«

The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has a p3
550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap upgrade based
on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for the moment I will
just take one thing at a time. As it has been almost 5 years since I did any
hardware upgrades apart from a dvdwriter I am very out of date with computer
hardware knowledge so would appreciate some advice from people with both
experience and common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I bought
my last motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset for
reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do not want
to loose the reliability that I have with my current motherboard I would
like opinions on firstly via chipsets and secondly asrock motherboards, I am
looking at the K7VM3 which I can buy for $60. I presume that a sempron 2200+
cpu plus a motherboard with onboard Integrated UniChrome 3D Graphics will
be many times faster than my p3 550MHz with agp tnt2 video card when
rendering video, i.e compressing avi into dvd mpeg files and still
considerably faster when playing 3d based games although game performance is
obviously not important to me although I would not want to make a downgrade
in that department.
One other thing, are all sempron cpu's 64 bit and does the motherboard have
any affect on 64 bit operation, i.e will the wrong motherboard disable 64
bit operation.

graviton wrote:
> The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has
> a p3 550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap
> upgrade based on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for
> the moment I will just take one thing at a time. As it has been
> almost 5 years since I did any hardware upgrades apart from a
> dvdwriter I am very out of date with computer hardware knowledge so
> would appreciate some advice from people with both experience and
> common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I bought my last
> motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset for
> reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
> changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do
> not want to loose the reliability that I have with my current
> motherboard I would like opinions on firstly via chipsets and
> secondly asrock motherboards,

VIA chipsets suck performance-wise and Asrock are Asus boards aimed at the
budget market with budget features and components. If you are intending this
PC to last you another 5 years that is the wrong choice. As is the 1.5GHz,
cheapest you can possibly get, CPU. That system will run XP about as fast as
your P3 550 runs 98.

> I am looking at the K7VM3 which I can
> buy for $60.

You get what you pay for. If I was buying Socket A now I'd be buying nForce2
Ultra 400 chipset from one of the more well-known brands. I have Soltek in
two PCs and they're great. These boards might cost you twice as much as that
Asrock <barf> but they're still cheap as chips compared with what they cost
a couple years ago.

Soltek made a nice nForce2 mobo with integrated GeForce 4 MX 440 graphics.
Not state-of-the-art, even then, but far, far better than UniChrome 3D. That
is about as budget as you can get. Made by S3 in conjunction with VIA.

If you gave me that Asrock board I'd pull the heatsink off the northbridge
and put it in my 'bits' drawer and throw the rest in the rubbish. Or sell it
on Trademe. <g>

> I presume that a sempron 2200+ cpu plus a motherboard
> with onboard Integrated UniChrome 3D Graphics will be many times
> faster than my p3 550MHz with agp tnt2 video card when rendering
> video, i.e compressing avi into dvd mpeg files

Yes. Maybe not "many times", maybe twice as fast, maybe a little more.

> and still considerably
> faster when playing 3d based games

I doubt it.

> although game performance is
> obviously not important to me although I would not want to make a
> downgrade in that department.

Well, I think you might be.

However at least it has an AGP 4x slot (Isn't that, like, two or three years
ago?) so you can add a card in. However, even a budget card is going to cost
more than the mobo.

> One other thing, are all sempron cpu's 64 bit

No, only the fastest one was 64 bit last I heard. The rest are just re-named
Socket A Athlon XPs. AMD didn't want the Athlon name associated with slower
chips (but were still selling lots of them) so came up with 'Sempron'. Then
it made one of them 64bit to give the name cred. The Sempron 2200+ CPU is
basically an Athlon XP1700+ (Soooo 2001) running on a faster FSB.

> and does the
> motherboard have any affect on 64 bit operation, i.e will the wrong
> motherboard disable 64 bit operation.

Well, AMD 64 bit CPUs will only fit in mobos designed for them. So your
question is moot.
--
~misfit~

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:57:46 +1300, "graviton" <graviton@gravity>
wrote:

>The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has a p3
>550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap upgrade based
>on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for the moment I will
>just take one thing at a time. As it has been almost 5 years since I did any
>hardware upgrades apart from a dvdwriter I am very out of date with computer
>hardware knowledge so would appreciate some advice from people with both
>experience and common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I bought
>my last motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset for
>reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
>changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do not want
>to loose the reliability that I have with my current motherboard I would
>like opinions on firstly via chipsets and secondly asrock motherboards, I am
>looking at the K7VM3 which I can buy for $60. I presume that a sempron 2200+
>cpu plus a motherboard with onboard Integrated UniChrome 3D Graphics will
>be many times faster than my p3 550MHz with agp tnt2 video card when
>rendering video, i.e compressing avi into dvd mpeg files and still
>considerably faster when playing 3d based games although game performance is
>obviously not important to me although I would not want to make a downgrade
>in that department.
>One other thing, are all sempron cpu's 64 bit and does the motherboard have
>any affect on 64 bit operation, i.e will the wrong motherboard disable 64
>bit operation.
>
I am sure that the UniChrome graphics has built-in DVD decoding. I
don't think they will affect video rendering speed.

