AMD Question
hey, im thinking of upgrading my cpu; here are my necessary specs:
AMD Athlon XP, 1250 MHz
MS-6712 (Motherboard)
VIA VT8377 Apollo KT400 (Motherboard Chipset)
768 MB DDR SDRAM
id like to upgrade to AMD 3000 or more, do any of u guys know what else ill have to purchase besides the processor in order to upgrade this? (ex: motherboard perhaps).
thanks in advance.
AMD Athlon XP, 1250 MHz
MS-6712 (Motherboard)
VIA VT8377 Apollo KT400 (Motherboard Chipset)
768 MB DDR SDRAM
id like to upgrade to AMD 3000 or more, do any of u guys know what else ill have to purchase besides the processor in order to upgrade this? (ex: motherboard perhaps).
thanks in advance.
0
Comments
looks like a 2800+ is ur max
What Athlon XP processor do you have? Because as far as I know, AMD didn't make a 1.25GHz processor. Your chipset configuration might not be doing what it's supposed to be. Also, with AMD, don't look at their GHz ratings, they mean NOTHING. For example, I have the following and it will explain why Intel is in DEEP trouble:
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (Thoroughbred) Processor
ASUS A7N8X Motherboard (nForce 2 Chipset, Updated BIOS v1.07)
1024MB OCZ-Performance Dual-Channel DDR400 (PC3200) RAM
ASUS V9999GT 128MB Video Card
Volcano 12 CPU Heat-Sink fan
Two 120GB Maxtor DiamondMax 8+ 7200RPM HDD's
Lite-On DVD-ROM
Lite-On CD-R/RW DVD±R/RW (Single-Layer)
ThermalTake 420W Power Supply
Now, the Athlon XP 2600+ is rated at 2088MHz. I had it benchmarked, and the CPU is actually running equivalent to 2481.69MHz. Now here's where Intel is in trouble. The new AMD Athlon 64 4000+ processor is only rated at 2.4GHz, but it was benchmarked against the new Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz Hyper-Threaded 550. Although the speed ratings are a full 1000MHz apart, the 4000+ actually was benchmarked at just over 4GHz. So you see, with AMD you don't have to look further than the Processor name to see what speed it runs at. I used to have an Athlon XP 1600+ (Thoroughbred) which had a rated speed of 1.43GHz, but when I benchmarked it with 512MB DDR266 RAM, it ran at nearly 1.7GHz. Now back to the P4 3.4GHz 550, the place I buy my computer stuff (as of Oct. 1st, 2004) had that P4 chip for $405, and the Athlon XP 3200+ (Barton) as only $273 (~2/3 of the price) and by making an assessment based on the results of the previous benchmarks, it's rated at 2.2GHz but probably runs closer to 3.2GHz. So, would you be willing to pay another 50% for an extra 200MHz?
Anyways, what to do about the 1250MHz. When you turn your computer on, you should see "AMD Athlon XP ####+" (where the #### is the Frequency of the processor), if you just see "AMD Athlon XP 1250MHz" hit [DELETE] while it's counting the memory or at that time whereabouts to enter the CMOS. Go browse through the different menus until you find the chipset configurations. With my A7N8X, it's simply labelled "Chipset Configuration" and it has an Auto-Configuration option with 3 different settings: Optimal, Aggressive, User-Defined. If your MSI has sort of the same thing set it to "Aggressive" or equivalent and restart your computer. Don't worry about the warning that the CMOS gives you about making the system unstable, AMD's chips are MADE to be very overclock-friendly. Now Exit & Save the changes to restart the computer. Your processor should be running as fast as it should be.
Always remember this:
Your computer can only go as fast as it's slowest component.
So before you start thinking about spending the big $$$ to upgrade, make sure you've done everything that would only leave the processor as being the slowest component, here are some things you can do:
1] Make sure you have the fastest memory that your computer can handle (information is available at the link that Gnomewizardd posted), you can never have too much RAM.
2] Check your IDE cables (the wide-flat cables that link your HDD's and CD-ROM's etc. to the motherboard) and make sure they're 80-pin instead of 40-pin (the wires in 80-pin are quite visibly smaller than 40-pin).
3] Defragment your HDD's.
4] If your games are running slowly, it may be your video card that's causing it.
Once you've done all you feel like doing, run a benchmark on your computer:
Download "The Ultimate Boot CD" (the one that is ~140MB) and burn the contents of the .ZIP to a CD. There is a FAQ that can help you to figure out how to boot your computer straight from the CD. If you're still a little confused about what and how to do it, just ask somebody who knows a great deal about computers to show you. I'm trying to point you in the right direction but seeing it is safer than imagining it.
GOOD LUCK!