503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP?

"Steve K" <h_bogart RemoveThis @comcast.net> wrote:

 >I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI AIW
 >16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME) and
 >install XP.
 >
 >Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
 >Should I do a clean install?

That's close to my second machine. (503+ ver. 1.2, K6-III/400, 256 MB,
Matrox G400, 25 GB drive) It's running XP Home SP2 with no problems.

My experience with upgrade installations is dismal - 0/2. It's best to
strip the drive and start clean, then install applications as needed. A
point on file systems: NTFS is faster and more rugged than FAT32,
especially with indexing service enabled, but requires more system
resources.

 >Or should I simply buy a new Motherboard and Processer?

If the applications they intend to use aren't major resource hogs, the 503+
should be fine. I have WP Office 2000 (SP4), Mozilla 1.7.2, and a few
other goodies on the old machine. The major performance vs. a later MB is
disk I/O speed - the 503+ is ATA33 vs. ATA100 or better for later
equipment.

| George Ruch
| "Is there life in Clovis after Clovis Man?"<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 07:18:28 -0500, "Steve K" <h_bogart RemoveThis @comcast.net>
wrote:

  >>I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI AIW
  >>16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME) and
  >>install XP.
  >>
  >>Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
  >>Should I do a clean install?
A clean install is always the best course to follow.

XP will be noticably slower than ME, but it will speed up a bit if you
disable all of the gimmicky graphical "enhancements" of Windows XP.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

We have a VA-503A with a K6-III 350, 256 MB RAM (you do mean 256 MB, not
256K, right? ), Geforce4 MX 420, and a crummy old 6 GB Maxtor 5400
rpm hard drive running WinXP Pro SP2 at work. It is not the fastest
machine in the world, but it is quite serviceable for office tasks,
surfing the web, even viewing DVDs! The graphics card is key to
watching DVDs.

I would recommend a clean installation of Windows XP.

--Alex



Steve K wrote:
 > I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI AIW
 > 16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME) and
 > install XP.
 >
 > Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
 > Should I do a clean install?
 >
 > Or should I simply buy a new Motherboard and Processer?
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 07:18:28 -0500, "Steve K" <h_bogart DeleteThis @comcast.net>
wrote:

 >I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI AIW
 >16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME) and
 >install XP.
 >
 >Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
 >Should I do a clean install?
 >
 >Or should I simply buy a new Motherboard and Processer?

Using a VA-503A with a K6-II+ overclocked at 550
running Windows XP (clean install)
with no problems and good speed.!
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

In article <v465q0pehqqrt2smo3kmfdng66nmp5gs31.DeleteThis@4ax.com>,
futatoxpo9259.DeleteThis@x.1c6h.com writes
 >On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 07:18:28 -0500, "Steve K" <h_bogart.DeleteThis@comcast.net>
 >wrote:
 >
  >>I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI AIW
  >>16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME) and
  >>install XP.
  >>
  >>Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
  >>Should I do a clean install?
  >>
  >>Or should I simply buy a new Motherboard and Processer?
 >
 >Using a VA-503A with a K6-II+ overclocked at 550
 >running Windows XP (clean install)
 >with no problems and good speed.!
  >>
Out of interest - how much Motherboard (L3) Cache on that 503A?
--
Roger Hunt<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 02:47:20 +0000, Roger Hunt
<test.TakeThisOut@carewg.demon.co.uk> wrote:

 >In article <v465q0pehqqrt2smo3kmfdng66nmp5gs31.TakeThisOut@4ax.com>,
 >futatoxpo9259@x.1c6h.com writes
  >>On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 07:18:28 -0500, "Steve K" <h_bogart.TakeThisOut@comcast.net>
  >>wrote:
  >>
   >>>I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI AIW
   >>>16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME) and
   >>>install XP.
   >>>
   >>>Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
   >>>Should I do a clean install?
   >>>
   >>>Or should I simply buy a new Motherboard and Processer?
  >>
  >>Using a VA-503A with a K6-II+ overclocked at 550
  >>running Windows XP (clean install)
  >>with no problems and good speed.!
   >>>
 >Out of interest - how much Motherboard (L3) Cache on that 503A?

I think the L2 Cache on the motherboard is 1 MB

The SD Ram is currently 128 MB but I have more to add.
(Read somewhere it might slow it down?)

Re: (L3) Cache how do I find out about it?<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

In article <4cs6q0ldihm07p5o3g9nkfrlie2si441fo DeleteThis @4ax.com>, futato
<xpo9259 DeleteThis @x.1c6h.com> writes
 >On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 02:47:20 +0000, Roger Hunt
 ><test DeleteThis @carewg.demon.co.uk> wrote:
 >
  >>In article <v465q0pehqqrt2smo3kmfdng66nmp5gs31 DeleteThis @4ax.com>,
  >>futatoxpo9259@x.1c6h.com writes
   >>>
   >>>Using a VA-503A with a K6-II+ overclocked at 550
   >>>running Windows XP (clean install)
   >>>with no problems and good speed.!
   >>>>
  >>Out of interest - how much Motherboard (L3) Cache on that 503A?
 >
 >I think the L2 Cache on the motherboard is 1 MB
 >
 >The SD Ram is currently 128 MB but I have more to add.
 >(Read somewhere it might slow it down?)
 >
Stick it on and see how it goes!
 >Re: (L3) Cache how do I find out about it?
 >
Ah - I mentioned the motherboard cache as L3 because L1 and L2 are on
your K6-II+ (excellent processor - had one myself)
--
Roger Hunt<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

Roger Hunt wrote:
 > In article <HIOdnUceOY3sGj3cRVn-rA RemoveThis @comcast.com>, Steve K
 > <h_bogart RemoveThis @comcast.net> writes
 >
  >>I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI AIW
  >>16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME) and
  >>install XP.
  >>
  >>Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
  >>Should I do a clean install?
  >>
 >
 > I did a clean install of XP Eval on my 503+, similar setup, 256MB RAM,
 > and it ran OK but noticeably a bit slow.
 > Win95b ran very, very well indeed and I recommend it.
 >
  >>Or should I simply buy a new Motherboard and Processer?
  >>
 >
 > (Keep your 503+ - it's far too good to lose!)
 > I upgraded to an Asus A7N8X-X, XP2800+ with 1GB PC3200 RAM, and XP runs
 > pretty smoothly. Win98se (dual boot) is really slick.


I have 5 503+'s. The one that runs XP has 256MB of memory, a K6-III+
running at 556MHz. It was acting kind of slow until I removed Norton
Anti-Virus. Now I use AVG instead and the system is much more responsive.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

Thanks all for your input. I finally installed XP and it is faster than ME
and definitely more stable!


"Steve K" <h_bogart.RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:HIOdnUceOY3sGj3cRVn-rA@comcast.com...
 > I've handed down my 503+ (AMD K-6 III 450, 40 gig WD HD, 256K mem, ATI
 > AIW 16mb Video) to my sons and want to "clean it out" (currently has ME)
 > and install XP.
 >
 > Have any of you out there had any problems, luck, etc upgrading to XP?
 > Should I do a clean install?
 >
 > Or should I simply buy a new Motherboard and Processer?
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP? 

I'm surprised that XP is faster than Me! I have 98SE on my FIC VA503+ (~300MB
PC100, K62-350) and it's slow as a dog.
I guess the K6iii 400 must be the real difference because you have less memory
than I do.

 >Thanks all for your input. I finally installed XP and it is faster than ME
 >and definitely more stable!
 >
 >
 >"Steve K" <h_bogart.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrot


-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: 503+ - Can it Handle Windows XP?