CPU for ASUS A7V8X

[JackSmall]

I am looking to upgrade my PC by improving what I think is my current bottleneck, my CPU. I have an Athlon XP 2000+ (1.6GHz) running on an ASUS A7V8X mobo with 2GB RAM and a 9800 Pro gfx card.

According to the ASUS CPU Support page the best processor I can install is the Athlon XP 3000+(333 MHZ FSB)(Model 10)(Barton) (my understanding is that the Sempron's aren't so good) but I can't find anywhere that sells such old (Socket A) processors.

Can anyone here confirm that I'm making the right choice and recommend where I can get the processor I'm after?

 

[evongugg]

You will probably have to buy off of Ebay.
Semprons are an improvement over the Barton.
Make sure you have PC2700 memory or better. That is DDR 333.

 

[JackSmall]

You will probably have to buy off of Ebay.

I was beginning to get that feeling.

Semprons are an improvement over the Barton.

Really? Wiki suggests that Semprons are like Durons / Celerons:

The Sempron replaced the AMD Duron processor and competes against Intel's Celeron D processor.

 

[djgandy]

You will probably have to buy off of Ebay.
Semprons are an improvement over the Barton.
Make sure you have PC2700 memory or better. That is DDR 333.

I think you are refering to Athlon 64 semperons as opposed to the Socket A variety. Bartons are the best you can get for Socket A.

You will probably find it is cheaper to upgrade than buy a Socket A cpu new.
You could probably pickup a cpu + mobo that supports DDR and AGP for less than the cost of one from a shop.

Check ebay though, probably some cheap ones there.

 

[djgandy]

Also be wary of 2500 XP Mobile processors. They over clocked really well so if you see one on ebay there is the chance that it's had 10 barrels of crap kicked out of it.

 

[JackSmall]

Thanks for the help, I grabbed a Athlon XP 3000 off eBay.