[evanguy]

Hi all,

So I upgraded to an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ CPU (model ADA5600CZBOX) a few months ago from my old (but surprisingly reliable) AMD 64 3500+ chip. The install went pretty smoothly. The only thing I had to do was flash the BIOS from 1.1 to 1.5 so that the ship would be recognized by the mobo, and that got things up and running fairly well. I didn't reformat and do a clean install of WinXP on my system after upgrading since many websites I came across said that it wasn't necessary.

However, I have yet to witness an increase in my system performance! I thought for sure that my comp would be whizzing off the floor with it's new found speed, but this hasn't been the case. I don't see a difference at all!

I carefully researched the specs on this chip before I purchased it, and it met all my requirements. It had great reviews and it was one of the fastest chips I could get for my current board (system specs below).

I decided to get to the root of this problem after putting it off for a while. I downloaded CPUZ to see if the specs my comp was reading matched up to the specs I was given from numerous websites, those being...

CPU Socket Type: Socket AM2
Core: Windsor
Multi-Core: Dual-Core
Operating Frequency: 2.8GHz
Hyper Transports: 2000MHz
L1 Cache: 128KB+128KB
L2 Cache: 2 x 1MB
Manufacturing Tech: 90 nm
64 bit Support: Yes
Hyper-Transport Support: Yes
Virtualization Technology Support: Yes
Voltage: 1.30 V/1.35 V
Thermal Power: 89W

... but the read-out I got from CPUZ was quite different! (see screenshots below)

What the heck is going on here?! Is my new CPU not what I think it is? Am I an idiot for not performing a clean install of Windows after I plonked-in the new chip? Please help me! I swear this computer is getting slower day by day and it's driving me nuts!!!

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A clean install is a good thing to do to speed things up, even without an upgrade. Every time I do a clean install, I'm amazed at how much quicker my computer is. The slowing down happens so gradually that we don't notice sudden changes. My old 3500+ with a clean install was faster than my present 5400+ dual core with a years' worth of "crap" on it. When I first installed my 5400+, I didn't do a clean install either, so don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I've done one since, and wished I had done it when I first upgraded. By the way, CPU-Z says your processor is exactly what you thought it is. You have to multiply the HT by 2 (for dual core).

[bruceb3]

A clean install is a good thing to do to speed things up, even without an upgrade. Every time I do a clean install, I'm amazed at how much quicker my computer is. The slowing down happens so gradually that we don't notice sudden changes. My old 3500+ with a clean install was faster than my present 5400+ dual core with a years' worth of "crap" on it. When I first installed my 5400+, I didn't do a clean install either, so don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I've done one since, and wished I had done it when I first upgraded. By the way, CPU-Z says your processor is exactly what you thought it is. You have to multiply the HT by 2 (for dual core).