Need AMD CPU advice

[Darknyt]

I have been playing Tron 2.0 (killer game) since it came out last week. Noticed some slowdown on certain game scenes and attributed this to my processor and RAM.

Current system:
Athlon 1.4GHz Thunderbird
2 X 256MB Crucial PC-2100 set at 2-2-2-5 @ 133MHz (266 DDR)
Abit NF7- S v1.2 (BIOS v.19)
Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4600 128MB @ 4X(latest drivers that came out about a month or two ago)
Everything else is SCSI (no IDE drives)

I havent upgraded since summer 2001

I was thinking of going with 2 X 512MB PC-3500 Mushkin Level II 2-2-2......read that Athlons really dont need bandwidth greater than DDR400

Question is which processor should I get?? Please help. Cannot decide...was thinking XP 2600+, 2700+, 2800+, or 3000+

Want to game really hard without the slowdowns. Not purchasing another video card because this ones only a year and a half old plus money is tight(Just bought a centrino lappy).....

[amdkt7]

If your hardware has not been changed and your game use to play fine you should be looking at software or the operating system, not hardware.

Sure, a hardware upgrade could help, but it sounds like you have software problems (extra programs running, or problems with the os/drivers, ect).

edit: opps... did not read carefully, you got it last week. Sorry!

[Darknyt]

Perhaps you are right, I do have antivirus and a few other programs running in the background. I'll try turning these off and seeing how the game play is before I go out and throw away cash. Thanks.

[agathodaimon]

Well, that video card is plenty good... Should last for a while still until the DX9 games start becoming mainstream.

I would definitely upgrade the processor and memory.

Get a couple of 512 sticks of PC3200 or PC3500... something like that.

Your motherboard can handle processors with a FSB speed of up to 333mhz... So, I'd think about getting an XP2500 Barton, which if you're into overclocking, this thing does it great.
I'm not into overclocking, so If I were you, I'd think about maybe an XP2600 to an XP2800...

That should speed things up nicely.


EDIT: Yes, Check to make sure you don't have too much stuff running in the background first... That's a good idea.
What OS do you have?

[amdkt7]

I would suggest updating the CPU to the max your board will support, you should have enough ram.

[Darknyt]

Sorry: Using XP Pro SP1

Actually my mobo will support 400 FSB...it was tested and ran stable at DDR 420 or something like that....Going to try turning a few things off first, then if that doesnt help, amke a trip to the store (online store that is...)