Mark Allanson
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 08:16 PM |
|
|
Who knows their Athlons?
2 years ago, I upgraded my computer with a Asus A7N8X-X motherboard, and fitted it with a 1000 Duron and 256mg of memory.
I have progressivly upgraded as the cost of decent components came down (not a cutting edge computerist!). I now have an Athlon 1800+ and 1.5gig of
memory and think it is time to upgrade the processor to a 3200.
I have been warned that there are a great deal of fake 3200's around, mainly 2600's with cut L1 and L2's (this is where I am the limit
of comprehension  ).
As far as I can see, L1 and L2 are just a series of dots, what are they talking about and how can I check that I am not getting ripped off. Allegedly
even ebuyer are selling the rebadged 2600's as 3200's
I have added a pickie so folk can draw bit on for a numpty like me to understand
Thanks
Mark
 
Rescued attachment AMD3200.JPG
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
|
|
|
|
|
flak monkey
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 08:25 PM |
|
|
The sticker at the bottom says its a 3200.
Heres what a XP3200+ should look like:
http://www.pcgames.de/screenshots/original/XP3200.jpg
Yours looks bang on to me. L9 and L5 should always be cut as this was done to stop people unlocking the clock multiplier on the chip. Still an easy
way around it though 
XP3200's are very hard to get hold of now, i spent a long time looking for one 6months ago, so i am not suprised a load of fakes have come out.
I went with a 3000 in the end...!
David
[Edited on 7/3/06 by flak monkey]
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
|
|
|
CommanderAce
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 08:26 PM |
|
|
L1 and L2 are memory caches which the processor stores data and instructions in when executing a process.
If yout want a real performance increase you want to upgrade to a Socket 939 motherboard with an Athlon 64 X2 processor, that has two cores and can do
two things at once!
Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads!
|
|
|
stevebubs
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 08:27 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
2 years ago, I upgraded my computer with a Asus A7N8X-X motherboard, and fitted it with a 1000 Duron and 256mg of memory.
I have progressivly upgraded as the cost of decent components came down (not a cutting edge computerist!). I now have an Athlon 1800+ and 1.5gig of
memory and think it is time to upgrade the processor to a 3200.
I have been warned that there are a great deal of fake 3200's around, mainly 2600's with cut L1 and L2's (this is where I am the
limit of comprehension ).
As far as I can see, L1 and L2 are just a series of dots, what are they talking about and how can I check that I am not getting ripped off. Allegedly
even ebuyer are selling the rebadged 2600's as 3200's
I have added a pickie so folk can draw bit on for a numpty like me to understand
Thanks
Mark
I'm guessing that on the 2600s, the series of dots get joined up to be a series of lines (links)
|
|
|
flak monkey
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 08:29 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by stevebubs
I'm guessing that on the 2600s, the series of dots get joined up to be a series of lines (links)
Correct 
Thats what I was on about, see here for all the gory details:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips693/
David
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
|
|
|
Mark Allanson
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 08:42 PM |
|
|
If the 3200 is that hard to get hold of, what is the best bang per buck processor? (the mobo will run 400mhz, and I bought PC3200 even though I could
not use it to the full potential with only a 1800+ which runs at 200mhz)
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
|
|
|
flak monkey
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 09:00 PM |
|
|
The XP line of processors has been discontinued for several months now I believe. Both Eclipse Computers and Micro Direct are out of stock of them
(infact Eclipse dont even list them on their site anymore).
The best thing to do is upgrade your motherboard to Athlon64 939 pin (venice core). Most motherboard still use PC3200 ram and it will be plenty fast
enough. All you need to do is change your motherboard and processor.
At the moment the best one to go for looks to be the Athlon64 3200+ Skt 939 pricewise anyway. As for motherboards take your pick from Asus or
Gigabyte, both makes have done me extremely well and are currently serving in at least 6 computers i have built over the past couple of years.
Cheers,
David
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
|
|
|
Peteff
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 09:02 PM |
|
|
The Athlon 2600 will only read as a 2600 till you up the multiplier in bios or with jumpers on the motherboard, whichever it uses. There aren't
as many socket A processors round now as they are switching to the 64 bit processors. Do you need more speed than you have already, you could save the
money now and spend it later on the inevitable motherboard, cpu and memory upgrade. I have only an 1800+ but as I only use it for surfing and a bit of
editing at the moment it will do till I get some bits together for a complete overhaul, DDR2, SATAII etc.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
|
|
|
Mark Allanson
|
| posted on 7/3/06 at 09:12 PM |
|
|
Decisions, decisions, decisions.......
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
|
|
|
bimbleuk
|
| posted on 8/3/06 at 07:03 AM |
|
|
I used to buy the Athlon XP "M" peocessor. Sold as a low voltage mobile processor. I would buy the 2500 CPU and up the voltage and FSB
(front side bus) and you'd end up with a 3200 equivalent CPU but with better bandwidth cus of the faster FSB.
