Looking to change my CPU.

[Sophist]

OK I know This is all pretty old gear but my car broke down recently and my option to build a new rig is gone and I'm not happy about it. But Anyways.

I Originally had a P4 CPU in my Mobo and I fried it by accident.(dont ask) now When I had it repaired The guy tossed a Celeron in it and now I notice lagg where there was none before. I noticed my CPU is maxed out any time I have a Game running and have read that for 3D gaming 264 catch is better or whatnot.

So What I was looking into was just at the very least upgrading my old CPU again to a P$ and hope that I can get more then 3 FPS in games like Eve. When I open and close the game I notice that it jumps from 70 FPS to 3 when alt tabbing in and out. I assume its due to my CPU maxing out the second I open the game to Desktop.

All that being said What I am Wondering and semi Hoping is if I could upgrade my CPU and get a little better FPS. Now mind you I know Its not going to skyrocket but if I could at least get a steady 10-20 FPS by upgrading to me its worth it.(for Now)

Info on specs and thoughts are below.

--------[ CPU ]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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CPU Properties:
CPU Type Intel Celeron, 2000 MHz (20 x 100)
CPU Alias Northwood-128
CPU Stepping C1
Instruction Set x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2
Original Clock 2000 MHz
Min / Max CPU Multiplier 20x / 20x
Engineering Sample No
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache 8 KB
L2 Cache 128 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

CPU Physical Info:
Package Type 478 Pin uPGA
Package Size 3.50 cm x 3.50 cm
Transistors 55 million
Process Technology 6M, 0.13 um, CMOS, Cu, Low-K
Die Size 131 mm2
Core Voltage 1.525 V
I/O Voltage 1.525 V
Typical Power 52.8 - 68.4 W (depending on clock speed)
Maximum Power 67 - 87 W (depending on clock speed)

CPU Manufacturer:
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/browse/processor.htm

CPU Utilization:
CPU #1 0 %

---

---

--------[ Motherboard ]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 63-0100-000001-00101111-082803-iSPGDL_G$RL865006_BIOS DATE: 08/28/03 18:50:07 VER: 08.00.09
Motherboard Name Intel Rock Lake D865PERL

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 100 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 400 MHz
Bandwidth 3200 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type DDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 267 MHz
Bandwidth 2133 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel Hub Interface
Bus Width 8-bit
Real Clock 67 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 267 MHz
Bandwidth 267 MB/s

Motherboard Physical Info:
CPU Sockets/Slots 1
Expansion Slots 5 PCI, 1 AGP
RAM Slots 4 DIMM
Form Factor ATX
Motherboard Size 240 mm x 300 mm
Motherboard Chipset i865PE

Motherboard Manufacturer:
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/index.htm
BIOS Download http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/genbios.htm

---

That is what I currentlly have and was hoping maybe to pick something up under 100 bucks. I found these following CPU's and wos wondering if I would be ok to use them in this Mobo. I think I am ok But I dont want to buy and find that I didnt notice something. Mind you I'm new to all this and am trying to get it all right.

My First Thought:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116027
But i dont think i can go with the 800FSB but thats why Im here.

Now this is the page of CPU's I know are good on the socket side so if that above is a NONO could you point me in the right direction between these other CPU's.(Or any others)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ame=Socket+478

[Kov-Ice]

It's dependent on your mobo. HERE's the supported processor list for that board.

[liambl]

What graphics card do you have? Upgrading the graphics card will improve gaming much more than a CPU could. But you can go upto a 3.4GHz Pentium 4EE, but if you do, just make sure you get new RAM. You need DDR 400 to fully utilise the P4EE's 800MHz FSB.

[Sophist]

I know I need to upgrade my GPU as well that will be next week and I actually have a question on that too.

I have a radeon 9200se 128 mb the thing is I did see a noticable decrese in performance when I replaced the fried P4. And I notice My CPU is under full load no matter what I seem to do other then just internet browsing thats why I replaced the CPU. (GOt it this weekend should be UPSed by next friday) cant wait. Next Week I will be getting a new GPU.

So that brings me to me next question I will be getting an AGP to make use of the same slot so what I have noticed is that there are actually a lot of AGP still around.
Now what I am wondering is can I use a GPU with DDR2 memory with old DDR ram or no?

I'm not sure if that actually matters between the two. Other then that If I cant use DDR2 GPU i will just try to find an old DDR GPU with at least 256mb seeing as I only have 128 on my current one it will be an improvment.

That actually brings up another question if I CAN use DDR2 GPU is can I go up to 512mb or would there be some conflict I don't see?

