[hackwho2000]

My PC currently has a 1.1 ghz Cu celly, 512 mb sdram(pc 133), a proprietary 48x cdrw, and a PCI graphics card. Is it worth the 50 bucks to upgrade the processor to a 1.4 ghz tuel. celly?

I don't have enough spare cash right now to build a new system, so I am trying to get all the satisfaction I can out of this system (it needs to last another year or year and a half). If I didn't have to purchase a new copy of xp to upgrade the motherboard and CPU I would, but I can't see spending the $ on a new copy of XP when I already have this copy(it's one of those stupid restore cd jobbers the PC company gives you with your computer).

Anyways tell me what if it is worth it or not. If not what can I do for say 200 or 250 bucks?

[batboy]

The trouble is, unless your mobo supports Tualatins, you'll need to also buy an adapter. Personally, I'd leave the system the way it is and start saving up cash for a P-4 upgrade. In the meantime, if you're a gamer, you might consider buying a decent AGP vid card that you can migrate to the new system. A decent (but budget minded) overclockable i845PE mobo, Northwood, and 512 MB of RAM is going to cost $300 to $350 (plus more if you need to get a P-4 compliant power supply). You might save a few bucks and get PC2700 value RAM and the 2 gig Celeron which will easily overclock to 2.66 gig. This might get you into the $250 to $300 range.

[hackwho2000]

The motherboard does support tualatins, I just wasn't sure if I'd see much of a difference. I'd have an AGP card right now if I had a AGP slot, but unfortunatly I don't. I so wish I had not decided to be lazy when I purchased this computer and just built my own, but at least it was cheap.

Batboy I will certainly take your advice and begin moving toward a P4 system or a 2 gb celeron. What brand is the i845pe motherboard, and is it overclockable through the bios?

[JaY_III]

Originally posted by hackwho2000
Batboy I will certainly take your advice and begin moving toward a P4 system or a 2 gb celeron. What brand is the i845pe motherboard, and is it overclockable through the bios?

Here is a good i845pe board that i have used
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/be7/
thats the base model, you can alos get raid and all the otehr goodies if you think you might use them....

Abits newest i845pe board
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/bh7/
havent used it, but it might be something to check out

and yes, the boards are BIOS overclockable, almost all are now...

Also, i would try to save a little more and get a P4 over the celeron... a 1.6A or 1.8A will outpreform a 2GHz Celeron. So try to look for one of the Pentiums. (1.6A might be hard to find)

[batboy]

Looks like Jay answered the question pretty well. The i845PE is the chipset used in motherboards, sorry for the confusion. I'd recommend the Abit BE7, it's a great mobo for about $100. The Asus P4PE is pretty good too. Both of these I mentioned are overclocking friendly, have lots of great features, and have all the settings done within the BIOS.

Since your current system does support the Tualatin, I guess that's your call. But, without an AGP slot and with SDRAM, I'm not sure it's worth upgrading the CPU, unless you can sell your old CPU for a decent price to compensate.