Paul said:
2GHz or 2000MHz is the speed of your dual core processor.
To compare that to other hardware, the 2GHz Athlon64 core gives an
equivalent performance
to a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor.
Which means your processor is still useful for everyday things. And
2000 or 3000 is faster than the 700 MHz you referred to.
Paul
Also, Acer aren't likely to address your upgrade options. The
BIOS could be a deciding factor (sometimes a BIOS will fail
to POST, if a more modern processor is present). Pre-built
computers don't normally come with detailed upgrade charts.
But a computer you build from scratch, that comes with the
info needed.
This chart would give you an example of the upgrade info that
comes with a retail motherboard purchase. One of the pieces of info
here, is the power level the motherboard supports. This board happens to
support the installation of a 6400+ 125W processor. This motherboard
is the same era as your E380 computer.
http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M2NPV-VM
Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (CZ),2MB,rev.F3,125W,SocketAM2 ALL 1001
The VCore circuit on some motherboards, don't support 125W processors. The
motherboard may be limited to 89W or 95W. In some cases, you have to be
careful not to overload the VCore circuit with an upgrade. And that is
why having an upgrade chart is gold, with respect to putting in another
processor.
This one has a three phase converter.
http://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/asus/m2npv-vm/board.jpg
The E380 motherboard seems to be similar, except the coils are
a different design. They look a bit smaller. You actually have more
MOSFETs on yours, four per phase. While the Asus has three MOSFETs
per phase.
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5561/dsc00315ys7.jpg
A safe upgrade, might be something like this 5600+. It is the
fastest 65W processor in the list.
Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (DO),1MB,rev.G2,65W,SocketAM2
( Could be this one -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103279 )
This would be another alternative, but this is 89W.
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (DO),1MB,rev.G2,89W,SocketAM2
The only 6000+ I could find, is the 125W one. I don't see
the 89W one on Newegg. This would be the 89W one. ADA6000IAA6CZ or ADA6000CZBOX
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon 64 X2 6000+ - ADA6000IAA6CZ (ADA6000CZBOX).html
The 89W one is available on one site from Pricewatch. $78. No heatsink.
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=1044
And this is a 125W one - ADX6000IAA6CZ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103772
If a processor purchase says it is "OEM", that means it
doesn't come with a new cooler. A "Retail" processor comes
with a cooler. If you were moving from a 65W processor to a
125W processor, you'd want a new cooler. If you were moving
from just about any processor, to a 65W OEM one, you could
reuse the cooler you've already got. After market coolers
are also available for a fee, and some of those can handle
a 140W processor from a cooling perspective.
I'd hold off on upgrading, until you've determined it is
really necessary.
*******
For someone with as many upgrade objectives as you've got, I
think building a box from scratch would be more fun. The
advantage is, you leave your current, working computer alone.
Build up the new one. Move the monitor over and test it. If
it doesn't work, move the monitor back to the original computer,
then call for help
Paul