Once a Again, a Dumb Upgrade Question (1 Viewer)

[Ike]

Well,
I'm looking at upgrading my second computer (got the video card knocked off thanks to the board). The last thing to go (256 mb of Ram, 40 Gig Hard Drive) is the CPU (a meager 566 Celeron). My question is, do I have to buy a new mother board to upgrade to say, a Pentium 4 or even III? Do I have to upgrade if I plan on switching between brands? I can't say what brand or model the mother board is (though it is an old E-Machine), but I really would like to upgrade the CPU. If I have to replace the motherboard, I'm not getting out for under $200. If I can just buy the CPU (be it AMD, Pentium III, or even 4) then I can get out around $100.
Thanks again guys.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

You certainly wont be able to use a P4 or Athlon, but you might get away with a PIII. You'll have to check the specs on the mobo and see what it can handle.
What kind of CPU connection does it use? Slot or Socket?
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[Graeme Clark]

It all depends on your motherboard. AMD is right out though, as their CPUs use different technology than Intel.
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[Ike]

I don't have the computer in front of me (it's being upgraded now) and don't have any detailed specs for it so I have no idea what it uses.

 

[Roy C.]

Ike,
Like Rob said, the best (cheapest) choice might be upgrading to the PIII since it uses the same socket as the Celeron, assuming we're talking socket 370. This is what they call Flip Chip. You can go all the way up to a PIII-933 depending on the Motherboard. This is the crucial piece to the puzzle. Once you know what it can do, PC100/PC133, etc you should be able to make a decision.
Good luck,
Roy
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[Ike]

If it turns out the motherboard can hold a Pentium III, I have another question:
What is OEM? I'm looking at a website called New Egg that was posted here when I was looking for a video card. A Pentium III 866 is $146, but the OEM version of a Pentium IIII 933 is only $153. What the deal? I've heard that OEM is generic. How can a Pentium III be generic? Are these chips reliable?

 

[Rob Gillespie]

OEM goods are typically sold to people or companies that build machines to sell. They usually come with limited warranties (30 day is common) and no retail packaging or accessories.
In the case of the Intel chips, OEM means you get the chip - that's it. With the retail version you get the chip, heatsink/fan all in a nice box. The actual chips are the same.
Try and make sure the mobo is capable of handling a high speed chip like the ones your thinking of buying. Also make sure you buy the correct version of the chip - Socket 1 or FCPGA depending on the type of motherboard you have. And finally, you also need to check if the mobo can support the Coppermine core used on all recent PIIIs and whether or not you need to buy the 100 or 133mhz FSB version of the chip. Both the 866 and 933 versions run on 133 and will not work in a 100 FSB mobo (I think, not 100% sure on that)
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[Ike]

If my motherboard does not support those paticular chips (hopefully I'll know by today), I will want to still get another processor. Since the smallest processor that New Egg has is 866mhz, is their any other good website that would have slightly smaller chip sets that would offer equal (or better) deals?
I'm sorry about my sketchiness on details, I've not got the machine, and am playing phone tag with the person who is upgrading it.
[Edited last by Ike on August 06, 2001 at 05:51 AM]

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I don't know any of the US retailers Ike, so I can't help you there, but Intel stopped making PIIIs below *I think* 850mhz earlier this year. A good place to check is Ebay. The market for used PC components is enormous and you can often get really good bargains.
In addition to the clock speed number, the models are identified with letters. 'E' designates Coppermine core. If it doesn't have an 'E' then it uses the older Katmai core. 'B' desginates 133 FSB.
So a PIII 600E will have a 100mhz FSB on Coppermine.
PIII 866EB will be 133 FSB on Coppermine.
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[Kelley_B]

Ike,
Another thing you need to worry about is what type of Celeron you have, do you have the newer Socket370 or do you have one of the older PGA Celerons. If your board has a PGA socket on it, well you might as well bite the bullet and upgrade your board and Processor, that is if you can afford it.
You should look at this(all prices from Newegg.com):
AMD Athlon 1Ghz 266FSB - $79
EPOX 8KTA3 KT133A Mobo - $95
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Total cost besides shipping - $174
You will have a lot more power under the hood with that.

 

[Matt DeVillier]

Kelley,
Ike's celeron is a 566 FPGA, so he's set. All celerons 566 and up are the newer coppermine-core based (the 533's can be found with both the mendicino (PPGA) and coppermine core).
Ike,
even with that, for the price of a new mobo and CPU it's a much better price/performance ratio to upgrade to an athlon/duron setup
-Matt
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[Kelley_B]

Ike,
Isn't it amazing how trying to do one thing, upgrade your videocard, can turn into upgrading the whole PC PC's gotta love'em!
Ike what type of RAM do you have? If it is PC66 then you will have to buy new RAM no matter what you do. If you do have to buy new RAM then you should go this way:
Athlon 1Ghz or higher - $77 and up
EPoX 8KHA KT266 DDR-RAM Mobo - $105
256MB PC2100 Crucial DDR-RAM ~ $55
With that set up you would have the most modern RAM out there, and you would have a truely screaming machine that I would love to have, especially if you bought that GeFORCE 2 PRO me and you were talking about