Processor upgrade.

[Morbid]

I want to upgrade my processor but I don't know much about it. Can anyone tell me the fastest cpu that will work in my current motherboard?

This is my motherboards specs:

GA-7VTXE+
VIA KT266A chipset

Processor
Socket A for AMD Athlon™/AMD Athlon™XP/Duron™ 200/266MHz FSB processors

Supports 500MHz ~ 2000+ CPU and faster

FSB adjustable by BIOS up to 161MHz(no guarantee)

Supports CPU multiplier 5.0/5.5/.../12.5

CPU voltage overclockable by adding 5%, 10% CPU voltage

[pangea33]

You must visit the mobo manufacturer's site and do some research. Anything else is going to be mere speculation. I just did some upgrading myself.

My mobo is a Biostar M7Vig Pro, running the VIA KM266 / VT8235 chipset. I don't know how similar the KM266 is to the KT266A, but the descriptions sound similar. "AMD Athlon, Athlon XP and Duron Processor 200 / 266MHz front side bus" link is: http://biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=m7vig+pro

This mobo can support up to a Athlon XP 2600+, which I think is basically the fastest available using our outdated 266mhz bus. After quite a bit of research and comparisons, I settled on the XP 2400+. They made the 266mhz for a short period and then went to making the same in a 333. There was a significant price savings over the 2600+ though.

For under $100 I got a new XP 2400+ with an enormous Thermaltake heat sink and cooling fan shipped to my house. I ended up picking my merchant through pricewatch after checking out ebay. 2.0 ghz is plenty fast for me, I am not a gamer so overclocking is unnecessary in my eyes. I've seen claims of them running quite a bit faster, but I'd rather extend the system life as much as possible.

** Just that my sig hasn't been updated when I looked at the preview. Ignore that Duron reference. Its sitting on the shelf waiting for a person who can use it.

[r53s]

Yes, do some search please...
get your feet in the water...

[Fruss Tray Ted]

I think Pangea33 hit this nail right on the head.

Try looking at the AMD (http://139.95.253.214/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=14,E=0000000000209722531,K=7805,Sxi=0,Solution =3913) site itself for processor core speeds after you know what your motherboard supports which it seems you have.

I think you can use processors with different FSB speeds but you get bottlenecked by the board anyway so it is just a waste of money and effort if you use a faster processor. Safest way to go though is to match up precisely.