Processor upgrade advice needed please...

[subverbal]

Hi
Curently running an old P4 1.5ghz processor based machine, 512mb pc133, 64mb Radeon 7000 and am lookiong to upgrade.
Obviously the old processor (SL5N8) runs at 400mhz bus speed but having checked my motherboard manual (QDI PLatinix 2) there is an 'overclocking' jumper which can be set to 133x4 (instead of 100x4) which gives 533mhz. Does this mean I can run say a 2.8ghz 533mhz processor?? Does the cache size difference matter?
I only use the PC for Flight Simulator 2004 but run 'hungry' add-on aircraft and scenery and have started to get below 10 fps.
I'd also appreciate any advice on graphics cards - 256mb Radeon 9950 is cheap but is this a waste at AGP4x? Would a 128mb nVidia be a better bet?
I'm also going to upgrade the ram to 1gig.
Cheers,
Neil.

 

[Me__2001]

your'e going to find upgrading that system dificult, according to the company website the motherboard will support a 2.6Ghz northwood P4 with a 400Mhz bus which is good if you can find somewhere thats sells one, maybe try a computer fair or if you want to risk it try ebay

dont touch the jumper that overclocks your current CPU which could be risky

as for graphics cards the fastest i would go upto would be a 9800Pro and nothing lower than a 9600, 128MB of memory is fine

 

[subverbal]

Thanks for that - I'd seen the page regarding the 2.6 Northwood but wasn't sure if it was out of date.
I'll have another trawl through ebay - IMHO far more reliable than a computer fair!
Neil.

 

[PotGuy]

i have a 2.66 northwood on here

 

[subverbal]

Might be blind but can't see it listed anywhere....
Is it 400mhz? How much??

 

[PotGuy]

not for sale yet soz

need to build another comp before disembowelling this one xD

good processor, if it had HT it would flatten (some) precotts in my opinion

 

[subverbal]

never mind.
Am I wrong in thinking then that my motherboard can be clocked to 533mhz - it'd be far easier to find a processor if that was the case.

 

[subverbal]

Just been checking and the definitive answer is I can't use a 533mhz fsb processor.
Thanks Me_2001 - you were spot on and I'll never question you again

 

[Me__2001]

ok from the very little i can find in the manual and on the web you might be able and i mean might be able to use 533Mhz bus CPU's, the way i am interpreting this incase anyone wants to chime in with their view is that the manual as you said mentions the overclocking jumper to set the bus speeds


so if a 533Mhz CPU is 133x4 then setting the jumper to auto or forcing it to run 133x4 the CPU should work as normal at full speed

 

[subverbal]

Managed to find a post on the QDI forum about this very thing - forcing 533mhz apparently does not allow you to run 533mhz processors according to the moderators. Their stock reply is 400mhz only up to 2.6ghz.
This may be just to cover themselves but there you go.......

 

[subverbal]

Just found a 2.8ghz 400mhz fsb processor on Ebay - QDI recommend up to 2.6 but this should work - shouldn't it ?????????????