AMD Barton v AMD 64

[Lexeus]

I have looked and looked but I can't seem to find anything comparing the performance of a Socket A Barton and a AMD 64 Venice core, or any 64 bit CPU for that matter.

Basicly I have a SN45Gv3 shuttle with an Athlon 2500+ Barton, and was thinking maybe I should try and get a 3200+ Barton to stick in it.
Or prefferably would be nice to just get a new shuttle and CPU. Maybe a cheap AMD 64 3200+

But here's the problem, I cant find anything showing what the performance difference would be between an AMD 64 3200+ and a Athlon 3200+ Barton.

As far as i can see, if I was just running 32bit Windows XP, or even 64bit windows XP with 32bit apps, the only advantage the AMD 64 would have would be the integrated memory controller really ?
And wouldn't make amassive difference.

Was also wondering, what happened to dual channel memory like on the Nforce 2 ? or did that go out with the introduction of Hypertransport ?

appreciate any advice ? thx

[dave87]

If I'm honest, going 939/AM2 would be a waste of time. Conroe is where it is at now, especially if you pick up something like the E4300.

NForce 2 Chipset was ahead of its time, and cost a lot to produce as far as I know, so with NForce3/4 they cut back the feature set (ie Soundstorm only appeared on NF2, Dual Channel Memory support was lacking in NF3 chipsets). That has been fixed by NF4, and the new AM2 boards, but Conroe has such a great lead in performance its immaterial.

Dave

[Lexeus]

I cant afford a Conroe though lol

I'm going to be buying second hand and Im looking at £200 tops for a shuttle + CPU
Then I will have to buy a new VGA to replace my 9800Pro so even 2nd hand last generation AMD is expensive

Really just want to know will there be a worthwhile upgrade from 3200+ Barton to AMD 64 3200+

[listy]

lad selling 3200 a64 in callsified section 30quid iirc

[shaithis]

The A64 should be noticeably faster in raw-CPU performance.

You'll probably find this and interesting read

[Lexeus]

thx shaithis, much more helpful then anything I have found !

but shame all the graph images are no longer hosted

[DanceswithUnix]

I went from an XP2100 to a A64-3000, and the performance difference is huge for two things: Video compression and games playing. For other things there isn't really any difference, but then most people don't care how fast their word processor is anyway.

In terms of living with the machine everyday, the Barton CPU will chew near max power even when idle, the A64 does way better than that and also gives you the option of cool-n-quiet which reduces the power consumption further. That makes the machine much easier to cool and hence quieter.

I did see a list of differences between the A64 and Barton generation, and Cache bandwidth and SSE improvements spring to mind but I am sure there was more than that.

I would say that an upgrade to A64 is worthwhile, if only for the quieter cooling.

Do you have a lot of existing RAM? Scan sell the SK22G2 for 143 quid new, but when you add the cost of RAM to that as well as CPU it pushes you out of budget. This is a shame, as AM2 is probably your best bet for future upgradability to the next generation given Intel's tendancy to mess with S775 all the time.

[[GSV]Trig]

Depends what ur gonna use the machine for tbh chap..
Conroe's are nice but if u dont need the power then theres plenty of second hand stuff out there that'll be better than what you have and cheaper...

[Lexeus]

Well i'm going to be using it for pretty much everything.

Primarily like everyone it will be used for web browsing (isn't that what everyone ends up wasting there time on these days ? lol ), will also be used for my work which means word + remote desktop to a linux server, but I am really building it for playing WOW and just started playing Star trek legacy so would like to up the spec for that in terms of graphics, but that can be done with an AGP upgrade from the 9800Pro.

Basicly I use my pc alot for everything, but the most demanding thing is going to be games.
I am definitely going to upgrade at some point, but is a upgrade to AMD 64 3200+ worth it for me ? It will cost me in the region of £200 as I can only use shuttles at the mo for portability, and then probably another £60-70 for a PCI-X VGA.

The way i'm thinking is maybe not .... The 2500+ can handle things ok, but it does show its' age some times, I have 1Gb of RAM so that shouldn't be hindering the system too much.

The main question i'm asking is, is the 64bit chip with integrated memory controller actually much of a performance boost?
As, if not, I may as well just get a cheapish Barton 3200+ as a temporary measure until the summer when I should be able to get an AM2/socket940 instead of a skt 939 shuttle and get a low end X2 cheapish, which combined is guaranteed to offer a decent performance boost

[dave87]

The point I was trying to make, rather than a blanket suggestion for conroe, was that you would be better off waiting for the price drops that are fast approaching, saving some more towards you're budget, and getting a much better PC in the process. The main problem I see with going 939 is the limitations it faces you with, where as at least with conroe support on a 775 board, you can get a faster processor, easily available additional ram (which with DDR soon going the way of SD-Ram, as things start using ddr2/3, might be a little tricky)

Hope this helps.

Dave

[DanceswithUnix]

If you can wait then that might be a good option.

AMD should have their new core out by the summer and Intel will have dropped their prices, so more choice there. The DX10 budget cards may have started coming out, so they may be interesting or otherwise the DX9 cards should have dropped in price. If you can haev saved up some more budget, all the better!

Sounds like you next question would be: will I see any improvement going from a 2500XP to a 3200XP? I would guess that is a waste of money personally unless you can get it for something like a tenner.

[Lexeus]

Thanks for that guys

ah well, guess I will have to just suffer with what I have now
I want to upgrade damnit !!

You are probably right, it's what I was thinking too but I dont like having a CPU that slows games down, but guess I dont really like my bank balance either ....
Last year as a student really gets to you on the money side. But then I'm going to have to get a mortgage or something and I can see me having even less money available lol !! life's a bitch

Although once I leave uni I could ditch the shuttle and go back to my Castek Super tower which would cost far less to stick a mobo and CPU in, not having to buy a new PSU or case... hmm, think I will just go with option c of scouring ebay and forums for a major bargain as a stop-gap measure

[DanceswithUnix]

Would something a tad larger be OK?

Like a Terminator?

or bigger again: MicroATX?

Neither are full sized, but as you get bigger it does get cheaper.

[Lexeus]

unfortunately it has to be small enough to take on the train when I go home from uni.
My sn45gV3 fits perfectly in its PF40 case that cost me about £25.

looking at getting a SN25P shuttle, will cost me another £35 or soemthing for a PF60 that will fit that though ....


What you think of the SN25P ?