In article <4882fa02$1_1@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>, peter says...
> Hi
> I have question of the possible upgrade within my old mobo and cpu. I use
> the pc for photography (Photoshop, RAW conversion) not gaming.
>
> Would I benefit more from getting more memory or changing to AMD Athlon XP
> 3000 ?
> And how much improvement should I expect?
>
You'll benefit from both. Another 1GB and an upgrade for the CPU will
definitely be worthwhile for reducing the processing time in Photoshop.
Photoshop will use as much RAM as you can sling at it. One of my
clients uses it for design work. I put 4GB in the system and it'll use
the lot. Goes like stink though.
--
Conor
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't
looking good either. - Scott Adams
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:40:39 +0100, "peter"
<peter@softhome.net> wrote:
>Hi
>I have question of the possible upgrade within my old mobo and cpu. I use
>the pc for photography (Photoshop, RAW conversion) not gaming.
>
>Would I benefit more from getting more memory or changing to AMD Athlon XP
>3000 ?
>And how much improvement should I expect?
>
>My pc:
>Processor
>Model : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+
>Speed : 1.67GHz
>Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. A7N8X
>Total Memory : 1GB DDR
>
>Chipset
>Model : ASUS nForce2 AGP Controller
>Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz)
>Total Memory : 1GB DDR
>Memory Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz)
>
>Memory Module 1
>Type : 512MB DDR
>Speed : PC3200U DDR-200
>Standard Timings : 3.0-3-3-8 2-11-0-0
>Set Timing @ 200MHz : 3.0-3-3-8 2-11-0-0
>Set Timing @ 167MHz : 2.5-3-3-7 2-9-0-0
>
>Memory Module 2
>Type : 512MB DDR
>Speed : PC2100U DDR-133
>Standard Timings : 2.5-3-3-6 2-0-0-0
>Set Timing @ 133MHz : 2.5-3-3-6 2-0-0-0
>Set Timing @ 100MHz : 2.0-2-2-5 2-0-0-0
>
> Video System
>Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256MB DDR3, AGP 3.00, PS 3.0, VS 3.0)
>
>tia
>peter
>
Like upgrades to most (motherboard) platforms, the highest
speed CPU for yours is disproportionately higher priced.
Even with the 3000+ CPU, you are still stuck with only one
core on an application which benefits from multiple cores.
Your best value for the money is replacement now, a low-end
motherboard (if budget requires), 2GB of DDR2 memory (or 4
if budget allows) and a dual core processor.
Back to the questionk when running the largest jobs you do,
Task Manager can show you how much memory is used, that will
be a gauge as to whether more will significantly help. A
CPU upgrade from 2000+ to 3000+ will certainly help, but the
benefit per dollar is questionable at t his late date when
newer platforms have exceeded the performance of a 3000+ by
so much.
Basically it depends on the budget, and how long you intend
to keep this as a (primary?) system, since a 2000+ is no
slouch, is wholely sufficient for a secondary system running
XP, office, email, web browsing, but slow by todays
standards at things like large photoshop image editing.
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:40:39 +0100, peter thoughfully wrote:
> Hi
> I have question of the possible upgrade within my old mobo and cpu. I
> use the pc for photography (Photoshop, RAW conversion) not gaming.
>
> Would I benefit more from getting more memory or changing to AMD Athlon
> XP 3000 ?
> And how much improvement should I expect?
>
> My pc:
> Processor
> Model : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+
> Speed : 1.67GHz
> Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. A7N8X Total Memory : 1GB DDR
>
> Chipset
> Model : ASUS nForce2 AGP Controller
> Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz) Total Memory : 1GB DDR
> Memory Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz)
>
> Memory Module 1
> Type : 512MB DDR
> Speed : PC3200U DDR-200
> Standard Timings : 3.0-3-3-8 2-11-0-0 Set Timing @ 200MHz : 3.0-3-3-8
> 2-11-0-0 Set Timing @ 167MHz : 2.5-3-3-7 2-9-0-0
>
> Memory Module 2
> Type : 512MB DDR
> Speed : PC2100U DDR-133
> Standard Timings : 2.5-3-3-6 2-0-0-0
> Set Timing @ 133MHz : 2.5-3-3-6 2-0-0-0 Set Timing @ 100MHz : 2.0-2-2-5
> 2-0-0-0
>
> Video System
> Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256MB DDR3, AGP 3.00, PS 3.0, VS 3.0)
>
> tia
> peter
I agree with Kony's advise.
