upgrade or start over?

[roxbury]

My brother bought an insignia(best buy brand) computer last christmas.
unfortunatley it did not come with a decend video card or an agp slot
to put one in. So i am gauging interest in upgrading his computer
mainly to play games with . My plan is to get a new micro atx
motherboard, because it is a small case, and a video card, probably a
6600gt. I've been having problems identifying the cpu- a p4 478pin
2.8ghz 400 fsb. although i can find many mobos that support the p4
400fsb, when i search the "supported cpu" list i can never find my cpu.
i searched the intel website and found the exact specs here
http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=sl7ey
will any p4 478pin 400fsb motherboard support this cpu? How well can i
expect this cpu to perform? good enough for gaming? could anyone
recommend a good micro-atx board to use. Also Im worried about the
power supply. it is 230w. will it be enough to run 1- dvdrom, 1-hard
drive, 1-vid.card 6600gt??? sorry to squeeze a million questions into
one post. thanx in advance for any help.

 

[Cuzman]

roxbury wrote:

" I've been having problems identifying the cpu- a p4 478pin 2.8ghz 400
fsb. although i can find many mobos that support the p4 400fsb, when i
search the "supported cpu" list i can never find my cpu. "

SL7EY isn't on Intel's main spec lists, as it was originally just an
engineering sample. If you are upgrading the motherboard, you'd
actually be better off putting that CPU on eBay and buying a different
one altogether. People will pay more for your SL7EY than for an 800FSB
2.8GHz P4.


" Also Im worried about the power supply. it is 230w. will it be
enough to run 1- dvdrom, 1-hard drive, 1-vid.card 6600gt??? "

It depends on the quality of it. What manufacturer and model is it?
What are the amperage levels on each voltage rail? I know by personal
experience that the 270W mATX Enermax EG285SX-VB(W)SFM and
EG285SX-VB(G)SFM cope with similar spec systems to the one you're
looking at putting together. http://tinyurl.com/anvoq

 

[roxbury]

SL7EY isn't on Intel's main spec lists, as it was originally just an
engineering sample. If you are upgrading the motherboard, you'd
actually be better off putting that CPU on eBay and buying a different
one altogether. People will pay more for your SL7EY than for an 800FSB
2.8GHz P4.

So this cpu is actually worth something?? why would someone pay more
for mine than a p4 800fsb 2.8ghz?? how much do you think it would sell
for??

 

[dawg]

Well,people are crazy. Engineering samples are desirable mostly because the
multiplier is unlocked. This allows for flexibility in overclocking. If you
CPU is an ES then by all means see what you can get for it.
Or try overclocking it yourself. It may or may not be a gem.
You probably will have trouble with power if you stick to 230w. I've got a
decent 300w PS that on the edge.I can't add anyting new or it'll go over and
crash.And,I'm using an A64 2800+,Geforce FX5900,1 hard drive,1 CD/DVD RW ans
1GB DDR.

 

[Cuzman]

roxbury wrote:


" So this cpu is actually worth something?? why would someone pay more
for mine than a p4 800fsb 2.8ghz?? "


Like I said, certain people will pay more for a 400FSB Pentium 4 2.8GHz
than for an 800FSB Pentium 4 which won't be any good to them. Some
people need to squeeze the last drop out of their systems without
upgrading their motherboard, so it is a seller's market for older CPUs
at the top end of compatibility with any particular range of motherboards.

Imagine someone who bought a pre-built system; Let's call them *Mr Dell
Owner*. Their socket 478 motherboard only runs 400FSB Pentium 4 CPUs,
with no support for 533FSB or 800FSB. They could upgrade both the
motherboard and CPU if they wanted, but a new motherboard can cause
major problems.

Firstly, the PSU might be soldered directly to the motherboard. Without
the means or knowledge to detatch it and fix on a standard plug they
will need to buy a new PSU.

Secondly, they might have proprietary RAM which only works on
proprietary motherboards. I know that Crucial supply a lot of
proprietary RAM for Dell which struggles to work on most standard retail
motherboards. If you use the memory configurator at www.crucial.com ,
you'll find that it recommends completely different stuff for Dell
motherboards; hence no guarantee that the RAM from the Dell system will
be compatible with an upgraded motherboard.

Thirdly, they may not have a full license for Windows XP. If they have
a partitioned restoration image with the operating system on, then it
probably includes the drivers for the original motherboard as well.
When they attempt to restore the partition it will load all the drivers
for the original system, possibly causing the installation to crash. If
they are lucky enough for the image to restore, then the system may not
want to boot to the Windows desktop once it's restarted. It can
sometimes be near to impossible to load the manufacturer's restoration
image onto a different motherboard, so they may end up having to buy a
new full copy of Windows XP.

If they call up Dell for help with their problems, then they will likely
be told they've invalidated their OEM Windows XP license by attempting
to use it on upgraded components. Dell will offer no support at all,
and they are not obliged to offer any. They will offer their own
expensive upgrade service if you put the original system back together
and send it off to them.

So you see? Many PC owners in this world are up shit creek. A simple
upgrade of motherboard and CPU can turn into a mightily expensive
outlay, potentially meaning a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU and copy of
Windows XP.

It isn't just Dell who use tactics like this though, although they are
number one on my hit list.

Oh, and I can't guarantee that your SL7EY is multiplier unlocked. When
it was originally released as an engineering sample it may well have
been. However, they probably had many locked CPUs manufactured for a
potential release, but pulled out at the last minute in favour of the
new 533FSB CPUs. Releasing it at that time may well have hampered new
chipset sales for other companies they were in cahoots with.