CPU stupidity

[Blitze105]

ok.. i have an AMD athlon XP 2500+ MMX 3d now 1.8ghz
for a cpu... i hate to be stupid.. but i have a dumb question i want to ask. what does the 2500 and the 3d now and mmx and 1.8 ghz stand for... sorry but all i know is what a cpu does and things like that so i was jw... if any one would like to help plz do.. if not ill look it up or something but i was wondering kus it seems like i know most my parts but when i got to thinking bout it...the cpu i didn't know what the #s stood for and stuff so... thought id ask thanx

 

[horndude]

3dnow is AMD version of MMX, they are added instruction sets to the original instructions created for the pentium 1 architecture,basically they allow repetitive operations to be easliy handled and faster, this is machine level code here, it involves registers and an additional set of op codes, 3D now isnt MMX, but its close, however MMX instructions wont make 3dnow work and vice a versa, they are separate, to be used it has to happen in the software,some programs can handle either one,some cant

1.8ghz is the actual clock speed, the 2500 # is AMD's response to passing intel in performance clock speed vs clock speed, because AMD has better memory bandwidth and FP math it does more work at a slower speed, so AMD came up with the marketing idea to release an INTEL equivalent performance number.,in other words, an XP 2500 may run at 1.8ghz, but it performs like an Intel chip at 2.5ghz

 

[Blitze105]

oh ok thanx man
i have one more question... think i should get a better one?

 

[horndude]

Only if you need to, my general rule is, if it does what you want, keep it and use it, its way too easy to get caught buying a new mobo/cpu and vid cards to keep up with the latest and greatest, it gets expensive,real expensive.Depends on your finances and how much you want to spend, the next jump to a 64 bit athlon would probably be the next step for you,but if what you have plays the games you like right now, stay with it, in 8-10 months the athlon 64's will be cheaper and the software will be better.Base model athlon 64 with a cheap mobo is $140 right now, give it 6 months and it will be under $100.

Right now, personally Im leaning toward maybe geting a single core 64 bit and then waiting about a year and a half and switching to a dual core setup, maybe dual dual cores depending on how things shape up with software, no sense in getting something without software, which is kinda where 64 bit is now to a large degree, arent many true 64 bit apps or drivers just yet unless your into servers, even with linux true 64 bit apps are scarce,even though the kernel has been 64 bit ready for over a year.

 

[Blitze105]

yeah i was thinking bout upgrading my video card first, waiting a few more months then putting in a new cpu when they would be cheaper. but my vid card is 64... so idk i might just get 1g of ram instead haven't decided yet im leanin on ram though

 

[horndude]

The trick is to keep things balanced, you dont want more vid card than your system can feed, and you dont want a weak vid card that bottlenecks your system either, like right now from what ive read from guys around here, the difference tween 4x and 8x AGP in framerate with an average game is like 4-10fps or less, barely worth it really unless its whats holding your system back to begin with, same with vid memory, right now 256mb is mostly overkill in most systems, and 512mb is nothing more than marketing showoff right now.I dont know what things are like now, but in the past everytime a new vid card hit the market, it was 6months before the drivers were any good.Sometimes its better to wait just a little while and pick stuff that works well and stay maybe 2 or 3 steps behind the cutting edge if you can.Ive had bad times with beta and alpha vid drivers and buggy games.

 

[Blitze105]

u got ahead of me lol
im not trying to be top of the line.. (oh and windows longhorn is now saying it requires or should have 512 ram) according to the previews atleast. but i think ill just up my ram a lil bit maybe to 768? if not ill just go with a gig... and my 64 vid card will be fine kus i dont watch stuff alot on my comptuer just movies and i need to find a good online game.. d2 was fun but got old so idk if i need video much anymore.

PS
i dont get into hardware alot but i think im going to start reading some posts round here and learn some more bout them.. so ill be asking alot of dumb questions soon enough to bother you guys with