That K7MV3 mobo is Socket A which takes a range of 32bit AMD CPUs:
http://www.asrock.com/support/CPU_Su...sp?Model=K7VM3

The Sempron 2200+ only runs at 1500MHz, which is quite slow these
days. For video rendering it pays to get the fastest possible. Try
for a 2800+ which runs at 2000MHz.

It has an AGP slot but it is only 4x AGP, if you wanted to upgrade the
graphics later. You would also have to get new RAM such as 512Mb
Adata PC3200 DDR400, $75 from TasTech. Also a new hard drive which
will be much faster on the new onboard HDD controller. A 300W PSU
(get a good one, not a generic) would be plenty.

AsRock mobos are stable. I have a K7VT2 running an XP2400+ which I am
pleased with.

"GraB" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:57:46 +1300, "graviton" <graviton@gravity>
> wrote:
>
> >The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has a
p3
> >550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap upgrade
based
> >on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for the moment I will
> >just take one thing at a time. As it has been almost 5 years since I did
any
> >hardware upgrades apart from a dvdwriter I am very out of date with
computer
> >hardware knowledge so would appreciate some advice from people with both
> >experience and common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I
bought
> >my last motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset for
> >reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
> >changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do not
want
> >to loose the reliability that I have with my current motherboard I would
> >like opinions on firstly via chipsets and secondly asrock motherboards, I
am
> >looking at the K7VM3 which I can buy for $60. I presume that a sempron
2200+
> >cpu plus a motherboard with onboard Integrated UniChrome 3D Graphics
will
> >be many times faster than my p3 550MHz with agp tnt2 video card when
> >rendering video, i.e compressing avi into dvd mpeg files and still
> >considerably faster when playing 3d based games although game performance
is
> >obviously not important to me although I would not want to make a
downgrade
> >in that department.
> >One other thing, are all sempron cpu's 64 bit and does the motherboard
have
> >any affect on 64 bit operation, i.e will the wrong motherboard disable 64
> >bit operation.
> >
> I am sure that the UniChrome graphics has built-in DVD decoding. I
> don't think they will affect video rendering speed.
>
> That K7MV3 mobo is Socket A which takes a range of 32bit AMD CPUs:
> http://www.asrock.com/support/CPU_Su...sp?Model=K7VM3
>
> The Sempron 2200+ only runs at 1500MHz, which is quite slow these
> days. For video rendering it pays to get the fastest possible. Try
> for a 2800+ which runs at 2000MHz.
>
> It has an AGP slot but it is only 4x AGP, if you wanted to upgrade the
> graphics later. You would also have to get new RAM such as 512Mb
> Adata PC3200 DDR400, $75 from TasTech. Also a new hard drive which
> will be much faster on the new onboard HDD controller. A 300W PSU
> (get a good one, not a generic) would be plenty.
>
> AsRock mobos are stable. I have a K7VT2 running an XP2400+ which I am
> pleased with.

Thanks for that, I might try for a little faster cpu if it is just a few
more dollars but like I said budget is the main concern this time around so
as long as a sempron 2200+ is a lot faster than my p3 550 then I will be
happy. A little while back I seen some video rendering benchmarks, i think
it was on toms hardware site that showed all cpu's going back to cpu's even
older than mine and I think the semprons were many times faster at this task
but I am not sure and for the life of me I cannot find that page again, same
old story when you are not looking you find stuff easy but when you really
need to find stuff you don't have much luck. So if anybody knows of a
webpage that shows video rendering speeds for my current cpu as well as the
new one i am considering that would be extremely useful to me.

