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Should I go Athlon64 or Barton?
Franklin ) wrote...
Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. I don't play games, I am not a power user, I don't do video or audio editing. I just surf and do some small office activities. So what app is giving you the urge to upgrade? I had thought of upgrading my current system to a T'bred 2400+ but the PSU is not big enough and the case is a bit small, so I will build a new system instead. OK. A Barton 2500+ (with maybe an Asus A78NX mobo) is more than enough power for me but am I buying into obsolescence? Athlon64 is where the growth will be and furture residual values will be higher than for Barton. Whatever you buy, you are buying into obsolescence. It's guaranteed with computers. All you can vary is how long before it is reached. If you keep this machine as long as you have presumably kept your Duron 700, then the difference in used value will be pretty negligible, IMHO. What's the difference between a Duron 700 and Athlon 1200 (say) today? Not a lot.... Are there any other advantages of Athlon64 for a user like me other than that? Umm. It's faster. If you have the urge to try a 64-bit OS then you can. It's good for bragging rights. Your hair will start to grow thicker, and more luxurient. Women will find you strangely attractive. Sorry. I've been reading too much marketing material. Are there particular disadvantages ... e.g. more expensive mobos for athlon64? more expensive memory? The whole system will cost a fair bit more, as you suggest. Mobos and memory will be pricier. My advice is to set some parameters for the upgrade. Either set a performance goal (I want it X times faster than current) and then investigate acheiving that for the minimum outlay, or set a financial limit (no more than UKP 500, say), and buy the fastest you can for that. Without a real idea of what you want you may end up disappointed, broke, or both. Ian -- Ian Riches Bedford, UK |
#2
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In article ,
Ian Riches wrote: Franklin ) wrote... Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. I don't play games, I am not a power user, I don't do video or audio editing. I just surf and do some small office activities. So what app is giving you the urge to upgrade? I had thought of upgrading my current system to a T'bred 2400+ but the PSU is not big enough and the case is a bit small, so I will build a new system instead. OK. A Barton 2500+ (with maybe an Asus A78NX mobo) is more than enough power for me but am I buying into obsolescence? Athlon64 is where the growth will be and furture residual values will be higher than for Barton. Whatever you buy, you are buying into obsolescence. It's guaranteed with computers. All you can vary is how long before it is reached. If you keep this machine as long as you have presumably kept your Duron 700, then the difference in used value will be pretty negligible, IMHO. What's the difference between a Duron 700 and Athlon 1200 (say) today? Not a lot.... What I've heard of Longhorn, the next full new release of Windows (2006?) will require a machine comparable to a dual Opteron in today's terms. In 2006 that machine will probably cost $500. (all of this is vapor, so don't hold me to it. Billy can shange hos mind at any time.) Buy a machine in the "sweet spot" for price performance today, which might be a midrange Athlon on a NIC/SOund/Video the motherboard machine. Spend the money you save on the system on a nice big LCD screen, and good sound. You'll be able to buy a "Longhorn Inside" machine 3 years from now for less than the cheap machine you buy today. It will probbaly be 64 bits, but why do you care ? My $0.02. Are there any other advantages of Athlon64 for a user like me other than that? Umm. It's faster. If you have the urge to try a 64-bit OS then you can. It's good for bragging rights. Your hair will start to grow thicker, and more luxurient. Women will find you strangely attractive. Sorry. I've been reading too much marketing material. Are there particular disadvantages ... e.g. more expensive mobos for athlon64? more expensive memory? The whole system will cost a fair bit more, as you suggest. Mobos and memory will be pricier. My advice is to set some parameters for the upgrade. Either set a performance goal (I want it X times faster than current) and then investigate acheiving that for the minimum outlay, or set a financial limit (no more than UKP 500, say), and buy the fastest you can for that. Without a real idea of what you want you may end up disappointed, broke, or both. Ian -- Ian Riches Bedford, UK -- Al Dykes ----------- adykes at p a n i x . c o m |
#3
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On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 15:41:02 +0100, Franklin
