hulika

Author Topic: upgrading amd 2000xp  (Read 2431 times)

Offline chuck sabbath

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upgrading amd 2000xp
« on: November 22, 2006, 06:03:09 PM »
current pc specs: amd 2000xp, ecs k7s5a motherboard, 512mb ram

i wanna upgrade the cpu to an amd 2600xp and keep my current motherboard and bump my ram up to 1gb

a) the highest cpu that will work with my motherboard seems to be 2600, correct me if im wrong?

b) will i notice a significant performance increase going from 2000 to 2600? the ram upgrade will help of course but its the cpu thats holding me back now for audio

c) suggestions?
In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis

Offline KitC

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Re: upgrading amd 2000xp
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2006, 12:12:00 AM »
A 2600+ would either be a Sempron now, or an older Barton core. Bartons would be much better because of the larger L2 cache which some say would be much more responsive than the 256 kb L2 in Semprons. Bartons, however, run hotter than comparable Thoroughbred cores. If you choose a Barton, be prepared to bump up your HSF. While I personally would prefer a Barton over a Sempron, most Barton cores are now second hand and used previously with gaming machines so these usually take a beating.

I used to have a 1700+ Thoroughbred then I upped to a 2600+ Sempron. The amount of plugins I could run increased only by a few despite the speed jump. Tracking with the old Athlon was comparable to the new Sempron. At times, I felt that the 1700+ was more responsive compared to the 2600+ Sempron even though Semprons are practically renamed Athlon XPs. If you need to upgrade, get a Barton core but don't expect great increases in performance over your existing 2000+. Before anything, try overclocking  your existing cpu, it might be more effective. Either way, you will require a much higher performance HSF since the Barton runs hot. One more thing, Semprons and Bartons usually run at a FSB of 333 MHz, make sure your motherboard can run stable at that speed; 3200+ Bartons have an FSB of 400 MHz.

Increasing ram is usually a good idea. It's usually recommended to keep your system cache at 1.5 times your installed ram. Remember to defrag your drives often because it's usually the hard disks that are a bottleneck in a recording pc. Better yet, have a 2 drive DAW, one for the system and the other for audio data; partitioning is usually not recommended for audio disks.
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Offline chuck sabbath

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Re: upgrading amd 2000xp
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2006, 01:58:32 AM »
yes the barton is what i was looking at i saw some brand new ones locally...

honestly i just need a *little more grunt than i have currently; i mostly sequence soft synths and ive hit the limit with how much i typically use for a track...then i have to raise the buffers and work with higher latency...i just want a little more so i can keep the same latency settings from writing to final mix

i dont usually have a lot of audio tracks so the hard disk isnt really an issue

im happy with this motherboard so i wanted to keep using it but if im not gonna gain too much performance wise maybe ill wait a while and just build a new pc

thanks kit!
In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis

Offline KitC

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Re: upgrading amd 2000xp
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2006, 12:38:43 PM »
You're welcome, chuck!

You'd be surprised, though. On a recent project, I went completely virtual and even then, I generated a LOT of separate audio tracks. The kick, cymbals and snare were on individual tracks, 3 string tracks, 3 to 4 brass/horn tracks, separate guitar and bass tracks, and separate lead guitar track, of course - audio track count total was 34 (and that's not counting the midi tracks). Why? It was an effort to control mud; I eq the lows away from other instruments to give the kick and bass their own space. I could probably open the same project on my older sempron, but the sheer number of open plugs would bring it down to its knees. I think it would be better if you went A64; the prices for these cpus and mobos are practically half now compared to when I bought them last year. Just make sure to get a mobo that's X2 capable.
Sonar 4.04PE/5.2PE/7.02PE/8.31 PE, Project 5 v2.5.1, EmulatorX 1.5, Cubase SL2, Ableton Live 7.14,  Intel Q6600 MSI P43 Neo 4Gb Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800, Emu 1820m, Yamaha DSP Factory, Terratec DMX 6fire

Offline 3650guy

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Re: upgrading amd 2000xp
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2006, 05:31:08 PM »
well if you have this:

Model:          K7S5A
Chipset:       
PCB Version:       V3.1
      
BIOS Version:       37558

then it will support an AXP2600, still your FSB will be 266Mhz which is the motherboard spec. and bios updates are only for recognizing a Duron 1800. if you plan to stick it out with good old socket A (462) then its best to upgrade to a VIA chipset supporting 400FSB or ung mga Nvidia chips, at least you can ride it out to 3200AXP or maybe even Semprons ... then again its hard to find brand new socket A mobo's and Athlons..

i check the postings daily at tipidpc.com were I am also on the lookout for 3000+ AXP's.  yeah it can be a risk transacting, but if you deal with premium members and your transactions are crystal clear on both sides, then it should be okay, me warranty naman usually.

or you may streamline your windows installation. meaning you tweak it totally for DAW specs. and strip your hardware of non essentials like internet connections, USB peripherals not related to audio production etc..
"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you, No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" DSOTM


Offline spazzkid

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Re: upgrading amd 2000xp
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2006, 04:07:16 AM »
i was also looking to upgrade my cpu as well. good thing i read this thread. my current mobo right now is an epox8kha+ which WAS one of the great overclocking boards, right now i dont overclock (i got rid of all the fans), and am going for system stability since ill be doing music most of the time. so maybe the best option i have is to wait another year and save enough money for a complete cpu/mobo combo upgrade in the future. oh well... :roll: