How much faster?

[Barrie]

Hi all
This is my first post and hopefully not too dumb of a question. I have a P4 1.5MZ with a gig of RAM I use the PC for games and Photoshop.
I'm seriously considering upgrading to and Asus A8N-SL1 Dlx. motherboard and the new AMD 64FX chip. (I'd keep my memory if it will fit the new M/Bd)
My question (possably dumb) is, all things being equal, how much of a difference in speed will I notice. 50% faster? So much faster it will blow my mind?
My apologies if this is in the wrong forum

Thanks in advance and any and all suggestions will be most appreciated.

Barrie

 

[Mr_Nuke]

Well, I can't tell you in percentage, but the difference will be astonishing. Athlon 64FX is the best CPU for gaming. Also if you get the A8N-SLI you should consider buying 2 GeForce 6800's, preferrably the GT or Ultra version. Is your RAM in 1 module of 1 GB or 2 of 512Mb. If your is one 1GB module, you should consider also buying a new module identical to your first one so you are able to operate your RAM in Dual Channel mode.

 

[P4Man]

First, I don't think keeping the memory will be an option. You might well have RDRAM (rambus), or SDRAm, neither of which will work with Athlon (or current P4s).

If you do have DDR Ram, chances are it will be 200 Mhz RAM or so, and way too slow for modern cpu's. Do yourselve a favour, buy a much cheaper (and only slightly slower) cpu, like a 3700+, and get decent RAM. And yes, the difference will be pretty impressive if your cpu is currently bottlecking you.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[Barrie]

Thanks all for your comments.
As far as my RAM is concerned, it's 166mz DDR-SD Ram so I'm not sure if it will work on the ASUS ASN-SL1 motherboard.
Mr Nuke - yes it's tw 512 DIMM modules that I have. 166mz
Whatcha think P4 Man?

 

[P4Man]

>Mr Nuke - yes it's tw 512 DIMM modules that I have. 166mz

Assuming 166 'real' MHz, so DDR333, it should work, but its clearly suboptimal for a super fast cpu like the FX. If you are going to spend that much money on an FX, also get fast DDR400 RAM. If want to go cheaper (more reasonable) get something like an A64 3500+ and hang on to your RAM if you must.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[pickxx]

Why dont you give us a budget or atleast an amount to stay under?
For a grand you could get a cpu, mobo, ram, vid card, power supply, case....that would DEMOLISH your current system.
Where as a grand will get you the A64FX and you would have about 150bucks left.

Its all about budgets....but a nice 3800+ in that Mobo with some fast Cas2 RAM and dual 6800GT's...you will be flying. Also if you are going to spend that much might as well get a 74GB Raptor and a couple cheaper and bigger 7200rpm drives(250ish GB) and RAID0 those.

Give me a # and exactly what you need including case, power supply, optical drives(DVD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVDR+R-, DVDRW+RW-)PCI cards(sound cards, modem, anything) and i can give you a closer model of what you want.

one more thing, are you looking to Overclock the system or just run it at spec.?

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[Mr_Nuke]

You have 2 options if you want to keep your RAM. Operate it at 166MHz (DDR333), wich shold be just fine, and it won't kill much performance and maybe upgrade later, or, if possible, overclock it as close as possible to 200MHz. Keep in mind that you might fry your RAM if you overclock too much.

 

[Rugger]

It still surprises me the number of recommendations I see for SLI! The price to performance on an SLI setup is thru the roof and the only place you really benefit is at high res with AA/AF. To go SLI, you literally spend hundreds of dollars more for a few more FPS in high resolutions.

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[Barrie]

Hey PICKXXX
As far as the budget is concerned ... I don't have one BUT I would like to utilize all the good stuff I have in my current setup.
My power supply is one I just purchased... fairly high end ...$100 or so The case is a big one and I'm happy with it.
Anyway ... its a motherboard, CPU and perhaps RAM I'm looking for.

Barrie

 

[Mr_Nuke]

1600x1200, 8xAA, 16xAF.
SLI or not???

