upgrade a 900mhz AMD Duron?

[shanko]

hi, its assuredly likely that everyone here knows alot more about hardware then i do. therefore i am here to ask the experts...
i have just traded an overworked laptop for an underpowered 900 mhz AMD Duron w/ 128 mb ram. if i upgrade the ram to 512mb, is it worth upgrading the cpu as well?

i do flash animation, photoshop, etc, but would like to eventually move into video capture and editing.

what is the best way to maximize its performance?

hope someone can help, and thanks!

 

[zengeos]

Sure it is Shanko, and it's cheap as well! You should have no problem popping in one of the more recent AXP's. Check what motherboard you have and go from there. You may need to update the bios. Does your system use DDR or SDRam?

Mark-

<font color=blue>When all else fails, throw your computer out the window!!!</font color=blue>

 

[Dinski]

Sure, it's profitable to upgrade both CPU and RAM. If you first increase RAM, you will find your PC running significantly faster. And then add a faster CPU - and you'll see.
BTW, lots of guys point that more than 512 MB RAM may cause faults under Win9x-Me. I'm not sure about this, but I'm sure that W2K and XP can manage the RAM more effectively. If you search the most stable and fastest system with 512 MB RAM or more, grab W2K. XP is probably not as fast as 2K.

 

[shanko]

zengeos and dinski, thank you both. what a great community!

the system, an hp pavilion, uses SDRam.
you've convinced me about upgrading the cpu,
and now comes the part where i really expose myself as the newest of newbie...
if i say that the motherboard is an ASUS with a Via KL 133 chipset, does that answer your question?
what other characteristics of the chip to i have to be concerned with other then the socket 1 designation?

if i install a 1.6-2.0 ghz Athlon, do i have to be worried about additional cooling?

here is a link to the system specs:
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/personal_computing/support_doc/bph06585.html

any help you guys can provide would be greatly, greatly appreciated. thanks again!

 

[AgentSmith]

You probably won't be able to upgrade the cpu at all. Its a laptop. A LAPTOP.

The RAM however is easy enough. You want to get the required amount in SO-DIMM format (256 Mb SO DIMM PC-133 144pin £55.00 or something to that effect).

Even if could upgrade the CPU (which I am pretty sure you can't) I think a '2ghz' athlon is overly optimistic. Do you see many AXP 2000 laptops? Wonder why?

Slowdown? What slowdown? Didn't you know this was a slideshow?

 

[Crashman]

Well, I doubt it will support anything with a 133MHz FSB "DDR266". But a Duron 1200 would give it a little life maybe.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[LED]

It's not a Laptop.

This sig runs too hot.

 

[shanko]

thanks for the help everybody. to clarify things, the machine is definitely NOT a laptop.

so, what i need to know is- if i put a 1.6-2.0 ghz chip in the machine, will it work, or will it explode?

thanks again, you guys rock.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

your motherboard, and the fact that its a HP may limit your choices considerably.

that particular chipset is limited to 100fsb processors... so you can forget about puttin in a XP or tbred cpu.

you really should check on the ASUS website to see what the fastest CPU is that you can put on it.
im guessing its either a 1.4Ghz duron or athlon 1.4 'B'.

still, a duron 900 with 512mb of ram is a nice machine, pleantly good enough for playing dvd movies and music and general stuff.
gaming quality will of course depend alot on the graphics... and here i belive you are NOT in a good position. the KL133 uses integrated S3 onboard graphics... which will <b>SUCK</b> substantially. and you cannot put in an AGP card either :frown:

Ego: Check
Rose hued glasses: Check
Fanboy Button: Check
CPU forum, here i come!

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

Doing graphics editing will deffinately benefit from 512Mb of ram. I don't think your motherboard will support a chip fast enough for you to want to upgrade. I don't think it would be worth it for you to spend the extra money on a newer chip without investing in a newer motherboard. HP motherboards are generally quite crappy though the fact that it is Asus speaks well for it.