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Worth Going from Barton XP 2600 (333FSB) to XP 3200 (400FSB)?

M

Mister Dark

Member
I'm trying to improve frame rates in games like Half-Life 2, Doom 3, etc.

My current system:
XP 2600
BFG 128 meg 6800 OC (pipes unlocked)
one gig PC 3200 ram (running at 2700 speed because I don't have a 400FSB on my current PC.)

I'm thinking about upgrading to an XP 3200, which has the 400FSB which would allow me to run my memory at its full capacity ...

Question is - would I see much of a frame rate increase for gaming? I usually run at 1024x768, high quality, no AA (except HL2, with 4xAA). Half-Life 2 is the game I'm most concerned about because it's the game I like the most ...

Please don't bother suggesting an Athalon 64 because I can't afford to upgrade my MB as well as my CPU right now. The 3200 is the fastest CPU I can get for my current motherboard, but do you think it will make a difference over the 2600?
 
Save up and get an A64 later. For now just get a good HS/F (if yours is stock) and overclock it. You can definately get to 3200+ speeds with yours if it is unlocked. And if it isn't unlocked I think there's a pin-mod to help ya with that (I think, any help?)

Just my two cents.
 
Thanks for the advice, xSnowblindx, but my understanding is that it is difficult to OC with this particular MB. I checked the BIOS settings and pretty much all it has is a Spread Spectrum ...
 
It is more worth going from a Duron to an Athlon than it is going from an XP to an XP. However, FSB400 is better than FSB333 and if you only need to buy a new CPU you should get the biggest increase in frame rates through that than through any other $100 upgrade.
 
Chances are you'll lose performance because of the unequal ratio. You probably wouldn't see a huge difference with a 400FSB anyways.
 
Well, of course I assume your board has no problem of supporting FSB400 and knows what an XP 3200+ is. Therefore the "unequal ratio" can be neglected. FSB400 is a lot more than FSB333 just as 2600+ is less than 3200+.

Sven
 
I'm not sure what you mean by unequal ratio. My MB does support a 400FSB, which is why I decided to get 3200 memory even though my current CPU's FSB doesn't support it ... If I bump up to the XP 3200, I get whatever speed advantage comes with going from 2600 to 3200, plus my fsb goes from 333 to 400 .... I just don't know what that all means in terms of an actual increase in frame rates ...
 
I thought so. The "unequal ratio" our pessimistic xSnowbindx mentions is the performance penalty you get with some older boards, where the northbridge uses somethings else than 1:1 to drive the memory and the core clock.

Lets say your CPU's multiplier is set to 13 and the FSB frequency is set to 100MHz. You than have a 1300MHz CPU (100*13) and run your memory at an FSB of 200 (200 because of DDR). There were chipsets which when going to an FSB of 266 applied a ratio of 1:1.33 for the memory clock. Your CPU would still be at 1300MHz but your memory would be driven with 133MHz (=>FSB266). But due to this 1:1.33 ratio (aka 2:3) and some chipsets having a bad implementation and you could not benefit from it. Some settings for a ratio of 1:1 where than faster than what was possible with 1:1.33. I believe one of the first nForce2 chipsets to have had this problem. The dual channel nForce2 Ultra does not have it.

Anyways, since you want to go from an XP2600+ to an XP3200+ you not only run it with a faster FSB but also a core with a larger cache and higher frequency. So even if you have such a board, you would still benefit from the upgrade.

Sven
 
No, what I'm saying is the 2600+ with 400 RAM will cause an uneven ratio. When this happens, the RAM and the CPU are processing information at different speeds, so there will be a lag of time when the RAM isn't doing anything, thus slowing your computer down.
 
Don't listen to xSnowblindx. He didn't read your first post where you cleary stated where you want to go to. He, as stupid as he seems to be, ignored it and suggested the usual "buy Athlon64" argument. Now since you did not jump for that argument, he is upset and throws in pieces of information hoping to confuse you and making you ask for more help. We have to live with stupids like him but we do not need to take everything serious they say/write.
Just know that todays chipsets apply all kinds of ratios besides the 1:1. If it would be for xSnowblindx, FSB400 is a complete mistake and an XP3200+ slower than a XP2600+.

Salt anybody?

Sven
 
Okay... since you already are underclocking your RAM to 166 in BIOS and you BIOS obviously offers such a setting simply reset the RAM to its SPD setting and you will have your faster proc. In fact it will be faster than a 3200 even... a 3200 runs at 2.2 GHz whereas your chip at 200 would run at 2.3 Ghz... so give that a try before you go out nad spend money on a new proc.

