On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 09:14:18 -0500, Nicholas
<calypson@bell_axe-this_south.net> wrote:

>So my machine is now 3 years old and I'd like to bump up the performance
>a little. I currently have an Athlon xp 2400 and 512 mb of PC3200 ram.
> The Mobo is a LeadTek WinFast K7nCR18D PROII. I have not been digging
>in Computers for a while (other than to replace a video card in the
>system) so I'm a little behind in whats going on.
>
>My questions to the mavens are:
>
>What is the most useful/practical higher speed CPU I can use with this
>board? (In other words if $100 gets me 2% more speed it is not practical.)

There is no practical upgrade from an XP2400 at this point.
Back when the processor was first bought, it might've
arguably (at the time) been cost effective to get an XP3200
or Barton core (if yours is not) but it might not have been
if these CPUs were at a cost premium still.


>
>The manual lists 3 dimm sockets for memoty, and only mentions that the
>memory be compatible with the BIOS FSB setting.(400) I currently have
>512mb PC3200. I understand that if I add additional RAM it should be
>PC3200. However, do the other two have to be 512mb? Can I have other
>sizes? Mix and match if you will? Below is the info on the mobo.

You can mix and match but should get memory rated at least
as well as your present module. You don't mention the jobs
you run (which need more performance) so it's a bit hard to
suggest what amount of memory might be ideal but I'm
inclined to think if you'd gotten along with 512MB till now,
it might be best to add 512MB and leave it at that - any
more memory is sinking too much money into an aging
platform, IMO, and might be better spent on switching to a
new platform supporting PCI Express & DDR2 memory.

Your board can use dual channel memory mode if you have two
or more modules installed - they need not be matched pairs
but will only be in dual channel mode/performance up amount
used on smallest populated channel. If you are using
integrated video then going to dual channel mode is another
slight performance boost (not so much for 2D work and that
video is too slow for modern 3D gaming, but nevertheless a
boost in memory bandwidth will be a few percent improvement
in other things as well) BUT we dont' know if your present
512MB is from 1 module or 2 x 256MB... I might've overlooked
that info in your post, it was a bit jumbled towards the
end.

So I'd consider the optimal config for your system to be 2 x
512MB modules, one in each channel/slot. Any further
upgrades wouldn't be cost effective and even now before
adding memory you should consider "IF" It's time to replace
more (CPU, board, memory, PCI Express video, and "maybe"
hard drive).