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Need advice for processor upgrade

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peburton

New Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2005
Hello,
This is my first post here so thanks for taking the time to read it. I have searched for my answer and was unable to find it so I am hoping someone out there will have the answer.

I am running the following:

Duron 650
256meg Ram PC133
MSI K7T Turbo2 Version 5.0 (6330-250) 133/266 FSB
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K7T_Turbo_2&class=mb
ATI Radeon 9100 64meg PCI
80 Gig Western 7200 rpm
14 Gig IBM Deststar 5400rpm
Windows 2000 - pro

Ok here is the question.
I want to upgrade this thing all the way and get a few more years of life out of it. It works great as a data server and web surfing and legacy games. My children want to play some heavy duty stuff so I need to upgrade. The board will go to a Athlon XP 2600+ max. These processors are very hard to come by. I have tried to buy 4 of them on ebay and always get outbid in the end. I have read that the Mobil XP 2600+ is good and can work in a desktop and they are all over still and are great for overclocking. MSI says the board does not work with Mobil processors but I am not sure if that is because they dont work or it was not tested and never was tested so they say no. Should I keep trying to get a 2600+ 266FSb or can I go with a Mobil which are plenty in supply. The max I am going to get to is 2600+ so if anyone is familiar with mobil overclocking or desktop overclocking some pointers would be helpful.
 
Welcome to the forums!

The upgrades you are looking at will still find you on the low end of recommended specs for todays most demanding games. (And by low end I mean it may not run at all.) Your PCI video card and the amount of system RAM are the main problems.

It might help if you could tell us what games are being discussed and how much money you are willing to spend. I am sure there is an upgrade path for you somehow.
 
Well, if you want to play the most recent games, that system is just not gonna cut it.
Especially not that video card.
Basically you can get a XP-M but you won't see much increase in performance as the motherboard is going to be a real bottleneck.
What's the budget you have for this upgrade?
 
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=217

that cpu is probably going to be the best you can upgrade to, but even then your rig wont be able to play the more recent games like mentioned before.

Maybe check out pricewatch.com and check the motherboard/cpu combo deals and pick one that fits your budget.
 
Wow,

Thanks for the reply. A few questions please.
First, I was planning on getting a single stick to put in the third slot to bump up to 2 @ 128
1 @ 512 or 1 gig if the price is right.
So that takes care of the memory issue I think.

My Upgraded Bios has the following
Bios:
Under Frequency/Voltage Control:
CPU Vcore Select: Default & 1.300V-1.700V
Auto Detect DIMM/PCI CLK:Enabled/Disabled
Spread Spectrum Modulated:Enabled/Disabled
Clock By Slight Adjust: Default/ 100-132
CPU Clock Ratio:Default / X5.0 - X13.5
This ratio is the multiplier right?
Is this where all of my overclocking is done?

Not sure how the whole system works yet. But my max multiplier is 13.5 my max clock setting is 132 not sure where to adjust the bus. Can you advise a little with the above how they work.
Based on these numbers I am not sure how the MB can even run a 2600+ which is over 2 .1 GHZ.

I know the video card will be a bottle neck but when researching the card when I upgraded a while ago it was the best PCI card out there. For the short tern it would be fine but I might try to get a 9200 AGP 128 for it later.

I hate to admit it but I am a pack rat, I have a hard time throwing something that works away. They use the machine now as it sits for alot of their games. But I hear all the time res is at its lowest and it laggs a bit with games like UT2004, and it won't even play a game I bought my son for his BirthDay, Armed and Dangerous 1 Ghz or higher, 32 mag ram video. My thinking was that if I say bought a mobile / desktop 2200 - 2400 - overclocked it, that would move that machine to a model P4 style from a early model P3 style. A fairly good jump. If I jump the video card a little higher is this MB still going to be the bottleneck?

Damn I sound stupid... haha.
 
Look you can buy a new CPU and memory for that board. With more memory stuff will work smoother in windows, but games won't benefit much at all, because KT133A is a really old and really slow chipset. If I were you I'd either leave the rig as is (maybe add another 256MB of RAM) or just do a complete upgrade. The money you'll put in that system will simply not be worth it.
 
Ok,

Just so I understand getting a mobile 2400+ is a good idea getting more memory is also a good idea as well as a video upgrade but the MB is bottlenecked. So scrap the Motherboard and processor and get a mobile 2400+ and a new motherboard? Is that what you think I should do?

Thanks...
 
You are talking about spending almost $300 for the following

1x512 168 pin SDRAM $65
Athlon xp 2600+ $100
Radeon 9200 $120

Thats $285 to upgrade to a machine that is still low end because of your motherboard and the slower memory with an Athlon XP CPU.

