Re AMD CPU Choice

[calibra]

Hi
I have `built` several PC`s in my time, but still find the technical aspects of CPU`s a challenge.
My PC has a Gigabyte GA-7vaxp ultra MB. I upgraded the CPU to a an ATHLON XP 3000, believeing this to be the highest it would accept.
The Gigabyte website suggests a K7 Sempron 3000+ is in fact the highest it will take.
Is this correct ? and will I see a significant increase in performance over my Athlon CPU.
I am currently unable to play Dawn of war 2 ( DOW2 has stopped working error) although I know the graphic card is ok as it works in a friends PC with the same Graphic card.
If the Sempron upgrade is not significant enough I would look to upgrade the MB but would need one which would still use my existing AGP graphic card and existing memory.
Hope this isn`t too much for one post.
Thanks in advance
Calibra

 

[SickBeast]

Wow your platform is soooo obsolete. It's time for an upgrade. Even a cheap budget setup would obliterate what you have by several orders of magnitude.

 

[TrueBlueLS]

Calibra... I'm in agreement with SickBeast. It's time to upgrade your Socket A system with something a little bit newer as the Sempron 3000 processor has a lower clock speed than your Athlon XP 3000. I think the first main question is if you're buying your parts from the US or another country so we can help you out.

 

[calibra]

Thanks

I live in the UK. The PC I listed is my original one, which my Son now uses.

Don`t know what my best options are.
I would ideally like to upgrade the MB, but still keep my original memory and if possible my AGP card. I know that AGP is old now but maybe I can get a MB which will support AGP AND the new PCI slot

Don`t want to spend too much and don`1t need a `super` PC just soemthing to play games on etc. ( The fast paced games I keep for my XBOX ) but as I explained even DOW2 wont play

Thanks
Calibra

 

[TrueBlueLS]

Your only options that you will have would be to either use the Socket 754 platform or Socket 939. With that being said, I would go with the Socket 939 as it is newer and should provide a much noticed boost in performance. With that being said... I do not believe any one is producing 939 boards new since 2006, so you would have to buy used. What exactly is your budget? I know you said you don't want to spend too much... but I guess we need to know that as well.

 

[Tuna-Fish]

Don`t know what my best options are.
I would ideally like to upgrade the MB, but still keep my original memory and if possible my AGP card. I know that AGP is old now but maybe I can get a MB which will support AGP AND the new PCI slot

This will basically be very hard. Nothing that has been made in the past 5 years supports either the memory or AGP. What is the GPU you have? If it's from the AGP era you can probably get an equivalent now reasonably cheaply.

The best I can think of is to look for a used S939 dual core A64 and a MB for it, but you're likely going have to pay an absurd price/performance.

For price comparison:
AM3 atx MB <$50
3GHz Athlon II<$60
2GB of DDR3 <$20
HD5670 with GDDR5 <$80

 

[maniac5999]

RAM is rediculously cheap, and ANY new enthusiast level graphics card will run circles around what you have now. I don't know UK pricing, but here in the US:

*A new AM3 AMD Motherboard can be found for $50
*4gb DDR3 RAM costs $40

add in an Athlon II X4 for $100 or an X2 for $60, and a AMD 5750 or 5770 GPU which can be found as low as $90, and you can have yourself all new guts to your computer that will last several times as long before you have to upgrade again.

There comes a point where old technology becomes more expensive due to scarcity. With your current computer you have hit that point. Just bite the bullet and upgrade everything I listed. (Make sure your PSU is compatible as well, obviously)

 

[Maximilian]

Thanks

I live in the UK. The PC I listed is my original one, which my Son now uses.

Don`t know what my best options are.
I would ideally like to upgrade the MB, but still keep my original memory and if possible my AGP card. I know that AGP is old now but maybe I can get a MB which will support AGP AND the new PCI slot

Don`t want to spend too much and don`1t need a `super` PC just soemthing to play games on etc. ( The fast paced games I keep for my XBOX ) but as I explained even DOW2 wont play

Thanks
Calibra

You will basically need a complete rebuild, almost all technologies used on that socket A board have been replaced, some of the replacements themselves have even been replaced.

A rebuild would be a far better option than throwing money at obsolete hardware.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You will need to rebuild your system. New CPU, motherboard, RAM, Video card at the very least. A new power supply might be needed. A new hard drive and optical drive might be needed depending on what platform you choose, as some boards don't have IDE.

Back to your OP, I'm pretty sure the Sempron 3000+ is a tiny bit slower than the Athlon 3000+, so don't waste your time and money on that upgrade.

 

[calibra]

WOW !!!
So much help, thanks everyone.
The suggestions from maniac5999 look good.
My BIG problem is, I have 3 XBOX 360`s and the games on this are awesome and I will never have to buy a new graphic card CPU etc etc ( Until the new XBO arrives that is )
If I come into some money, then maniac5999 suggestions are very sound, but for the time being I think I will wait until the PC grinds to a halt, forcing my hand ( Wallet ) I just won`t buy any new PC games for this PC anymore.
I used to have a friend whom replaced hos graphic card every 6 months and sold the `used` one. He had a very big Monitor and state of the art PC......just for playing games.
It`sad that for games playing the constant upgrade cost is high.
I thank you all once again for all your help.
As a last note, could I overclock my CPU to gain some advantage, or is this too dificult

Calibra

 

[Bearach]

Since it's not the KT400A revision, it doesn't support 400Mhz FSB I believe.

