Rookie question: Please be kind

[scottypup]

Hi,

I currently have a Celeron 333 made by Gateway 64Mb RAM. I would liek to upgrade to a faster processor and also upgrade the memory. I checked the system data and I believe it has a 66Mhz Bus Clock. I have installed second hard drive for a total of 16.66 Gb (10Gb unused) so currently have all the hard drive memory I need. My question is what can I do to upgrade this system? Can I upgrade without a new motherboard or is that needed.

I do know that I can upgrade the RAM as I checked that out at Crucial.com.I believe it can be upgraded to 256Mb. Doing this alone how much difference will I see?

To let you know the applications of this system. It is used for school for me and my wife and two high school aged kids. I am running Offcie 97 with no probs there. I also play quite a few games on the system. Specifically AoE, AoK, Civ 2, Civ 3, and recently bought Empire Earth. this is where I am seeign the main problems.

As near as I can tell it has an Mpact mediaware card but I can;t seemed to verify this and if that is correct cannot find a place to check and see if I have updated drives.

Hope someone can help me and please excuse the rambling and if I did not suply enough info let me know. It's probably because I don't know.

Scott

[mjc]

OK, your best shot for looking for drivers is probably going to be at Gateway's site.

As to the processor and nnedding a new motherboard, well you need to find out what is currently in it and see if it will support a faster processor.

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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.

[scottypup]

That is the problem. I don't know how to find out what is in it. I printed a computer profile from a little program I found but I don't know what I am looking at. Can you tell me how to find out?

[Jumby]

Do you have any documentation about the computer...Model #? Did you buy the computer new? If you did, Gateway can probably give you some info. Gateway is a little proprietary, which makes it harder to do things. But upgrading the processor isn't hard...if it can be upgraded. And if you can't double the speed, it's probably not worth doing. Adding memory will definately help if all you have is 64mb. But look first. You need to know how many open slots you have so you know what you need to add.

[scottypup]

Well this is a 4 year old computer so I can not find any of the paperwork. WUnder memory modules it says this. 64Mb Installed memory. 64Mb Module size - 1 installed. One memory socket is empty.

It also says this if it means anything.

Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

BIOS: American Megatrends, INC 0AAKW040

Can someone tell me this then. If I can't double the processor speed, can I replace the whole motherboard? I'm basically trying to figure out if I can do this a piece at a time and without buying a whole complete system.

[Paleo Pete]

Check during boot, while the memory counts up, use the [Pause] key to stop the boot process and write down the BIOS ID string, which is a long number at bottom left. Any other key will resume booting after you write it down.

Take that number to Wim's BIOS (http://www.wimsbios.com) and you should be able to look up the motherboard and possibly a manual. That will tell you what CPU range it will support. If you can find out the model number of the computer you might be able to get some info from the Gateway site.

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[scottypup]

When you say boot up do you mean after the gateqway screen comes up and before it goes to the windows 98 screen?

Sorry if the answer seems basic to everyone.

Scott

[Jumby]

After the computer has been running (just to make sure what's on the monitor is visible), re-boot (press Ctrl-Alt-Del). As soon as you see the very first thing appear (before Gateway), press the Pause/Break key. It will be words at the top of the screen and something at the bottom (just words). If you miss it, just reboot and try again.

[noft]

Also uhm. cranking the memory to as much as you can is always a great idea. As far as the CPU. well, the box should have a model in the front and you can use that model number like "ES400" to go to the gateway website and you can find out what your computer has in it. Then you can find out what is the highest CPU you can put in it. DO NOT double the speed in the CPU because you might run into toooo many problems like conflicts, computer crashes and blue screens.
I am running on a P5A ASUS motherboard with a 350Mhz AMD CPU and I think that my motherboard can support as much as a 500Mhz CPU which is not that great. Your motherboard will probably support something around that neiborhood, and as new games and gadgets come out, you will need more processing power. So my recommendation is that you change your motherboard. The proble with that is that you will need to buy a new CPU as well. but of course you can keep your old HDD and PCI cards that you have in there right now. contact GATEWAY and ask them if you throw in any motherboard you wish in there or if you have to stick with the ones the suggest (which will probably not be that many). Sorry but eventually you will have to buy a new box, MB and CPU. they are not that expensive nowadays. go to www.pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com) to find some GREAT deals. Sounds like eveyone is talking about the ECS motherboards as being GREAT in performance. I like to use AMD or Intel chips. good luck with you comp.

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noft

[scottypup]

I gotcha now. Basically what I can do is maybe upgrade to 256Mb Ram for now and then in the future when I can afford it buy a new case and put in a new MoBo and all that but keep my current Hd's and floppies and Dvd and burner and such.