want to upgrade processor and motherboard

[spitzaf]

here's the deal: i have a 633 celeron and i hate the low 66fsb. i'm looking to upgrade to a duron/athlon 800 mhz 200 fsb. i'm new to this, and i've learned that i need a new motherboard to support the amd chip. how do i know if the motherboard will fit in my case? i'm guessing they must all have a set design to make screw holes line up, expansion slots line up, etc. also, what do i need along the lines of a power supply? will my ram be compatible too (i have 128mb)? if anyone can think on any other things i need to take into consideration, please let me know. thanks.

[pjungwirth]

The most common standard for desktop motherboards/cases/power supplies is ATX. The PC Guide has great information on ATX, AT, and various obscure standards. Your manual should tell you what you have.

AMD maintains a list of approved power supplies for their chips. They also offer other cooling-related advice. You can find all that info from this page (http://www1.amd.com/athlon/config).

On the memory, it depends on what type of memory you have. If it's SDRAM, I'd guess it would be compatible (provided you buy an SDRAM mobo), but you should post the specifics and then wait for someone more knowledgeable to reply. I suppose you could also go to Crucial's site (http://www.crucial.com/) and see if the motherboard you want supports the memory you have.

Good luck!

Paul
~{:-)

[Jumby]

Is the system a generic type -- not Compaq, Gateway etc.? I'm pretty sure your case is an ATX and that's what you'll need. But sometimes proprietary systems will have proprietary cases. The case usually comes with a power supply that will work fine. It needs to be at least 250 watt. (300 is better). If not, buy a new case. You can find them for $29. and up, with power supply. The ram may be a problem. PC100 and 133 are pretty standard, although new stuff is out now. Most new motherboards are backwards compatible, but SDRAM is real cheap right now (PC100, 128mb $30.), so that shouldn't be a probem anyway either.

[evalroy]

Spitzaf,

Welcome to the forum. It would be helpful to know what type of case you have. If it is a standard, mid-tower or full tower case, most motherboards will fit. Now if the case is one of the micro towers or if it has a proprietary design such as Compaq, HP, Dell, etc., then you may be best served to buy a new case. The RAM should be okay unless it is not PC100/133. If not, it will most likely work but not at optimal speed.

Other thoughts/recommendations:
ASUS mobo A7V133 is a solid performer
Athlon processor (more bang for your dollar)
Antec and AOpen make good cases (make sure you get a AMD rated power supply of at least 300W - you can get a list of recommended parts from AMD at their web site, http://www1.amd.com/athlon/config)

Hope this helps.
ER


Originally posted by spitzaf:
here's the deal: i have a 633 celeron and i hate the low 66fsb. i'm looking to upgrade to a duron/athlon 800 mhz 200 fsb. i'm new to this, and i've learned that i need a new motherboard to support the amd chip. how do i know if the motherboard will fit in my case? i'm guessing they must all have a set design to make screw holes line up, expansion slots line up, etc. also, what do i need along the lines of a power supply? will my ram be compatible too (i have 128mb)? if anyone can think on any other things i need to take into consideration, please let me know. thanks.



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I think, therefore I am -What the hell was I thinking?

[spitzaf]

yeah, i have a HP pavilion right now, and its a mini tower, so it looks like i'm gonna buy a new case. my ram is PC133 SDRAM, so that looks good. thanks for the help.

[mjc]

Definitely will need a new case... the mini-tower will not accomodate the full size everything you'll need.

What model Pavilion?

You'll also need a new operating system...the HP disks will not work on another system, and it may have only a 5400rpm hard drive.....

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Gun Control...hitting what you aim at!

[spitzaf]

its an HP 6734. i'm trying to figure out if i can put some other processor chip into my computer without changing the motherboard. the celeron fsb is just too slow, so i was thinking pentium III, but i don't think they're compatible.

[Randy_tx]

You are thinking right........THEY AREN'T ! Just remember, many tests have been run on two cpu's with the same MHZ but running at different BUS speeds and the difference is virtually NIL!! Be more concerned about raw CPU Speed in MHZ rather than the FSB speed and you will be ahead of the game.

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Will XP save Me ?

[mjc]

There is a small chance that you possibly could stick a PIII in there, but it is very small. This exact question was a hot topic before HP closed down their user-support forums, and some people reported limited success. It seems that there are three or four different MOBOs in Pavilions and depending on the luck of the draw determines whether or not you can upgrade, but you could drop a slightly faster Celeron in there but cost/benefits may not be there.

There is a user support forum here (http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/hppavilionsupport?s) that may be able to give a little more info on your chances of upgrading your current setup.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Gun Control...hitting what you aim at!

[kenja]

Hi spitzaf,

Before the Durons came out, Celerons were the "best for the buck", but the 66MHz FSB always bugged me, too. You're saying it's "just too slow", well, too slow for what?

Anyway, I just got done reconfiguring a couple of "Celery" machines. One is a 366MHz running on 100MHz FSB, which results in a 550MHz CPU. The memory bus runs at 100MHz. The Sandra 2001 benchmark results are good, but not kick-a http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/redface.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/redface.gif .

The other machine has a 600MHz "Coppermine" (sometimes called a "Celeron II"). Just for kicks, I tried to run it at 900MHz (100MHz FSB), but it wouldn't even POST (Power On Self Test). (I don't believe in jacking up the core voltage.) Anyway, my VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset motherboard allows running PC133 memory at 133MHz (FSB remains at 66 MHz). This returned very respectable Sandra benchmark scores.

My conclusion: Unless you're involved with video editing or the like, a slower FSB is not a huge handicap. For that matter, I don't see any real-world difference between a new 5400rpm hard drive and a 7200rpm one.

Anyhow, about your upgrade options: Get a new case, definitely. I used a rather large Presario case, but there were just enough hassles to make me regret it. Perhaps keep the Celeron and get a better socket 370 motherboard, filling it up with SDRAM. (I'd think 512MB would be plenty, your system wouldn't be making very many trips out to the page file on the hard drive.)

I wouldn't try to talk you out of an AMD rig. I've got two Duron machines, at 750MHz and 800MHz. OEM 750s are currently $45, delivered, from newegg.com (my favorite online source for computer stuff). If I were buying today, though, I'd be real tempted to go Thunderbird.

If you're comfortable with only a 30 day warranty, newegg has a "refurbished" section. The stock varies; I bought an Abit KT7 motherboard and a video card with no problems. These are not refurbished in the sense of being "reworked", they look like returns. Some hack technician scratched a contact with a test probe on the AGP board, but it still works.

[kenja]

Correction: Although the "Mainboard Information" module of Sandra 2001 reports the memory as running 133MHz, the boot-up text message states 100MHz. I believe the latter is correct.

Anyway, considering the price of Pentium IIIs, I'd say: "FoggetAboutIt!" http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

One more thought: Are you aware that Celerons at 800MHz and above have the 100MHz FSB? Whether your HP motherboard would handle it is a very open question, indeed.

As was stated by mjc, once you say goodbye to the HP motherboard, you're suddenly in the market for a new OS.

not read the following:] I've sometimes been able to transfer Win98 from one machine to another using Norton Ghost.


[This message has been edited by kenja (edited 08-28-2001).]