"~misfit~" <> wrote in message
news:...
> graviton wrote:
> > The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has
> > a p3 550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap
> > upgrade based on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for
> > the moment I will just take one thing at a time. As it has been
> > almost 5 years since I did any hardware upgrades apart from a
> > dvdwriter I am very out of date with computer hardware knowledge so
> > would appreciate some advice from people with both experience and
> > common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I bought my last
> > motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset for
> > reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
> > changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do
> > not want to loose the reliability that I have with my current
> > motherboard I would like opinions on firstly via chipsets and
> > secondly asrock motherboards,
>
.. As is the 1.5GHz,
> cheapest you can possibly get, CPU. That system will run XP about as fast
as
> your P3 550 runs 98.
>
Surely not? Do I understand correctly, are you saying just the os won't run
any faster but applications will?


> > I am looking at the K7VM3 which I can
> > buy for $60.
>
>
> > I presume that a sempron 2200+ cpu plus a motherboard
> > with onboard Integrated UniChrome 3D Graphics will be many times
> > faster than my p3 550MHz with agp tnt2 video card when rendering
> > video, i.e compressing avi into dvd mpeg files
>
> Yes. Maybe not "many times", maybe twice as fast, maybe a little more.


>
> > and still considerably
> > faster when playing 3d based games
>
> I doubt it.
>
> > although game performance is
> > obviously not important to me although I would not want to make a
> > downgrade in that department.
>
> Well, I think you might be.
>
> However at least it has an AGP 4x slot (Isn't that, like, two or three
years
> ago?) so you can add a card in. However, even a budget card is going to
cost
> more than the mobo.

Well I can always use my current tnt2 card if the onboard graphics slows the
performace of 3d games down to less than my P3.

> > One other thing, are all sempron cpu's 64 bit
>
> No, only the fastest one was 64 bit last I heard. The rest are just
re-named
> Socket A Athlon XPs. AMD didn't want the Athlon name associated with
slower
> chips (but were still selling lots of them) so came up with 'Sempron'.
Then
> it made one of them 64bit to give the name cred. The Sempron 2200+ CPU is
> basically an Athlon XP1700+ (Soooo 2001) running on a faster FSB.
>
Thanks.

> > and does the
> > motherboard have any affect on 64 bit operation, i.e will the wrong
> > motherboard disable 64 bit operation.
>
> Well, AMD 64 bit CPUs will only fit in mobos designed for them. So your
> question is moot.
> --

So your saying they won't fit in motherboards designed for the socket A
athlon xp cpu's and non 64 bit semprons?

"graviton" <graviton@gravity> wrote in message news:...
>
> "GraB" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:57:46 +1300, "graviton" <graviton@gravity>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has a
> p3
> > >550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap upgrade
> based
> > >on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for the moment I
will
> > >just take one thing at a time. As it has been almost 5 years since I
did
> any
> > >hardware upgrades apart from a dvdwriter I am very out of date with
> computer
> > >hardware knowledge so would appreciate some advice from people with
both
> > >experience and common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I
> bought
> > >my last motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset for
> > >reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
> > >changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do not
> want
> > >to loose the reliability that I have with my current motherboard I
would
> > >like opinions on firstly via chipsets and secondly asrock motherboards,
I
> am
> > >looking at the K7VM3 which I can buy for $60. I presume that a sempron
> 2200+
> > >cpu plus a motherboard with onboard Integrated UniChrome 3D Graphics
> will
> > >be many times faster than my p3 550MHz with agp tnt2 video card when
> > >rendering video, i.e compressing avi into dvd mpeg files and still
> > >considerably faster when playing 3d based games although game
performance
> is
> > >obviously not important to me although I would not want to make a
> downgrade
> > >in that department.
> > >One other thing, are all sempron cpu's 64 bit and does the motherboard
> have
> > >any affect on 64 bit operation, i.e will the wrong motherboard disable
64
> > >bit operation.
> > >
> > I am sure that the UniChrome graphics has built-in DVD decoding. I
> > don't think they will affect video rendering speed.
> >
> > That K7MV3 mobo is Socket A which takes a range of 32bit AMD CPUs:
> > http://www.asrock.com/support/CPU_Su...sp?Model=K7VM3
> >
> > The Sempron 2200+ only runs at 1500MHz, which is quite slow these
> > days. For video rendering it pays to get the fastest possible. Try
> > for a 2800+ which runs at 2000MHz.
> >
> > It has an AGP slot but it is only 4x AGP, if you wanted to upgrade the
> > graphics later. You would also have to get new RAM such as 512Mb
> > Adata PC3200 DDR400, $75 from TasTech. Also a new hard drive which
> > will be much faster on the new onboard HDD controller. A 300W PSU
> > (get a good one, not a generic) would be plenty.
> >
> > AsRock mobos are stable. I have a K7VT2 running an XP2400+ which I am
> > pleased with.
>
> Thanks for that, I might try for a little faster cpu if it is just a few
> more dollars but like I said budget is the main concern this time around
so
> as long as a sempron 2200+ is a lot faster than my p3 550 then I will be
> happy. A little while back I seen some video rendering benchmarks, i think
> it was on toms hardware site that showed all cpu's going back to cpu's
even
> older than mine and I think the semprons were many times faster at this
task
> but I am not sure and for the life of me I cannot find that page again,
same
> old story when you are not looking you find stuff easy but when you really
> need to find stuff you don't have much luck. So if anybody knows of a
> webpage that shows video rendering speeds for my current cpu as well as
the
> new one i am considering that would be extremely useful to me.
>

