Thinking about little upgrade here. Any thoughts ?

[NDD]

Abit KT7A-RAID pre-rev1.3 (does NOT work with Athlon XP).
GeForce3 Ti200.

Now have 1GHz T-Bird and 256MB PC133 Micron.

Thinking of upgrading to 1.3GHz Duron (64kb L2 BUT got SSE) and another stick of 256MB, total of 512MB RAM.
"Yes" or "No" ? No other options, saving for a "big" upgrade next year, with Clawhammer and GeForce FX, of coz :D

Mostly gaming, but not too hardcore :)

Thanks in advance ;)

[rangeral]

That should work had a 1.3 tbird in mine til I got rid of the board and there's enough bios updates on that board if you need them. For me that board was pretty bugged out though great for gaming, you couldn't kill it for nothing, still have 384mg of mushkin sdram I used for it. Someday I'll get a different board so I can use that ram.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Got 1.4ghz tbird and 512mb SDRAM in exact same board ATM with gf4ti4200 - works quite nicely, all games run nice at 1024x768x32 with full eye candy - only exception in Ut2k3 which rns slow even at 800x600 depending upon maps

If you cant upgrade mobo id advise you to go for the Tbird rather than the duron though

--Jakk:t

[Beeblequix]

May I pose a question? Why settle for the 1.3 Ghz Duron? Let's see. Pricewatch says it's only $32. Hmmm... that's a good price. A 1.33Ghz T-bird w 266fsb runs only a bit more at $48. I'm always in favor of getting the one with the higher L2 cache size, unless price is the biggest issue. That Duron probably would compete with a 1.2 Ghz T-bird.....you have a 1Ghz T-bird.....

I just don't see that you're gaining very much. Your 3dmark scores reside around, what, 5900-6200? I really can't see your score going up too much with that minimal CPU upgrade, perhaps a few hundred points, but no more.

Mostly gaming, but not too hardcore
I don't even think the extra ram is going to impact you very much either. Were you to do large photo-ed tasks I'd say, yeah sure. But mostly non-hardcore gaming...

...keep your cash. My .00002 cents.
ßeeßle Qµix

[krazykatz911]

I agree with beeblquixx!


Get the better CPU! ITs only what $10 or so more?


Pay now or pay more later!

[Disk11]

ND, have you o/c the t-bird? That may help for the time being.

[ukulele]

I would buy a cheapo mb and xp processor and sell the asus and duron to some fool on ebay. You should about break even, dollar wise but speed wise you'd be way ahead. The thing you have to ask yourself is you you really need RAID?

[Slade54]

Yea, i agree with Beeblequix, just spend a few extra dollars, and buy the 1.33 tbird

Or even what ukulele said, that might work out to, though it depends on how much you really got on ebay (or just some friend down the street for that matter)

[deadkenny]

I would say no to the proposed upgrade. What's the specific issue with not supporting XP? If it's a processor recognition issue then the SSE on the Duron might not be used anyway. If it's only the FSB, then maybe it will work, but with the lower L2 cache I just don't think you're going to see a huge performance increase.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

With the kt7a's the processor recognistion is something to do with the power up routine if memory serves

--Jakk:t

[NDD]

Thanks for all the advices ;)

A little bit more of the story :
KT7A-RAID pre-rev1.3 CAN'T work with Athlon XP. Power issues, your memory serves you well, oh Mighty Weapon of Choice ;)

I can have my T-Bird o/ced to 1.33GHz (AXHA core), no sweat, 133MHz FSB runs like a charm, I just have to move my 75GXP from RAID to ATA100 port instead, RAID doesn't seem to like o/cing :rolleyes:
Still, I prefer stock speeds, stability is more important then speed for me.

Why 1.3GHz Duron ? Runs cooler (about to get stock AMD fan, tired of 7000RPM Delta beast :( ), got SSE, and works well with my mobo. 1.4GHz T-Bird ? I already have a heater for a winter here :)
Another 256MB Micron will cost me only about $40, and WXP is about to like it more this way, I guess :)
CPU is about the same price.

My 3DMark score is about 5500 points with newest official DetXP v40.72 and 128MB Palit GeForce3 Ti200.
I'm not in rush after speed, I already had this system scoring 7k under some o/cing :) , but I just noticed the prices ...

My next heavy upgrade would be with Athlon 64 and GeForce FX, sometimes in April :r

[Eric Legge]

You didn't give the make and specification of the PSU.

Just make sure that the PSU is up to the demands of the upgrades, because even a 256MB module of RAM uses an extra 30W.

A quality PSU of 250W capacity can usually deliver better qulaity of power supply than a cheap 300 or 350W PSU.


Eric,

http://www.legge40.freeserve.co.uk/BuyerBeware.htm

[NDD]

PSU is 350W. Good brand :)

Don't think I'm gonna do it, though, maybe just the memory :)