HELP - advice please on options for upgrading Duron system

[Ruel Smith]

(OPTION 1) MEMORY REPLACEMENT
My Syntax mobo will take DDR or SDRAM (definitely it will.) The
question is ... very approximately how much faster would my system
run if I replaced the 786 MB SDRAM with 768 MB of DDR. 10 percent?
25 percent? 50 percent? 100 percent?

It'll only be noticeable when running games or something similarly intense.
Memory is so fast, that during normal activity like writing a letter in
Word or surfing the net, you wouldn't notice the difference. When you run a
high powered game like Far Cry, you'll notice the difference in the
smoothness of your animation and the speed at which the screen redraws at
higher resolutions and FSAA. It would also be noticeable if you were doing
video or image editing.

(OPTION 2) UPGRADE CPU
If upgrade the cpu to a Athlon Thoroughbred-B (maybe a 2400+) and
keep mobo and memory the same then, very approximately, what sort of
increased power or throughput might I expect? Extra 100 percent?
Extra 200 percent? More?

Big time. It's better that you read the charts and see for yourself:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030217/index.html

In the Office/Internet Performance benchmark in Sysmark 2002, the 2400+ was
2.75 times as fast as the Duron 900. In the PCMark 2002 - CPU benchmark, it
was 2.6 times as fast. That means there's even more of a gap between your
Duron 700 and the 2400+. Sounds like a good upgrade to me... However...see
below.

(OPTION 3)
UPGRADE MOBO AND MEMORY. As a higher-cost option I could go for an
ASUS A7N8X-VM/400 with the nVidia nForce2 IGP chipset giving onboard
sound and graphics. I would need to get DDR memory - maybe 512 MB.
Is that roughly the right amount?
http://uk.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X-VM/400&langs=11

(3A) To save money, I might keep the crappy old Duron
700 MHz cpu even though it is worth very little.

(3B) Or I could go for a Athlon Thoroughbred-B as before.
Maybe a 2400+. I know this is going to be faster but costlier.

I know it's hard to say exactly but roughly how much faster would
option (3A) be than my old system? An extra 200 percent faster?
Extra 300 percent faster? Even faster?

What about option (3B)? Is it roughly an extra 300 percent? Extra
400 percent? Extra five hundred percent?

Well, here's where it gets hairy. In order to use the Athlon 2400+, which is
the best option, IMO, you will either have to overclock your current
motherboard to use the faster 333MHz FSB that it requires to achieve its
speed, or get a motherboard that will natively support that FSB. That may
require memory upgrades as well. Also, remember that a faster processor
usually requires more power, so you have to make sure your power supply is
up to snuff. Does your motherboard support overclocking the FSB? I'm not
familiar with your brand.

(OPTION 4) ?????
What else might I do to get a faster machine at a cost effective
price? Obviously, I am not keen on a new mobo plus graphics card
plus processor plus memory unless it really turns out to be good
value.

It's not, unless you game a lot. Then, it makes a huge difference. For
everyday computing. you won't need all of that faster hardware to achieve
your goals.

The biggest bottleneck in the system you've described is the Duron. Other
than that, you might look at your HDD. If you're running a 5400 rpm hard
drive, you may want to consider upgrading to a newer drive with denser
platters, 7200 rpm spindle speed, and 8MB cache. I'd look at a 160GB drive,
which would undoubtedly have 80MB platters. Storage is the biggest
bottlneck in any system.

 

[Franklin]

Need advice on the most cost effective upgrade. Please help out and
comment on my options below.

In this post I describe
(a) my system
(b) it's usage
(c) three or four possible upgrade options.

Thank you very much for any advice! It is much appreciated.

------

THE SYSTEM. Am running a socket-A Duron 700 in a Syntax motherboard
using a Via 266A chipset with 768 MB of 133MHz SD-RAM. The mobo has
on-board sound. The PC uses an old nVidia GeForce2 MX 32MB graphics
card. Main system hard drive is 7200 2MB 160 GB.
(Mobo manual is at http://snipurl.com/9lnh)


SYSTEM USAGE. The system is attached to the Net by cable and is used
for regular surfing, overnight downloads from filesharing and from
the Usenet, small office applications like Word & Excel, some jpeg
editing, etc. The system is a rather underpowered even for these
sorts of task.


