AMD XP 2500M > Time To Upgrade

[nheather]

I'm not exactly a newbie but I've been happily using my current system and am out of touch with current CPU architectures.

It is time to overhaul my machine but when I look at the CPU section in overclockers I am faced with a range of CPUs and I am finding it difficult to determine which is best for me and which would offer the best performance increase per pound over my existing CPU.

My current CPU is

AMD Athlon 2500 Mobile running at 2154MHz (5 x 431)

This runs super stable on air cooling so I could probably squeeze a bit more juice but I really think its time for an upgrade.

Moneywise, I would be looking at CPU, Motherboard, Graphics Card and if necessary memory.

For the CPU I would be thinking around the £100 give or take. Happy with Intel or AMD.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[nheather]

Thanks for the reply.

My PC is mixed use, but to be honest the only area where I can honestly say it needs to be improved is gaming.

Where I'm struggling is with the architecture change.

When I last looked, the clock speed was a pretty good measure of what performance to expect.

But now the architectures have changed considerably (64bit, dual core) but the clock speeds haven't moved that much.

So if I compare my current Athlon 2500M with a Athlon 64 3000+ - my current clock speed is actually higher.

What I'm not clear is how much improvement the architecture changes bring.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[nheather]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions - really appreciate it.

trojan698 - My mistake. It's a long time since I set up my CPU so couldn't recall what the multiplier was. I used Aida32 before this post - it reports my CPU as 5x241. But I have just checked with CPU-Z and it gives 10x215.5 which I think is correct - I could try pushing it a little more but not by much.

My M/B is an Abit NF7

My graphics card is a Radeon 9700 Pro (128MB)

My memory is Corsair Value Select PC3200

My PSU is a Enermex 400W

I was hoping just to change the following for now

CPU - Sounds like an Athlon 64 Venice - what's best one for clocking
Motherboard - No idea but probably another Abit becuase the current one is good
Graphics Card - Thinking of a Radeon X1800 - one of the ones that can be modded

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[nheather]

Dark_Angel

No I'm pretty sold on the Venice I'm just wondering which one.

The 3000, 3200 and 3500 are all within my price range.

But I know that sometimes, the lower examples actually have more clocking potential.

What's the situation with the Venice CPUs?