Upgrading My CPU

[Guest]

I would like to upgrade my CPU, from a PIII 450 to? My system spec: Gateway performance 450, KATMAI, 100 FSB, 512K L2 cache, Slot1, 440BX, Tabor II MOBO, 256MB PC100 Mem. Creative SB TNT2 Ultra Video card. (AGP slot spec on MOBO is 1.0 2X) 2 HD’s WD 5400 & 7200 Rpm\Ultra66 controller card. Also a underpowered ATX 200watt PS. Bought the system 6\99 options at that time were the 450, 500 & 550 PIII. The only reason I want to upgrade is for the flight Sims I play. Seems that the CPU is the bottleneck and I am pretty much limited on the graphic card end by the 1.0 compliant AGP bus slot. Also the 200 Watt PS.(can be easy upgraded to 250-300W). So the question is will I see a performance increase if I upgrade my CPU to the same processor type, i.e. Intel 100FSB, 512 K cache, slot1, PIII 600? They are out there for around $150. Also how much of a jump can I go without running into problems and will the Bios be a problem (the MOBO has a jumper to manually configure processor speed and I have flashed the latest Bios?)

Regards

 

[ejsmith2]

Sounds like you'll need a motherboard upgrade to notice the difference of a 600mhz processor. I forget how high ntel goes with 100mhz FSB.

 

[Unolocogringo]

you may want to reconcider the video card situation. at this time the difference between 2x and 4x very minimal. about 10% in very high polygon count applications. less in less complex games.and later if you do upgrade your system you can just swap the card to your new system. a geforce mx would make a noticeable improvement even with your 450.

 

[Kelledin]

I've seen Intel CPU's up to 8.5*100MHzFSB (850MHz) in the Slot1 and Socket 370 package. They probably go even higher for Socket 370. A $5 slocket converter can get a Socket370 going in a Slot 1 board; I've heard of slockets that can actually run the CPU asynchronously from the FSB, so you can have a 133MHz FSB CPU on a 100MHz FSB mobo.

Retail boxed P3's have the FSB speed marked on the box. Watch out for 600MHz CPU's marked with an "EB" suffix, as that means "Enhanced Bus" (133MHz FSB). On a 100MHz FSB, an 600MHz EB CPU will only function at 450MHz.

Also, make sure your mobo can handle a 600MHz CPU. It probably can, but I wouldn't swear on that.

Kelledin
<A HREF="http://kelledin.tripod.com/scovsms.jpg" target="_new">http://kelledin.tripod.com/scovsms.jpg</A>

 

[Crashman]

Some people in here do not realize that both the Katmia and Coppermine were available at 600MHz. You will see noticeable gains with the old 600 Katmia core processor. I do not know if your board supports Coppermine processors or not. My suggestion before you limit yourself is to find out who actually manufactured the motherboard and see if you can use their bios to make your motherboard Coppermine compatable. This would give you many more options concerning the processor.

Suicide is painless...........