Do you f***in want some video quality or just cry for the few dollars you pretend to have??

<b>May nVidia watch upon you!!!</b>

 

[Crashman]

Well, the Northwood core had around 20% better performance than your Williamette, and doubling the speed would give you at least 50% increased performance on top of that, so there's a P4 comparison. Now, an A64 3000+ really does perform similarly to a P4 3.0, better in many applications, worse in a few, so I'd say you'll see at least a 70% increase in performance.

That being said, your Windows load times won't be 70% faster because hard drives haven't improved that much, besides, you're probably going to use your old hard drive.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pickxx]

Hey, he threw it out there...i wouldn't SLI myself because i dont like messing around with drivers every 2days to make sure my fav game plays well with SLI and its not really that great for playing anyway.
But if he wants to drop some coinage one it....he is alowed its his money he is wasting not mine.

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[Rugger]

1600x1200, 8xAA, 16xAF. SLI or not???

1280X1024, medium quality settings. SLI or not?

Where did <b>he</b> state those settings as being <b>required</b> for his gameplay? Does the game in question even support SLI? You are assuming a lot into this persons requirements without a lot of input from that person. Before you say that he "has no budget" - that was not said until after I posted. There are a lot of people that post here and have little to no idea about the costs of SLI vs limited performance gains at high res with AA/AF. I've said this before: the price/performance of SLI is horrible. The only time I would recommend SLI is when the person games at high resolutions with AA/AF enabled and the budget is not a concern.

If budget is not a concern for him, then I say more power to him. The simple fact remains that most people <b>do</b> have a budget and he would be the exception and not the rule.

Do you f***in want some video quality or just cry for the few dollars you pretend to have??

You have NO idea how much money I do or do not have in my bank account. Even if you did, it would be immaterial to the argument at hand. This tells me you're a snot-nosed punk with no concept of the value of money, because you have never had to <b>earn</b> it. I will not waste more of my time responding to this type of garbage.

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[apesoccer]

You can pick up a new 1gb (2x512 PC3200) of ram for under $100. There isn't any use in putting money on the fastest horse if you're going to cut one of its legs off.

In some applications you'll see 4x the speed, in some only equal. Overall you're going to see a significant increase in processing power along the lines of 33-65%. (keep in mind i'm pulling those numbers out of my hat...).

SLI...For someone who isn't going to do any OC'ing and doesn't mind spending an extra $400, go for it. The drivers for SLI are getting better and better. However, that said, you won't notice any difference in photoshop by having that extra bit of hardware. Also, you won't notice any difference in most of the games out there. It does well in several of the brand-new games at maximum quality levels...along the lines of 25%. At max quality this does make a difference, but when your min fps are above 60 already you can't see a difference unless you have something visually printing out the fps. So...on some maps of some games, you'll be able to play at a better resolution (assuming your monitor can handle the higher resolution...). In the end, it's doing what a newer single card will be able to do in another year...It's the same as buying a single high end card a couple years ago...same arguments minus the fact that the drivers have to be specifically set up for each individual program/game. Honestly i really don't understand why there is such a big deal made over it. If this amount of money doesn't matter...buy it...it's the best. If not...buy something else that will do almost as well or better in some app's (currently...) at half the cost.

I have the asus a8n-sli myself...but haven't made my mind up on buying a second 6800 gt. I play 2 games on that machine...everquest 2 and half life 2. HL would see a 25% increase in speed, but eq would actually do worse. So, for now, i won't buy it. I have better uses for my money. Maybe in another 5 months when the drivers have matured a bit more (if that specific graphics card i have is still available...).

Current machines running F@H:
AMD: [64 3500+][64 3000+][2500+][2000+][1.3x2][366]
Intel: [X 3.0x3][P4 3.0x2][P4 2.4x5][P4 1.4]

"...and i'm not gay" RX8 -Greatest Quote of ALL Time<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by apesoccer on 05/09/05 04:15 PM.</EM></FONT></P>