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TAfan (198 posts)
Jan-24-02, 02:55 PM (EST) "Looking for technical advice" I'm considering upgrading my computer soon, but it's been a while since I read a hardware orientated PC magazine, and there have been a few developments which have gone over my head a little. I thought I'd ask here for some advice because
a) most guys here are pretty computer-savvy
b) it'll let me run some proper length consists!So here goes: I currently have a PIII 500MHz, residing alongside 256MB of PC100 SDRAM on a motherboard with the good 'ole 440BX chipset. I want to keep the cost of my upgrade as low as possible (obviously ) but I'm not sure what to get.My first thought was to get a fast PIII, as most PIII motherboards can still accomodate my old PC100 SDRAM (sadly my current motherboard has a 750MHz limit). But then I saw the prices of fast (1.1/1.2 GHz) Pentium III's (in the UK, that is) and was, shall we say, somewhat surprised. Are these laptop processors (which would explain the cost: >£200)?Instead I turned my attentions to an Athlon. Much more reasonable (approx £100 for 1.4GHz Thunderbird Athlon - I think) but no Slot A motherboards seem to accomodate PC100 SDRAM - it's all DDR RAM. I know DDR RAM is really cheap at the moment but if possible I'd like to hang onto my slower PC100 RAM (purely for economic reasons) - and hopefully upgrade to DDR RAM later.I was almost settled on a nice, cheap, older Athlon, when I read in a magazine about changing your processor. The article itself was referring to the new Athlon XP, but said that to notice any real performance increase, I'd have to re-install Windows to make use of the new processor instruction sets. When it comes to re-installing Windows, I would rather shower using a cheese grater instead of a sponge - my installation of Windows has recently got over the cardiac arrest that MSTS gave it, and I've no desire to tamper with it for a while yet! Is this new instruction set re-installation malarky applicable to the older Thunderbird chips, too?All in all, I'm a little confused over this! If someone could impart their wisdom unto me it would be much appreciated! Are PIII's still available for desktops? Can I whack in a Thunderbird Athlon without re-installing? Is there anyway I can use a more modern motherboard while hanging onto my PC100 RAM? If I absolutely have to, I'll shell out for the DDR RAM, but I'd rather have the option of buying it later.Oh, one other thing, is a 230W power supply enough for an Athlon as well as two CD drives, ageing Maxtor HD, SB Live! 5.1 Platinum, Geforce 2 Ti, network card, modem, etc...?Thanking you in advance!
Yours confusedly,
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Subject Author Message Date ID RE: Looking for technical advice derekmorton Jan-24-02 1 RE: Looking for technical advice magichb Jan-24-02 2 RE: Looking for technical advice TAfan Jan-25-02 3

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derekmorton (311 posts)
Jan-24-02, 03:57 PM (EST) 1. "RE: Looking for technical advice" TA,To use your pc100 now will be another m/b, to use DDR later will be another m/b. (thats 2)I just replaced my pIII 500 with an Athlon XP 1800+, I can now run 200 car trains at 9 fps.To go to another m/b, you 'can' get away with not reinstalling windows, but you may have problems. Reinstalling windows has nothing to do with the instruction set, it had to do with system devices on the motherboard.>Are PIII's still available for desktops?You could get a 1Ghz pIII or celeron that could be configured to run at 100Mhz (cpu and motherboard - cheapest option - NO upgrade path)>Can I whack in a Thunderbird Athlon without re-installing?Maybe, I have done it and got away with it.>Oh, one other thing, is a 230W power supply enough for
>an Athlon as well as two CD drives, ageing Maxtor
>HD, SB Live! 5.1 Platinum, Geforce 2 Ti, network card,
>modem, etc...? I would suggest not, the Athlon XP consumes 70 watts on its own.
Derek EngMod@leder.com.au Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
magichb (16 posts)
Jan-24-02, 08:58 PM (EST) 2. "RE: Looking for technical advice" Check out tigerdirect.com. They have a PIII upgrade CPU chip that will increase any PIII 500mhz or higher to a 1gig clock speed. It costs $US149.99 and comes with a free 128meg pc133 ram chip. Your motherboard might be able to use the pc133, but if not, you could maybe trade it. I have used this company's upgrades before and they have delivered as advertised. I have a PIII 733 and just upgraded my memory from 256 to 512. That helped increasing frame rates about 15% and less hesitation when entering areas of high scenery density. Anyway, check out tigerdirect.com. If they won't ship international you may be able to work something out with someone on the forum.Brad
MagicHB@aol.com Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top
TAfan (198 posts)
Jan-25-02, 03:50 PM (EST) 3. "RE: Looking for technical advice" Thanks for the advice, folks. This upgrade from tigerdirect sounds curious - but I think I'd rather just get myself an Athlon (even if it does mean a new PSU and new DDR RAM ) - from some tests I've found since I posted my original request, the performance of it is incredible, even if it does run hot and use a lot of power. The Intel P4 doesn't get a look in (unless you use pricey rambus - and even then it's a close run thing)!So I guess I should go browse some retail websites in the quest for Athlon, motherboard, RAM, and PSU... <sigh> I hate fitting new motherboards - so fiddly!Thanks for the advice guys! Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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