Thanks for the reply. I'm a little mixed up though. Are you saying that
the Athalon 64 3700+ will work with my mother board? Also, most of my
work is with Photoshop, Autocad and other such programs. I have noticed
that the as my work files get bigger I can see the slow down. This is
why I am contemplating an upgrade. I am not ready to buy a new machine
quite yet.
Other info: the memory is a single stick of 512 and the hardrive is SATA.
thanks again for the info.
Paul wrote:
> Nicholas 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.)
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> thanks
>>
> <<snip>>
>
> http://www.motherboards.org/mobot/mo...7NCR18D-ProII/
>
>
> As long as the BIOS supports it, you can use any processor you want. The
> FSB goes to FSB400 on that board, so at the hardware level there is no
> limit. But the BIOS may have a say in the matter. Leaktek's site leaves
> a lot to be
> desired. I don't see a CPU support list, but maybe I'm blind.
>
> http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/suppor...K7nCR18D+PROII
>
>
> For RAM, there are three slots. Two slots are "close together". One
> slot is a loner. The amount of memory in the loner slot, should
> match the total memory in the two "close together" slots. If you
> currently own a single PC3200 stick of size 512MB, you should
> buy a second 512MB stick. Place the sticks in the two blue slots,
> for a total of 1GB memory in dual channel mode.
>
> You can use any RAM config you want, in fact. But if you match
> the amount of memory, as described in the previous paragraph,
> then you enjoy the slight benefit of dual channel memory operation.
> (For dual channel, sum total of two paired slots must equal memory
> in loner slot.)
>
> The two inline texts below, are a list of CPUs, and the BIOS release
> notes from the most modern Leadtek BIOS release. The fastest processor
> you can buy is a 3200+. Compared to your 2400+, that would be theoretically
> 33% faster, based on AMD's P.R. rating. But if you look at the core clock
> rate, the fastest processor runs at 2200Mhz and yours runs at 2000MHz.
> Depending on what you are doing, it may not look like 33%. A lot of the
> advantage of the fastest processor, is operating with a faster FSB improves
> performance with memory. Perhaps a program like Photoshop, sees the
> most advantage of using the Barton 3200+.
>
> If this was my board, I doubt I'd bother buying another AthlonXP
> at this point. Unless it was really cheap. For example, this
> processor is more modern, and only costs $87. An extra 512MB
> stick, to match your other 512MB stick, plus this processor, would
> make the beginnings of a nice S939 board. This one comes with
> a heatsink/fan. These will not be available forever, so if you
> want one, buy it now.
>
> AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 2.2GHz 1MB L2 S939 $87
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103622
>
> ******** Processor choices for S462 (list originally from QDI) *******
> Family Core P.R. Pkg CPU Cache Mult Core Tmax Power
> Freq Clk Volts
>
> XP Model 10 2200 (3200+) OPGA 200 512 11x 1.65V 85oC 60.4W
> Barton 2100 (3000+) OPGA 200 512 10.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W
>
> XP Model 10 2167 (3000+) OPGA 166 512 13x 1.65V 85oC 58.4W
> Barton 2083 (2800+) OPGA 166 512 12.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W
> 1917 (2600+) OPGA 166 512 11.5x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W
> 1833 (2500+) OPGA 166 512 11x 1.65V 85oC 53.7W
>
> XP Model 8 2167 (2700+) OPGA 166 256 13x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W
