Got The AN35n ultra - What's next?

I like Toys and Cake wrote:
 > "Photon" <gamma.TakeThisOut@ray.com> wrote in message
 > news:c7p1q0p5ejrp1fm6i7m7d6ehddrg0mn6so@4ax.com...
 >
  >>My trustly ol AK35GT went into cardiac arrest after I upgraded the
  >>BIOS (or at least tried to--!!) . So, I just puchased the AN35N
  >>Ultra
  >>to replace it. The system will have little game use, but will be
  >>used
  >>mostly for burning DVDs and some transferring of video to DVD. I am
  >>thinking of still using the other original components (2 X 256 mb
  >>PC2100 Kingston, a Geforce 3 Ti200 video card, AMD 1700+ XP Proc) .
  >>Being on a limited budget, which of those three areas would give me
  >>the best return on being upgraded (given the application that it
  >>will
  >>be used for). It's obvious that they should all be upgraded, but
  >>what
  >>would be effective and what would be over-kill? Thanks for any
  >>advice.
 >
 >
 > Given the application i.e. video transfer I would say that more RAM or
 > at least faster RAM would be most beneficial but then the CPU could be
 > upgraded probably for less than the RAM ...hmmmmm tricky one this
 > ........ I say CPU
 >
 >
If the CPU is a T'bred B core get some PC3200 and overclock the system.
If the CPU is a Palomino or T'bred A core upgrade the CPU and overclock.
My $0.02.

--
FRH<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Got The AN35n ultra - What's next? 

Photon wrote:
 > Being on a limited budget, which of those three areas would give me
 > the best return on being upgraded (given the application that it will
 > be used for). It's obvious that they should all be upgraded, but what
 > would be effective and what would be over-kill? Thanks for any
 > advice.

I did a little informal testing while making dinner last night, changing the
bios settings on my board to simulate the different variables-- although
I do have the Barton core. I encoded to MPEG-2 a 2.5 GB DV file,
uh, quite a few times.

I don't know if you are able or willing to overclock your 1700+, but even
so, you might only get 2 GHz? If that is the case, you are better to get a
new processor. I would get the mobile, as you can adjust the multiplier.
They run cooler and overclock better, as well. Newegg has some for $77.

Even with the memory running at 133 MHz and the multiplier set to 17 for
2.26 GHz, it was only about 23% slower than the baseline 2.2 GHz with
PC3200. Running PC-3200 asynchronously resulted in almost no gain over
your current system. I have a single 512 MB stick of Mushkin Value RAM
PC-3200 that cost $75 at Newegg. It's running 2.5-3-3-11 and, for the
money is not that far from my expensive dual-channel Corsair at 2-2-2-11.

So basically, where you're at is 50% slower than what I'm running. For a
25% gain, get the processor. For the full 50%, get both for $150. Or you
just overclock what you have and be happy. I actually underclocked my
system for a while (to see how low I could get the vcore) to nearly XP1700+
speeds, and I left it there for over a week, so it wasn't that bad. With video
encoding, it takes a long time no matter what you have. It's done when it's
done.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Got The AN35n ultra - What's next? 

The board comes with 3 memory slots, so adding a third memory dimm is easy.

"Photon" <gamma DeleteThis @ray.com> wrote in message
news:c7p1q0p5ejrp1fm6i7m7d6ehddrg0mn6so@4ax.com...
 >
 > My trustly ol AK35GT went into cardiac arrest after I upgraded the
 > BIOS (or at least tried to--!!) . So, I just puchased the AN35N Ultra
 > to replace it. The system will have little game use, but will be used
 > mostly for burning DVDs and some transferring of video to DVD. I am
 > thinking of still using the other original components (2 X 256 mb
 > PC2100 Kingston, a Geforce 3 Ti200 video card, AMD 1700+ XP Proc) .
 > Being on a limited budget, which of those three areas would give me
 > the best return on being upgraded (given the application that it will
 > be used for). It's obvious that they should all be upgraded, but what
 > would be effective and what would be over-kill? Thanks for any
 > advice.
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Got The AN35n ultra - What's next? 

I agree with most of the posters. Your CPU and RAM are both holding you
back. $150 will make both bottlenecks disappear, and you'll have a very
decent machine. If you get faster ram, you're still held back by the slow
processor. If you get a fast processor, you're still held back by the slow
FSB of the ram. As for processors, a great deal is the Athlon XP-Mobile
2500+ (2400+ for a couple bucks less is great, too) It's amazingly
overclockable. Meant to run at 1.88Ghz. I've got mine running at a little
over 2.3Ghz, with a $10 Speeze cooler and 512mb of 3200 ram.




"Photon" <gamma RemoveThis @ray.com> wrote in message
news:c7p1q0p5ejrp1fm6i7m7d6ehddrg0mn6so@4ax.com...
 >
 > My trustly ol AK35GT went into cardiac arrest after I upgraded the
 > BIOS (or at least tried to--!!) . So, I just puchased the AN35N Ultra
 > to replace it. The system will have little game use, but will be used
 > mostly for burning DVDs and some transferring of video to DVD. I am
 > thinking of still using the other original components (2 X 256 mb
 > PC2100 Kingston, a Geforce 3 Ti200 video card, AMD 1700+ XP Proc) .
 > Being on a limited budget, which of those three areas would give me
 > the best return on being upgraded (given the application that it will
 > be used for). It's obvious that they should all be upgraded, but what
 > would be effective and what would be over-kill? Thanks for any
 > advice.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Got The AN35n ultra - What's next?