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Thread ID: 21944 2002-07-08 02:20:00 XP Processor Poppa John (284) Press F1
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60672 2002-07-08 02:20:00 I am running XP with Athlon 1400, 128ram, 20gb hdd. I see mentioned in F1 comments about "the best processor". The AMD Athlon XP1800+ is new. Should I be going for that next? Is there any appreciable gain in doing so? I also noted a comment on a 1gb processor, what is this? Thanks. Poppa John ?:| Poppa John (284)
60673 2002-07-08 02:29:00 1 gb is a typo
read 1 GHz
1000 MHz = 1 GHz
your 1400XP is ~ equivalent to 1.4 GHZ
to move to a 1800XP (1.8 GHz) is ~ 28% increase, but with overhead would probably be a bit less.

By the time you wanted to buy one they would have moved on anyway and be 2000?
You need to know what your motherboard ram etc will handle when the time comes.

Bit like saying you need a new motor for your car, find out what fits first...

You would be better off getting more RAM first, XP struggles on 128.
godfather (25)
60674 2002-07-08 02:50:00 Goddie, Ok got that. Want to double+ my ram asap money available. The next upgrade hopefully will come with Fathers Day, Birthday & Christmas.
Thanks Poppa John :-)
Poppa John (284)
60675 2002-07-08 06:41:00 Just to make a wee correction for godfather. The XP1800+ is not 1.8GHz. If I remember correctly it is actually 1533Mhz (?).

You would probably find that you would get more benefit from more ram than you would going up to the XP1800+.

Would be good to know what motherboard, ram, hdd, etc you are using.
-=JM=- (16)
60676 2002-07-08 06:46:00 Hi JM, quite right

Thats why I said "~equivalent to" at the beginning and "~" later, as AMD use a "comparative speed" rating.
godfather (25)
60677 2002-07-08 07:40:00 It's not a good upgrade from AMD 1400+ to AMD 1800+. It would be better if you went for 2000+ and above.

AMD uses PR (Performance rating). In theory AMD XP 1800+ is equivalent to 1800mhz or 1.8ghz, but its real speed is only running at 1.533ghz. A lot of people get confused by this.

Here's the list of AMD cpus
1800+ (1.533ghz)
1900+ (1.6ghz)
2000+ (1.67ghz)
2100+ (173ghz)
2200+ (1.8ghz)

I think 1800+ is good cpu for the money spent.
Check out this site
http://www.pricespy.co.nz/
boom23 (176)
60678 2002-07-08 07:50:00 Before studying the technicalities of upgrades consider first - do you need it?

My hardware upgrades have always revolved around some critical purpose. The XT to 386 was software, the 386 to 486 hardware (pictures on a dot matrix were horrible, the new ink jet printer incredibly slow), the 486 to a pentium software, the pentium to celeron access (problems with having a family). There are bigger and better machines now but no critical reason to change.

Identify if there are problems before parting with the cash.
Heather P (163)
60679 2002-07-08 09:01:00 JM As far as I can see. Motherboard is SOLTEK SL-75DRV/-X, has three ram slots, one occupied. 3gb max ram supported?. HDD is 16gb formatted, 5200 rpm. 128DDRram. Don't know the brand names of drive or ram. From the knowledge I have gained from the F1 helpers, it would seem that the first thing to do would be to increase the ram to 256 or to 512. 512 is probably as far as I am likely to go?. Then change my C drive to 60gb 7200rpm.A)to get the faster drive B) to get more space. By the end of this year my 16gb may be full. The Athlon 1400 may suffice if I do the other two things. Is that a YES or a NO? The aim is to increase the speed & capacity of this XP M/c. What are your thoughts people. Please don't throw heavy technical things at me tho, they only bounce off this wooden head onto the floor!!! ;\;\ Slow Poppa John Poppa John (284)
60680 2002-07-08 09:04:00 Simple question Poppa John.

Why do you need it to go faster, what program is too slow now?
godfather (25)
60681 2002-07-08 09:10:00 Nowdays 256 mb of ram is the minimum requirement for alot of things. As for your hdd, a 7200rpm is a good chioce. I reckon your computer doesn't need an upgrade at the moment apart from the RAM. Midn you your pc is faster than mine :-(

I'm on p3 667mhz overclocked to 830mhz with 256 SDRAM and 2 x 7200 rpm hdd. I can do everything on my system at the moment, play the latest games, even video editing. So your system would probably be like 2 x or even 3 x faster than mine (in theory). I reckon what drives computer fast is the user. How you optimize and tweak your pc come on top, and then the hardware comes second. :-)
boom23 (176)
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