> Thoroughbred 2083 (2600+) OPGA 166 256 12.5x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W
>
> XP Model 8 2133 (2600+) OPGA 133 256 16x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W
> Thoroughbred 2000 (2400+) OPGA 133 256 15x 1.65V 85oC 62.0W
> CPU ID 0681 1800 (2200+) OPGA 133 256 13.5x 1.60V 85oC 57.0W
> 1733 (2100+) OPGA 133 256 13x 1.60V 90oC 56.3W
> 1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.60V 90oC 55.7W
> 1533 (1800+) OPGA 133 256 11.5x 1.60V 90oC 55.7W
> 1467 (1700+) OPGA 133 256 11x 1.60V 90oC 55.7W
>
> XP Model 8 1800 (2200+) OPGA 133 256 13.5x 1.65V 85oC 61.7W
> Thoroughbred 1733 (2100+) OPGA 133 256 13x 1.60V 90oC 56.4W
> CPU ID 0680 1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.65V 90oC 54.7W
> 1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.60V 90oC 54.7W
> 1600 (1900+) OPGA 133 256 12x 1.50V 90oC 47.7W
> 1533 (1800+) OPGA 133 256 11.5x 1.50V 90oC 46.3W
> 1467 (1700+) OPGA 133 256 11x 1.50V 90oC 44.9W
>
> XP Model 6 1733 (2100+) OPGA 133 256 13x 1.75V 90oC 64.3W
> Palomino 1667 (2000+) OPGA 133 256 12.5x 1.75V 90oC 62.5W
> 1600 (1900+) OPGA 133 256 12x 1.75V 90oC 60.7W
> 1533 (1800+) OPGA 133 256 11.5x 1.75V 90oC 59.2W
> 1467 (1700+) OPGA 133 256 11x 1.75V 90oC 57.4W
> 1400 (1600+) OPGA 133 256 10.5x 1.75V 90oC 56.3W
> 1333 (1500+) OPGA 133 256 10x 1.75V 90oC 53.8W
> ********
>
> ******* Latest BIOS - release history file *******
> K7NCR18D PRO2 Mother Board BIOS update history
>
> BIOS VERSION 04/24/2003
> 1.Support Athlon XP 2600+/2700+ for FSB333(166MHz) & L2 cache 512K
>
> BIOS VERSION 05/30/2003
> 1.Fixed ROM BIOS of some PCI card can't be flashed.
> 2.Fixed IR function work incorrectly in K7NCR18DM.
> 3.Supports CPU FSB clock up to 300MHZ.
> 4.Fix C1-Disconnect fail when APU driver installed.
> 5.Build-in Awdflash.exe version 8.24B in BIOS.
>
> BIOS VERSION 06/25/2003
> 1.Added Mobile Barton 1800 + L2 512K (133MHZ) and
> Athlon MP Low Power Model 6 Desktop CPU (L2=256K)
> 2.Fixed some USB 2.0 device that use Genesys's GL811 USB2.0 controller bug.
>
> BIOS VERSION 07/03/2003
> 1.Fix resume from S3 then select shutdown that
> will cause system restart but not shutdown.
>
> BIOS VERSION 07/10/2003
> 1.Fix system resume from S3 will hung up when you use SATA hardisk is using
> Raid0 or Raid1 function.
>
> BIOS VERSION 07/21/2003
> 1.Fixed under Win98 some device will be disappeared when restart if you are
> using BIOS date code after 6/25/2003 .
> 2.Fixed some WD Harddisk was manufactured during 4Q of 2001 can't be
> detected bug.
>
> BIOS VERSION 07/25/2003
> 1.Add memory patch for Hynix HYMD264 646B8J-D43,HYMD232 646B8J-D43.
> 2.Fix system resume from S3 will hung up when you use SATA hardisk is using
> Raid0 or Raid1 function.
> 3.Update Awdflash.exe to version 8.24F.
>
> BIOS VERSION 08/11/2003
> 1.Add Duron 133 L2 64K CPU Support (CPUID=681)
>
> BIOS VERSION 08/21/2003
> 1.Add Memory Prefetch item in BIOS setup to fix some RAM module
> compatiblity .
> Note: If you have some memory issue
>
> BIOS VERSION 10/01/2003
> 1. Supports AGP clock to 120Mhz
> 2. Update SATA Rom Ver. 4236
> 3. Fixes Duron 133 L2 64K CPU update Name ERROR.
>
> BIOS VERSION 12/21/2003
> 1. Fixed AGP card auto-detect fail on C17/IGP some times.
> 2. Fixed USB fail when s3 resume.
> 3. Update SATA bios
>
> BIOS VERSION 01/28/2004
> 1. Fixed changing CPU ratio failed.
>
> BIOS VERSION 04/16/2004
> 1.Fixed PCI modem wake fail.
> 2.Update SATA ROM.
> 3.Fixed ACPI LED always bright.
> 4.Fixed S1 resume fail.
> 5.Fixed USB Mouse can't active under DOS mode.
>
> BIOS VERSION 07/30/2004
> 1.Supports Sempron CPU.
> 2.Update awdflash.
>
> BIOS VERSION 08/13/2004
> 1.Fixed can't enter windowsXP when plug SATA HDD.
>
> *******
>
> HTH,
> Paul