difference between 2100 and 3000

[nickdrj]

Hello everyone

I currently have a athlon xp2100 and im starting to get the upgrade itch. I was thinking of maxing out my mobo (Asus A7N8X dlx) to xp3000 (400fsb) . Now is there a big performance difference between the two? I say more is more but will i notice anything? I play a lot of games (desert combat mostly) so i think processor speed will count. Also Im a wimp when it comes to overclocking so I dont intend to save $$ by buying lower model.

Also I have about 700MB of DDR pc2100 ram, is getting a gig of 3200 going to make me a better person?

Any thoughts on the matter?
Your pal,
Nick

 

[fariss]

You will notice a difference.
However, the memory upgrade will be of a great benefit to the performance.

 

[pauldh]

Wow, I think upgrading your computer to a XP3000+ and 1GB of PC3200 is a big waste of money. The XP3000+ is $160+ right? I'd recommend a $93 Mobile XP2500+. You'll be able to easily overclock it to over 2200MHz even keeping the 133FSB of the XP3000+ as well as your current PC2100 memory. All you have to check is if your bios or an updated bios will give you multipliers high enough or if it maxes out at 12.5. Sure, getting PC3200 or faster ram would let you bump up the FSB for more performance, if you want to spend the money replacing all that ram. The mobile XP2500+ overclocked will be far cheaper and faster than the 3000+. If you later want to change ram to boost the fsb, go for it. Again, that's my opinion, I'd forget XP3000+, get a mobile XP2500+ and OC, or keep what you have until you can save for a nice NF3-250 A64 setup.

<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-401&depa=1" target="_new"> Newegg Mobile XP2500+ </A>

Also, look for the many topics in this forum and you can read up more about the mobile XP's.



ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[addiarmadar]

The only reaseon you will notice a difference is that the 3000 will utalize the 400fsb instead of the weak 266 you have thus give your more bandwidth in your ram, assumingly you get pc3200 ram.

Mobile Barton 2500+ @ 2420mhz 11x220 1.7v
Asus A7N8X Dlx 440 FSB
1gb Geil GD pc3500 Dual Channel (2-3-3-6)
Segata 80gb SATA 8.5ms seek
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro(420/720)

 

[Crashman]

If your board supports 400FSB, it supports the 3200+. If your board says it supports max 3000+, it's probably refering to the OLD 333FSB version. Different revisions of your board had different bus speed limitations.

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[flamethrower205]

Bro look at how much you're spending for a "900Mhz" upgrade, plus new ram and all. Wait it out for something a little more noticeable cause ur gonna get it and get a lil higher in benchies but when u sit down are gonna think wtf, this sucks, nothing major. IMHO, it's a waste of money- wait for some more powerful A64 or something.

SEX is like math. Add the bed, subtract the clothes, divide the legs, and hope you dont multiply

 

[GIPNOR]

If you're going to upgrade your processor, listen to what Pauldh said. A Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ is the way to go... (you could try a 2400 or 2600 too!). You should easily get 3200+ performance at a lower voltage.

Even if you are a wimp at overclocking, don't be scared. This one is eaaaaaaaaaasy. Your temperatures will likely stay in line with a stock 3200, you can likely keep the voltage LOWER than a stock 3200, and I haven't heard of anybody not being able to get 3200 performance out of a mobile 2500.

We sound like we have very similar situations. I've got an ASUS nForce2 Deluxe Rev 1.06 myself and recently upgraded a 2100 to a Mobile 2500. This upgrade is going to work for me until I build a new system.

Good luck!

 

[GIPNOR]

Oh yeah... you are going to have to get more RAM. Unless you want to screw around with putting wires on your processor, your highest multiplier is going to be 12.5.

I'm guessing you'll need to drop $350 for this upgrade to be worthwhile. It will also depend on your video card as well... I have a TI4400 and benchmarks like 3DMark2001 only improved about 2000 points after I upgraded my 2100. My video card just isn't going to do much better. When I upgrade to a 9800 Pro, I expect my CPU upgrade will have a bigger effect.

 

[endyen]

Just drop in an xp-m 2500+ set your ram to 70% vcore to 1.65, fsb to 200 and multiplier to 11.5. Use a vantec aerflow hsf. Total cost <$125.

 

[nickdrj]

Wow, this all sounds like great advice. I may think about overclocking a m 2500 but i dont really know how. I know you haveto do it through the bios but I never really investigated how. Is there a good tutorial out there for my kind of system?

And Im still a bit confused about the ram. Some folks say get the 3200, some say overclock the ones I have. Is my 2100 ram good enough?

 

[endyen]

You want your memory to run at the same speed as your fsb. If you put in a chip that uses a 200 mhz fsb, you need pc3200. For a chip with a 166mhz fsb, you need pc2700. Your pc2100 is best for chips that use a 133 fsb.
Overclocking the mobile xp2500+ is very easy, but varies from bios to bios. Check the overclockers forum here for some good tips.
One of the realy nice things about the xp-m 2500+ is that it works well with any fsb, and will pretty much clock to the same max speed. There is a slight gain to be had by using the higher fsb, but an xp @ 2.3 with a fsb of 133 will still outperform an xp @ 2.2 with an fsb of 166.

 

[phial]

the ram is dependant on the fsb

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