Upgrade to Dual core from single core on XP32bit, worth it?

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

Will XP32bit SP3 generally run a bit better?

Ie when encoding video will Windows run a bit smoother while the PC is doing the encoding?

Not looking for miracles, just considering a cheap upgrade to a secondhand AMD X2 processor.

Thanks for help and info.

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

I have an "ancient" Opteron system and am thinking off putting a skt 939 Athlon64 x2 3600. Not expecting miracles, just a PC that will be usable while it is encoding video files.

Will I require an XP reinstall? I will be doing that soon anyway, but would like to put the new cpu in until I get around to the reinstall.

Thanks for help guys.

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

Cool, thats easy enough. Not done an upgrade for a long long time!

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

Oh jesus, that old ...I'd save up, sell what you can and move into some newer stuff really, if you possibly can. It'd be worth it and can be done surprisingly cheaply.

Yep, I will sometime next year. Thing is at the moment, I dont really need a powerful PC these days as I game on the Xbox now...

Just having a more responsive PC will do me fine for a while. I'll be upgrading from 1gig to 2 gig at the same time, both upgrades combined should give the system "legs" to allow me to keep it for a while longer.

I used to be a constant upgrader, but just not into that side of things these days.

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

The main thing you need to be aware of is that your current PC will use the uniprocessor driver and you will need to change this to multiprocessor.

A simple process hopefully?

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

I see your point but the deal is done now and I am ok with it.

Got 2gig of RAM for £15, the 3600 X2 for £18.

It'll do me for a while, too many hobbies these days to spend too much time or money on PC's. I recently learnt there is a whole big world out there, so my days spend stuck infront of a PC for *far* too long have come to an end. For now anyway.

Thanks for all the advice and input though!

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

Hi,

Have you seen much of a difference? I'm tempted to upgrade my brothers sff for him from single to dual core. You got a pretty good deal on the x2, they seem to hold their value really well!

Thanks.

Will let you know when arrived and fitted. Trouble is I am away from this Friday on hols with my kid for the half term.... so cant fit and tinker with it all till the return.

As said, an extra core and extra ram has got to make her a bit more responsive, not after miracles, just a PC that still works while encoding video will do!

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

No, standard 939 Athlon X2 fitted. Though it is fitted to my brilliantly reliable little Asrock Dual Sata board Ive had for years now.

For the person that asked, I managed to get around to fitting the extra RAM and new cpu, remarkable difference to general speed of system, and finally, a usable PC while encoding HD video too.

Very pleased with the performance jump for what was a cheap upgrade.