PII upgrade?

[saintashley]

Hi i am a newcomer and was wondering if i can change my p2 450 for a better
processer and what ones can i use?

~thank you

[RJ]

Hello and welcome to PCMech.

Maybe you can upgrade, maybe not.
It all depends on the motherboard you have.

The model number should be written on the board itself, just look for it and please tell us which board actually is built in. Then we can tell you how fast you can go. In any case, it will be Intel Celeron or Intel Pentium III. No chance to get a P4 or AMD Processors running on your board.

RJ

[saintashley]

Hi RJ and thank you for replying I will check what motherboard it is tommorow
as it's a bit late now for me to go digging around cos of work, It is quite old
so will that limit the possibilites alot? I will know tommorow and post what it is.

~Thank You

[RJ]

Hi,

Just because the board is 'old' it doesn't automatically mean that you're limited alot. It depends of what quality the board is.
When I built my PII 333 system in feb 1999 I used the Abit BH-6. It uses the softmenu II and allows to set a multiplier to x12 or even more. That means that even the Celeron 1.1 GHz would run on it.

On the other hand, if you have a propietary model (dell, compaq, etc.) then you can forget it, because their mainboards don't allow higher clock speed.

What CPU you can use depends on:
1. the supported FSB (front-side-bus)
2. the supported multiplier
3. the core voltage
4. the slot/socket

The PII 450 uses a FSB of 100 MHz and a multiplier of x4.5 (4.5x100=450). I don't think that your board supports 133 MHz FSB, so some PIIIs would be out, but there are other PIIIs in the same speed range available with 100 FSB.
Then the core voltage has to be supported. For PIII "Coppermines" this is 1,65V.
Now the socket/slot. You have slot1, but actual Celeron and PIII CPUs uses Socket 370. There are adapters, though, but not every adapter works with every CPU.
Anyway, tomorrow we'll see more, when you found out the model of the mainboard. Then we can be more precise of which CPUs will run, which not and where the limit is.

RJ

[Jenni]

All new Celerons are Socket 370, but it is possible to get up to a P3 1GHz in slot1 form with a 100 MHz FSB. It is hard to find the 1GHz 100MHz FSB models though. More likely, you will find P3 800's in a Slot1 100MHz form. So, IF your board supports coppermine P3's, you can go from a P2 450 to a P3 800 for around $150. Right now, as a matter of fact, Mwave ( www.mwave.com ) has the P3 1000 Slot1 for $220, and the P3 850 Slot1 for $165. Both are 100 MHz FSB. Of course, for that kind of money, you can buy a new socket 370 MB and a Celeron. I've got a P3 800 Slot1, and if I had it to do all over again, I'd get a socket 370 MB and a Celeron. My brother uses nothing but Celerons, and his benchmark numbers in every area are just as good as mine, or better in a lot of cases. (Of course, his are overclocked to 100 MHz, or very near that.) The newest Celerons already run at 100 MHz, so that isn't even an issue anymore.

[saintashley]

Thanks for all your help so far people, Well I removed the case and had a look
around for what motherboard it is but cannot find nothing which tells me what it is I am thinking it may be under the otherside of the board but I don't feel confident enough to check yet so my bro is gonna do it for me when he is home.
Is there anyother way in which I can find out the model of it?

~Thank You

Ashley

[mike breck]

Hi saintashley,

When the PC is starting and the first screen of text appears on the black screen
press the "Pause/Break" button on the keyboard (in between Scroll Lock & Num Lock). This will pause the boot up screen.

On the bottom left-hand corner of the screen you will see "Press DEL to enter setup". Under this there is a line of numbers and letters. Write down this line and post them here.

Hit "Enter" to allow the PC to start up normally.

[glc]

Is this a name brand computer or an unbranded clone? If it's name brand, we need the *computer* model number - if it's unbranded then we do need the motherboard model.

[Jenni]

You cah alson try a program called CTBIOS, download it at www.motherboards.org. It is in German, lol, but the relevant information is readable. It should be ablt to at least tell you who made the board. If you have a high speed connection, Sisoft's Sandra can tell you too, but it is a big download.

[RJ]

It is in German, lol, but the relevant information is readable.

If that's your only problem. . .

computer ID
computer type
mouse according to BIOS
mouse driver : microsoft compatible
version
mouse type : xxx on IRQ xx
bus
memory : xxx KB, available: xxx KB
extended memory
BIOS date
PCI-BIOS found
configuration-mech.
special-cycle-mech.
PCI-bus
32-bit-PCI BIOS
Award BIOS found
Award ID-String
OEM
URL
Chipset

INT-13h BIOS extension: yes, Version:x.x, routines xx..xx supported

(That's what's shown when you run the program)

RJ