wrote: Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. I don't play games, I am not a power user, I don't do video or audio editing. I just surf and do some small office activities. I had thought of upgrading my current system to a T'bred 2400+ but the PSU is not big enough and the case is a bit small, so I will build a new system instead. A Barton 2500+ (with maybe an Asus A78NX mobo) is more than enough power for me but am I buying into obsolescence? Athlon64 is where the growth will be and furture residual values will be higher than for Barton. Are there any other advantages of Athlon64 for a user like me other than that? Are there particular disadvantages ... e.g. more expensive mobos for athlon64? more expensive memory? If you are lucky and you get the better deals then theres about a $100 or lrss difference in the two systems. The AMD 64 is faster at various tasks so it depends on if its worth it to you. At the moment a 2800 or so 64 bit AMD is around 150-140 bucks and you can get a decent via board for 80-100 bucks. You also need DDR 400/3200 mem , at least 256 which is around 30-40 or 512 -- 60-80. You need a decent case and PS - many in the 50-60 range work OK but it wont be an Antec etc probably unless theres some super duper sale going on. YOu dont want to get a power supply thats too cheap. The 2500 Barton - you have to get all the samethings except that it costs about $80-89 and there are motherboards that go down to around 50-60. If you get a new ASUS for 80 bucks then the price narrows a bit between the AMD 64 with the cheaper end motherboards and the barton with motherboard. Depends on whether that 70-120 spread vs the extra performance , coolness of having the 64 and the fact that software as usual will probably need more processing power to run like some have posted. You know if the new win comes out and new apps etc. Itll really make difference obviously if 64 bit computing really catches on in the next two years. On the otherhand the Barton XP 2500 especially if you do a simple overclock and they OC very easily to 3200 , isnt bad at all. And theres the fact that both will be superseded by new stuff very quickly since we are in a transitional state right. The PCI express boards will soon be out for the AMD systems for XP and AMD 64s and the AMD 64s that are reasonably priced right now are 754 sockets - as everyone keeps saying the 939 are going to takeover. And I think the next generation AMD 64s will be a lot better hopefully - better to OC more etc just like T-birds etc werent all that great OCers. Theyve even mentioned BTX again so who knows what a decent system will look like a year or two from now. |
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Cheers Ian.
I'm in a similar position. Have a 2000XP system right now with 512Mb PC2100 RAM. Running a bit hot. Looking for something to multitask faster (I have lots of open programs and play music, TV in background). *Very* tight budget. Have £200 to spend for new set-up (mobo, cpu and ram - if needed?). Any ideas? Cheers. Bobby "Ian Riches" wrote in message t... Franklin ) wrote... Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. I don't play games, I am not a power user, I don't do video or audio editing. I just surf and do some small office activities. So what app is giving you the urge to upgrade? I had thought of upgrading my current system to a T'bred 2400+ but the PSU is not big enough and the case is a bit small, so I will build a new system instead. OK. A Barton 2500+ (with maybe an Asus A78NX mobo) is more than enough power for me but am I buying into obsolescence? Athlon64 is where the growth will be and furture residual values will be higher than for Barton. Whatever you buy, you are buying into obsolescence. It's guaranteed with computers. All you can vary is how long before it is reached. If you keep this machine as long as you have presumably kept your Duron 700, then the difference in used value will be pretty negligible, IMHO. What's the difference between a Duron 700 and Athlon 1200 (say) today? Not a lot.... Are there any other advantages of Athlon64 for a user like me other than that? Umm. It's faster. If you have the urge to try a 64-bit OS then you can. It's good for bragging rights. Your hair will start to grow thicker, and more luxurient. Women will find you strangely attractive. Sorry. I've been reading too much marketing material. Are there particular disadvantages ... e.g. more expensive mobos for athlon64? more expensive memory? The whole system will cost a fair bit more, as you suggest. Mobos and memory will be pricier. My advice is to set some parameters for the upgrade. Either set a performance goal (I want it X times faster than current) and then investigate acheiving that for the minimum outlay, or set a financial limit (no more than UKP 500, say), and buy the fastest you can for that. Without a real idea of what you want you may end up disappointed, broke, or both. Ian -- Ian Riches Bedford, UK |
#5
