Changing CPU Advice Needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Si
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Si

My current mobo supports a 800FSB and DDR400 memory but at the moment I have
a P4 2.53GHz (533FSB) and DDR333 installed. I'm about to purchase a P4
3.0GHz (800FSB) and some DDR400 ram and I need some advice on what's the
best way to install the CPU. I know how to physically it but I'm not sure if
there is anything I need to do beforehand like clear the CMOS. Will the BIOS
automatically select the correct FSB for the new CPU? Also, will I have to
reinstall Windows?

Lastly, should I get a Prescott processor or stick with a Northwood? I'm
worried about what I've read concerning the Prescotts running hot. Having
said that, the Northwoods are becoming harder to find so I may not have a
choice.

Cheers.

Si
 
Si said:
My current mobo supports a 800FSB and DDR400 memory but at the moment I
have a P4 2.53GHz (533FSB) and DDR333 installed. I'm about to purchase a
P4 3.0GHz (800FSB) and some DDR400 ram and I need some advice on what's
the best way to install the CPU. I know how to physically it but I'm not
sure if there is anything I need to do beforehand like clear the CMOS.
Will the BIOS automatically select the correct FSB for the new CPU? Also,
will I have to reinstall Windows?

Lastly, should I get a Prescott processor or stick with a Northwood? I'm
worried about what I've read concerning the Prescotts running hot. Having
said that, the Northwoods are becoming harder to find so I may not have a
choice.

Cheers.

Si
Click to expand...

You must use a Northwood, or nothing at all (keep your current processor).
The reason is that not all motherboards support Prescott. If you are not
SURE your board does, it's not worth the hassle to find out later that it
does NOT.

You should not have to clear CMOS or reinstall windows. HOWEVER, I don't
understand why you would switch from a 2.53 to a 3.0? You gain NOTHING by
doing so. Theoretically, it's about 20% faster as far as CPU goes. But
overall system performance? Maybe 2% gain, if that. What's the
oint? -Dave
 
Hey Dave,

First of all thanks for the reply. My mobo does support Prescott. The main
reason for the upgrade was so I could take advantage of the faster FSB speed
and RAM speed. I have to admit that I've no idea about the increase in
performance that this would achieve so maybe I should have asked whether
people thought that this was a worth while upgrade or not.

Any more thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Si
 
Si said:
Hey Dave,

First of all thanks for the reply. My mobo does support Prescott. The main
reason for the upgrade was so I could take advantage of the faster FSB
speed and RAM speed. I have to admit that I've no idea about the increase
in performance that this would achieve so maybe I should have asked
whether people thought that this was a worth while upgrade or not.

Any more thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Si
Click to expand...

If you want a significant performance increase, it will cost a considerable
amount of money right now, as it would involve CPU, mainboard and RAM at the
very least, and probably a new video card as well. -Dave
 
Si said:
Hey Dave,

First of all thanks for the reply. My mobo does support Prescott. The main
reason for the upgrade was so I could take advantage of the faster FSB speed
and RAM speed. I have to admit that I've no idea about the increase in
performance that this would achieve so maybe I should have asked whether
people thought that this was a worth while upgrade or not.

Any more thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Si
Click to expand...
Personally, I don't think it's worth the change unless you get at least
50% improvement.
Mike.
 
Not knowing what MB you have it's a little hard to comment.
Bring up the board on the manufacturer's site and bring up
what CPU is supported. Something like this;

http://www.asus.com/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx

Some CPUs are only supported by certain newer BIOS revisions.
Save you some grief to flash the board (with the old supported CPU)
with a BIOS that actually will see and use the newer CPU before you
go trying to troubleshoot a system that won't POST/boot.

It also pays to go thru the manual checking all the MB jumpers and
BIOS options. For all I know you may need to jump the board to run
800MHZ FSB on it.



My current mobo supports a 800FSB and DDR400 memory but at the moment I have
a P4 2.53GHz (533FSB) and DDR333 installed. I'm about to purchase a P4
3.0GHz (800FSB) and some DDR400 ram and I need some advice on what's the
best way to install the CPU. I know how to physically it but I'm not sure if
there is anything I need to do beforehand like clear the CMOS. Will the BIOS
automatically select the correct FSB for the new CPU? Also, will I have to
reinstall Windows?

Lastly, should I get a Prescott processor or stick with a Northwood? I'm
worried about what I've read concerning the Prescotts running hot. Having
said that, the Northwoods are becoming harder to find so I may not have a
choice.

Cheers.

Si
Click to expand...

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