Go to: Control Panel / System / Device Manager / Computer / ACPI Uniprocessor PC

Select: Action (or RightClick select) / Properties / Driver / Update Driver

Choose ACPI Multiprocessor PC driver and reboot.

I have seen the BIOS set to one core so it may be worth checking if the ACPI doesnt help. Although that was on company dell boxes. WTF ship a dual core proc with only 1 on in the bios??

If the board is old it may even need a bios update, again dead easy to check at the manufacturers website.