I just want to mention again I know I was Bottlenecking at my CPU so thats why I started with the CPU.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Sophist I know I need to upgrade my GPU as well that will be next week and I actually have a question on that too. I have a radeon 9200se 128 mb the thing is I did see a noticable decrese in performance when I replaced the fried P4. And I notice My CPU is under full load no matter what I seem to do other then just internet browsing thats why I replaced the CPU. (GOt it this weekend should be UPSed by next friday) cant wait. Next Week I will be getting a new GPU. So that brings me to me next question I will be getting an AGP to make use of the same slot so what I have noticed is that there are actually a lot of AGP still around. Now what I am wondering is can I use a GPU with DDR2 memory with old DDR ram or no? I'm not sure if that actually matters between the two. Other then that If I cant use DDR2 GPU i will just try to find an old DDR GPU with at least 256mb seeing as I only have 128 on my current one it will be an improvment. That actually brings up another question if I CAN use DDR2 GPU is can I go up to 512mb or would there be some conflict I don't see? I just want to mention again I know I was Bottlenecking at my CPU so thats why I started with the CPU.

Regarding the CPU, the Prescott P4 will be faster than the Northwood but it consumes more power and runs a decent amount hotter; either of these processors will be a huge improvement over the Celeron you have.

Basically any 4x/8x AGP video card will work with your system regardless of what ram it uses and how much it has. Some of the video cards that are fast and relatively inexpensive include
the 6800XT and X1650Pro.

If you are interested in a full upgrade, for under $300 you can get a fast dual core athlon, a good motherboard, 2GB of gaming DDR2 Ram, a fast mid-range video card, and a new power supply.

[Sophist]

Welp I upgraded my CPU to a P4 prescott 3.0 this week and man does it fly compaired to my celeron indeed!!

But I have run into a problem I boots and runs fine till I get a random shutoff at no particular timeframe and not consistent at all. I really hope its not the cpu cause man im loving this speed. Now i have read around and have gathered a general concensus that this is a power issue. I have a 300W box model I think had a guy build this for me not sure where it came from really.

Under that assumption I went and bought a PSU and GPU along with a Rosewill CPU heatsink/fan.

I'm running at about 61c under a minor load. (1 game and a IE window or two) And from what I saw at idle its like 49-50c if its not to hot outside. Im hoping ill loose some of that will the new cooler but is this high heat causing my shutdowns. I read that this cpu runs hot but from what I can find it seems to be where it runs for everyone else with stock cooling hence the rosewill cooler purchase. This should drop my temps as I noticed the stock cooler is so damn bulky I coulden't see it cooling my wheat toast in the morning.

1. I get one of three things either a pure freez where everything is clean on screne just no response.

2. I get a freez with pixelation on my screne like one of myscreen pixel colors are just not active.

3. Monitors go black like they are going into hibernate mode but all that is shut off in windows.
when this happens the pc does not shut down or stop at all seems like everything is normal.Also I know its not a hibernate thing cause it can happen in the middle of me playing a game or doing some web browsing.

I thought it was the 2nd moniitor I have but it's not cause I disconnected it. But I know the prescott uses more Power and so forth so could this be the result of PSU issues.

TBH I just typed all this and have already purchased both a PSU/GPU so I guess it really don't matter till I try em now.

But any other solutions would be appreciated Just in case the purchaes does not fix the problem. I did a power check the other day and found that I am using somewhere near 280W and as my PSU is a 300W I thought this could very well be the solution. Also keep in mind I figured it would be best to use this box as a test subject for my learning all this so thats why I went and bought gear for this one insted of a new build. From this experience I will go forward to build a new rig soon I hope. At least the gear I'm buying will still last a while after I swwitch out my mobo/ram/cpu. But till then this P4 is plenty for what I need if I can get the system to run stable.

Oh and my FPS did not go up but I notice a huge improvment in performance in game still its funny. Im also thinking maybe the CPU is taxing my GPU or vis versa and that is something im looking into now i read something about "the cpu is overcompensating for GPU" in some thread somewhere but cant remember where it was to look again.

[Masaki 7-11]

I'd wait until all the new parts are installed first and see if there are any problems at that point. What kind of GPU and PSU did you end up buying?

[Sophist]

I Ended up getting.

Here is the PSU

Here is the GPU

Here is the CPU cooler

That should give me a good boost to keep this unit around the game scene for a while longer. I still want to build a new killer rig but I was thinking of waiting seeing as I can get this running the current slew of games pretty good.