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Franklin wrote: Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. I don't play games, I am not a power user, I don't do video or audio editing. I just surf and do some small office activities. An Athlon XP processor would be your best value then. I had thought of upgrading my current system to a T'bred 2400+ but the PSU is not big enough and the case is a bit small, so I will build a new system instead. You could buy a new case, an Athlon XP, and new ram. That would probably be good if you plan to upgrade to a socket 939 Athlon 64 in 18-24 months. Right now socket 939 Athlon 64 chips are around $350 and up. A Barton 2500+ (with maybe an Asus A78NX mobo) is more than enough power for me but am I buying into obsolescence? Why not get an Athlon XP3000+400? It is only around $35 more than the 2500+ and you can get the most out of PC3200 ddr ram. Athlon64 is where the growth will be and furture residual values Don't even think about residual value when dealing with computers. The Athlon 64 and K8 based Semprons are the future, but the lower priced Athlon 64 chips use socket 754, and socket 939 will be gaining tremendously in popularity(and the socket 754 fading) starting in '05. Socket 939 Athlon 64 chips(the 3500+ is the cheapest) start at around $350. will be higher than for Barton. Are there any other advantages of Athlon64 for a user like me other than that? Running 64 bit software and Windows 64 bit. Even 32 bit applications benefit when run with a 64 bit OS. Are there particular disadvantages ... e.g. more expensive mobos for athlon64? Socket 754 mobos are around $30 more than ones for an Athlon XP. Socket 939 mobos are even more expensive, but will drop significantly in price, especially when 90nm Semprons for them appear in '05. more expensive memory? You can use PC3200 ddr ram with both. Depending on your budget, when you expect to do your next upgrade, and who you might have in mid to give your pc to when you are ready to upgrade will be deciding factors. You could buy an Athlon You might want to buy a new case with a 350 watt or greater power supply(Antec?) ,an Athlon XP 3000+ 400,a new motherboard, and PC3200 ddr ram now, with the idea of buying a socket 939 Athlon 64 in 18-24 months(perhaps an Athlon 64 4000+ or faster chip will be cheap then). |
#6
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JK wrote:
Franklin wrote: Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. I don't play games, I am not a power user, I don't do video or audio editing. I just surf and do some small office activities. An Athlon XP processor would be your best value then. Wha-aat!?!!!? But why would anybody want to buy a 32-bit CPU now? Yousuf Khan |
#7
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Yousuf Khan wrote: JK wrote: Franklin wrote: Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. I don't play games, I am not a power user, I don't do video or audio editing. I just surf and do some small office activities. An Athlon XP processor would be your best value then. Wha-aat!?!!!? But why would anybody want to buy a 32-bit CPU now? A 32 bit processor under $120 would be good. My qualm is with high priced 32 bit processors. Yousuf Khan |
#8
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"Bobby" wrote:
I'm in a similar position. Have a 2000XP system right now with 512Mb PC2100 RAM. Running a bit hot. Looking for something to multitask faster (I have lots of open programs and play music, TV in background). *Very* tight budget. Have £200 to spend for new set-up (mobo, cpu and ram - if needed?). Any ideas? For a new CPU you'll want new RAM - you really do want to match the CPU and RAM clock frequencies. For example, for an XP3200 (200MHz fsb) that means PC3200 (DDR400) RAM. You can run with slower RAM and upgrade it later, but you wouldn't be getting the full performance the new CPU is capable of. What's the max processor / RAM speed your current board supports? Posting your replies under what you are quoting makes the thread easier to follow, which will encourage more replies. Tim -- Guns Don’t Kill People, Rappers Do. |
#9
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"Yousuf Khan" wrote:
JK wrote: [snip] An Athlon XP processor would be your best value then. Wha-aat!?!!!? But why would anybody want to buy a 32-bit CPU now? Perhaps because there are so few apps which are 64-bit only and we can expect plenty of 32-bit apps in the future. Tim -- Guns Don’t Kill People, Rappers Do. |
#10
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On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 15:41:02 +0100, Franklin wrote:
Hi guys, after several years I have run out of power on my old 700 MHz Duron system and now want something new. Unless you just "want it, and the money doesn't matter", there's no reason you should do anything other than just upgrade your cpu. You can get close to the speed of a new $400 system with just a cpu upgrade and it will be many times faster than what you have now. The 2400+ you mentioned sounds very reasonable to me. I just upgraded the cpu in my brothers old 750 Duron to an underclocked 2100+ running 1300MHz and he's happy with it. Didn't even want me to speed it up any more, so I lowered vcore to 1.5v to keep it cool and quiet. Now if he wants more speed, I can almost double it with his current cpu. It was the cpu listed below. -- Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB) http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm |
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