A 2600+ is probably the fastest sempron I will buy, I presume this is as
fast as the athlonxp+ 2600, or is it better?

"~misfit~" <> wrote in message
news:...
> graviton wrote:
> > The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has
> > a p3 550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap
> > upgrade based on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for
> > the moment I will just take one thing at a time. As it has been
> > almost 5 years since I did any hardware upgrades apart from a
> > dvdwriter I am very out of date with computer hardware knowledge so
> > would appreciate some advice from people with both experience and
> > common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I bought my last
> > motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset for
> > reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
> > changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do
> > not want to loose the reliability that I have with my current
> > motherboard I would like opinions on firstly via chipsets and
> > secondly asrock motherboards,

> If you gave me that Asrock board I'd pull the heatsink off the northbridge
> and put it in my 'bits' drawer and throw the rest in the rubbish. Or sell
it
> on Trademe. <g>

Yeah but if you only had the choice between my current cpu and motherboard
and the asrock and sempron cpu what would you do then?

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 09:21:38 +1300, "graviton" <graviton@gravity>
wrote:

<Snip>

>A 2600+ is probably the fastest sempron I will buy, I presume this is as
>fast as the athlonxp+ 2600, or is it better?

No .

Sempron:

SDA2600DUT3D 2600+ 1833 11x 333MHz Socket-A
256KB

Athlon Model 10 Barton:

AXDL2600DLV4D 2600+ 1917MHz 11.5x 333MHz Socket-A
512KB

Athlon Model 8 Thoroughbred:

AXDA2600DKV3C 2600+ 2133MHz 16x 333MHz Socket-A
256KB

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:28:02 +1300, Bret <> wrote:

>On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 09:21:38 +1300, "graviton" <graviton@gravity>
>wrote:
>
><Snip>
>
>>A 2600+ is probably the fastest sempron I will buy, I presume this is as
>>fast as the athlonxp+ 2600, or is it better?
>
>No .
>
>Sempron:
>
>SDA2600DUT3D 2600+ 1833 11x 333MHz Socket-A
>256KB
>
>Athlon Model 10 Barton:
>
>AXDL2600DLV4D 2600+ 1917MHz 11.5x 333MHz Socket-A
>512KB
>
>Athlon Model 8 Thoroughbred:
>
>AXDA2600DKV3C 2600+ 2133MHz 16x 333MHz Socket-A
>256KB

BTW you might want this link.

http://www.thedigerati.us/info/amdcpuchart.html

misfit took words out of my mouth in his first post....

The facts are that the BX chipset motherboards were not budget - Asus BX
chipset boards are still famed for their reliability and performance.
Putting this into perspective, you indicated you purchased the board around
5 years ago, so that was at or after the end of its manufacturing life (IE
price likely had dropped) when it had been superceeded by more often
inferior quality & performance systems. Ecccch P4 first models

To imitate that quality of purchase would require looking for a comparable
quality board that is at end of manfacture or near to about now.

There is one coming up: the current 939 pin AMD boards are going to be
superceeded in Jan / Feb with new M2 socket boards, so for what may be a
strategic purchase in say Feb / March I would aim for a non SLI (lower cost)
939 pin board from Asus, MSI, or DFI - Asus gets very good reviews for
reliability, the other two for performance. I would head for an Asus A8N-E
which are currently < $200 or so incl GST - they should start appearing 2nd
hand or price dropped new for $100. There will be a lot of people with AMD
3500+ chips waiting for the FX and X2 chips to drop when M2 comes out for a
low cost perf upgrade, so the 'slower' 3500+'s will appear for resale and
will also have a lowered new price.