In the future I hope to build a new rig and use this one to learn to OC and maybe even start a water cooled system. From what I can tell this board dosent allow me to OC so I may even need to buy it a new/old socket 478 board.Get this I got a plan to make my own cooling block too. I have a friend that works in a machine shop and another guy he works with makes hypercoolling materials. From what he tells me the plates they have right now cool something like 45% better then copper. Not to mention hes a machinist so we are going to try and rig something crazy with it.

[Masaki 7-11]

Rosewill are among the worst power supplies, so you'll want to get another one as soon as possible if you don't want to risk the power supply dieing on you and possibly frying other parts. The other parts should be fine, although the rosewill CPU cooler uses an old design, so it's not as efficient as newer coolers. Water cooling is very expensive an is mostly used on really high end computers which are overclocked. If you plan on overclocking, socket 775 is your best bet since it has a bunch of cool running processors that are inexpensive and overclock very well. The processor I have in my rig was able to be overclocked 100% using the stock cpu cooler. If you want to get a watercooling setup for your current computer and are able to make or buy the setup for a low price, go for it, just keep in mind that it will take some time to get it installed and it may damage your computer if it leaks.

[Sophist]

Not good to here such a sudden and so negative response to this PSU. I really have no choice now as it has been sent already. The thing is I read some good reviews on it and think I'm going to try it anyways if it fries anything I'll just be forced into building again. IMO Everything gets a bad review at some point from someone. Nothing is fail safe and you never know what happens.

Wish me luck!

Also I will say that with my current set up I don't think I will be stressing it to hard if that matters.

[Sophist]

Yeh I've come to the conclussion that my shutoff problem is indeed the PSU. I have been browsing for a while now with no fan on the cpu hanging steady at 48-50 while browsing here and such. Mind you I have my case open with an external fan to try and cool the tower cause I dont have the greatest air flow the tower and now notice I was really only getting it down 2-3c by using it. (soon to chance for more LED)got room for 2 80mm and one 120mm on the case.(I think those are the right sizes) so I will be buying some from Staples to get some air flow into the case.

So by that I figure its not the heat locking the PC its the power running out and it locks up.

All the Fans I'm getting are more to get the case temp down and Improve airflow for cooling the CPU. I'm hoping the temp will come to something in the range of 35c idle and 50c or so under stress load. I have yet to be able to max this CPU out to see what it can do due to the lock up's. And it seems to be around the same % load when it does regardless of temp.(Another clue to me of not enough power.)

Does any of what I just said make sense?

As for the Rosewill Cooler using an Older desing trust me even as a novice "Geek" I can still see that it is prolly a 120% improvment over my current stock cooler. To be honest I cant see that this pieace of crap ever cooled anything in the first place there is so much hardware on the thing ther is no room for air. But then again it was cooling an older P4 in the distant past. Was a P4 2.0 Thats the one I fried then got the Celeron as a quick replacement.
But then got this so in essence this cooler was prolly never even rated to this CPU in the first place.I think thats how it goes.

Oh and in my problems and description the only other thing I think it could be is my GPU ans thats covered as well already.

Oh and sry but I know its old and I'm a newb BUT GOD I love my new P4 when its powered.

[Sophist]

Welp it has been about 1-1 1/2 hours since I last booted up my pc and before I did so...

Light dawned on marble head!!

For anyone new to this whole thing and your trying to be sure it is your PSU giving you trouble and you have EXTRA stuff in your PC...

UNHOOK a few extra things you do not need.

I unhooked my Floppy yeh I know it wont be going back in.And my Extra HDD and CD-ROM drive. I don't know for sure how many Watts that actually drops my usage but I know I am curentlly typing this with both EvE and GW running. CPU temp is about 65-66c same as when it was shutting down before but before I could only get 1 game going if I tryed getting another going it locked.

So by doing so I figure I saved something at least in the range of 25-40 watts giving me what I need to run the system at a good clip.

Glad I bought a PSU we will se if I'm happy I bought THAT PSU.

[Sophist]

Well I went to the store yesterday and left my PC on with a game running and a couple browsers and got another lock up. yeh I know I thought I had it too. Now the only other thing I can think it is would be heat.

I got my new Fan and cooler today and the temp droped in the range of 8-9c and that is good but I will still be getting extra circulation fans for the tower to move some air around

[Sophist]

And for the time being nothing is cooking in the Rosewill PSU yet looks kick ass though man the finish on this thing is insane. Looks sweet lets just hope it last.

Also installed the Evga 256mb agp card and WooHoo!! +40FPS sitting around 60FPS in Eve With premium client. (graphics upgrade to client for those who don't know eve.) Also got the same in GW.

I really apreciate the help and imput from you guys and I think I'll be powning some face a lot more in the future now that I can see what the hell is going on.