upgrade or not

[jek]

I was getting ready to do a big upgrade and now can't afford to go the with what iwas planing on. Well I was looking on newegg.com and there offering a free motherboard with purchase of a amd 64 3400. Im currently running a athlon 2800 and was wondering if the 3400 would be any boost. The main things I do are encode with tmpgenc and dvd ripping and burning. Im not much on gaming. So would the 3400 64bit be a noticeable boost over a 2800 32bit? Thanks Jay

[isogonic]

i could be wrong but i dont think a 64bit cpu would be a boost unless you also had a 64bit OS, drivers and software to go along with it.

[redwudz]

The CPU is not necessarily the biggest gain when upgrading the system. You need to look at the motherboard used. If you were using PC133 memory and you upgrade to a DDR memory MB, you will see some gains. The same with the Front Side Bus speed of the motherboard. A newer CPU likely needs some changes in the type of MB to make the most of it's potential. Be aware that most of the newer 64 bit CPUs use a PCI-E motherboard, so your existing memory, AGP video card may not be compatible. But if you have a link to the MB deal, go ahead and post it here. Then you may be able to get some advice that would apply that particular system and not have to be so generic.

EDIT: Is this what you are looking at?: http://promotions.newegg.com/AMD/AMD_mobo/index.html

Probably not a bad deal for the price. It is a socket 754 which sells at a reduced price as that CPU is being phased out. I have put a couple of computers together with a similar CPU. If so, I would look at the BIOSTAR MB, as it uses the Nvidia chipset. It's not a PCI-E MB. I don't really recommend a VIA chipset for AMD due to poor past experiences with them. Not a bad MB, actually. If your present system is as stated in your computer details, you might see some increase in speed, hard to tell. It would depend on your present CPU model.

[budz]

http://promotions.newegg.com/AMD/AMD_mobo/index.html

Whoas! redwudz that is a bargain for a Combo AMD 64 3400+ Socket 754 and a BIOSTAR Socket 754 Nvidia Nforce 3 mobo, $99.99.

[redwudz]

budz, I have enough 754 CPUs already. But I agree, it does seem like a good deal, even if the CPU is getting a little out of date. That does appear to be an Athlon CPU, not a Sempron also, which is nice.

[jek]

Im currently running 1gig of pc3200 and was going to reuse it along with my drives and video card. I was just wondering if I would notice any diffrence in between the 64bit 3400 and the 32 bit 2800. Next year after tax time im going to do a full upgrade, but for now id like to get by as cheap as possable. Thanks

[ROF]

budz, I have enough 754 CPUs already. But I agree, it does seem like a good deal, even if the CPU is getting a little out of date. That does appear to be an Athlon CPU, not a Sempron also, which is nice.

A little out of date?

2GB RAM Max? DDR400? in two 184pin slots? no dual channel? ALC655 audio chip? no Sata II? no PCI-Express?

I would rather spend:

939 Motherboard - $53.99
and
939 CPU - $75.00

Total: $128.99

For $28 more you get PCI-Express, SATA II, dual channel support in 4 RAM slots, and AC97 standard Audio all on a modern board that will support a dual core chip when you decide to upgrade later.

$99 sounds like a great deal until you realize exactly what you are getting. You will not experience much of an upgrade from your 2800 by purchasing the $99 deal.

[Dv8ted2]

i could be wrong but i dont think a 64bit cpu would be a boost unless you also had a 64bit OS, drivers and software to go along with it.

The athlon 64 will run 32 bit apps faster. That is the boost he was referring to.

[redwudz]

You would likely see an improvement in multitasking, but possibly not a large increase in speed. It would depend a lot on the chipset you presently have and the one on the new motherboard. In addition, the Nvidia chipsets can fairly easily overclock, while the VIA chipsets have a hard time doing this. A change in the FSB speed of 200Mhz to maybe 230Mhz would change the speed of the CPU a fair amount and give you a boost in speed that would be even more noticeable. You would have to check for a review of a MB like the Biostar to see what capabilities it may have. A 32 bit OS will not really take advantage of a 64 bit CPU. But the CPU itself will more flexible and should be able to run more programs (Multitask) much easier.

It's not a simple question. I prefer the 64bit CPU, even with a 32bit OS and applications as it just seems to be working less to accomplish the same things as a 32bit CPU. Often, newer motherboards have other optimizations that will give you a better through put. When I went from a Athlon 2500+ Barton CPU to a Athlon 3200+ 64 bit CPU, I had a major increase in speed. That was a change to DDR memory, faster or more efficient hard drive controllers, better memory controllers, and a whole bunch of other items, mostly related to improvements in the motherboard. With that same new motherboard, going from 3200+ to a 3800+ would give me an increase in speed again, but probably not as much a change as going from the 2500 to the 3200.

If you are looking for a interim improvement until you can do a full system upgrade, I would definitely recommend the change. You likely can't beat the Newegg deal for price vs performance. And if you are able to reuse your existing components, so much the better. Again, depending on your present setup, you may see a fair increase in speed. Just the ability for better multitasking will help. I would also recommend the Biostar, or a least a Nvidia chipset with that CPU. And being able to over clock the CPU may give you an even greater boost in speed.

Sorry for the rambling post, but there are more factors sometimes in a upgrade than just raw CPU speed that determine the differences in encoding speeds. Upping the CPU speed will always give you a boost in encode speed, how much may depend on other factors.

[jek]

Thanks guys. I think im going to go with motherboard that ROF suggested and buying the fastest cpu money will allow. Thanks Jay

[bevills1]

IMO the difference seen would be fairly small. Recently I timed DVDShrink on a P2 450 MHZ which took 115 minutes compared to 95 minutes on an Athlon 750 MHZ for exact same DVD or approximatley 30% less time than the 450. The difference between 2800 and 3400 is even less difference in CPU speed and wouldn't be worth upgrading for me personally. Also be advised the NewEgg combo is for Micro ATX mobo and not ATX mobo if it's the same one I considered.

[redwudz]

I would agree a 939 or the newer AM2 CPUs and newer motherboards will give you the biggest improvement. Often it's all the little details on a newer MB that make a fair difference in speed, even with similar CPUs. Be advised, though, most newer MBs, and especially 939s are PCI-E, so you may need faster memory, though not necessarily, and you will definitely need a different video card. No AGP there.

EDIT: I see ROF's MB has video, so good deal. I like the Nvida chipset also.