XP to P4?

[twistedturq]

Currently got an Asus A7N8X-E with an XP2400....however, I've really been contemplating a change over to a P4 3gig, particularly for the likes of Doom and HL2 really.

Or should I just upgrade the cpu to a 3200?

What do you guys reckon?

[skattrd]

Don't wast your money mate, i doubt you'll notice much of a difference in games - stick with what you've got. If you really want to upgrade then consider an A64 the cheaper ones work out about the same price as the p4.

What gfx are you using?

[twistedturq]

9800 Pro, also got a 1GB of DDR400 in there

[yamangman]

You do know it'll mean a new motherboard, right?

[Nomadd]

Well, I made the leap from an XP2400 to a P4 about three months ago. I do not regret it. Mind you, the P4s were a *lot* cheaper than the A64s at the time. I have a Northwood running at 3.5GHz, but it will boot and run higher even than that.

The performance difference has been huge: for me, and the applications I run. Mind you, I also switched to dual-channel RAM at the time and I am running at a higher FSB, so all of the performance improvement didn't just come from the CPU (although most of it did).

The one thing I would say is to look at the 'balance' of your system. No point upgrading - and then overclocking a P4/A64 - if the rest of your system is holding it back. I already had a newish disk drive, so I was OK there. The last piece of the puzzle for me was the addition of a (mildy overclocked) 6800GT, from a Geforce Ti4600.

My 3DMark03 on the old XP2400/Ti4600 was ~1500; on the new system it's ~12,500, so a huge, huge leap - and I really, really notice it in more modern games - i.e. FarCry/Doom3. I also use my PC for lots of other work related stuff, and again, the performance leap has been steller. For you, depending on what you want to do, it may/may not be worth it; your call.

Nomadd

[Lee H]

I'd personally wait a while and move across to the AMD 64 bit platform once socket 939 has matured a little and the dual PCI-Express motherboards are released by the end of the year.

AMD64 seem to be the way to go if you need performance for games as the hypertransport system seems to be designed to cope with huge data requests and sends within the system quite easily ( the hypertransport theoretically is the FSB ).

end of the day, no matter how long you wait - theres always going to be something better upon the horizon.

[joely]

this is the problem with computers, if you wait to upgrade you will wait forever as there is always something bigger and better about to come out. If you have the money go for it!

[skattrd]

I changed my main pc from an Xp to a P4 a few months ago (an XP2500+ @ 2.3Ghz to a P4 2.8 @ 3.4Ghz) and the only thing I really notice a difference in is crunching SETI and video encoding - which were the reasons I changed.

As far as games go I don't really notice any difference, my 3dmark 01 score increased by less than 1000 between the XP and P4, I kept the rest of the components roughly the same, so for gaming I's say changing from XP to P4 isn't really worth it.

[Nomadd]

re: "so for gaming I's say changing from XP to P4 isn't really worth it."

Sorry, but read my post above, especially the bit about 'balance'. I'd say your problem was the bit in your sig that reads: "Radeon 9800se" :-)

Nomadd

[skattrd]

re: "so for gaming I's say changing from XP to P4 isn't really worth it."

Sorry, but read my post above, especially the bit about 'balance'. I'd say your problem was the bit in your sig that reads: "Radeon 9800se" :-)

Nomadd

3dmark 03 benchmarks gpu more than anything else - so the main difference in the scores for you was changing from a gf4 to 6800, not XP to P4.

I was comparing my 3dmark 01 scores as the cpu has more of an influence in the result and virtually nothing changed in my system apart from the cpu/mobo.

My graphics was the same in both systems 9800se @ PRO (effectively a 9800pro AiW) so a much fairer comparison than comparing a system where you changed from an Xp with single channel RAM and a gf4 to p4 running dual channel and a 6800.

[Swafe]

wait

[twistedturq]

Well, i was only looking at changing the mobo and cpu to be honest. my gfx card, mem and hdd all seem to be cool as it is i reckon.

still awfully tempted for a 3gig, or maybe even an ath64 3200.

but if the changes are minimal as most of you state then i might just leave it for now.

[ed^chigliak]

From 2.4 to 3.2 thats about +10FPS in Doom3. What's interesting is that A64 3000+ is right up there between the P4 3.2 & 3.4 extreme editions. Every other A64 is ahead of the P4's in gaming. Problem is the A64 3000+ requires a 754 mainboard which has no future hence most people are waiting for socket 939 mainboards and CPU's to become affordable. The other problem is the change over from AGP to PCI-E graphics and alot of people are waiting for this to happen before moving to 6800/x800 class graphics. It's all about futureproofing ones investment in hardware as far as possible which is not usually very far at all.

[Byatt]

I'd personally wait a while and move across to the AMD 64 bit platform once socket 939 has matured a little and the dual PCI-Express motherboards are released by the end of the year.

AMD64 seem to be the way to go if you need performance for games as the hypertransport system seems to be designed to cope with huge data requests and sends within the system quite easily ( the hypertransport theoretically is the FSB ).

end of the day, no matter how long you wait - theres always going to be something better upon the horizon.

Yes. Socket 754 will give you bargain performance right now if you want it, but realise that the 3400+ is likely going to be the fastest CPU you're ever going to be able to put in it...if that's OK (say you'll be using this machine for 12 months plus) then go for it...if you're looking to have a continuously upgradeable machine...wait.