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Help - have Athlon 1 Gig, is Athlon XP that faster?

G

GratefullySaved

Senior member
Hey all,

I have an Athlon 1 Ghz running at 1.2 Ghz on an Abit KT7a RAID (no raid in use). Would an Athlon XP 2100+ show me a big speed increase for Photoshop work assuming I have the same RAM in either machine? Also, will an XP 2100+ run optimally on my Abit, or will it slow down bus speed wise? I'm much more a mac expert than a pc guru guy, so all help is really welcome.

Also...I've thought about upgrading my mentioned pc, but figure that by the time I upgrade my GeForce 2 MX video card, add firewire ($50) and add RAM, that I might be better just buying an Nforce 2 with IGP instead (with a new chip), and MAYBE even getting one of those really cool small XPC form factor things like the Shuttle option on Anandtech's home page right now. How much are those - the article doesn't say anything and I can't find a retailer in my limited research?

Anyone out there using an XPC for a gamer/medium-power machine? Mine is intended to be a Photoshop backup unit to my PowerMac work station, and serve as a good (doesn't have to be AWESOME gaming platform for the off hours and network games with friends - I DO want to be able to run Unreal II and Unreal Tournament 2003 very well at at least 800x600 though.)

Thanks to all, I really need some advice here...

GS

 
No, I know I'm running 100Mhz bus, and in truth don't even know to get 133Mhz bus working if that's even possible with my combination?

Sorry for my ignorance, but macs are really my comfort zone. 🙂 PC's are much faster than macs nowadays, but us creative types just can't afford to switch.

How do I switch over to 133Mhz bus though? That would help some I'm sure.

GS
 
The 133fsb is a big step for the Athlons, but the XP with DDR is huge improvement in overall computing since it combines the 133fsb with hardware prefetch and SSE.
 
Yea I believe you will see a larger performance increase from going to DDR memory than upgrading the processor. I went from a P3 933 to a XP 1400 overclocked to 1.6 ghz and it didnt feel THAT much faster than my friend's tbird with ddr. But the tbird with ddr felt a lot faster than my p3.
 
You can take advantage of the 133MHz FSB with your motherboard. It is as easy as setting the option in the BIOS. Abit boards are nice, you never have to toy with any jumpers. The XP would be quite a bit faster thanks to SSE support, hardware prefetching, increased FSB, increased clockspeed, and a few other architectural improvements.

However, I would suggest waiting for money to buy an nForce2 based motherboard and some DDR memory. You will notice a really hefty boost if you upgrade the CPU and upgrade the memory to go with it. The onboard equipment on nForce2 boards is excellent. The IGP is slightly low performing, but it will do for your occasionaly gaming needs. Make sure you get two sticks of memory to take advantage of the dual-bank architecture (It makes a really big difference with the IGP).
 
If you are are thinkning to pick up just ddr ram, get a 1600+ for a mere 49 dollars @ newegg (unless they lowered it again 😛 )

Great price for the deal.
 
The jump to 133fsb and ddr memory will be the greatest thing you ever do. I moved from a 100mhz fsb amd athlon 1.4ghz to a 1.53ghz athlon xp 1800+ 133fsb with some samsung pc2700 ddr memory, and it is amazing the difference. The clock speed of the 2 processors is nearly the same, but the xp runs cooler, and has the sse instruction set, which makes music encoding and also movie editing a much faster process. A worthwhile upgrade I'd say.
 
I went from a tbird 1.2 with pc 133 sdram to a 2.4 P4 533 bus with 512mb of 1066 rdram I felt that difference alot!
 
from benchmarks i've seen the xp is def faster. tbirds were comparable to p3's. xp's are comparable to p4's at much lower mhz, which is quite amazing. and a one ghz compared to a xp 2000+ thats def a decent upgrade. i get faster framerates off my xp then my old celly 2 1.5ghz.

if nu want to play unreal 2, u gotta upgrade processor. i run at 800x600 just fine, i'm limited by my old ass video card😛
 
Thanks to everyone who's answered so far. Sounds like I'll go Nforce 2 with 2 sticks of DDR RAM. I'd really like to get one of those XPC cases with Nforce 2 IGP (like the Shuttle ones featured on Anandtech right now). Anyone know where I can get one, which is best (yeah I know), and who has the best price?

Thanks again,

GS
 
GratefullySaved,
You're SOL on using an xp in your Abit, they won't handle anything higher than a 1.4 Tbird 🙁
 
Originally posted by: GratefullySaved
Thanks to everyone who's answered so far. Sounds like I'll go Nforce 2 with 2 sticks of DDR RAM. I'd really like to get one of those XPC cases with Nforce 2 IGP (like the Shuttle ones featured on Anandtech right now). Anyone know where I can get one, which is best (yeah I know), and who has the best price?

Thanks again,

GS
Click to expand...

From what I've seen there are no NForce 2s with IGP yet. They should be available in a couple weeks.
 
Anyone know where I can get one, which is best (yeah I know), and who has the best price?
Click to expand...
The ferengi in the Hot Deals forum usually know the best prices and where to get them. Do a search on nForce2 boards in Hot Deals. 🙂
 
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