Is there any point building an Athlon XP system anymore?

skyhighflyer

Hi all,

Planning my first build over the holidays. I don't want to spend too much in case things don't work out. I know the Athlon XP processor has been replaced now, but the prices seem very attractive for someone on a limited budget (like me).

I was thinking of building a system based on the XP3000+, putting in a gig of RAM and a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro, and just using it over the Summer b/c I'd like to be able to play Doom 3 and HL2... will this system run these games respectably, or am I just kidding myself and should i just wait till I can afford to build an Athlon 64 or P4 system?

All comments and feedback appreciated....

cheers

uberpixie

skyhighflyer wrote:

Hi all,

Planning my first build over the holidays. I don't want to spend too much in case things don't work out. I know the Athlon XP processor has been replaced now, but the prices seem very attractive for someone on a limited budget (like me).

I was thinking of building a system based on the XP3000+, putting in a gig of RAM and a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro, and just using it over the Summer b/c I'd like to be able to play Doom 3 and HL2... will this system run these games respectably, or am I just kidding myself and should i just wait till I can afford to build an Athlon 64 or P4 system?

All comments and feedback appreciated....

cheers

The difference between getting an xp system and a cheap amd64/p4 is so little and the performance difference is so great it's not worth it IMHO.

Build an amd 64 or a p4 box. Will last you longer.

Whats you budget?

You can an amd 64 + mobo + 512mb of ram for €300 off komplett...

-oRnein9-

Don't touch an Athlon XP system if your planning on playing those games, the XP will suit you fine for playing last generation games just don't attempt HL2/Doom3, have a look a www.pcmech.com there is a build your own comp guide, its flawless you cant go wrong just make sure to ground yourself before thouching any chipbased hardware parts.

savemejebus

had not problems with HL2/Doom 3 on my xp2800 system but would agree that the difference is so small it makes sense to go A64

unless you want to go 2nd hand for your first build, in which case a xp2500 barton and abit nf7 mobo could be gotten pretty cheap (under €100) and you could overclock them to a massive extent if you wanted to go that way

RicardoSmith

No point in going XP in my opinion either. You can build a A64 rig for the same price.

Infini

AMD 64 is the best investment. XP's aren't as good and with an AMD64 you'll immediatly see a difference in performance. Besides 64-bit is more powerful than 32-bit.

RicardoSmith

Infini wrote:

AMD 64 is the best investment. XP's aren't as good and with an AMD64 you'll immediatly see a difference in performance. Besides 64-bit is more powerful than 32-bit.

No computer is a good investment. They lose money as soon as you buy them. You mean AMD 64bit chips are faster in 32bit than 32bit bit XPs. I don't think I've seen any stats where running in 64bit is faster than 32bit.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2411

MrPinK

RicardoSmith wrote:

I don't think I've seen any stats where running in 64bit is faster than 32bit.

These are a bit old, there's probably some more up-to-date stuff available somewhere. The cryptography results are very interesting though.

Cake Fiend

Infini wrote:

Besides 64-bit is more powerful than 32-bit.

:rolleyes:

That's not quite the way it works.

KdjaCL

Any pc or part is out of date as soon as you open the box.


Dont know where people getting the Xp cant play Doom 3/Hl2 etc from.

My 2400XP runs Doom 3 on Ultra HL2 on highest settings both @1280*960 with out a single problem.

kdjac

Stephen

Yeah, I think the graphics card is the main bottleneck with current generation games, not the CPU - unless you've got quite an old one.

My XP2800 plays HL2 and Doom3 just fine (HL2 better than doom though - probably down to my Radeon 9800 pro).

RicardoSmith

MrPinK wrote:

These are a bit old, there's probably some more up-to-date stuff available somewhere. The cryptography results are very interesting though.

Fair enough. Not huge difference though.

skyhighflyer

Thanks guys

I was working with a budget of about €600 - 700

Gurgle

skyhighflyer wrote:

Thanks guys

I was working with a budget of about €600 - 700

I'd say go with the XP and spend half your budget on a graphics card.

savemejebus

What i'd do is look out for a 2nd hand amd 64 chip (eg 3000 winchester) and get a b-grade mobo from komplett (+- €70) then get a 6800 le and mod it. It would give you the bones of a nice little system for a low-ish price

2nd hand chip - 100
Mobo - 70
ram 1/2gig (to start) - 60
sata hdd (160gb)- +- 80
6800 le - approx 220
antec sonata case + psu - 126
cpu cooler - 30

total = €686

or €750ish with new chip

uberpixie

Antec SLK1650B Miditower, Black w/350W PSU €79
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=305075&s=sc


Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9,nForce4-4x,Socket-939 4xSATA, GbLAN, Firewire, PCI-Express €103
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307571&s=sc


AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8GHz Socket 939, 512KB, BOXED w/fan €154
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307201&s=sc


Kingston ValueR. PC3200 512MB Kit w/two matched ValueRAM 256MB €55.01
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=304466&s=sc


Samsung SpinPoint P80 160GB IDE ATA/133 8MB 7200RPM €88
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=120050&s=sc


Club3D GeForce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI Express, VGA, DVI, Tv-Out, Retail €185
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307935&s=sc


NEC DVD recorder ND-3520A IDE Black OEM €54
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=305762&s=sc


Total: €718.01 Plus P+P

All new.

uberpixie

Gurgle wrote:

I'd say go with the XP and spend half your budget on a graphics card.

