Upgrades

[Cal Vanize]

I have a computer with the current config:

.. ASUS A8V Deluxe
.. Ath64 3000 Venice
.. 2 x 512mb Corsair XMS CAS2
.. 2 x 80gb WD SATA in RAID0
.. FX-5700 8x AGP
.. Windoze 2000 SP2

CPU is "lightly" overclocked to about 2.2ghz with stock voltages. Temps
are nice, but system performance is dull and uninspiring.

Primarily run office apps, email, newsgroups, browser apps, MS Flight
Sim 2004 and a couple of games that don't require much.

When looking at the task manager, the system doesn't seem to use more
than 800mb.

Looking to upgrade the system to provide better performance. By this I
mean faster program start times, faster image rendering. I hate to
wait. I'd like to use the MB and video card if I can.

One of my other computers uses a Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 with a Ath 64 3700
San Diego oc'ed to 2550mhz, 2 x WD 160gb in RAID0, XP Home SP2. It
seems very fast, but I'd like to get better performance than that
system. (The mb has a bad reputation for being unreliable.)

So I think my options might be limited to a faster processor. (Other
recommendations are open for consideration.) Anybody have any
recommendations that would provide immediate and very obvious
performance improvements?

Yes, I'm on a budget, but I'm not afraid to spend money for a good
improvement. I'm also not afraid to overclock a proc, but don't want to
lose stability or reliability.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

CV

 

[RICHARD]

OC it so its faster then your Ath 64 3700
San Diego oc'ed to 2550mhz. It should go to 2.6mhz.

 

[dawg]

And get a better video card.

OC it so its faster then your Ath 64 3700
San Diego oc'ed to 2550mhz. It should go to 2.6mhz.

 

[Cal Vanize]

I've tried. System posts and recognizes memory, but fails to recognize
the SATA conrtroller above a FSB speed of about 243 or so.

 

[Wes Newell]

. ASUS A8V Deluxe
. Ath64 3000 Venice
. 2 x 512mb Corsair XMS CAS2
. 2 x 80gb WD SATA in RAID0
. FX-5700 8x AGP
. Windoze 2000 SP2

CPU is "lightly" overclocked to about 2.2ghz with stock voltages. Temps
are nice, but system performance is dull and uninspiring.

Primarily run office apps, email, newsgroups, browser apps, MS Flight
Sim 2004 and a couple of games that don't require much.

When looking at the task manager, the system doesn't seem to use more
than 800mb.

Looking to upgrade the system to provide better performance. By this I
mean faster program start times, faster image rendering. I hate to
wait. I'd like to use the MB and video card if I can.

One of my other computers uses a Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 with a Ath 64 3700
San Diego oc'ed to 2550mhz, 2 x WD 160gb in RAID0, XP Home SP2. It
seems very fast, but I'd like to get better performance than that
system. (The mb has a bad reputation for being unreliable.)

So I think my options might be limited to a faster processor. (Other
recommendations are open for consideration.) Anybody have any
recommendations that would provide immediate and very obvious
performance improvements?

A faster cpu isn't going to help much at all. Program start times depend
on how fast the program can be moved into the operating ram. Of course a
larger cache (more ram) will then keep it there and the next time it will
be much quicker to load. For the initial load time you'll have to speed up
your drive system (like raid 0 on your other system). As for video, a
faster video card is the answer there. A well design 1GHz system will
putperform a poorly configued 2GHz system in these aspects, so forget the
cpu change and address each problem individually.

 

[Cal Vanize]

A faster cpu isn't going to help much at all. Program start times depend
on how fast the program can be moved into the operating ram. Of course a
larger cache (more ram) will then keep it there and the next time it will
be much quicker to load. For the initial load time you'll have to speed up
your drive system (like raid 0 on your other system). As for video, a
faster video card is the answer there. A well design 1GHz system will
putperform a poorly configued 2GHz system in these aspects, so forget the
cpu change and address each problem individually.

Generally, that's what I would have thought.

I'm already running RAID0 already in the system in question (see system
description). These two drives together should provide better
performance than a single stand-alone Raptor. I think the board can
only handle two drives in a RAID0 so I might be at the end of I/O
performance unless I use different / faster drives. A pair of WD250
SATAs with 16mb of cache would only run $200 or so (not out of the
quesstion). They're nearly as fast as an older Raptor.

Would a new video card really help with program start times? The
FX-5700 seems to do pretty good in Flight Sim 2004.


Could performance also be an operating system issue?

