Upgrading from 3600 x2 to BE2400 x2 What can I expect?

[aj654987]

I recently got a new BE2400 x2 cpu because it was real cheap and I intend to sell my 3600x2 that I have now.

My system is :
Abit NF-M2 nview 6150 chipset
2 GB DDR2 800
7600gt video
320 gb seagate sata drive
Windows XP sp2

I dont game much anymore but I am thinking gaming wouldnt improve much because the 7600gt is probably the bottleneck anyways. If I do start gaming again it will probably be COD 4 or the Half Life 2 packages.

I do like to keep a lot of windows open and multitask.

Do you think I will notice an increase in responsiveness going from the 1.9ghz to 2.3 ghz?

Do you think the core tempature will be lower since it is 45w versus 65w?

Any good free cpu benchmarks that you could recommend that I can do now before I swap in the new cpu?


Finally, how well do the BE2400s overclock? I am undecided yet if I will overclock it because I might keep it at stock speeds so I can use the "cool n quiet" throttling feature to keep lower temperatures.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would definately overclock.

 

[aj654987]

what speed do they generally reach?

I know I would have to decrease the HT bus from x5 to x4 first and mess around. I havent overclocked since the amd xp days when it was different and I had the xpm where i could just choose any fsb and multiplier i wanted.

I will try out the overclocking as long as my temperatures dont get to high from it. I am sure it would be ok with the lower wattage rating.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: aj654987
I dont game much anymore but I am thinking gaming wouldnt improve much because the 7600gt is probably the bottleneck anyways.

That all depends on what resolution you game at, along with how much AA you're using. At 1280x1024/1440x900, and using 4x or less AA, a 7600GT is faster than an X2 3600. Depending on the game, it should match up just about perfectly with a 2.3 Ghz X2, at 1280x1024/1440/900. At higher resolutions, you'll be GPU-bound, although 7600GT's still do prerry well @ 1600x1200/1680x1050, as long as you aren't using AA (even with AF cranked to 16x). I've actually got a system with a 2.4 Ghz A64 4000 (single core) and a 7600GT, and have tested it @ both 1280x1024 and 1600x1200.

Do you think I will notice an increase in responsiveness going from the 1.9ghz to 2.3 ghz?

Probably hardly any difference at all in responsiveness. Athlon 64's get their responsiveness from the IMC*. You'll definitely get more performance from the extra 400 Mhz, though, assuming you do anything that requires CPU "horsepower".

Any good free cpu benchmarks that you could recommend that I can do now before I swap in the new cpu?

Of course there are! These are the best/most popular CPU benchmarks: SuperPi mod, CPUMark 2.1, Cinebench R10, ScienceMark, among others.

Finally, how well do the BE2400s overclock?

Quite well, I hear.