Which processor

[Beach]

I'm considering updating my CPU and my motherboard but I'm a bit of a novice and I'm not sure what to go for. Currently I have an ASUS P4S533-E mobo with 512mb memory and a 2.54Ghz P4. I want to get the best out of my graphics card - a Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 pro - and so was looking at either a 3.2 P4 (Northwood) or the Athalon 64 3200 (socket 754). I'm not rolling in money so these are about as expensive as I want to get but which is the best one and what would be the ideal mobo choice?

Oh, and changing the Graphic Card is the most I've ever done so is updating a CPU and mobo fairly straight forward or is it quite complex?

[skattrd]

Updating mobo - persaonally I always do a complete re-fromat and install, so a bit of work required. You can do it without doing this, but theres always going to be some residual drivers left that can hamper performance. Definitely reformat this if changing from Intel to AMD.

If you're going p4 I'd say check out an Asus P4P800, good budget board (get the deluxe if you want RAID etc.) as for processor, I'd say get a 2.8 or 3.0 and overclock it a bit, most 2.8's/3.0's will do about 3.5Ghz on air and 3.2's don't seem to do much better, so aren't really worth the extra imo.

As for A64, never tried them myself, so can't comment, but the 3000's seem to perform almost as well as the 3200's in most situations, so a bit of money can be saved there.

Another thing you haven't mentioned is RAM - what RAM are you using ? as this might need to be changed as well.

[Beach]

Ram...Ram...to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure. It's 512mb and I'm fairly sure its DDR but as for make or anything else I don't know. I was considering updating it as well but again, I don't know what to.

Thanks for the other advice on thge other stuff. Much appreciated.

[skattrd]

RAM - for either the new p4 or A64 you want at least pc3200 (200mhz fsb). The current processor you have will run on pc2100 (133mhz fsb) or anything above, check your current RAM to see if it is compatible

[Platinum]

Im running Kingston HyperX atm very good ram and requires low volts to, if you upgrade I highly recomend it.

[Beach]

Would 512kb still be enough? I've checked out the prices and they're rather steep. If I go as high your spec it's about £300 so I would have to have somethig a bit cheaper.

[BenW]

you mean 512MB

I only have 256MB although i was looking at going upto 1GB in the future.

I am looking at getting the P4P800E-Deluxe when i get my new case, seems to beat the P4C800 in lots of test!

I think you would be fine with the ram you have but if it's 2100 or 2700 then it will hold back your processor unless you change the mem:cpu ratio in the bios

[Beach]

Yes, you're right, I do mean MB. A touch of the old 'Fat Finger Syndrome'.

With two people suggesting the same board, I think I'll have to go with that one.

[Tom]

beach you can get 2x512mb of pc3200 GeIL dual channel for about £120 from microdirect.

Also if you are wanting to game A64 seem to be the current kings

PS ere's a little piccy of that geil stuff i picked up last week for £117

[Beach]

Thx Tom. I've kind of reached the same conclusion regarding the CPU and, of course, the boards mentioned won't work 'cause they're Intel boards! Is it just me or is it always this confusing? Surely it gets easier!

Thx for the tip regarding the memory as well. That should keep the wife happy, she's all for me keeping the cost down!

[Beach]

Right, I've done some research myself (I felt kind of guilty just expecting you guys to keep coming up with answers for me) and the MSI K8N Neo Platinum looks to be a good board if I go the A64 route. Does this sound ok?

[ed^chigliak]

I would not expect the 9800pro to be CPU limited with a 2.5mhz P4 which is a reasonable match for that graphics card. You can improve performance by overclocking with minimal risk but unfortunately I cannot advise you for your P4 system as I know very little about Intel mainboards since my last 4 systems have been AMD. Alot of people are waiting until later in the year when the A64 is more established and I fall into this catagory myself. I have a 2500+ CPU and a 9800np VPU and they are perfectly matched. I have overclocked the CPU to 3200+ speeds.

The performance difference between premium RAM and budget RAM is 1-2% and for that you can pay more than double so IMO a waste of money. Certain RAM intensive applications that you are unlikely to ever use can see 30% gains but this certainly is not typical. Crucial, Geil, TwinMOS, Corsair value are quality and do the job for alot less money.