USAGE NOT STRICTLY NEEDED. The system does NOT need to be used for
gaming, heavy power usage, audio or video editing, etc. All this
would be nice when I can afford it one day!

-------

Please help out and comment on my upgrade options. I just want more
power to do my usual tasks described above.


(OPTION 1) MEMORY REPLACEMENT
My Syntax mobo will take DDR or SDRAM (definitely it will.) The
question is ... very approximately how much faster would my system
run if I replaced the 786 MB SDRAM with 768 MB of DDR. 10 percent?
25 percent? 50 percent? 100 percent?


(OPTION 2) UPGRADE CPU
If upgrade the cpu to a Athlon Thoroughbred-B (maybe a 2400+) and
keep mobo and memory the same then, very approximately, what sort of
increased power or throughput might I expect? Extra 100 percent?
Extra 200 percent? More?


(OPTION 3)
UPGRADE MOBO AND MEMORY. As a higher-cost option I could go for an
ASUS A7N8X-VM/400 with the nVidia nForce2 IGP chipset giving onboard
sound and graphics. I would need to get DDR memory - maybe 512 MB.
Is that roughly the right amount?
http://uk.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X-VM/400&langs=11

(3A) To save money, I might keep the crappy old Duron
700 MHz cpu even though it is worth very little.

(3B) Or I could go for a Athlon Thoroughbred-B as before.
Maybe a 2400+. I know this is going to be faster but costlier.

I know it's hard to say exactly but roughly how much faster would
option (3A) be than my old system? An extra 200 percent faster?
Extra 300 percent faster? Even faster?

What about option (3B)? Is it roughly an extra 300 percent? Extra
400 percent? Extra five hundred percent?


(OPTION 4) ?????
What else might I do to get a faster machine at a cost effective
price? Obviously, I am not keen on a new mobo plus graphics card
plus processor plus memory unless it really turns out to be good
value.

 

[Wes Newell]

THE SYSTEM. Am running a socket-A Duron 700 in a Syntax motherboard
using a Via 266A chipset with 768 MB of 133MHz SD-RAM. The mobo has
on-board sound. The PC uses an old nVidia GeForce2 MX 32MB graphics
card. Main system hard drive is 7200 2MB 160 GB.
(Mobo manual is at http://snipurl.com/9lnh)

Please help out and comment on my upgrade options. I just want more
power to do my usual tasks described above.


(OPTION 1) MEMORY REPLACEMENT
My Syntax mobo will take DDR or SDRAM (definitely it will.) The
question is ... very approximately how much faster would my system
run if I replaced the 786 MB SDRAM with 768 MB of DDR. 10 percent?
25 percent? 50 percent? 100 percent?
About 5% if that much.

(OPTION 2) UPGRADE CPU
If upgrade the cpu to a Athlon Thoroughbred-B (maybe a 2400+) and
keep mobo and memory the same then, very approximately, what sort of
increased power or throughput might I expect? Extra 100 percent?
Extra 200 percent? More?

At least 100%. I recently gave my 2100+ to my brother who was running a
750MHz Duron. Old board with a 100Mhz FSB, so when I put this Tbred B core
cpu in it, it only ran at 1300MHz (13x100), and he noticed a major
increase in speed. I took his old 750 Duron and put back in my spare
system that my wife uses to check email about once a week, and even though
I overlocked the Duron to 930MHz, she Imediately noticed the system was a
lot slower.

(OPTION 3)
UPGRADE MOBO AND MEMORY. As a higher-cost option I could go for an ASUS
A7N8X-VM/400 with the nVidia nForce2 IGP chipset giving onboard sound
and graphics. I would need to get DDR memory - maybe 512 MB. Is that
roughly the right amount?
http://uk.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X-VM/400&langs=11

(3A) To save money, I might keep the crappy old Duron 700 MHz cpu
even though it is worth very little.

(3B) Or I could go for a Athlon Thoroughbred-B as before. Maybe a
2400+. I know this is going to be faster but costlier.

I know it's hard to say exactly but roughly how much faster would option
(3A) be than my old system? An extra 200 percent faster? Extra 300
percent faster? Even faster?

Changing MB won't get you hardly any speed increase with the same old cpu.
If you decice on a new board, you need a new CPU too to noitice any speed
improvement. The board you have now will support any /266 model Athlon
XP/MP and a 2400+ is a logical choice for your current board.

What about option (3B)? Is it roughly an extra 300 percent? Extra 400
percent? Extra five hundred percent?