Thats a very short term view.

In the long run if he builds an amd64 box, he can always upgrade the gfx card in the future in a gen or 2.

Xp box stuck with AGP which is around for the next gen but the gen after that?

He can even go dual core with an nf4 mobo in the future if he wants with a bios upgrade. No future cpu updates with an XP box.

Building an XP box now is just building a dead end system. No use to him in the long run.

RoyalMarine

i budgeted the same.
about 700 ish.
i got my athlon 64 3600+ 2.4ghz 1mb cache
160gb HD
128mb graphics card
platinum series mobo.
19" crt monitor
dvdrw
2 gig ram dual channel ddr
custom tower with sub woofer and speakers
optical mouse with keyboard.

i use to have a p3 1000mhz.
with 512mb ram
cdrw
64 mb graphics

and i cant believe the speed the comp runs at now.
ive overclocked and it runs some where around 3.2ghz.
im looking to go watercooling when the price is right.

but for 700 quid, its well worth the bank loan to do it.

julius

RoyalMarineComm wrote:

i budgeted the same.
about 700 ish.
i got my athlon 64 3600+ 2.4ghz 1mb cache
160gb HD
128mb graphics card
platinum series mobo.
19" crt monitor
dvdrw
2 gig ram dual channel ddr
custom tower with sub woofer and speakers
optical mouse with keyboard.

i use to have a p3 1000mhz.
with 512mb ram
cdrw
64 mb graphics

and i cant believe the speed the comp runs at now.
ive overclocked and it runs some where around 3.2ghz.
im looking to go watercooling when the price is right.

but for 700 quid, its well worth the bank loan to do it.

You must mean 700 sterling not Euro as there is no way €700 could pay for all that!!!

N.B.
Did some quick math and it comes out at around 700sterling if you bought all the above new.

Gurgle

uberpixie wrote:

Building an XP box now is just building a dead end system. No use to him in the long run.

You can get an XP box now ?

Theres me thinking it was just the motherboard/cpu combo that made it an XP.

An Athlon 64 motherboard & cpu will be half the current price in 6 months. Thus your XP 'box' becomes a 64-bit 'box' when its efficient to do so, and you will already have a nice GFX to go with it.


Besides, if your including a (17" LCD?) monitor in €700, you won't get much in the box with the Athlon 64.

RicardoSmith

Gurgle wrote:

You can get an XP box now ?

Theres me thinking it was just the motherboard/cpu combo that made it an XP.

An Athlon 64 motherboard & cpu will be half the current price in 6 months. Thus your XP 'box' becomes a 64-bit 'box' when its efficient to do so, and you will already have a nice GFX to go with it.


Besides, if your including a (17" LCD?) monitor in €700, you won't get much in the box with the Athlon 64.

Since you can out a Sempron or Duron in the same board its only the CPU that makes it XP. But the box it comes in an XP box

If you want some upgrade possiblities you should be thinking of PCI-e and a socket 939. If you can't afford that then its doesn't matter what you get since you'll probably replace the whole thing in 6 months to a year. I don't think upgrading in bits in a budget PC is any cheaper than upgrading the whole rig. A top of range PC would be different. But then if you were building a PC like that you wouldn't be talking about an XP chip in the first place.

Just consider that for €500 you can buy a new system in the 3Ghz range. Before you start compare that route with building an XP system from parts.

I got a 512mb/P4 3Ghz, DVDR, 250GB HD, XP home, kyboard, spkrs with a fx5200 and on board 5.1 sound for €520 a month or two ago on the Dell outlet store. I sold the 5200 and bought a 2nd hand 9800pro to replace it.

I had built a XP2400 machine before that and the costs were very similar without the software and warranty, and much worse performance and a lower spec.

Gurgle

RicardoSmith wrote:

before

18 month rule

RoyalMarine

julius wrote:

You must mean 700 sterling not Euro as there is no way €700 could pay for all that!!!

N.B.
Did some quick math and it comes out at around 700sterling if you bought all the above new.

some new and some 2nd hand.
so it was just about 700euro.