Upgrading your PC

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Published on: 23-05-2004
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Processor

When to upgrade the Processor (CPU)

It’s important to realise that none of these “upgrade” options can compensate for a slow processor (CPU), the chip at the heart of the computer. If this is way past its sell-by-date, then there’s no point wasting money on a new graphics card or hard drive.

If you’re lucky, and, your system is not that old, upgrading your CPU can be an easy job. If you’re not so lucky it can begin to seem like brain surgery. The main thing that you need to realise is that the CPU can’t be considered in isolation. By itself, a CPU is just a lump of silicon. To use it properly you have to install it into a motherboard, the big, usually green, circuit board that houses all the components inside your computer.

There are two main types of CPU used in PCs these days. Intel’s Pentium processors are the most well known, but face fierce competition from the Athlon processors developed by rival, AMD. As a result, there are different types of motherboards that are designed for either AMD or Intel processors. Intel CPUs have a nasty habit of needing a different board while AMD’s CPUs can usually be upgraded to the same board.

Installing a CPU onto a motherboard is actually quite easy, because all CPUs have a number of small metallic pins on them that are arranged in a specific pattern. This ensures that it’s physically impossible to insert the CPU the wrong way round, or to insert an Intel CPU onto an AMD motherboard. This arrangement of pins is sometimes referred to as a slot or a socket, so the latest P4 CPUs use what’s known as the socket LGA755. However, earlier P4 CPUs used a different type of socket known as PGA478.

The first generation of PGA478 P4 CPUs run at a variety of speeds, ranging from 1.3GHz to 2.8GHz, so if you’ve got a 1.3 machine that is a couple of years old you might well find that you can perform a really quick upgrade simply by replacing the original processor with the newer 2.8. The newer 2.8 uses the same type socket, so it should just take a few seconds to remove the old and insert the new.

Unfortunately, things are rarely that easy and this is where it all gets a bit too complicated for comfort. For instance, there were actually two generations of PGA478 P4 CPUs, and the second generation CPUs (which run at 2.8GHz and above) aren’t compatible with first generation motherboards, even though they may have the same type socket. Doh! Another good one Intel.

And, of course, you’re completely stuffed if you’ve got a PIII PC or even something older. It will be physically impossible to install a newer CPU onto the motherboard of these older machines so the only option … other than buying a brand-new PC is … is to buy a new motherboard, CPU, and you’ll probably need new memory as well, all in one go.

The AMD fraternity have a slightly better upgrade path … If you presently have an AMD Duron, then your in with a good chance your motherboard will accept, with maybe a BIOS update to help, the newer Athlon CPU. Check your manual, it will tell you how big a CPU you could use, and then check the motherboard manufacturer on-line, and see if it requires a BIOS update.

Doing it yourself

The DIY route

Many PC magazines run articles tell you that installing a new motherboard and processor is a piece of cake and you can do it with a hangover first thing on Sunday morning while simultaneously changing the baby’s nappy … Well, they’re lying.

Installing a new motherboard is a big job. You’ve got to dismantle the entire PC for starters, removing the old motherboard and disconnecting the hard drive, power supply and all the other components that are connected to the motherboard.

Then you find out that the new motherboard needs a different type of power supply, and, a different type of memory chip, and, the new CPU give off a lot more heat than the old one and so you need to install a new cooling system as well as the baby now needing its nappy changing again … in other words you’re effectively building yourself a new system from scratch. If anything goes wrong you can’t take the system back to the shop because it’s not their fault. It can be a useful learning exercise, and an expensive one, but unless you’re confident performing surgery on your computer, it’s safe to buy a new one.