The Intel cheat was to use a Pentium 4 "C" 2.4GHz CPU which again I would increase the voltage and FSB to get to 3.0+ GHz
There is a fad to use a slower Opteron CPU and do similar (except Opterons don't have a FSB as such) to the above to get a fast FX Athlon CPU
equivalent as the Opterons are FX core CPUs with a better memory controller.
|
|
|
DaveFJ
|
| posted on 8/3/06 at 09:01 AM |
|
|
Watch out for the 64 bit processors... I am finding an increasing amount of software that does not support it
Dave
"In Support of Help the Heroes" - Always
|
|
|
Scotty
|
| posted on 8/3/06 at 09:16 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by DaveFJ
Watch out for the 64 bit processors... I am finding an increasing amount of software that does not support it
thats odd !
we've been using the 64's for ourselves and our customers for months - not spotted a single prog to give problems yet - at least not on
the consumer and sme level
ps Mark, if you are concerned about a particular prog not working, you are welcome to bring it up and see it working on one of our systems
[Edited on 8/3/06 by Scotty]
PLEASE NOTE! All comments made by this person are to be considered "Tongue in Cheek" and are not meant to be taken seriously in any way - so there!
|
|
|
Peteff
|
| posted on 8/3/06 at 10:05 AM |
|
|
Watch out for the 64 bit processors... I am finding an increasing amount of software that does not support it
I've been reading a lot about the new chips and if you use a 32 bit operating system they shouldn't be any different to the 32 bit chips.
The 64 bit OS is causing problems with a lack of drivers apparently.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
|
|
|
flak monkey
|
| posted on 8/3/06 at 10:10 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
I've been reading a lot about the new chips and if you use a 32 bit operating system they shouldn't be any different to the 32 bit chips.
The 64 bit OS is causing problems with a lack of drivers apparently.
Yes its the 64bit software thats causing problems at the moment! If you use 32bit software on a 64bit chip it runs just as 32bit. There are some major
problems with lack of device drivers for all but the newest hardware to run on 64bit. Though most problems are solved if you look on the manufacturers
websites for driver updates for windows x64.
To run at 64bit you need to be running windows x64 to start with (costs the same as XP pro last time i looked) though microsoft dont actually
recommend it to people other than business users at the moment due to lack of compatability with some 32 bit software running in x64 (theres basically
a 32bit emulator that sits behind it from what i understand).
David
[Edited on 8/3/06 by flak monkey]
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
|
|
|
tweek
|
| posted on 8/3/06 at 10:54 PM |
|
|
64bit processors are still a bit pointless, the software structure just isn't there to justify it yet.
unless you have a pc thats really old I would wait for even a year or more if you can.
I have the same motherboard myself running the 2400+ athlon xp, it's a nice little goer and overclocks to a 2600+ speck quite easily. I
can't wait to get enough money together to build a new system tho, modern games really crawl along
It's all dependent on the name of the core processor. I'm using the Thoroughbred B core which runs on a 266MHz bus, but the ones you
really want to look for are the Barton cored version, these were the last of the proper Athlon XP's - they came in 333Mhz and 400Mhz bus
flavours, I believe the 400Mhz ones were the 2500+, 3000+ and 3200+, the pick of the bunch was the 2500+ - fast, cheap and very overclockable.
another good idea would be to get two sticks of quality ram and stick the motherboard into dual channel mode
however, what most people forget is that a computer is only as fast as it's slowest compnent - the hard drive. Unfortunately there ain't
much you can do about that with this motherboard as it doesn't support SATA or RAID, you can get add-on cards but they'll have to run
through the PCI bus, so the improvement won't be fantastic.
just my tuppence, feel free to correct any errors
"oh dear..." said god,
"I hadn't thought of that"
and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic
|
|
|
Mark Allanson
|
| posted on 8/3/06 at 11:17 PM |
|
|
The computer runs fine at the moment, and the cost of upgrading is going to be about £120, but for that I can get a few lengths of 25x25x1.6 ERW.
What is going to give me more thrills, a slightly faster pooter of a load of growed up mechano?
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
|
|
|
trogdor
|
| posted on 9/3/06 at 12:01 AM |
|
|
I personally wouldn't bother upgrading unless there is a need. ie u play computer games that require high spec or auto cad drawing etc.
my own comp is pretty old, is an AMD K9 900mhz (i think) not sure what the motherboard is. it also only has 750mb of 133 RAM. however it still runs
dvd's and avi's and most computer games ok. better than my house mates faster computers in fact. only in the last year has it got a bit
obselte in that area. its still great for what i want so would rather spend money on the car!
|
|
|