No better than using your current board with a 2400+ at stock speeds.

(OPTION 4) ?????
What else might I do to get a faster machine at a cost effective price?
Obviously, I am not keen on a new mobo plus graphics card plus processor
plus memory unless it really turns out to be good value.

Just change the cpu. It's cheaper and will get you the most for your
money. For future games, just changing the video card is what you would
need to do. The MX series of GF2's are only 32bit. A GF2 non MX would be
at least twice as fast in games. Stay away from anything MX for games.

 

[David Besack]

What else might I do to get a faster machine at a cost effective

price? Obviously, I am not keen on a new mobo plus graphics card
plus processor plus memory unless it really turns out to be good
value.

I think your cheapest option but still a worthwhile upgrade would be a CPU
replacement only. Just make sure the new CPU will work with a 100/133 MHz
BUS.

 

[Cuzman]

" The system does NOT need to be used for gaming, heavy power usage, audio
or video editing, etc. All this would be nice when I can afford it one
day! "


Are you in the UK? What PSU do you have? Hopefully one that will support a
CPU upgrade. An Athlon XP 2400+ is the best step. Get a retail-boxed one
with a heatsink/fan and 3-year warranty.

If you did want to play a few games, then your needs might suit a 128MB
GeForce4 Ti4200, Ti4400 or Ti4600 for £25-£40 from www.ebay.co.uk

You can ask for all of the above in 'uk.adverts.computers', as well as
selling your old Duron (and maybe your GeForce2) to lighten the load on your
wallet a little.

 

[David Maynard]

Need advice on the most cost effective upgrade. Please help out and
comment on my options below.

In this post I describe
(a) my system
(b) it's usage
(c) three or four possible upgrade options.

Thank you very much for any advice! It is much appreciated.

------

THE SYSTEM. Am running a socket-A Duron 700 in a Syntax motherboard
using a Via 266A chipset with 768 MB of 133MHz SD-RAM. The mobo has
on-board sound. The PC uses an old nVidia GeForce2 MX 32MB graphics
card. Main system hard drive is 7200 2MB 160 GB.
(Mobo manual is at http://snipurl.com/9lnh)


SYSTEM USAGE. The system is attached to the Net by cable and is used
for regular surfing, overnight downloads from filesharing and from
the Usenet, small office applications like Word & Excel, some jpeg
editing, etc. The system is a rather underpowered even for these
sorts of task.


USAGE NOT STRICTLY NEEDED. The system does NOT need to be used for
gaming, heavy power usage, audio or video editing, etc. All this
would be nice when I can afford it one day!

-------

Please help out and comment on my upgrade options. I just want more
power to do my usual tasks described above.


(OPTION 1) MEMORY REPLACEMENT
My Syntax mobo will take DDR or SDRAM (definitely it will.) The
question is ... very approximately how much faster would my system
run if I replaced the 786 MB SDRAM with 768 MB of DDR. 10 percent?
25 percent? 50 percent? 100 percent?

Changing to DDR from SDRAM might give you a 3 to 5% performance increase.

(OPTION 2) UPGRADE CPU
If upgrade the cpu to a Athlon Thoroughbred-B (maybe a 2400+) and
keep mobo and memory the same then, very approximately, what sort of
increased power or throughput might I expect? Extra 100 percent?
Extra 200 percent? More?

This is your best bang for the buck. Processor performance will increase
with the speed but hard drive performance isn't affected so, for example,
it isn't as if it'll boot 2 times faster, etc.

(OPTION 3)
UPGRADE MOBO AND MEMORY. As a higher-cost option I could go for an
ASUS A7N8X-VM/400 with the nVidia nForce2 IGP chipset giving onboard
sound and graphics. I would need to get DDR memory - maybe 512 MB.
Is that roughly the right amount?
http://uk.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X-VM/400&langs=11

(3A) To save money, I might keep the crappy old Duron
700 MHz cpu even though it is worth very little.

(3B) Or I could go for a Athlon Thoroughbred-B as before.
Maybe a 2400+. I know this is going to be faster but costlier.

I know it's hard to say exactly but roughly how much faster would
option (3A) be than my old system? An extra 200 percent faster?
Extra 300 percent faster? Even faster?

You might get a 3% boost from the better chipset and 3 to 5% from the DDR,
which is an option on the other motherboard and, so, doesn't count as a
benefit for changing motherboards.

