CPU Upgrade

[Travis King]

I currently have a Sempron 64 2800+ (Socket 754) overclocked to 1.99GHz
by bumping the FSB up to 249. I'm considering upgrading my old 754 system
to the Athlon 64 3700+ 754. (If I can find it and at a reasonable price -
any ideas where? Not much luck with eBay.) Keep in mind that the system is
running Windows Vista (Some like it and a lot hate it - but let's get back
on the subject). Is it worth my time and money upgrading or should I just
stick with what I have? What kind of performance increases would be
experienced if any?

The system is used for some moderate but not heavy multitasking.
Running WMP, Photoshop (nothing real complex), and Microsoft Digital Image
10 at the same time is common. It gets used for occasional gaming as well,
but not heavy gaming. The Sempron handles it all at a decent level, but the
Sempy is a tad weak and could be better, especially with WMP11 on Vista.
Thanks.


WEI Overall Score: 4.0
Processor: 4.0 (AMD Sempron 64 2800+ 754 @ 1.99GHz)
Memory: 4.3 (1.5GB DDR PC-2700 - would be 3200 if it weren't for the 512
module)
Graphics (Aero): 4.3 (ATI Radeon X1600PRO AGP 8x 256MB GDDR2 @ 1680x1050)
Gaming Graphics: 4.8
Primary HD: 5.0 (Western Digital PATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache 120GB HD)

Mobo: Asus K8N

 

[Wes Newell]

I currently have a Sempron 64 2800+ (Socket 754) overclocked to 1.99GHz
by bumping the FSB up to 249. I'm considering upgrading my old 754 system
to the Athlon 64 3700+ 754. (If I can find it and at a reasonable price -
any ideas where? Not much luck with eBay.) Keep in mind that the system is
running Windows Vista (Some like it and a lot hate it - but let's get back
on the subject). Is it worth my time and money upgrading or should I just
stick with what I have? What kind of performance increases would be
experienced if any?

754 3700+ models are not cheap. I found one new one for $284. And that's
just rediculous when you can buy an X2 4200+ for about $69. I upgraded all
my Semprons to Athlon 64 3200's a while back when newegg.com had them for
about $50 each. The 3700+ runs at the same clock speed (2.4GHz) as the
3400+ does. The only advantage is it's 1M cache, which doesn't help a bit
in a lot of apps, and the 3400+ is actually faster in a few because of the
overhead of the extra cache in the 3700+. My advice would be to sell your
MB/CPU/Ram on ebay and go with a new AM2 MB/CPU/Ram. They are dirt cheap
right now. A retail X2 3800+ can be had for $69 and an X2 4200+ for $79
now. If you must stay with your 754 board, then get a newer core A64 3200
and overclock it. DON't get an older core. they won't overclock near as
much. The 11 multiplier of the 3200+ venice core will get you 2750Mhz with
a 250MHz system clock. there's considerable performance increase with an
X2 when multi-tasking. replacing my old A64 3000+ with an X2 3800+ was
well worth it even though the X2 3800+ cost me $150 at that time. 2 cores
are definately better than one.

 

[Travis King]

754 3700+ models are not cheap. I found one new one for $284. And that's
just rediculous when you can buy an X2 4200+ for about $69. I upgraded all
my Semprons to Athlon 64 3200's a while back when newegg.com had them for
about $50 each. The 3700+ runs at the same clock speed (2.4GHz) as the
3400+ does. The only advantage is it's 1M cache, which doesn't help a bit
in a lot of apps, and the 3400+ is actually faster in a few because of the
overhead of the extra cache in the 3700+. My advice would be to sell your
MB/CPU/Ram on ebay and go with a new AM2 MB/CPU/Ram. They are dirt cheap
right now. A retail X2 3800+ can be had for $69 and an X2 4200+ for $79
now. If you must stay with your 754 board, then get a newer core A64 3200
and overclock it. DON't get an older core. they won't overclock near as
much. The 11 multiplier of the 3200+ venice core will get you 2750Mhz with
a 250MHz system clock. there's considerable performance increase with an
X2 when multi-tasking. replacing my old A64 3000+ with an X2 3800+ was
well worth it even though the X2 3800+ cost me $150 at that time. 2 cores
are definately better than one.

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My mother's computer (I built it) has a 939 X2 3800+. (About three
months before AM2 came out.) It didn't feel much faster in XP than my Sempy
did, but that's pretty much because the Sempy ran XP as fast as XP could run
anyway. I also noticed that I had to do some work to get the X2 up to 100%.
At the time it was $300, and I almost always buy my parts from newegg. BTW,
that was the problem I was having with the 3700. I couldn't find it for a
reasonable price, and I agree, it'd be crazy to spend $300 on that CPU. If
I can't get at least within 15% or so of the X2's performance, I'll just
hold it off.
Heck, I just as well should get a whole new system if I'm going to get a
new mobo, cpu, and RAM. I just did the mobo and CPU a year and a half ago
from an Asus A7V333 and an Athlon XP 2400+. The only reason I did the
upgrade was because the mobo died (my fault), and so I just went to the 754
and the Sempy because I was on a budget. The Sempy is faster than my Athlon
XP - enough to be noticeable but not much more than that.

Thanks for the help.