Processor Bus Speeds

[Flyguy]

I'm currently running a Biostar M7NCD motherboard with an AMD XP 2500+ (333 bus speed) and I'm debating weather to get the XP 3200+ (400 bus speed) or get a new motherboard. The current board supports a chip up to the 3200. Obviously there’s a difference between the two speeds but is it really negligible? Is it worth getting a new board that supports the new 64 chips or stick with my current board and up the processor? I have a 512 stick on it now and planning on getting another one. I have a 128MB ASUS ATI card and planning on upping that too, eventually.

[Cataclysm]

Originally Posted by Flyguy

I'm currently running a Biostar M7NCD motherboard with an AMD XP 2500+ (333 bus speed) and I'm debating weather to get the XP 3200+ (400 bus speed) or get a new motherboard. The current board supports a chip up to the 3200. Obviously there’s a difference between the two speeds but is it really negligible? Is it worth getting a new board that supports the new 64 chips or stick with my current board and up the processor? I have a 512 stick on it now and planning on getting another one. I have a 128MB ASUS ATI card and planning on upping that too, eventually.

You'd probably be better off trying to overclock what you currently have. If you do it correctly and get proper heat sinks, fans, etc. you should be able to see the same results for less money. www.extremeoverclocking.com is my fav site for overclocking tech

[Lasereth]

Upgrading from a 2500+ to a 3200+ would show performance, but not much. I'd buy one if ya could sell the 2500+ and use it towards the new one. Why do you want to upgrade anyway? A 2500+ will work fine for games. I can understand the need for more power, but it's useless unless you want the very best performance in games. Remember that the videocard matters way more than the processor in gaming as well...plus RAM quantities.

What RAM do you have? Even if you do upgrade to a 3200+, unless you have PC3200 RAM then you'll have to upgrade your RAM as well, rendering your old RAM useless.

I'd say you'll get about a 20% increase on average in gameplay if you upgrade.

If you want to upgrade to an Athlon 64 system, you'll need a new motherboard, processor, and PC3200 RAM. They are definitely powerful, but like I said before, the videocard is way more important concerning games. It might be better to dump money into a videocard instead.

-Lasereth