You could be looking at something like this:

2x256 184 pin PC3200 PQI SDRAM $45 (2x512 patriot for $80)
Athlon 64 2800+ $120
MSI Socket 754 motherboard $70
Radeon X600 pro PCI-e $80 (Radeon X700 is $100 for 8 pipelines)

Total $315 for 64 bit computing and a PCI-e 16X video card.

That was a quick look through Newegg.com for parts in your price range. You might be able to do better by shopping around and looking for sales.

While the above suggestions may not have the same upgrade potential as a socket 939 system, it does feature less expensive parts and there is still a lot of room for adding more memory, a faster Athlon 64 processor and a better PCI-e video card down the road if you so choose.

My advice is not to throw good money at your aging system when you could get so much better for the same price.
 
fabulouscoops said:
You are talking about spending almost $300 for the following

1x512 168 pin SDRAM $65
Athlon xp 2600+ $100
Radeon 9200 $120

Thats $285 to upgrade to a machine that is still low end because of your motherboard and the slower memory with an Athlon XP CPU.

You could be looking at something like this:

2x256 184 pin PC3200 PQI SDRAM $45 (2x512 patriot for $80)
Athlon 64 2800+ $120
MSI Socket 754 motherboard $70
Radeon X600 pro PCI-e $80 (Radeon X700 is $100 for 8 pipelines)

Total $315 for 64 bit computing and a PCI-e 16X video card.

That was a quick look through Newegg.com for parts in your price range. You might be able to do better by shopping around and looking for sales.

While the above suggestions may not have the same upgrade potential as a socket 939 system, it does feature less expensive parts and there is still a lot of room for adding more memory, a faster Athlon 64 processor and a better PCI-e video card down the road if you so choose.

My advice is not to throw good money at your aging system when you could get so much better for the same price.
Click to expand...


I agree with fabulouscoops, you are better off buying the new products like fabulouscoops suggested but with a different approach.

AMD Opteron 144 939 $125
ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 $69
Radeon X600 pro PCI-e $80
A-DATA 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $36

$310 and this system will last you a bit, and should you need upgrading in 2 years time (x2 should be available in the $100 region also 7800GT should be $150) and you will still have a decent computer.

I don't think its good idea to upgrade to 754 since it will be phased out by 2006.
 
Last edited:
A new PSU will most likely be needed to, but I agree with everyone here. You would be throwing away your money trying to update a dinosaur.
 
rseven said:
A new PSU will most likely be needed to, but I agree with everyone here. You would be throwing away your money trying to update a dinosaur.
Click to expand...

You are correct.... I think cheapest for you would be the Fortron 350w for $26 @ newegg.
 
i 2nd HCOOO suggestion......that's the most versitile setup out right now since that board accepts both agp & pci-e, plus it has a slot for the future chips........


(fwiw, i have an asrock mobo in the mail from newegg & also the 144 from another supplier)
 
Also, careful there, peburton, they probably mean up to 2600+ Thoroughbred, not up to 2600+ Barton for compatibility.

The good mobiles are Bartons, they may not be compatible with the board, no Barton may be compatible with this board.


I once owned a mobo which would only run Palominos, not even T-Breds, let alone Bartons, so there's no way around this.

I would take a serious look at building an entirely new system, your kids will use a new computer, we can probably help you get a system that would not be that expensive, basicly post how much you're about to spend before spending it, so you can look at alternatives.
 
Thanks

Thank you everyone for your great insight and help in this matter. I will go ahead with your suggestions. I will keep this computer as a file server and just upgrade to a newer platform.

Can any of these platforms suggested be put into a small package like the Shuttle, or a mini mini style? Just curious with desk space being so valuable these days.
 
I'd suggest just building a new one. The cost of upgrades is about half what it costs to just build something lovely these days, and if you put in upgrades that allow you to run new games, you may make it impossible to run legacy ones. Keep this one as a legacy machine, don't fix what isn't broken, and build a new one.
 
Hc000 said:
I agree with fabulouscoops, you are better off buying the new products like fabulouscoops suggested but with a different approach.

AMD Opteron 144 939 $125
ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 $69
Radeon X600 pro PCI-e $80
A-DATA 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $36

$310 and this system will last you a bit, and should you need upgrading in 2 years time (x2 should be available in the $100 region also 7800GT should be $150) and you will still have a decent computer.

I don't think its good idea to upgrade to 754 since it will be phased out by 2006.
Click to expand...

Damn, that's basically exactly what i was going to suggest, plus the forton/sparkle 350w...you guys beat me to it. For a sizeable video upgrade you might wanna take a look at the newegg refurb section since x800pro's have been popping up for ~$150. Another motherboard you could take a look at is the jetway 939 since I have seen some damn nice results over at xs. That mobo with an opteron should get you over 2.8ghz pretty easily.

I would also say that getting a gig or ram is deffinately worth the extra $35.
 
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