 

[A Guy Called Tyketto]

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Wes Newell wrote:

Would a new video card really help with program start times? The
FX-5700 seems to do pretty good in Flight Sim 2004.


Could performance also be an operating system issue?

Compare that FX 5700 to the 7800GS that was just released, or
the to-be released X1900 from ATI, or even the X850 AGP. It does make a
difference, as it will be able to handle video much better (in terms of
memory). The other posters are right in this case. go for the card
first prior to upgrading everything else. The way the market is going,
you'd need to grab a new board before getting something else anyway, so
work with what you have until you have no choice.

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email: (e-mail address removed)
Unix Systems Administrator, | (e-mail address removed)
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! | http://www.wizard.com/~tyketto
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[User]

Would a new video card really help with program start times?
no

Could performance also be an operating system issue?

Yes

try a clean install on a freshly formatted drive (or set of drives)

 

[gringo]

If you are upgrading video card, I'd seriously think of switching mothboards
as AGP is dead end upgrade wise. Find yourself a decent PCI express board
and get a decent video card - I upgraded to a64 from xp stuff and went with
A8V to keep my 6800le agp card, a month later the thing died and now I had
to upgrade x850xt agp as it was the fastest thing around for agp.

If you don't play games, then I'd just get more memory and possibly do a
Windows rebuild. Make sure you setup swap file on a different drive if you
can.

 

[Dylan C]

If you don't play games, then I'd just get more memory and possibly do a
Windows rebuild. Make sure you setup swap file on a different drive if you
can.

I agree, If you have another storage drive in that system, move your
windows pagefile to that drive. More memory and a clean install are
good ideas too. Skip the video card upgrade. If you are concerned
about desktop performance (ie. not gaming) any modern graphics card is
just as good as the next.

Order I would do them in:
1)Move pagefile, if still unhappy:
2)Clean install (don't forget to move pagefile again), then
3)Memory Upgrade

The best part is the first 2 are free.

-Dylan C

 

[Wade]

If you are upgrading video card, I'd seriously think of switching mothboards
as AGP is dead end upgrade wise. Find yourself a decent PCI express board
and get a decent video card - I upgraded to a64 from xp stuff and went with
A8V to keep my 6800le agp card, a month later the thing died and now I had
to upgrade x850xt agp as it was the fastest thing around for agp.

Don't forget about the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 board, it has full speed AGP
and PCI express on the same board. Nothing wrong with it's general
performance, either. (ok, not the *fastest* mobo around, but it's only
about 3-4% slower than the best out there - certainly worth the money
saved by not upgrading your 6800 agp card at the same time.)

It also has the AM2 expansion slot, for AMDs next slot type. I wont be
getting a new mobo for quite some time, with this.

 

[Wes Newell]

I'm already running RAID0 already in the system in question (see system
description). These two drives together should provide better
performance than a single stand-alone Raptor. I think the board can
only handle two drives in a RAID0 so I might be at the end of I/O
performance unless I use different / faster drives. A pair of WD250
SATAs with 16mb of cache would only run $200 or so (not out of the
quesstion). They're nearly as fast as an older Raptor.

Would a new video card really help with program start times? The
FX-5700 seems to do pretty good in Flight Sim 2004.

No. I thought you want better graphics, but after looking back i see you
don't. Have you checked the performance of the raid setup? Run a file
system benchmark of some kind to check the speed. You should get
somewhere around 60 MBPS or more transfer speeds I would think

Could performance also be an operating system issue?

Wouldn't be for me, but I don't use windows. Check you speed and if it's
low, then look for new drivers.

 

[Scotter]

The single most "bang for the buck" thing you can do would be to add another
two 512MB sticks of RAM.
Moving from 1 gig to 2 gig will decrease paging to disk and will even
increase performance of some games out there. Your whole system will seem
snappier with 2 gig of RAM. Especially when you minimize any programs to
run/load something else.
I would not upgrade video card until you have moved to a PCI-E supporting
motherboard.
Finally, boot time will decrease if you move from Windows 2000 up to XP, if
you care about boot time.
Otherwise, just wait for Vista or stick with 2000, which may be fine for
your purposes

--
Scotter
Tyan Thunder K8WE
Dual Opteron 252s (2.6ghz)
6 gig DDR400 RAM
XFX 7800 GTX 256 w/VGAsilencerV3
500 gig SATA2 Hitachi
160 gig SATA1 Seagate
Dual 24" Dell LCDs
550W power supply
X-Fi Platinum Soundblaster
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