In interesting crossroads for upgrading...

[RockGuitarDude]

Ok, Im really leaning towards an XP system solely for cost reasons.
But anyways...
Right now I have an XP 2400+ with pc2100 ram.
My motherboard only supports up to 333fsb.


Where does a Mobile Athlon match up at 333fsb to the same processor at a similar speed at 400fsb.
How well do these stack up to say an A64 2800+ or A64 3000+?

I've been looking but I've had a hard time establishing a comparison between the A64 and an XP except for the fact that A64 is faster at the same clock speed obviously...

Oh yeah I forgot to mention... I'm looking for something that will keep up with my 9800 pro oc'ed to 425core 400memory...

 

[aphex]

Haha, check my thread right below yours.... Im running almost the same system and looking at getting an A64 too

 

[Avalon]

At a 333mhz FSB, you're going to be hurting for memory bandwidth. The mobile bartons are typically only sought after if you're going to be overclocking the chip while running it on at least a 400FSB. You're going to need new memory and a motherboard to do this. That's already going to be a hefty chunk of change. Then comes the processor. Let's look at it this way.

1) You can use your old board, but you're going to want to upgrade your memory, definitely. That's going to be $100 for a good stick of 512mb PC3200. Then, around $90 for your mobile barton. You're going to be running this system overclocked on a 333mhz FSB, and it's not going to shine like a mobile barton has the potential to do. Total comes to $190 spent.

2) You can get a new board so you can reach those 400+ FSB speeds. Add $80 for the board, and your new total comes to $270. You're going to want an nforce 2 ultra 400 chipset for your board. This will do you nicely.

3) Suppose you went A64 instead. Assuming you get something like an A64 3000+, that's $110 more than your mobile, as a guesstimate. New total is going to be $380. This is going to be a 40% increase in price. Are you going to feel a 40% increase in performance? I don't know. If you plan on overclocking your A64 chip to 2.4ghz, then it may be a good idea to go with the A64.

Price being the biggest consideration, I'd still have to say to get the mobile barton.

 

[o1die]

I'd go with the athlon 64 3200 with 1 meg cache, if you're lucky enough to find one. Newegg has an asrock board with sis 755 chipset for $84, or you can go with the chaintech nforce3 board for a few dollars more. Even the 2800 at $187 is plenty fast.