Athlon XP still worth it?

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lessthanjakejohn

Limp Gawd
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Jan 13, 2004
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I'm gonna be getting a new computer pretty soon and so far getting a 2500+ Mobile and OC'ing it looks to be the best buy. But in your opinion, how long will it be before XP processors turn obsolete? I don't have enough money to be majorly upgrading every year. In two years, a major upgrade would be possible but I'd like to hold out until Christmas 2006 or summer 2007. This is my system:

Abit nf7-s mobo
2500+ mobile overclocked to 2.4 ghz
Gig of mushkin ram

The rest of the stuff isn't important, I can deal with an hdd or dvd drive being slower than the fastest of the time. Video cards are constantly advancing so I'll likely be upgrading every year or so. But with the release of 939 pin, it looks like XPs will become obsolete soon. In two or more years, I'll probably upgrade to a PCI-express mobo and a 64 bit processor, but will my system last till then?
 
In my opinion, if your building a gaming machine, only P4s and A64s can be considered right now. AthlonXPs are cheap, but the HT enabled P4s and the A64s run circles around them.
 
djnes said:
In my opinion, if your building a gaming machine, only P4s and A64s can be considered right now. AthlonXPs are cheap, but the HT enabled P4s and the A64s run circles around them.
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Brand new games that are taxing on your system (like far cry) can be ran decently on PCs that were "cutting edge" two years ago so I don't see why this system won't be able to last at least till summer 06. Especially when I plan on keeping my video card somewhat up to date. And I usually buy games that are a couple months old so by summer 06 I won't be playing the newest games that require the latest and greatest hardware.
 
they make great servers =)

but for any new computer, i would probably get a canterwood/northwood combnation for a mainstream reliable computer, or a A64 for something relatively more highend.
 
Yeah I think it could work, you know what you are looking at, and I think you should be able to play most games fairly well at least for another 2 years.

Heck saw someone play FarCry decently on a 1 gig Athlon t-bird, and a Geforce 2 GTS.
 
i know system, when clocked at 2.73Ghz, run just as good if not better than my buddies stock 3200+ 64.. and he will tell you the same thing... and we got some intel 3.0c CPU at work now, and let me tell you. I was expecting alot more from them, but they just suck, I put a 9800pro in mine, and it dosent even run BF Vietnam half as good and my home rig, (althlonXP)....im assumming that its a bit slow because its a dell, but i have upgraded the ram to 2 512 sticks of 3200, and tis runnign the latest intel chipset... So i mean how much bette can it get with a better mobo...

bottom line, if you can overclcok the hell out of it you can use it for now, but i would say in the next 6 mounths i will be getting rid if my AlthlonXP platform and going 64bit...


you could very cheaply get on a A64 2800+ system, those think beat stock XP3200+ chips...
 
Consider this: the XP has not been upgraded in a year, and yet both via and nvidia have come out with new chipsets for motherboards that run them. Also, sales of the Xp series as still in full swing. (Just go to any computer store, even compussr and there they are)
Overclocking the XP is well documented and can easily be done via the cheaper air cooled heatsinks. Most programs can run on 300mhz machines...
Presently my system (XP 2500+ o/c to 3200+ speed, slk-900a heatsink, old old pc2100, older still original seagate barracuda udma 66 drive, sapphire 9600 o/c to 9600 pro) runs practically anything well (1024x768/32bit) that I have come accross so far. My only concern is the new games coming out (Doom ]|[ , 1/2 life II) wont be able to run at 1024x768...
But it does handle the Unreal Tournament 2004.
So, my suggestion is this. If you are an avid gamer (one that buys the game BEFORE it comes out, you know who you are) that craves first person shooter games, you might want to go A 64 (although you can go with the now middle grade socket 754 instead of the socket 939 and get more than enough performance to run future games...)
If you game heavily you can still go with the XP - just make sure you go with a higher end video card (9800 pro or better) and have a good all around system (ie: DDR 400 or better, large ata hard drive with 8mb cache, soundstorm motherboard or Soundblaster Audigy 1or better, dvd drive to play the new games as they are now starting to come out in that format at least a 19 inch crt [yes crt as they still are better for gaming purposes than lcd and are far better bang for buck values] excellent speakers [logitech, klipsch,etc.] and excellent headphones)
good luck
 
You can afford what you can afford. I think a nicely OC'd XP will keep you running nicely for a year yet. Obviously it won't be as nice as a shiny new A64, but you know that going in. Couple it with a cheap 9800 pro and you'll have very acceptable little rig. Use it for a year and then upgrade to the new stuff. By that time any bugs in the A64 line should be worked out and the price should have dropped to a reasonable level.
 
artimasz said:
they make great servers =)

but for any new computer, i would probably get a canterwood/northwood combnation for a mainstream reliable computer, or a A64 for something relatively more highend.
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++ had one in my webserver for almost .....like 3 yrs now? and its been up 24/7 the whole time.
 
my xp and 9800 pro does far cry at max settings at 1280x1024 @ 32bits and aa = "1" and af = "high" (i assume this to be 1x aa and 16x af) nicely (about 45fps) upping the aa to 4x takes it down to about 25, but it looks about the same, so 1x is enough for me
 
I think Athlon XP's are very still worth it, right now I have a AXP 2000+ w/ a Radeon 9800 non-pro and it runs games very decently, sometimes I have to turn things down but it still runs games nicely.

I am just now waiting for the new chip (Athon XP 2500+) and RAM to arrive so I can overclock it to 3200+ and I know that will last me for two years, and I know I will be able to run Half Life 2 and Doom 3 decently....

In other words, yes... They ARE still worth it.
 
IMO AthlonXP's are still worth it, they're cheap, and they still perform very well.

I have an AthlonXP 2500+, and I don't need anything more right now, but I havent had the oppurtunity to play games.

YES, they are still worth it :D
 
You'll spend an extra $100 for an A64 2800 over an XP chip.

For a gamer, I say it's definitely worth it to go for an A64 2800, but if you currently have a decent machine, I'd say hold out a little longer for PCI express. If you are planning on this new machine to last for 2 years, gotta be smart about it. Do it right.
 
lessthanjakejohn said:
Brand new games that are taxing on your system (like far cry) can be ran decently on PCs that were "cutting edge" two years ago so I don't see why this system won't be able to last at least till summer 06. Especially when I plan on keeping my video card somewhat up to date. And I usually buy games that are a couple months old so by summer 06 I won't be playing the newest games that require the latest and greatest hardware.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm thinking when it comes to buying my XP 2700+ computer (which is hopefully gonna be started in a couple weeks)...
 
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