Athlon 64 X2 chips are not that expensive.

XP really is a whole lot better with 2 cores than 1.

Even if the program you are running is only single threaded, the system can use the second core to process background stuff instead of having to do a ton of task switching.

On eBay, there is a 4200+ for $18.95 shipped, another for a tiny bit more shipped, and a 4400+ for $30 shipped.
4800 is stupid expensive for some reason. Didn't see any 4600 at the moment.

You can also keep an eye out for the S939 Opterons (165, 170, 175, 180, 185) but those seems to have a higher asking price. I still have my 175 from back in the day... not a good overlcocker even after delidding it which lowered the load temps by 20C.

Edit:
Here is a place that has both of the different 939 4600+ CPUs for $31 a piece.
https://starmicroinc.net/amd-athlon-64- ... 00daa5cd/
https://starmicroinc.net/amd-athlon-64-x2-460 … -ada4600daa5bv/

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-03-04, 07:11:

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XP really is a whole lot better with 2 cores than 1.

Even if the program you are running is only single threaded, the system can use the second core to process background stuff instead of having to do a ton of task switching.
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Agree. Even hyperthreading did wonders, remembering upgrading an Athlon XP to an early HT P4 back in the day. The jump in single core performance wasn't all that impressive, but everything just felt a lot snappier.

There's a clear benefit in having dual cores in my opinion too.

Huh, when I was looking at 939 X2s I was struggling to find anything under 30 dollars, maybe I was looking in the wrong places. Well, if the second core really does make things faster then I'll definitely have to go with a X2.