The change in graphics would have no effect on your listed needs.

What about option (3B)? Is it roughly an extra 300 percent? Extra
400 percent? Extra five hundred percent?

Again, it might be 3% faster than if you simply put the 2400+ in your
existing board and, again, the 3 to 5% from the DDR, which is an option on
the other motherboard and, so, doesn't count as a benefit for changing
motherboards.

The change in graphics would have no effect on your listed needs.

There just isn't much reason to change motherboards unless you're also
going to up the processor to a Barton 3200+.

 

[Tod]

Need advice on the most cost effective upgrade. Please help out and
comment on my options below.

In this post I describe
(a) my system
(b) it's usage
(c) three or four possible upgrade options.

Thank you very much for any advice! It is much appreciated.

------

THE SYSTEM. Am running a socket-A Duron 700 in a Syntax motherboard
using a Via 266A chipset with 768 MB of 133MHz SD-RAM. The mobo has
on-board sound. The PC uses an old nVidia GeForce2 MX 32MB graphics
card. Main system hard drive is 7200 2MB 160 GB.
(Mobo manual is at http://snipurl.com/9lnh)


SYSTEM USAGE. The system is attached to the Net by cable and is used
for regular surfing, overnight downloads from filesharing and from
the Usenet, small office applications like Word & Excel, some jpeg
editing, etc. The system is a rather underpowered even for these
sorts of task.


USAGE NOT STRICTLY NEEDED. The system does NOT need to be used for
gaming, heavy power usage, audio or video editing, etc. All this
would be nice when I can afford it one day!

-------

Please help out and comment on my upgrade options. I just want more
power to do my usual tasks described above.


(OPTION 1) MEMORY REPLACEMENT
My Syntax mobo will take DDR or SDRAM (definitely it will.) The
question is ... very approximately how much faster would my system
run if I replaced the 786 MB SDRAM with 768 MB of DDR. 10 percent?
25 percent? 50 percent? 100 percent?

No reason to replace your memory, it would cost over a $100, and would only
help about 5%

(OPTION 2) UPGRADE CPU
If upgrade the cpu to a Athlon Thoroughbred-B (maybe a 2400+) and
keep mobo and memory the same then, very approximately, what sort of
increased power or throughput might I expect? Extra 100 percent?
Extra 200 percent? More?

CPU replacement would be the best bang for the buck, just make sure
you get an Athlon that is 266MHZ FSB, the 333mhz FSB CPUs are for newer
motherboards
With a 2400+, you would have a processor that is running over three times
faster.
Also the Thoroughbred-B has four times (256k) as much level 2 cache as the
Duron (64k)

(OPTION 3)
UPGRADE MOBO AND MEMORY. As a higher-cost option I could go for an
ASUS A7N8X-VM/400 with the nVidia nForce2 IGP chipset giving onboard
sound and graphics. I would need to get DDR memory - maybe 512 MB.
Is that roughly the right amount?
http://uk.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X-VM/400&langs=11

(3A) To save money, I might keep the crappy old Duron
700 MHz cpu even though it is worth very little.

(3B) Or I could go for a Athlon Thoroughbred-B as before.
Maybe a 2400+. I know this is going to be faster but costlier.

I know it's hard to say exactly but roughly how much faster would
option (3A) be than my old system? An extra 200 percent faster?
Extra 300 percent faster? Even faster?

What about option (3B)? Is it roughly an extra 300 percent? Extra
400 percent? Extra five hundred percent?


(OPTION 4) ?????
What else might I do to get a faster machine at a cost effective
price? Obviously, I am not keen on a new mobo plus graphics card
plus processor plus memory unless it really turns out to be good
value.

--------

Thank you for any advice.
Franklin.









--

Netiquette ...
[msg crossposted to homebuild, AMD and ASUS groups]
[no followup group set, so posters can see later replies]

 

[Shawk]

Need advice on the most cost effective upgrade. Please help out and
comment on my options below.

In this post I describe
(a) my system
(b) it's usage
(c) three or four possible upgrade options.

Thank you very much for any advice! It is much appreciated.

Snipped<

Personally I wouldnt go this route (like my games too much) but for your
needs something like the link below might be a good starter for
consideration.

http://online.stak.com/cgi-bin/stak/index-frames.html?id=PZB3cUbA&mv_pc=2

Shaun