upgrade advise 2.2 to 2.8Ghz worth it on p4s533.

I have a p4s533 with a 2.2 ghz processor running PC2700 memory.
Assuming I replaced my memory with 2 GB of PC3200 and upgraded to a 2.8
Ghz processor at a bus speed at 533, would it be worth the money (for
games primarily)? My video card is an NVIDIA 6600 GT.

Or would it be more cost effective just to keep my PC2700 memory and
try to find a 2.8 Ghz processor with a 400Mhz front side bus?

thanks for any help!

-Doug

In article .com,
"Danathar" wrote:

I have a p4s533 with a 2.2 ghz processor running PC2700 memory.
Assuming I replaced my memory with 2 GB of PC3200 and upgraded to a 2.8
Ghz processor at a bus speed at 533, would it be worth the money (for
games primarily)? My video card is an NVIDIA 6600 GT.

Or would it be more cost effective just to keep my PC2700 memory and
try to find a 2.8 Ghz processor with a 400Mhz front side bus?

thanks for any help!

-Doug

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.ht...2=227&chart=71

Athlon64 3400+ Newcastle 2.4GHz/512KB S754 $151
(OEM - heatsink/fan is extra)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103609

K8V-X SE $61
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131577

versus the Northwood (2.8GHz/FSB533/512KB cache) here is $154
(seventh item from the top of the page)
http://www.pricewatch.com/prc.aspx?i=3&a=4846

A different motherboard is going to cost you more, but you
can reuse the rest of your hardware. The difference in frame
rate on the Tomshardware chart is 150 versus 111 frames/sec.

The best RAM for this platform, would be a single 1GB PC3200
stick of memory. The Athlon64 memory controller is on the
processor, and it doesn't really like a heavy load. Find a
DIMM with 64Mx8 memory chips, such as the RAM provided by
major brand name suppliers, not the generic 128Mx4 cheap stuff.
You can also keep and continue to use your existing RAM, until
you decide whether the platform really needs the small boost
from a different RAM configuration. PC2700 will still be
effective on this platform.

To compare S754 to S939, there is this article:
http://www.behardware.com/articles/5...thlon-64s.html

If you plan on overclocking, the K8V-X SE might not have bus
lock, in which case an Nforce3 S754 motherboard might be a
better choice. The only caveat on Nforce3 AGP, is the use of
6800 family video cards - apparently there was an unresolved
stuttering issue with that combination (Nforce3/6800xx)

ASUS K8N Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250 ATX Retail $63
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131512

Just some ideas,
Paul

Thanks for the info!

I actually speced out an ASRock939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 for my brother
for Xmas. If I have to buy a mobo I'll probably go with that since it
can do both AGP and PCI (and it's not bridged AGP the motherboard has
seperate chipsets for each graphics slot type). I'd want to keep my AGP
card for now but have the option of doing PCI-Express later on.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157081

I had gone with the Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1Ghz FSB but since you went
with the 3400+ S754 I might have to dump the idea of the ASRock. It's
just SO hard to dump a fairly decent video card.

On the upside going with PC3200 I could use that with my current setup
(the investment can be used now).

I'm just wondering how much of a boost in performance I could see
between my current setup and one at 2.8ghz with PC3200. The upgrade
would cost me around $320 from new egg (of course the PC3200 could be
recycled into a new system) the processor is only $154.

Caveat: This post could qualify as off-topic since it's not mentioning an
ASUS motherboard.

CPU: Intel Northwood 2.6GHz @ 800MHz ($115)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=2.6_800BX&c=pw

Motherboard: ECS 865PE chipset ($67)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ATT=13-135-164

RAM: Corsair 2 x 512 DDR400 ($84)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145440

For under $300, the above will give you a noticeable increase in
performance.
--
Robert J. Salvi, Ambiance Acoustics
http://www.ambianceacoustics.com
San Diego, CA USA
(858) 485-7514
"Danathar" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a p4s533 with a 2.2 ghz processor running PC2700 memory.
Assuming I replaced my memory with 2 GB of PC3200 and upgraded to a 2.8
Ghz processor at a bus speed at 533, would it be worth the money (for
games primarily)? My video card is an NVIDIA 6600 GT.

Or would it be more cost effective just to keep my PC2700 memory and
try to find a 2.8 Ghz processor with a 400Mhz front side bus?

thanks for any help!

-Doug

In article . com,
"Danathar" wrote:

Thanks for the info!

I actually speced out an ASRock939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 for my brother
for Xmas. If I have to buy a mobo I'll probably go with that since it
can do both AGP and PCI (and it's not bridged AGP the motherboard has
seperate chipsets for each graphics slot type). I'd want to keep my AGP
card for now but have the option of doing PCI-Express later on.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157081

I had gone with the Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1Ghz FSB but since you went
with the 3400+ S754 I might have to dump the idea of the ASRock. It's
just SO hard to dump a fairly decent video card.

On the upside going with PC3200 I could use that with my current setup
(the investment can be used now).

I'm just wondering how much of a boost in performance I could see
between my current setup and one at 2.8ghz with PC3200. The upgrade
would cost me around $320 from new egg (of course the PC3200 could be
recycled into a new system) the processor is only $154.

You can use the charts on www23.tomshardware.com to estimate the
improvement. The real question, is whether the $320 spent, has
any long term value. Do you think a 2.8GHz processor will do
a good job of running the next new game that comes out ? Were you
expecting to run some new games after this upgrade ? I guess I
would question whether the small increment in performance you
are aiming for, is going to open up a new range of games
that will play smoothly.

When I make recommendations, on the one hand, I weight what I
think the poster is aiming for in terms of budget. Gaming
is a tough one to make recommendations for, as really the
appetite of games for resources is limitless. I cannot judge
whether, when you've spent your $320, you'll be happier or
not. Users tend to describe gaming as being smoother on the
AMD platform, but that is hardly quantitative enough to
use as the deciding factor of which platform to use.

Perhaps if you visit private forums that discuss the games
that you play, and you have a look at what they consider
to be a minimum platform for acceptable game play, you'll
be able to make a more informed decision.

Paul