athlon xp chip

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stoaf88

New Member
I am using an older asus motherboard the model# is A7N8X. When running many programs at once my cpu usage is going up to 100% and my computer is freezing. I have a fresh copy of windows XP installed just recently and i also have 1 gig of DDR ram. Does this mean I need a faster processor? My current processor is an athlon xp 1.24 Ghz. Also if i need a new processor can my motherboard handle an athlon xp 2800?
Thanks for any replies.
 
That model board will run an XP3400+ if you can find one. Those were strictly sold to CompaQ and not available until vendors were clearing out all Socket A cpus. HP having bought out CompaQ simply had their distributors blow them out through vendors like newegg and others to see those sold as replacements.

How would I know? I ran the exact same model board with an XP3200+ since the 3400+s couldn't be found anywhere for stock application. When being able to oc a little you would see 3400+ on the post screen. The board there will go upto 2.7ghz when ocing an old Barton cored XP2500+.

The main problem is not the cpu speed while a faster cpu would certainly help. But you are trying to multitask with a single core cpu which will automatically bog down. For AMD the Socket 939 boards were the first to see dual core models along with single cored cpus.
 
Thanks for the reply. Are you saying I need a new motherboard then? If i go from 1.2 to 3200 wont that make a big difference? Or do I need to get a new board that runs dual or quad core?
 
stoaf88 said:
I am using an older asus motherboard the model# is A7N8X. When running many programs at once my cpu usage is going up to 100% and my computer is freezing. I have a fresh copy of windows XP installed just recently and i also have 1 gig of DDR ram. Does this mean I need a faster processor? My current processor is an athlon xp 1.24 Ghz. Also if i need a new processor can my motherboard handle an athlon xp 2800?
Thanks for any replies.
Click to expand...

Yes it will support a XP 2800

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A7N8X
 
Thanks for the replies everyone, I guess I will just get a 2800 or a 3000 xp chip cause they are pretty cheap and if that dosen't fix it looks like I need a new MB.
 
Good luck finding one at this point other then Ebay. Go for an XP3200 or 3400 model if you can find one the 2800 sees a 333mhz fsb as well as some of the 3000s. The 3200 is strictly a 400mhz model where PC3200 memory and the fsb set to 200mhz in the bios will see the 2.21ghz cpu speed there.
 
I got a 2600+ for $56 from a website I found in google. I am runnung a 1200+ right now so im thinking this will make a big difference. The 2800 was like $100 so I figured I would save $46 and get the 2600. It is a thoroughbread core chip.
 
I ran the 2600+ then the 3000+ and then the XP3200+ on one build along with trying out three different video cards. Just going from the 3000+ 333mhz fsb to the 3200+ 400mhz fsb alone made a noticable difference then.

If you are running DDR266 PC2100 memory the 2600+ will be seen as a slower model like the 2000+ on the post screen since it is running at the slower model's default speed. What are you currently running for memory now?
 
stoaf88 said:
I got a 2600+ for $56 from a website I found in google. I am runnung a 1200+ right now so im thinking this will make a big difference. The 2800 was like $100 so I figured I would save $46 and get the 2600. It is a thoroughbread core chip.
Click to expand...

Good you found one that cheap. If your going from a Athlon 1200 to a XP 2600. Theres a chance that you have PC1600 memory because the Athlon 1200 runs on a 100/200MHZ FSB and PC1600 is 100/200MHZ. On that board with the nforce chip you can run the Memory and FSB out of 1:1. On the boards bios theres a separate setting for your memory speed and FSB, if your running PC1600 you might have to manualy set the FSB to 166/333mhz and set the memory to 100/200mhz.
 
Ok thanks for the advice everyone. My memory is corsair DDR ram. 2 sticks of 512. I will go inot the BIOS later and see where my settings are, and get back to you guys about where the settings should be after I get the chip. Thanks
 
Ok I just checked the BIOS and here is what it said.

Cpu external freq (im guessing this has to do with the FSB?)
anyway it is running at 100mhz, and i can change it to 4 different settings.
100, 133, 166, and 200

Memory resulting frequency (im assuming this has to do with the ram?)

200mhz

and there were choices for auto or menu, I left it on auto.

This is all I found, so any expert opinions?
 
So when I get the new 2600 chip just go back in and set to 166 and all should be well? Thanks a lot for all the help, this forum rocks!
 
OH, I thought you already had it, 100MHZ is right for the processor thats installed right now. If both are set to auto theres a chance that when you boot it will have everything set right. If not you would manually set it. But yes the new processor that your ordering should be running at a FSB of 166. Your 2 sticks of DDR 512MB, you need to find out what speed they are-DDR 200- DDR 266- DDR 333 or DDR 400
 
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The reason your CPU was pinning at 100% has nothing to do with the CPU. It's software causing the problem. Yet another person that totally wasted their money based on the useless advice of PCeye. What a shame.

If you'd gone into the Task Manager and showed all running processes you would have found the one that was pinning the CPU. Then we could have fixed it. Instead you were misled and spent money for nothing. Sad.

EDIT: I'm just thinking.. To back up what I'm saying I used to have an Athlon XP 1800+. I would very often run many programs simultaneously, without the symtoms you're describing. I've been called to more than one site where that was an issue and it was software pegging the CPU. One that immediately comes to mind was the Yahoo IM software. Another was the Microsoft Update (as opposed to the Windows Update) pinning the svchost process associated with it.
 
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Ok well the programs im running are poker programs. I play 10 tables at a time and have other software runnung in the backround that tracks my hands and loads hand histories into a database. My computer worked fine until i switched poker sites, and the new sites software seems to be a rescourse hog. So i figured a bigger chip would help me. Is there anything else I can do? Keep in mind an xp 1200 is a small chip by todays standards. So I dont really mind upgrading for the $50.
 
Well yeah, let's find the problem and fix it. Even with a faster CPU you'll still have the same problem. What poker site is it for starters? Look at your processes and find out which one is hammering your CPU. Tell me which one it is.
 
Ok I checked it out and the 2 programs that are hammering the cpu are ultimatebet.exe and pahud.exe, both of which I need. I tried to minimize usage in other areas, but that didnt work. I shut off animations on ultimate bet, and I switched to windows classic theme. I make sure I use nothing else when I'm playing. The funny thing is this never happened on full tilt, so it must be ultimate bet. What can I do besides add more CPU power? The ram is running fine.
 
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