Will I See Noticeable Performance Boost In This Upgrade??

[Robert Nurse]

If the OS is Win XP, you might have to rinstall. I fought with
this pice of trash for 3 days until it worked again after an
upgrade from an Athlon XP 2200 to 3000. Aparently it forgets
all installed drivers (or something like it), if the CPU is
changed.

Arno

The OS is indeed Win XP Pro. I hope I don't have to reinstall XP to
merely change the CPU. I just got through upgrading to XP Pro and
reinstalling all my apps! Having to reinstall for a motherboard
change makes sense. Different main boards may use different chip sets
and other hardware which means different drivers. Hopefully it'll be
just a matter of calling M$ for an activation code.

 

[Leythos]

The OS is indeed Win XP Pro. I hope I don't have to reinstall XP to
merely change the CPU. I just got through upgrading to XP Pro and
reinstalling all my apps! Having to reinstall for a motherboard
change makes sense. Different main boards may use different chip sets
and other hardware which means different drivers. Hopefully it'll be
just a matter of calling M$ for an activation code.

The reactivation thing is based on a points scale - you can generally
change one or two items in the computer before it invalidates your
activation. Changing the CPU should not trigger it. Change the CPU, Hard
Drive, and the Network/Video card and it will.

 

[Doug Ramage]

Arno Wagner <[email protected]> wrote in message

The OS is indeed Win XP Pro. I hope I don't have to reinstall XP to
merely change the CPU. I just got through upgrading to XP Pro and
reinstalling all my apps! Having to reinstall for a motherboard
change makes sense. Different main boards may use different chip sets
and other hardware which means different drivers. Hopefully it'll be
just a matter of calling M$ for an activation code.

I changed my CPU a few weeks ago - no re-activation of Windows XP Pro was
needed.

 

[Adam S]

I'm considering upgrading my PC running an ASUS A7V/Athlon 850 to a
matching 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz Athlon processor and doubling the RAM to
1GB. This upgrade will cost me about $200. This will be far cheaper
and less time consuming (no OS/apps reinstall) than a new mainboard,
chip and memory. Will I really see a noticeable performance increase?

I would certainly change the CPU, it does improve things and you will notice
it. If you want to do the memory route at this time check on ebay for some
secondhand DIMMS, remember that any upgrade in processor beyond the 1.4 will
require a new motherboard and you will probably need to buy new memory too,
so any you get now may be discarded quite soon.

Be aware that the A7V has a 100 FSB when buying your processor.

Many older motherboards are limited to a maximum 1.4GHz Athlon so you may
find that a secondhand 1.4 will be quite expensive, go instead for a 1.3GHz
for about a quarter of the price.

My A7V needed a BIOS update to recognise the CPU properly, it mis-reported
it as a 1266MHz instead of 1300MHz when it was first installed.

Good luck

Adam S

 

[Dick]

My advice is keep what you have now. Save your money until you can
afford a new system. Spending $200 on this upgrade is a poor return on
your investment.

 

[Gareth Jones]

Any graphics editing app will appreciate more RAM, 512MB is the min I
would use with PhotoShop - 2GB and Dual P4's runs very nice when doing
large images

Yes...... Much in the same way that you need a Ferrari to nip down to
the corner shop ;-)

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[Leythos]

Yes...... Much in the same way that you need a Ferrari to nip down to
the corner shop ;-)

Ah, but using your analogy, if you were racing you would want the
Ferrari, and PhotoShop is like owning a Ferrari when it comes to
Graphics. If you are running PhotoShop, you NEED RAM - no questions
about it, RAM, RAM, more RAM. PS is RAM hungry on any platform. Adobe
suggests 5 times the image size for Available Memory when working with
PhotoShop. Some of the images I edit are in the 140MB range, some
larger, a lot are smaller.

I know he's not going to get a Dual P4, but you can get a Dual Xeon with
1GB of ram for about $1000 (motherboard, Dual Xeon's, 1GB RAM), a lot
cheaper than it use to be.

 

[Gareth Jones]

Ah, but using your analogy, if you were racing you would want the
Ferrari, and PhotoShop is like owning a Ferrari when it comes to
Graphics. If you are running PhotoShop, you NEED RAM - no questions
about it, RAM, RAM, more RAM.

Yes and no.
Yes you need enough RAM for the Job
No, you don't need any more than that.

For a normal person using Photoshop, your suggestion is inappropriate.

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Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
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[Leythos]

Yes and no.
Yes you need enough RAM for the Job
No, you don't need any more than that.

For a normal person using Photoshop, your suggestion is inappropriate.

What do you consider "Normal Person"? It appeared as though the OP was
into some form of graphics design - from the list of apps - or just web
development. Sure, the Dual Xeon is overkill for home users, but most
home users don't have PhotoShop - they have PS Lite or some other
stripped down version. It's a $600 package unless you get the pirated
version of it.

Anyone willing to spend $600 on Photoshop is not a "home" user, but more
of a business user.

The comment about "enough RAM for the Job" is meaning less unless the OP
states what he does with PS, and I already said my system was overkill
for most.

 

[Gareth Jones]

What do you consider "Normal Person"? It appeared as though the OP was
into some form of graphics design - from the list of apps - or just web
development.

A graphic designer eh? ..... Java and C ...... of course, silly me. My
apologies.

Sure, the Dual Xeon is overkill for home users, but most
home users don't have PhotoShop - they have PS Lite or some other
stripped down version. It's a $600 package unless you get the pirated
version of it.

Eh? You mean you can get a pirated copy of PS ?????? Nooooo, surely not.
Sorry, I just can't believe anybody uses pirate software these days.
You must be correct. I apologise again.

Anyone willing to spend $600 on Photoshop is not a "home" user, but more
of a business user.

The comment about "enough RAM for the Job" is meaning less unless the OP
states what he does with PS,

He has - 'some Photoshop, not a lot'
Doesn't sound like a 150 layer, A0 printing, power user to me??

But then..... you must be correct.
So I'll apologise anyway.


--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
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followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
followed by 'net'
__________________________________________________

 

[Leythos]

In message <[email protected]>,
He has - 'some Photoshop, not a lot'
Doesn't sound like a 150 layer, A0 printing, power user to me??

But then..... you must be correct.
So I'll apologise anyway.

I already said the Dual Xeon / 2GB was overkill, what more can I say to
make you happy - you don't need to reply.