Your motherboard can probably accept an AMD 3400+ but the best you can
do is 2GB of memory. If you go with a newer motherboard, cpu and memory
(ddr2) then you also might need a PCI-E video if the new motherboard
doesn't have onboard vga.
And verify your psu will support the new m/b, cpu and video.
A lot of the onboard video available today is better than your GF 6200
mostly GF 7 series.
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:24:48 GMT, jaster <jaster@home.net>
wrote:
>A lot of the onboard video available today is better than your GF 6200
>mostly GF 7 series.
For practical purposes onboard video isn't much different.
Either can do 2d or very old games fine but not new ones.
Main difference then is whether either/or has the I/O ports
one might want or need, like DVI for an LCD. Some
motherboards have it, but many still don't. I would expect
(though can't be certain) the GF6200 at least has that.
On the other hand, since they aren't much different there
isn't much of a loss going with onboard video either, these
days systems have such high memory bandwidth and so much
memory that the performance issues of years ago don't apply
so much anymore.
"peter" <peter@softhome.net> wrote...
> Hi
> I have question of the possible upgrade within my old mobo and cpu. I use
> the pc for photography (Photoshop, RAW conversion) not gaming.
>
> Would I benefit more from getting more memory or changing to AMD Athlon XP
> 3000 ?
> And how much improvement should I expect?
>
> AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+
> Speed : 1.67GHz
> Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. A7N8X
> Total Memory : 1GB DDR
>
> Chipset
> Model : ASUS nForce2 AGP Controller
> Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz)
>
> Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256MB DDR3, AGP 3.00, PS 3.0, VS 3.0)
How large are the pix you use, and how many layers do you normally process? If
you do complex editing that uses a lot of scratch disk space in Photoshop, a
fast HD may be as important as CPU and RAM.
With Win XP or Vista, 2 GB RAM should be the least you have available. Once you
have that, CPU speed will be more of an advantage than more RAM.
However, it all gets down to how much $$ you want to spend on the old system...
"peter" <peter@softhome.net> wrote in message
news:4882fa02$1_1@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
> Hi
> I have question of the possible upgrade within my old mobo and cpu. I use
> the pc for photography (Photoshop, RAW conversion) not gaming.
>
> Would I benefit more from getting more memory or changing to AMD Athlon XP
> 3000 ?
> And how much improvement should I expect?
>
> My pc:
> Processor
> Model : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+
> Speed : 1.67GHz
> Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. A7N8X
> Total Memory : 1GB DDR
>
> Chipset
> Model : ASUS nForce2 AGP Controller
> Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz)
> Total Memory : 1GB DDR
> Memory Bus Speed : 2x 134MHz (268MHz)
>
> Memory Module 1
> Type : 512MB DDR
> Speed : PC3200U DDR-200
> Standard Timings : 3.0-3-3-8 2-11-0-0
> Set Timing @ 200MHz : 3.0-3-3-8 2-11-0-0
> Set Timing @ 167MHz : 2.5-3-3-7 2-9-0-0
>
> Memory Module 2
> Type : 512MB DDR
> Speed : PC2100U DDR-133
> Standard Timings : 2.5-3-3-6 2-0-0-0
> Set Timing @ 133MHz : 2.5-3-3-6 2-0-0-0
> Set Timing @ 100MHz : 2.0-2-2-5 2-0-0-0
>
> Video System
> Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256MB DDR3, AGP 3.00, PS 3.0, VS 3.0)
>
> tia
> peter
>
>
Late with a reply, but google for a bit of help and that cpu likely will
overclock happily to 3200-speeds. Most of 'em--from 1700 and up--would do
so. Those cpu's and Asus' a7n8x were just made for each other. Prolly need
all ram to be PC3200, but it's come down after skyrocketing a year-or-so
ago. Kingston HyperX, 400 ram worked well in mine. Other brands out there
will do as well. HTH, s
upgrading an old pc? 
Linear Mode