If this works you can then put the money you would have spent on the proc can then be put towards a new SATA drive.
 
You missinterpreted the intent of my last post we posted around the same time. I didnt know you had explained it. I know that on most AXP boards, a 1:x ratio is the best option. I didn't ignore his first post. I didn't mean to buy it right away. I said that he shouldn't upgrade, because there wouldn't be an amazing difference, but instead save up to buy an A64. Jumping from a 2600+ to a 3200+ just doesn't seem worth it to me.

Sorry for the missunderstanding.
 
I appreciate the help all of you are trying to offer!

TheStu - I'm afraid I didn't understand exactly what you meant. You mean if I set my memory to its rated setting in the BIOS, I'll get a speed increase? I already tried setting it to 200 but I don't think it made any difference. Don't I have to tweak the FSB in order to speed up my ram?

 
Originally posted by: sdack
Don't listen to xSnowblindx. He didn't read your first post where you cleary stated where you want to go to. He, as stupid as he seems to be, ignored it and suggested the usual "buy Athlon64" argument. Now since you did not jump for that argument, he is upset and throws in pieces of information hoping to confuse you and making you ask for more help. We have to live with stupids like him but we do not need to take everything serious they say/write.
Just know that todays chipsets apply all kinds of ratios besides the 1:1. If it would be for xSnowblindx, FSB400 is a complete mistake and an XP3200+ slower than a XP2600+.

Salt anybody?

Sven
Click to expand...

please stop spreading bad advice.

the snow guy was correct. running the memory clock asynchonously to the FSB on the athlon platform causes no performance increase, and in some cases a decrease in performance.

and right now with a true 3200+ chip going for over $150, he would be better suited, and make better use of his video card to go the athlon 64 route. you can get a basic socket 754 system up and running for under $300.

anyway to recap, running the memory bus asynchonously on the athlon platform is a bad idea, unless you have crappy ram, overclocking the begeezus out of the FSB, and the ram cant keep up.

this is why some P4 users use a 5:4 CPU/MEM ratio, because the FSB's get so damn high, and not everyone can afford ddr500 or whatever.
 
All you have to do is raise your FSB to 200, make sure your cpu/memory ratio is 1:1 and maybe bump your cpu vcore up a notch and thats it.

Problem solved.

Why is that so hard?
 
If you're asking me why it's so hard, Sammy, I'd say it's because I've never overclocked anything besides my video card before. How do I make sure my CPU/memory ratio is 1:1? I can physically set the MB with jumpers so that the FSB is 200 (I had to do that when I first got my CPU because the jumpers were set to 133 instead of 166) but how do I set the memory to match it in the BIOS? What should I look for? I'm a total newbie at this. Also - there is no multiplier in my MB BIOS ...
 
It is so hard because it is easier to suggest the trivial instead of understanding what someone is asking ...

I had hoped people would be looking at facts before they post but not many really have done that. At Spikesoldier: What does that information help? I have not proved xSnowblindx wrong (don't see why I should), I even agreed that there are boards which do worse. However, this will not be the case. So why bother or even argue with xSnowblindx when he is off topic on his first post and keeps posting like that? Where do you see yourself with your post?

An XP3200+ runs at 2.2GHz. So if the BIOS detects it properly, it will set the multiplier to 11 and the FSB to 200 as soon as it sees the CPU for the first time.

People always suggest not to buy it or something. Why not accept the fact that the poster wants to buy something and therefore must have a budget? So if he has like $100, doesn't like overclocking and wants to get more frames out of his game, what should he buy? ... A 10 year old school kid can give better answer than what I have seen here.

But, oh no, save your money, saving is good. Don't buy old stuff because it is ... OLD!!

Best is not to come asking. People don't have a clue what do with a question. They are all just good with computers ...

...

Oh, doesn't an XP3200+ cost more like $200? So if he wants to increase his frame rates, what other answer could be given? Maybe a better GFX card? I now argue that he will do better with a faster CPU since a CPU upgrade usually improves the low frame rates whereas a new GFX card improves the high frame rates. However, we already know what game he prefers. Maybe a new GFX card will be better for him?

Sven
 
Well, if the board is so old that it still makes a lot of use of jumpers you might want to fry it, uhm, overclock it since you will then need to buy a new one. You will then have a faster PC than before since a new PC is faster than a broken one. But seriously, if you want to look at overclocking, read the sticky post at the top of the CPU forum here. Then decide if you want to go for overclocking or for just a new CPU. You can overclock the XP3200+ as well ... ;-)

Sven
 
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