CPU upgrade w/ slocket - do I understand this right?

[AShaw]

Hi All,

I've googled around on "slocket" and a few other key words, but about all I've found is sales listings for the things, not much on using them. I hope this isn't a lame question. Here goes:

I've got an older PC with a Slot 1 processor, trying to upgrade to a faster processor with the same mother board. Basically I want to upgrade to WinXP, so I have to upgrade my hardware first.

I found a CPU that looks right (mobo manufacturer says that type is compatible) but it's socket 370. So I figure I can get a Slot-1-to-Socket-370 converter and use that with "no problem" -- but is that right? Is it really as simple as that?

Also, I wonder if I need to upgrade the cooling fan for the processor as well, since I'm moving to a faster CPU that may run hotter, etc.

For reference, here are the specifics:
Mother board: Intel AL440LX (Mfr.'s online reference (http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/al440lx/) | List of supported CPUs (http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/AL440LX/sb/cs-011219.htm))
Current CPU: Pentium II 266 MHz "SL2HE" (Specs (http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL2HE.html))
New CPU: Celeron 433MHZ (66MHz FSB 128K Cache Socket 370 "SL3BS") (Pulled from working system)
Slocket: Super Slocket III 370 Slot 1 Adapter

By the way, greetings to the group. I'm new here and this is my first post to the forums. I've got some experience under the hood basically just chaning out some FRUs or drives here and there, but I can see from the posts here that I'm hanging out with some pretty knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful people.

Thanks,
Allen

[ror_b211]

I would think it would be best to upgrade your motherboard. Socket/Slot adapters can be unreliable, and I reckon its best to go with a motherboard that guarantees compatability. Although socket 370 boards might be uncommon, they're probably not very expensive. I found some on a quick google search

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=181

But i'm pretty sure i've seen them cheaper than that. Also its probably not a great idea to install winXP on that system, you'll find things run much faster with 9x.

Another point is that you probably only notice a small performance increase with the 433mhz Celeron, since Pentiums have always been the more powerful and technological of the two.

[glc]

http://www.directdial.com/us/shop/item/PPGA2SLOT1.html

That said, why not just keep the 266 and upgrade to Win2000 instead of XP? You will get the same stability, just less "features". 2000 will run decently on a 266 with 128 ram, even better with 256 ram.

[AShaw]

Thanks for the slocket link, glc. I may look into that, but also I think ror_b211 may have a good point about upgrading the motherboard. This box is a "found on the sidewalk" item already running win2k. Since I'm already pretty familiar with win2k but not XP, I thought I'd try and turn it into a machine that could handle XP with the least amount of expense -- that's my real goal here, not going for any specific hardward configuration, etc. Maybe I should just consider a mobo upgrade; I'm just a little more afraid to jump into that since it seems I have a lot more to double-check for compatibility and potentially might have to upgrade other components as well (right? Maybe not... Maybe I should read a little more about it....) I'll be reading more about this before I make a decision, which I'll post here as a followup eventually.

Thanks!
- Allen

[ror_b211]

Windows XP uses huge amounts of memory- I have 1GB and if I leave the PC idle for a while, theres still only ~780mb available, and I don't have much memory being used up by non-winXP processes. So it definitely uses 150mb+ on my system, so I would recommend 256mb at least (which I think is on the XP min requirements). It may work if you turn off all the pretty pictures and go with the 'traditional' (boring) windows look, since all the pictures XP uses (such as the start menu button) are bitmaps, which are quite large and uses quite a bit of memory.

[glc]

Minimum requirements for XP is 64mb ram. It will run, but not well at all. Practical minimum is 256.