Even tough LFS runs allright on my pc, i probably want to upgrade it if i can get a good deal on some used parts. I haven't been into hardware for a long time so advice is very welcome. (i haven't played games for years untill i found out about LFS )

this is my pc:

Motherboard - Asus a7n8x deluxe
Processor - Amd athlon xp2400+ (at 2ghz)
Ram - 1GB Kinston hyper-x khx3200k2/1g (2x512mb in dual channel mode)
Videocard - Ati x1950 pro agp
HDD1 - Maxtor 80gig
HDD2 - Seagate 10gig (for backups)

I think upgrading the processor is the best thing to do.. right? Does anybody know what the fastest processor is that i can get for this motherboard? (and is the kinston memory fast enough to keep up with it?)

(i just noticed i posted this in the wrong forum section)

TBH there isn't alot you can do with that.

Last time I looked a XP chip, the 3000 or 3200 were going for more than a new C2D was.


Get a C2D E4300, Some cheap AGP Intel mobo (although PCI-E would be better), 2Gb of PC6400 for £60 and all is good

Yer a 3200+ would probably be the fastest (its the fastest Socket A) processor, however as said, they are stupidly expensive (sold my old one literally the other day for nearly £80 ).

Better off building a new system really, however your graphics card is good, but the choice of AGP motherboards today is limited.

Ok, thanks.

in that case ill just leave it like this for a while unless i can find a cheap 3200+ processor somewhere.

You won't find a cheap 3200 anywhere. I bought one off ebay and it still cost me $100 CAD. It's sort of a luxury/limited item because they don't make them anymore and many people want to get their hands on them. I did, but as soon as I did I realized I made a huge mistake, because by that time the prices went down on all new CPUs, and I could have bought a dual core instead for about the same price. And I didn't get too much of a performance improvement by upgrading. That's why I don't recommend you to get a 3200. If you want anything, get a new motherboard and a dual core cpu. Don't make the same mistake i did.

Going to a 3200 really isn't going to make much of a difference. I'm on a 2800 and going have a major overhaul and join the modern age and go 64bit, dual core as my setup is really starting to show it's age.

I'd save your money and look into a major update, CPU, motherboard, RAM and PCI-E, basically going 64bit and everything that comes with doing that. I know it's a major expense but, long term, a 3200 will not really do anything.

You are at the end of your upgrade path.

Here, try this:

Motherboard: ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ or better (depending on $$)
1 or 2 GB DDR2 800 Memory, Corsair XMS2 works well
nVidia GeForce 7600 GT KO or XFX nVidia GeForce 8600 GT XXX Edition (depending on $$, XFX 8600 GT XXX can keep up with 2 eVGA 7600GT KO in SLI)

You can use your existing hardware and software for the rest. Also, the new quad core AMD CPU will be available in both AM2 (called AM2+) and AM3 variants. AM2+ CPU works in normal AM2 although at the AM2 bus speed, AM2+ works the new bus speed but with existing DDR2 memory. AM3 socket will support DDR3 memory.

If you just play LFS you can build a new PC with decent performance for about 600-700 euros.

Your very bigh problem is slow CPU and swap your current one with some a bit higher model would not help very much really as AthlonXP architecture is very old and slow now.

Whats your budget?
you could at least your hardrive,DVD drive and maybe PSU if its enough powerfull.

For what you need the PC exactly.Just for LFS and other office(excel,world,music,video playing)?no other games?

Thanks alot for the help all!

But i really was looking for a cheap upgrade. Because im just starting to live on myself, i don't have enough money to spend for a new pc.

I guess if a processor upgrade won't help much.. and is way too expensive for what it does, ill just stay with this for some more time.

I still can play lfs on 1280x1024 with about everything on high detail and 2xAA and 8xAF.. so i can't complain. But i have the dynamic lod reduction at maximum because when i start behind alot of cars the fps will get kinda low.

Last week i started at the back of a full grid and i saw the wheels of a car weren't even round thanks to the detail reduction to maintain some fps, that made me post this topic. So i switched from 16xAF to 8xAF and now it seems to be fine so far.

I had similar problem recently and I decided to buy dual core Athlon X2 3800+ (Toledo core for good OC) and AsRock 939Dual-SATA2 mainboard. I can stay with my RAM and AGP card (and have free slot for PCI-E also).

everything costed 100 eu, and I'll sell my mainboard and CPU lately, so it'll cost me even less.

100 euro sounds affordable!

So there are mainbords wich can take both agp and pci-e videocards?

Yes. I know that this one mobo is very good and performance is the same as with nForce4 chipset. My advice is to search AsRock 939Dual-SATA2 (or AsRock 939Dual-VSTA) on ebay and toledo 3800.
I'm waiting for the CPU right now and I'll write after I have it how everythink is working together.

I have all components.
- GeForce 6800 AGP
- Athlon 64 X2 3800+ toledo @2300MHz
- 2x512 DDR 433
- AsRock 939Dual-SATA2

I have no less then 30fps in full grid with cocpit view in 1024x768 AA x4 AF x16 full details. 60 fps with few cars infront.
In single player always over 100 fps

Best regards
madmak