X2 3800 to X26000

[mrmjs]

with the price cuts coming I thought now would be a good time to upgrade.

I have a Asus m2n-e mobo... my question is, when i upgrade do i just take out the 3800 and drop in the 6000 and its done??? or do i need to reload windows too?? and what about bios and mobo drivers??? anything I have to do there?

 

[Newf]

Software wise, nothing should be needed.
I ASSUME that you have already kept up-to-date with drivers. But if the X2 3800+ works fine, so will the X2 6000+.
Hardware wise, thoroughly clean the cpu's heat-sink-fan.
- Clean all old thermal paste off the bottom using alcohol.
- Clean all the dust off the fins and fan.
- Apply new thermal grease before reinstall.
If you buy a boxed processor, then nevermind, just plop it in...

 

[womble]

Only other thing to add to Newfs' comments is that you may have to update the BIOS to 0602 or newer, but even then it'll probably work beforehand.

 

[mrmjs]

ok, another question... im using windows xp pro OEM, wil there be a problem here?

I went to the Asus site and there were so many drivers and bios I didnt know which to get

 

[senor_bob]

with the price cuts coming I thought now would be a good time to upgrade.

I have a Asus m2n-e mobo... my question is, when i upgrade do i just take out the 3800 and drop in the 6000 and its done???

Just FYI, if you happen to also want a harddrive, Newegg is currrently giving a free Seagate 320 GB (great drive by the way, I own 2 of them) with purchase of the 6000+ if you click on the hard drive (can't seem to get to that combo from the CPU):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140
If you deduct the normal price of the HDD from the CPU, the 6000+ is down to $234 already.

 

[Sagekilla]

No, the X2 6000+ should be drop in compatible with the motherboard. Typically with AMD, the motherboard will support pretty much every processor for a given socket (3800+ to 6000+ for example)

 

[Ycon]

You might have to get a more powerful cooler

 

[Newf]

ok, another question... im using windows xp pro OEM, wil there be a problem here?

Nope.

I went to the Asus site and there were so many drivers and bios I didnt know which to get

If your X2 3800+ works fine, you are OK. If you had a single core proc now, then you may have needed a bios upgrade to run a dual core. Since you don't have a single core now, don't worry.

 

[racingman24]

M2N-E BIOS version 0602
Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

M2N-E BIOS version 0701
Fix system will incorrectly show CPU model name during POST.

M2N-E Deluxe BIOS version 0802
Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

As you see the 602 include new CPU list but in 701 is talk about fix concern to system incorrectly CPU model so go for the 0802.

Take the advices of newf, for Windows XP, you need AMD Dual Core optimizer it can help improve some PC gaming videos and helps to correct the resulting video performance effects or other incorrect timing effects that these applications may experience on dual-core processor systems so check it out here:

http://www.amd.com/la-es/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_13118,00.html

and if your driver disk don't come with the K8 windows driver package in this link too, That driver package allows the system to automatically adjust the CPU speed, voltage and power combination that match the instantaneous user performance need. In that link you see other great utilities like power monitor and other stuff so check it.

 

[ajfink]

I think that upgrade would be a waste of money. Your not going to notice any difference in games or day to day applications.

If he doesn't overclock, it's not that bad. If he does CPU-intensive stuff, it will be a pretty big boost over an X2 3800+ (a full Ghz faster, double the cache).

 

[mrmjs]

I think that upgrade would be a waste of money. Your not going to notice any difference in games or day to day applications.

That was my next question.. I dont use this pc for gaming.. mostly photoshop cs2 and studio 8 stuff.. I never really have any trouble with my rig now but i thought if the price was right maybe it was worth doing. maybe it is a waste??

 

[racingman24]

I think like ajfink, if not offer any performance advantage, why exist different cpu frecuencies? why people wants to oc? more GHz = to more instructions by cycle, obviously is not everything in the performance formula but helps a lot.

 

[qcmadness]

I think that upgrade would be a waste of money. Your not going to notice any difference in games or day to day applications.

2.0GHz => 3GHz of the same architecture.
I am sure you will notice the difference in all CPU-intensive applications.

 

[racingman24]

The key to a high-performance video-editing system is balance between the components. The CPU is a cornerstone of this equation. Ideally, the CPU should be waiting for everything else to catch up to it—relatively speaking, it should be one of your fastest components. But low latency memory and fastest hard drive help for this equation too, is not everything but is important, so look at this little example:

Turning a 178 MB WAV file into an MP3 by using a Pentium 4 1500 MHz (1.5 GHz) CPU would take 243 seconds. That same file encoded using a Pentium 4 at 2200 MHz (2.2 GHz) would take 165 seconds—a speed savings of 47 percent! That might not mean much for a single audio file, but apply that speed gain to a 60-minute project, and you'll save hours. Unfortunately, there's no accurate way to predict how much a faster CPU will improve your video rendering speed—many factors influence this. But it's safe to say that a faster CPU will always help.

 

[mrmjs]

well, the x2 6000 is $239.. the x2 5600 is $189, so for $50 less I might be better off just getting that.. the two seem pretty close on the benchmarks

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

In day to day things like browsing, you most likely will not notice a difference. However, in any CPU intensive application, you bet you will.

 

[mrmjs]

I think you are far better off saving your money until the k10 cpus come out

wont those be for a new socket type? that would mean a new mobo which would mean a new OS since im using a OEM version of windows.

here are my specs.....

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache
Asus M2N-E Mobo socket AM2
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
EVGA 256-P2-N553-AX GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-480 ATX12V 2.01 480W Power Supply

Like i said before, I can have photoshop cs2, flash 8, dreamweaver 8 and fireworks 8 all runnin at the sametime with no problems at all.... i just thought since the price is right maybe i should grab a better cpu.. but at the sametime i dont want to waste money if its not gonna be a big jump in cpu power.. I dont play any games with this pc, its for work only and i wont be over clocking it either ( ever )

 

[mrmjs]

thanks for the help guys