Thank you Paul for the clear and concise information. I now see where
you were going. It has been a while since I really built a system (6
years). If I remember correctly, a change of mobo would require mobo
driver changes as well and assorted other configuration work. If I
could just slot in the current hard drives and go I would consider it.
At present, a clean HD and reloading all the software is not something
I'd like to undertake.

I will be in the market for a new machine later next year. I am not sure
where 64bit systems have reached or whether the Windows XP/Vista 64 bit
OS's have reached the point where they make a usable difference for me.
At present my main software is 32bit. CorelDRAW X3, AutoCad, and
Sketchup. Again, I'll need to research the compatibilities of
OS's/hardware/software for what I want to do. I do have preference for
AMD.

I have also been paying a little attention to the Apple systems capable
of running Windows, purely because a majority of people in my field use
Apple machines. That in itself would never a be a deciding factor, but
if I came across Apple only program that I had to have then...

What is the "cutting edge" AMD platform that I might look at, that will
still around next year? i.e. Socket what?

Paul wrote:
> Nicholas wrote:
>> 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.
>>
>
> The point is, upgrading your current system, may not give you much of an
> improvement. Your options are:
>
> 1) Buy a Barton AthlonXP plus a 512MB stick of DDR memory.
>
> 2) Buy a S939 processor, a cheap S939 motherboard with AGP slot,
> plus a 512MB stick of memory.
>
> For about $50 to $100 more for the S939 system, you end up with the
> 3700+ processor. And the processor will be overclockable to a greater
> extent, than the Nforce2 system would allow. I have an Nforce2, and
> there isn't a lot of headroom available at the FSB400/DDR400 level.
>
> Example of cheap S939 AGP motherboard:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131558
>
> If you want to go at this upgrade a bit slower, just buy the 512MB stick
> of RAM first. As a Photoshop user, that is likely to give you the most
> gain. Swapping to disk makes Photoshop dog slow. You know what size images
> you are working with, and whether you are in scratch disk country or not.
> (Just what your IDE disk LED, after doing an operation in Photoshop.)
> For Macintosh computers, I believe the rule of thumb, was available memory
> should be 5x the size of the image. If your OS used 150MB of the 512MB,
> that would leave about 362MB of memory. Dividing by 5 means you could
> handle a 72MB image or so, if the undo option was set to a minimum.
> (More undos means more copies of the image stored temporarily, somewhere.
> And more trips to the scratch disk.)
>
> Another option, for a memory upgrade, would be to go to 2x1GB, and
> retire the 512MB stick. Buying a kit of two in a package, is the
> best way to do that, and get a matched pair for dual channel. A
> dual channel config of DDR memory, would help with either your
> current S462 motherboard, or with S939.
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141236
>
> If the memory upgrade doesn't feel like enough improvement, then you
> can reconsider whether staying with S462 socket, or moving to S939,
> is the right answer. But don't wait too long, as the number of motherboards
> that can take your AGP video card may not be around for much longer.
> And the cheap S939 processors won't be around for very long either.
> (The 4000+ would have been what I would have recommended, but it
> is gone already. Leaving the 3700+ as the next best S939 option
> for a reasonable price.)
>
> The S939 upgrade is a dead end, in terms of the future. I only offer
> it, to extend the performance range of your upgrade options. For
> example, if you were a rabid gamer, then I'd suggest moving to
> an even more modern system, as gaming with a dead end system is
> a bad investment (nickel and dime upgrades don't help in the long
> run). If you are a professional Photoshop user, then
> you shouldn't even be trying to upgrade your current system, and
> should buy something newer, with much more processing power.
> For a pro, time is money. A Core2 Duo would be the right class
> of machine, for a Photoshop pro.
>
> Paul