processor upgrade

pixel_pimp · Post by **pixel_pimp** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 3:58 pm

Not so much a silent question but more a general query regarding CPUs -

Been out of the tinkering game for some time and have become much more of a user than a tweaker

I'm running a sempron 3200 just now with XP Pro.

I was thinking of upgrading to an Athlon X2 64 but was wondering, will my existing XP installation be alright after the upgrade?

Dumb question I'm sure but then that should make it easy to answer

Thanks

spookmineer · Post by **spookmineer** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 6:52 pm

It won't affect the OS in any way, in the past I've upgraded from a 1 GHz to a 2.8 GHz without a problem (needed a new motherboard as well to do this).

There have been some weird stories about XP making trouble if you upgrade a lot of hardware, but after my latest upgrade (*all* hardware renewed) XP still functioned as before.

pixel_pimp · Post by **pixel_pimp** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:57 am

Thanks for the reply - so the switch from 32-bit to 64-bit won't pose a problem, then? Presumably, if I then upgrade to 64-bit version of XP, I'll see a bit of a speed bump.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 5:49 am

pixel_pimp wrote:Presumably, if I then upgrade to 64-bit version of XP, I'll see a bit of a speed bump.

No not really. 64-bit programs arent necessarily faster than their 32-bit versions, they can just take advantage of more RAM if needed.

ACook · Post by **ACook** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:02 am

not sure if you can upgrade from 32bit windows to 64bit, if that's what you're after. You don't need a 64bit OS for a 64bit cpu, in case that was a confusion, seen enough ppl think that to warrant that comment.

Upgrading an existing install to me is never a good idea, that's just me.

but simply putting another cpu in your system won't look any different to your existing XP install, it'll just run a bit faster.
With 2GB mem you won't benefit really from XP64, and you've got the nice amount to run xp sweet with, in day to day windows tasks you probably won't even notice that much difference with the new cpu, but with heavy tasks like encoding there'll be quite a speedboost.

good luck

Post by **CA_Steve** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:14 pm

Be sure to:

- make an image/backup of your HDD. Then test it out to make sure it works

- update your BIOS before the swap so your mobo recognizes the CPU
- reset CMOS prior to starting up.
- adjust the bios settings to make sure the north bridge, memory bus, etc is set for speeds that will run without problems....
- boot windows into safe mode so none of your startup programs (like antivirus programs etc) run during bring up mode.
- use memtest and prime95 to make sure the system is stable.

Otherwise, your system could boot up into a default speed that causes memory corruption...then watch as your A/V program starts up and looks over your hard drive...corrupting data as it scans. (my personal horror story)

BlueBirdTS · Post by **BlueBirdTS** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:37 pm

I wouldn't install XP 64-bit. It has a lot of driver incompatibility issues. 64-bit computing won't even become mainstream until Windows 7, so don't worry about it for now.