From this list you could use the 333Mhz FSB version of the Barton 3000+ which is still pretty slow by today's standards.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=1595

You might be able to get from eBay or something, though I wouldn't pay much for a chip like that.

Make sure it's this model : AXDA3000DKV4D and it should work with your board.

EDIT :

Totally agree with Maniac5999, try something like this :

AMD Athlon II X2 250 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/237554 &#163;42.90
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz http://www.ebuyer.com/product/247673 &#163;38.99
Asus M4A88T-M Onboard Video http://www.ebuyer.com/product/220150 &#163;54.99

Dependant on PSU in your case, that should upgrade your system pretty well, and there is onboard video that can be upgraded at a more convenient time.

 

[SickBeast]

OP there's no way you're going to get modern games to run on your current system, no matter what you do.

If you want to be really cheap, just buy an i3 combo with a cheap motherboard and use the integrated graphics. It will be more powerful than what you have now, and if you decide to get a discreet GPU in the future you can.

Otherwise I'd say just live with what you have. If I had that system, I would put Linux Mint 10 on it and use it strictly for internet and apps. If you wanted you could also play some UT2004 through Linux.

 

[formulav8]

Just get a Sempron 140, 2x 1gb sticks of ddr3, and Asrock hybrid mobo (supports ddr2/ddr3, and good upgrade potential, great ocing features, and acc to try and unlock the sempron to a dual core athlonII.). Depending on where you are you can get those parts for as little as $112 shipped.

 

[Tanclearas]

I concur with everyone else. Even low end components are going to outperform any upgrade you make to that aging system. Stick a fork in it. It's done.

I know you're in the UK, but here's an idea of the types of components you can get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130295 - $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103933 - $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220556 - $52

That gives you a 2.9GHz dual core CPU with 4GB or DDR3 memory and integrated graphics that will likely perform as well as your unidentified AGP card, all for well under $200.

Anyway, if you're simply trying to resolve an error in a game, why not simply reformat your drive and reinstall everything? My guess is that you haven't reformatted since you got the system (well over 5 years ago I imagine), and it's due.

 

[mnewsham]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MB-405-AS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CP-248-AM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-050-GS

Total : &#163;150.36

That's a 3Ghz dual core CPU, a PCIe motherboard with good IGP, and 4GB of DDR3 RAM.

 

[Cerb]

I used to have a friend whom replaced hos graphic card every 6 months and sold the `used` one. He had a very big Monitor and state of the art PC......just for playing games.
It`sad that for games playing the constant upgrade cost is high.

That's just him. Sane people get something good when they need to replace parts, and are able to sit on it for a few years.

As a last note, could I overclock my CPU to gain some advantage, or is this too dificult

Calibra

With that motherboard, no. Even if you had a better mobo, you would not be able to come close to a newer CPU/RAM/chipset platform. I tend to get customers used corporate machines, these days, from 3-5 years ago. If not doing anything really heavy, like photo or video editing, gaming, what-have-you, even such older PCs only need the most minor upgrades to be several times the PC that most people need.

Hardware options linked look good (for non-gaming, you won't be needing more than that IGP), but also consider that XP might fuss about such a massive HW change. I usually only have issues when installing over the same HW, but there's no reason it couldn't happen when that key is seen with much different HW. I don't know how all this is treated in the UK, so I'll just leave it at that, and let any other UK residents chime in on it.

Also, you might need a new PSU. Many new mobos won't boot w/o a 24-pin PSU.

 

[infoiltrator]

I've been using an Athlon XP 3200+ for surfing and movies. Definitely no longer a gaming rig.
Just built a new computer after spending too much time and money on old one.
Learned a lot.
Upgrades were leading to heat issues, lol, just received an OMG used Thermaltake " Big Typhon" HSF. Ah well..

 

[calibra]

I have looked at the components suggested by Bearach and unfortunately have now become very excited.
I can`t believe how low prices have dropped, to get a virtually `new` PC for around £150 is amazing.
I need a case for this ASUS Mobo Any ideas ??
Hopefully this Mobo will take my existing 2 SATA and single IDE HDDs
I now plan to give my Son my PC and rebuild one for me as per Bearach post.
Thanks for ALL the feedback and time spent helping me. I have never had such a positve and helpful response from a forum before

Thanks

Since it's not the KT400A revision, it doesn't support 400Mhz FSB I believe.

From this list you could use the 333Mhz FSB version of the Barton 3000+ which is still pretty slow by today's standards.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=1595

You might be able to get from eBay or something, though I wouldn't pay much for a chip like that.

Make sure it's this model : AXDA3000DKV4D and it should work with your board.

EDIT :

Totally agree with Maniac5999, try something like this :

AMD Athlon II X2 250 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/237554 £42.90
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz http://www.ebuyer.com/product/247673 £38.99
Asus M4A88T-M Onboard Video http://www.ebuyer.com/product/220150 £54.99

Dependant on PSU in your case, that should upgrade your system pretty well, and there is onboard video that can be upgraded at a more convenient time.