What's the fastest reliable CPU for an Intel SE440BX mobo?

[Tony Roe]

Hi,

I have an old Win98SE PCs based on an Intel SE440BX mobo, with P2-350 CPUs. I
also have Pinnacle DC20 video capture card and a Guillemot Isis 8+8 audio I/O
system, both of which refuse to work reliably in any more recent mobo (P3-866,
P4-2.60 and a Celeron), so I'm stuck with the dinosaur, at least until I can
justify buying all new hardware.

A P2-350 lets me easily record 8 audio tracks + Midi to a removable hard drive
(I then edit, mix and overdub on a P4-2.60). But video capture just doesn't cut
it. There are plenty of cheap old CPUs about, so I'm thinking of upgrading as
far as possible, to see if the video capture works better. The SE440BX mobo
manual says it takes slot 1 P2 CPUs only up to 400MHz (not much of a jump from
350), but the latest (1999) BIOS upgrade from Intel indicates P3-450 is OK.
Should I regard that as the real limit?

I can buy a Slot1-Skt370 adapter quite cheaply. Since there seem to be more skt
370 CPUs about, would a P2-450/skt370 + adapter work as well as a slot 1
version?

Would it use less power?

Would I need to worry about CPU voltages etc?

TIA
Regards,
Tony (remove "_" from email address to reply)

 

[WooduCoodu]

despite what the specs say the board will actually take up to a
1000mhz/100mhz fsb P3 but you may have trouble finding one and even if you
do it may not be worth what it will cost. i put one in my Dell R400,
replacing a 400mhz P2, and it's been going strong for a few years since.

http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80607

 

[InsomniaKev]

Does it have a soft or hard jumpers? Check the bios for a multipiler
function.

If nothing there check the jumpers on the mb

 

[Spajky]

despite what the specs say the board will actually take up to a
1000mhz/100mhz fsb P3 but you may have trouble finding one and even if you
do it may not be worth what it will cost. i put one in my Dell R400,
replacing a 400mhz P2, and it's been going strong for a few years since.

http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80607

if this works like you said, than is time to buy from
strattoncomputers.com a Slot-T adapter (slotket) & a Tuallie & he
would be very happy IMHO

-- Regards, SPAJKY
- http://freeweb.siol.net/jerman55/HP/Spajky.htm
Celly-III OC-ed,"Tualatin on BX-Slot1-MoBo!"
E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

 

[Stacey]

But video capture just
doesn't cut it. There are plenty of cheap old CPUs about, so I'm thinking
of upgrading as far as possible, to see if the video capture works better.

Dropping frames? The issue is probably more the IDE controller than the CPU.
I'd try a PCI ATA100 controller card with a 8meg cache HD. Then once you
capture, transfer the file via ethernet to a faster system for editing.
Editing and compression will be PAINFUL on a system that slow, even with a
1 gig chip in it.

 

[Tony Roe]

I thought 33MB/s would be fine for streaming data like video, as long as it
isn't being interrupted by other IDE accesses (the media HDD has its own IDE
port).

But I was going to buy a separate ATA100 controller for the "good" PC anyway (so
I can give each device its own port). I think I'll buy it now, try it in the old
clunker first, and see if it helps the video capture.

All the editing etc is done on the P4-2.60-800MhzFSB, which makes that party
tolerable.

Thanks also to all who replied - its all food for thought.

Dropping frames? The issue is probably more the IDE controller than the CPU.
I'd try a PCI ATA100 controller card with a 8meg cache HD. Then once you
capture, transfer the file via ethernet to a faster system for editing.
Editing and compression will be PAINFUL on a system that slow, even with a
1 gig chip in it.

Regards,
Tony (remove "_" from email address to reply)