Small upgrade, what kind of performance boost?

[culex]

I have a Tbird (non XP) 1.4 GHz that I'm running right now on an Epox 8K7A.

I'm being offered a XP 2000+ as an upgrade and I was wondering how much of a performance boost will it give me. (in a general sence)

I was planning to upgrade full when the Throughbreds came thru but seeing how poorly they are doing these days, I figured it might be better if I just get a 2000+ and OC it a bit for a while until I see how Hammers do.

Any input is appreciated!

Eric

 

[Pabster]

All depends on what types of applications you use on a day-to-day basis. I'd say (overall) you won't see much of an improvement.

 

[culex]

Thanks. Bump.

 

[wfbberzerker]

probably wont see any noticable improvements (unless youre benchmarking, in which case the scores will go up)

i would wait.

 

[bjc112]

how much will the upgrade cost? You might notice a tiny bit, but not worth the 200$ that the CPU goes for...

If it cost you under 100$ i say go for it..

 

[AnAndAustin]

Precisely, if you can get it for a good price and your mobo supports the XP core then go ahead. An important thing to realise is that the Athlon1.4 is VERY close to the AthlonXP1600+, the XP rating actually relates to its perf compared to a P4 (unofficially of course, law suit anyone?). If you do lots of encoding and such then it will pay dividends, but as for games you will get very little, if any improvement until you upgrade the gfx card. What do you use the PC for?

 

[culex]

I completely forgot to put what I use the computer for didn't I?

I do alot of digital artwork, photoshop and such. Also alot of gaming.

The upgrade price is definitely under $100 so I'm tempted even more.

 

[bjc112]

oh my...

by all means...


UPGRADE!!!

 

[AnAndAustin]

Yup, swipe it, and then start saving for a Rad8500/LE, GF3 or GF4TI4200 (unless your pockets are very deep). These cards range in price from about $90 and go up to around $140, but in all cases you will notice a much bigger diff in games by doing this than by sticking the XP2000+ in there. I would strongly rec either a GF4TI4200 (o/c to either 4400 or 4600 speeds ... yummy) or Rad8500LE, 128MB cards are certainly a much better long term buy and even show their advantages in some current games. If you really need AIW facilities then a Radeon8500 is the clear choice, but don't dismiss the GF4TI4200 VIVO which may prove more than adequate in VIVO but really kick some ass in 3D perf, AA, Aniso quality and now GF4TI '2D' quality is certainly on par with Rad8500 cards.

 

[culex]

I see

I currently have a 8500 retail 64MB... how much boost does a 128MB give then?

 

[littlegohan]

not much

unless you run at insane resolution at 4x aa

 

[MrCodeDude]

You won't notice a big difference, but in some games you might notice a higher framerate.
-- mrcodedude

 

[AnAndAustin]

Yep, sorry culex I didn't realise you had a fine card like the Rad8500, 64MB is certainly fine for most current games and won't be at all bad for new games, it is just that 64MB is not a wise purchse for a new gfx card. With your Rad8500, esp with it being retail (and hopefully a true ATI 'built by ATI' version) is still an excellent performer if you don't mind living without AA. My advice to anybody with a GF3 or Rad8500 type card is to wait a few months and see if a budget version of the wicked Rad9700 is released (it surely will be) as well as how the new nVidia cards fair in Nov/Dec. I would say hold on to that card, except AA perf the GF4TI cards aren't all that much faster, certainly not worth you forking out the cash for them, IMHO sit tight, enjoy your VERY nice XP2000+ and Rad8500 combination because it is a very good one indeed!

 

[Bovinicus]

I would hold off a bit until you can get a faster CPU than that. The performance gains you will notice will be somewhere in the area of 10-20% depending on the application. Games, video encoding/editing, and other CPU intensive tasks will see the most improvement. Surfing the internet and typing up documents in MS Word puts very little strain on the system so you will probably see no improvement. If I were you, I would keep your system for a while longer and then make a larger upgrade somewhere down the line. I have a 1GHz TBird (Overclocked to 1133, but will raise it higher) and a Radeon 8500. Yours should be a little faster than mine (Depending on how much you tweak), and I haven't been dissapointed with the performance of this card in any game.

 

[culex]

Thanks,

Normally, I wouldnt even ask about upgrades such as these but the stuff im being trade-in offered is really a small amount of money to deal with so I figured I should ask about how well these would perform...

I'll definitely up the CPU but think I'll hold out on the card... had the card since January and loving it (didn't like the ti500 that much).

Any cooler recommendations for a XP 2000+ that will OC?

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: culex
Thanks,

Normally, I wouldnt even ask about upgrades such as these but the stuff im being trade-in offered is really a small amount of money to deal with so I figured I should ask about how well these would perform...

I'll definitely up the CPU but think I'll hold out on the card... had the card since January and loving it (didn't like the ti500 that much).

Any cooler recommendations for a XP 2000+ that will OC?

Thermalright AX-7 + 80mm fan.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Volcano7+ is very popular and well priced, it can be set to its medium power mode manually, this gives excellent cooling and without too much noise. Thermalright AX-7 does seem very popular too.

Be aware that XP2000+, like XP2100+ and XP2200+ hardly o/c at all, they run VERY hot even at default speeds and are all near the limitation of the technology they use, it is ashame about the XP2200+ as that uses the 0.13mu T.bred core, but unfortunately it still runs very hot. To be honest I'd stick with the default cooling option on the XP2000+ and forget about o/c'ing it, whatever you spend on a cooler is still unlikely to gain you much anyway.

Overclockers SktA & Skt478 coolers
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