I ordered an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Dual-Core 1MB Per Core 90nm (939) to replace my current AMD 3200. I've searched the forum for a detailed overview on how to go about doing the upgrade, but haven't found anything applicable. Can someone point me to a site/thread that discusses what the upgrade entails? Do I need to upgrade any drivers? How hard is it to remove the old CPU? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

The most important thing to do is validate that your motherboard will support the new chip. Very likely a BIOS update will be required to properly identify the newer CPU.

Also, you will need Windows XP Professional (or Windows 2000 Professional) in order to properly support a dual-core CPU. Windows XP Home does not support dual core CPUs.

Maybe someone else will give you some more specific pointers. Good luck!

The chip change it self is relatively easy. Remove the heatsink and fan then there is an arm to lift the top of the socket up a gentle pull will remove the cpu insert the new cpu apply thermal paste and mount the new heatsink and fan. hardest part can be the clip on the heatsink. And the computer will need a reload so the windows can operate using both cores.

Windows should not require a reload. Just a simple driver change in your device manager (as well as a reboot) should be all that is required for Windows to properly identify and utilize the 2nd core.

However, if you have a cluttered down system now would as good of a time as any to do the reload... just know that an OS reload is NOT required.

Btw, I run an X2-4400 OC'd to 2.6 GHz and I absolutely love it.