optimizing memory/board/processor

[mlc]

Hey folks...

I currently have an A7N8X-Deluxe, running with an XP2100+ and 2 sticks of Samsung DDR2700... I run with the bios set to agressive... Haven't tried any oc'ing

I was going to beef up my old home system for use mostly by our 7 yrs old ... It's an ancient Gateway Pentium II 233mhz. I'm thinking I'll get a cheapo board (ABIT VA-10 or ASUS A7V8X) and throw a cheap CPU and memory in there...

I am wondering if it might make sense to take this opportunity to get a better chip for my main system and then swing over the xp2100 into the 2nd system ? I mostly play around on the web, just starting to get into some very, very light gaming, and my wife does a fair amount of photoshop type activity....

Q1) What type of chip upgrade would make sense to realistically see some improvement... I'm wondering about something like the xp2500 ?

Q2) With my main system, would I do well keeping the DDR2700 memory... or would going to the DDR3200 be worthwhile ? I remember reading about freq. matching the CPU and memory.. but not sure how that comes into play here....

Q3) currently have a generic 300W PSU in my main.. I would probably swing that over to system #2 and then get a new PSU for my main system... Something like a 350W Antec or Enermax... Make sense ?

I welcome your opinions.....

[Direct1]

1). Yes

2). Yes, at least 3200 of high quality RAM would be better if your want to OC the 2500.

3). Yes, that makes sense.

4). Good luck! :D

[slam]

At standard settings I don't think going from 2100 to 2500 is going to improve your system that much. If its stable and works for your needs why bother with the upgrade. Other than photoshop your demands are not that great. Photoshop can use the hyperthreading by intel in the modern versions but thats another issue.

[Direct1]

Originally posted by slam
At standard settings I don't think going from 2100 to 2500 is going to improve your system that much. If its stable and works for your needs why bother with the upgrade.
True, but in his case, he wants to upgrade an older system. This way, he'll have two nice systems. And, if he's lucky, the new 2500 will OC to 3000+ or higher. :D

[Rat]

Originally posted by Direct1
And, if he's lucky, the new 2500 will OC to 3000+ or higher. :D

No luck to it, with 3200 RAM and a decent HSF in it, he only has to set the FSB to 200 and whammo! he has a XP3200.

[Direct1]

Well, a few people have had problems so I don't like to make it sound like a guarantee. :D

[mlc]

guys... thanks for all the input... much appreciated...

it sounds like the upgrade from the 2100 to a 2500 would be marginal at best , without over clocking..

As suggested though, it would get me to a position of having 2 decent systems ... and it doesn't seem like there would be a huge price difference between the 2 scenarios... so I'll most likely go that route...

[jym111]

You should notice a pretty good increase because the barton has 512k cache which does make a difference. I went from a 2400 to 2600 (512k) and i noticed a difference, the faster FSB will make some too.

[mlc]

jym111

I did go through with the upgrade... went with the xp2500 and the corsair PC3200 dual channel kit.... and threw in a 450w psu

No benchmarking yet.. but definitely a noticeable difference..Wife is a heavy user of Photoshop & Corel Draw .. and was very happy with the old setup.. but after the upgrade.. she was shocked at how much quicker the refreshes , etc.. worked... !!
So now I've swung over the XP2100 & Samsung PC2700 memory into my 2nd setup... onto new ASUS A7V8X-X board.. great board for the money ($49)... very happy with decision

next question!! .. 1s system now has CPU at 38c and MB at 24c near idle... which seems fine from what I've read. Using Volcano9 & one front and one rear case fan. 2nd system however is running at 53c CPU and 36c MB under light/moderate load, but I'm only using the stock heatsink with with 1 rear case fan...
Volcano 9 is fine but a little too noisy, so I'm thinking of switching that to 2nd rig and getting either a Thermaltake Silent Boost or a CoolerMaster Aero 7 for my primary... These seem to offer the best combo of cooling power and low noise..
Any opinions ?

[Direct1]

Are you running the 2500+ at stock speeds or OC'ed?

Yeah, I would switch the HSF's too. I like the Thermaltake Silent Boost. Good luck! :D

[willrogers]

well, of course, the kid needs a better heatsink, you can't have the little guy pushing 53c playing the latest spongebob squarepants adventure game! if you are using a 1997 gateway P233 enclosure, you might try a new pc case to help cool things down. the Aspire X-Dreamer II for $52 plus $10 shipping over at newegg.com looks promising. it comes with 2 fans and room for 4 more (probably overkill) includes a 350w P4/AMD compatible powersupply (probably generic) and your choice of designer colors: silver, green, yellow, blue, black. how do you have the fan on your volcano 9 set up, does the fan speed adjust automatically with the CPU temp? from what i read, you can remove (open) the jumper, install the rheostat it comes with, and adjust the fan speed down to a pleasant pitch. don't know if that would be an improvement over the auto setting or not.

seems like a shame to let that fancy ram go to waste. with a barton xp2500 and decent motherboard, you could bump things up a little and give mom a real shock next time she puts together a photo album. the thermaltake silent boost is tough to beat--unless you're thinking 200fsb. i have one in my antec sonata case, xp2000 at stock speed, and with light duty (web browsing, e-mail, office apps) temps are about 45c--47c, under a load it goes to 50c. the good news is that from 3 feet away it sounds like a soft humming rather than noticeable fan noise. my teenage son has a xp2600/333 with the vantec aeroflow (model VA4-C7040 for AMD processors.) it has a tip-magnetic driving (TMD) fan, and stock temps are a good 5c--6c lower than what i get with the thermaltake silent boost. while you can hear a fan whining, the pitch is lower and more pleasant than a conventional HSF. if you want to OC the family pc (without getting ridiculous/unstable) the vantec aeroflow hits a sweet spot on the performance/noise scale and in my first post opinion would be a more capable choice for overclocking. by the way, once xmas is paid for, i want to do exactly the same thing (xp2500, corsair pc3200) and let's see what's out there...

[mlc]

thanks for the input gents.. I did end up getting the SilenBoost...

to answer/clarify previous post...

main setup ==> temp's are with no oc'ing ... just using the usual agressive setup with fsb at 166... but i plan to try it with fsb=200 in the near future...

second setup: failed to mention that i did buy a new generic case with a 350 psu.. Apart from stock AMD CPU fan.. I suspect not having an intake fan up front doesn't help... Once I switch the Volcano 9 over to this setup, I'll add a front case fan as well.....

With the Volc 9 .. I had been using it with the temp sensing mode... Then again.. wonder if that was necessary given the Q-fan technology on the A7n8x board, which essentially does the same thing...
It will make more sense to use this feature when switching this over to the 2nd machine as that does not have Q-fan