The only issue with the Norce4 chipset boards mentioned is that they require
a PCIe graphics card, so to reuse a good AGP card one could look at the A8V
family (Via chipset) which go well (K8T800 is good as they support X2, the
K8T890? does not so avoid if ever you want to upgrade the system). Again,
DFI and MSI make corresponding good boards.

The NVidia Nforce4 chipset has Active Armour which has never worked - just
know that and know to turn it off. "Everyone" knows that and is perplexed as
to why it does not work...

Don't forget to budget in the resale of your trusty BX system - you may get
more for it than you think!

An A8N-E (or equiv) with a 3500+ venice core will thrash the pants off what
you have and what you are considering. Ditto A8V.

So, consider this and hold off - you will only ever get more for less

HTH

"graviton" <graviton@gravity> wrote in message news:...
>
> "graviton" <graviton@gravity> wrote in message
> news:...
>>
>> "GraB" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>> > On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:57:46 +1300, "graviton" <graviton@gravity>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > >The last motherboard I bought was a asus bx chipset based one, it has
>> > >a
>> p3
>> > >550MHz slot 1 cpu in it and I am looking to make a very cheap upgrade
>> based
>> > >on a sempron cpu, i may consider intel celeron but for the moment I
> will
>> > >just take one thing at a time. As it has been almost 5 years since I
> did
>> any
>> > >hardware upgrades apart from a dvdwriter I am very out of date with
>> computer
>> > >hardware knowledge so would appreciate some advice from people with
> both
>> > >experience and common sense and without a bandwagon to push. When I
>> bought
>> > >my last motherboard you really had to go with a intel based chipset
>> > >for
>> > >reliability and therefore a intel cpu, I hope and suspect things have
>> > >changed. Baring in mind i want to make a very cheap upgrade but do not
>> want
>> > >to loose the reliability that I have with my current motherboard I
> would
>> > >like opinions on firstly via chipsets and secondly asrock
>> > >motherboards,
> I
>> am
>> > >looking at the K7VM3 which I can buy for $60. I presume that a sempron
>> 2200+
>> > >cpu plus a motherboard with onboard Integrated UniChrome 3D Graphics
>> will
>> > >be many times faster than my p3 550MHz with agp tnt2 video card when
>> > >rendering video, i.e compressing avi into dvd mpeg files and still
>> > >considerably faster when playing 3d based games although game
> performance
>> is
>> > >obviously not important to me although I would not want to make a
>> downgrade
>> > >in that department.
>> > >One other thing, are all sempron cpu's 64 bit and does the motherboard
>> have
>> > >any affect on 64 bit operation, i.e will the wrong motherboard disable
> 64
>> > >bit operation.
>> > >
>> > I am sure that the UniChrome graphics has built-in DVD decoding. I
>> > don't think they will affect video rendering speed.
>> >
>> > That K7MV3 mobo is Socket A which takes a range of 32bit AMD CPUs:
>> > http://www.asrock.com/support/CPU_Su...sp?Model=K7VM3
>> >
>> > The Sempron 2200+ only runs at 1500MHz, which is quite slow these
>> > days. For video rendering it pays to get the fastest possible. Try
>> > for a 2800+ which runs at 2000MHz.
>> >
>> > It has an AGP slot but it is only 4x AGP, if you wanted to upgrade the
>> > graphics later. You would also have to get new RAM such as 512Mb
>> > Adata PC3200 DDR400, $75 from TasTech. Also a new hard drive which
>> > will be much faster on the new onboard HDD controller. A 300W PSU
>> > (get a good one, not a generic) would be plenty.
>> >
>> > AsRock mobos are stable. I have a K7VT2 running an XP2400+ which I am
>> > pleased with.
>>
>> Thanks for that, I might try for a little faster cpu if it is just a few
>> more dollars but like I said budget is the main concern this time around
> so
>> as long as a sempron 2200+ is a lot faster than my p3 550 then I will be
>> happy. A little while back I seen some video rendering benchmarks, i
>> think
>> it was on toms hardware site that showed all cpu's going back to cpu's
> even
>> older than mine and I think the semprons were many times faster at this
> task
>> but I am not sure and for the life of me I cannot find that page again,
> same
>> old story when you are not looking you find stuff easy but when you
>> really
>> need to find stuff you don't have much luck. So if anybody knows of a
>> webpage that shows video rendering speeds for my current cpu as well as
> the
>> new one i am considering that would be extremely useful to me.
>>
>
> A 2600+ is probably the fastest sempron I will buy, I presume this is as
> fast as the athlonxp+ 2600, or is it better?
>
>