I have a XP1600+ on an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mobo, running dual 256Mb DDR2700 sticks. It has a Sapphire Radeon 9000Pro graphics card, Western Digital 60Gb HD, and a Plextor Deluxe burner. The CPU cooler is some massive beast (I forget the brand and model), and the northbridge and graphics processor both have crystal HS/fans. It's running XP Pro, lean and mean.

It's been running OC'd at 1650 since I built it several years ago, without a hickup. The graphics card also has a hefty OC. This thing has handled everything I've thrown at it with flying colors, with never a problem. I've played a lot of games on it, including Diablo2, Warcraft3, UT, Dark Age of Camelot, MU, and Lineage2.

Given it's stellar performance and reliability, I have absolutely no desire to retire it, but I would like to upgrade it since I can do-so with very little expense. I can get a good deal on a Sempron 2600+ CPU ($49). I figure it won't be a huge difference from my current CPU, but a couple hundred Mhz helps, and I'm sure it will allow this machine to keep running reliably for a few more years. I've already installed the final BIOS update, which included support for the Sempron processors. I'm also going to upgrade to a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 256Mb graphics card ($74).

I just figured I'd ask "the pros" (you guys?) if you agree that this would be a worthwhile upgrade, especially given the very low cost involved.

you could do with more memory. but as it is, those aren't bad upgrades. the 9600XT is a much better gfx card than the 9000. It's still not modern, but I believe you know that if you're going to want to play modern games, you're going to need to move on from socket A.

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Rig 1: AM2 X2 4850e--MSI K9N Neo V3--2x1gb Mushkin DDR2 800--Sapphire HD4830--Corsair VX450--Acer H213H-Win XP
Rig 2:Athlon X2 7850 Kuma--Biostar 780L--2x1gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800--Asus Formula HD4770--Corsair VX450--LG Flatron W2252TQ-Win 7 32-bit Premium
Capitalism rocks!

A 166MHz barton xp cpu would be a more worthwhile upgrade. I take it the xp1600 is a palomino, which won't oc very well.

The best bet would be a barton xp-m mobile. That's what most of us Nforce board owners recommend. Otherwise an xp2500, xp2600 or socketA sempron 3000 (all bartons) would give you a decent performance gain. The lesser semprons are Thoroughbred Bs with the same L2 cache as the xp1600.



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MSI K7N2 Delta2 LSR|35w XP-M2400 11x214 1.62V|2x512MB OCZ EL 2 2 2 11 2.9V|9600XT|Seasonic 350w
Abit AN7|XP-M2800 10.5x227 1.62V|2x512MB Mushkin XP4000 2 3 2 11 3.2V|9600XT|Seasonic 550w
Asus A7V600|XP-M2600 6-11x202 1.6V|2x512 Crucial PC3200 2.5 3 3 9 2.7V|PCI 32MB gfx|Corsair 450w

Thank you for your fast replies.

I did consider more aggressive upgrades, but decided that I would stick with maximum bang-for-the-buck, while throwing as little money as possible at this aging machine with rapidly aging technology. Barton XPs would cost me twice as much as Tbred Semprons.

The soc A Sempron 3000s appear to be in very short supply. I could only find them at a very disreputable retailer ($72), so I fear that their "OEM"s are probably well-cleaned pulls. If I could find them for $70-75 from a reputable retailer, I would buy one.

A little more shopping-around payed-off, as I managed to find a Sempron 2800 for $50 with free shipping, from a reputable retailer. That will give me a 350Mhz boost, without doing any overclocking to get there.

quote:

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Originally posted by: Unknown
A little more shopping-around payed-off, as I managed to find a Sempron 2800 for $50 with free shipping, from a reputable retailer.

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If you've already ordered it, make sure it's not a remarked GeodeNX. Reputable or not, the dealer may not be aware of the scam. http://fab51.com/cpu/guide/attention_xp-e.html

I've never heard of a "fake" sempron 3000 though.

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MSI K7N2 Delta2 LSR|35w XP-M2400 11x214 1.62V|2x512MB OCZ EL 2 2 2 11 2.9V|9600XT|Seasonic 350w
Abit AN7|XP-M2800 10.5x227 1.62V|2x512MB Mushkin XP4000 2 3 2 11 3.2V|9600XT|Seasonic 550w
Asus A7V600|XP-M2600 6-11x202 1.6V|2x512 Crucial PC3200 2.5 3 3 9 2.7V|PCI 32MB gfx|Corsair 450w