MoBo / CPU Question

[Erin Peterson]

Hi all.

I'm looking to upgrade my CPU and I was wondering approximately how big of a
CPU I could get without replacing my MoBo. I'm not sure exactly the make of
the MoBo but right now I am running a 900Mhz Athlon Thunderbird. The MoBo
is probably a couple of years old now if that helps.

TIA.

 

[kony]

Hi all.

I'm looking to upgrade my CPU and I was wondering approximately how big of a
CPU I could get without replacing my MoBo. I'm not sure exactly the make of
the MoBo but right now I am running a 900Mhz Athlon Thunderbird. The MoBo
is probably a couple of years old now if that helps.

TIA.

We need to know the specs of the motherboard, make/model/chipset.

A 900MHz T'Bird is a little more than 2 years old, the boards of same
era as a 900MHz T'Bird usually supported only CPUs with 100MHz FSB,
which would limit you to a 1.4GHz T'Bird, which are now somewhat rare,
and might(?) come in two versions, 100 & 133MHz FSB, of which you
might only be able to use the 100MHz FSB version.

IMHO, it's not worthwhile to upgrade your present motherboard unless
at a minimum, it supports 133MHz (DDR266) FSB and accepts DDR memory.
Otherwise there's too a great difference in performance possible by
replacing the board.

 

[Erin Peterson]

IMHO, it's not worthwhile to upgrade your present motherboard unless
at a minimum, it supports 133MHz (DDR266) FSB and accepts DDR memory.
Otherwise there's too a great difference in performance possible by
replacing the board.

Hey kony.

Thanks for the reply. At this point, you're pretty much just confirming
suspicisions I've already had. At the moment I'm caught in the upgrade a
piece at a time vs. build a new computer conundrum and I'm leaning heavily
towards just building a new one. Could you suggest a good/low cost MoBo?
Low cost of course being a relative term meaning best bang for the buck.

Also, in your opinion, should I go Intel or AMD for a new chip? I'm not
really looking for state of the art, just a good chip in the 1 to 2 Ghz
range.

Thanks again.

 

[kony]

Thanks for the reply. At this point, you're pretty much just confirming
suspicisions I've already had. At the moment I'm caught in the upgrade a
piece at a time vs. build a new computer conundrum and I'm leaning heavily
towards just building a new one. Could you suggest a good/low cost MoBo?
Low cost of course being a relative term meaning best bang for the buck.

Also, in your opinion, should I go Intel or AMD for a new chip? I'm not
really looking for state of the art, just a good chip in the 1 to 2 Ghz
range.

Thanks again.

If you feel a 2nd computer would be beneficial, then building from
scratch might be the way to go, OR if you want to take your time doing
it, a piece at a time and do a clean OS install... which isn't always
necessary but can be a good idea in some situations.

One key factor in deciding to upgrade or replace can be the amount of
downtime tolerable and the adequacy of case & power supply. A good
name-brand 300W or higher power supply and a case with at minimum, a
fairly unobstructed rear exahaust fan below the power supply, should
be used. If the case & power aren't suitable you might as well get
the new case and power first, set up the case for good airflow with
minimal noise... nobody likes a loud computer these days, and a new
system will produce around 2X the heat as your present system. Too
many cases would be perfectly suitable except for overly restrictive
stamped-in-metal fan grills. With those cases i suggest cutting out
the fan grill, and if you have a situation where small objects
(fingers, paws, etc) might get into the fan, add a far less
restrictive chrome fan grill.

If your hard drive is as old as the rest of the system it's another
area to look at an upgrade. Also consider that most new motherboards
only support AGP v2, 1.5V video cards... your present card may be a v2
card, or could be the older, AGP v1, 3.3V card, which isn't
compatible, won't even physically fit in a new board's AGP slot. If
you need a new video card too, it might make sense to be a board with
integrated video (though I'd recommend getting one with an AGP slot
too, just in case you'd like to upgrade the video later). The below
suggested board also comes in an integrated video version, named
"A7N8X-VM",
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-466

Considering your desire, 1-2 GHz speed range, the best value would be
an Athlon XP based system. Possibly something like:

Athlon XP2500 Barton
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-378

Asus A7N8X motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-468

A pair of 512MB PC2700 (or PC3200) Memory Modules

 

[Paul L]

Don't waste your time, goto Dell and get a whole PC for $400.

 

[~misfit~]

Don't waste your time, goto Dell and get a whole PC for $400.

Real helpful top-post in a hardware group Paul.

Idiot.

 

[kony]

Don't waste your time, goto Dell and get a whole PC for $400.

Except it'll keep costing $400, instead of a standardized
configuration.

$400 will get pretty close to a standard, non-proprietary setup,
excepting a P4 CPU... then _next_ upgrade the whole box doesn't have
to be trashed again, which is not only more expensive, but worse on
the environment.

 

[Trent©]

Hi all.

I'm looking to upgrade my CPU and I was wondering approximately how big of a
CPU I could get without replacing my MoBo. I'm not sure exactly the make of
the MoBo but right now I am running a 900Mhz Athlon Thunderbird. The MoBo
is probably a couple of years old now if that helps.

TIA.

Get and run aida32.exe

It'll probably tell you about your mainboard...and memory, etc. With
that info, you can make an intelligent decision.

Good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

 

[Paul L]

how is your old hardware reusable when the mb dies. do you have simms and a
1.6gb harddrive
in your homebuilt?

 

[kony]

how is your old hardware reusable when the mb dies. do you have simms and a
1.6gb harddrive
in your homebuilt?

Many of us don't wait till our systems are that old to upgrade, we can
keep fairly high performance per usage, for less cost by incrementally
replacing only what's needed, when needed.

Since the OP didn't have SIMMs, nor likely a 1.6GB HDD, going to
extremes only makes your argument look less credible. It can be a
good choice for some people, buying a Dell, but generally it's only
done by those without the ability (or time) to do it themselves.

 

[Paul L]

this guy did wait until it was too old and now he needs a new pc.

Unless you've got a solution for him, why are you wasting your time?

Add up what the components cost and the time to install the OS and apps, and
tell me 400 isn't a good deal

 

[kony]

this guy did wait until it was too old and now he needs a new pc.

Unless you've got a solution for him, why are you wasting your time?

Add up what the components cost and the time to install the OS and apps, and
tell me 400 isn't a good deal

First thing I'd do is wipe the Dell OS install and do a clean one
anyway, starting from a known OS state without any extra/unneeded
crap.

It's not wasted time to point out the downsides to any particular
alternative... being fully informed enables the best choices to be
made.

 

[Paul L]

First thing I'd do is wipe the Dell OS install and do a clean one
anyway, starting from a known OS state without any extra/unneeded
crap.

It's not wasted time to point out the downsides to any particular
alternative... being fully informed enables the best choices to be
made.

Wipe the OS? creating more unnecessary work. There is 'Add remove programs'
to get rid of the crap

 

[kony]

Wipe the OS? creating more unnecessary work. There is 'Add remove programs'
to get rid of the crap

Do a clean install plus the drivers, and compare the file count,
registry size, etc, to the Dell install minus the things you'd
'add/remove'.

Starting out with a clean OS, a fixed known/standard state of
configuration, is worthwhile. If you don't value that, don't do it.