Help needed on Compaq Presario CPU upgrades

[ianken]

Hi everyone. I have an old Compaq Presario sr1765an (I think the 'an' denotes ,Australian 240 volts model) with an AMD Athlon 64(V) 3400+ 2.2 GHz CPU on an MSI MS-7184 motherboard. I have added 4GB of RAM (only 3.25 GB usable) and a 1 TB SATA hard drive and installed Windows 7 Home
(32-bit).

Looking at the forum thread:-
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/670952-Help-me-upgrade-this-old-AMD-machine
it seems that the Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ Processor has the same requirements as my Athlon 64 3400+ Processor.

That is-:-
Athlon 64 3400+ Processor (2.2-GHz, 512K L2 cache, 2000-MHz FSB)
versus
Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ Processor (2.2-GHz, 2x512K L2 cache, 2000-MHz FSB)

Is this a simple chip swap upgrade and would I see any real improvement if I made the switch? Can anyone recommend a better simple solution?

Thanks folks.

 

[RGone]

What you really need to check and know is whether that model of Proprietary designed system had a faster cpu model offered at some point. Reason being it is quite possible that if the motherboard were using the MSI bios and not one from Compaq...the swap might be rather easy and painless, but it can be that the Compaq bios might well not recognize the cpu and thus might not fully boot.

Athlon 64 3400+ Processor << I remember that processor very very well. It was a processor released in theory for OEMs only and when they did not sell them all to OEM makers, AMD released them to the public and for certain whatever was OEM about them, that cpu would not boot on DFI mobos until a bios fix was released. So no telling how the bios in your Compaq is setup.

I would try and see if Compaq ever released that model of computer you have with a faster cpu. That is the only thing that might really tell the story unless (I doubt it) someone in here had ever done such a swap or someone in a Compaq forum could remember that far back and had done similar to what you wish to do.

RGone...

 

[ianken]

Some quick research has revealed the following Compaq Presario desktop PCs were sold in Australia at the same time (around 2006-08).
The models were:

SR1765AN - Athlon 64 (V) 3400+ 2.2 GHz; 1600 MT/s (mega transfers/second); Socket 939: MSI Motherboard MS-7184; Compaq mobo name: AmethystM-GL6E

SR1780AN - Athlon 64 (S) 4000+ 2.4 GHz; 2000 MT/s (mega transfers/second); Socket 939: MSI Motherboard MS-7184; Compaq mobo name: AmethystM-GL6E

SR1790AN - Athlon 64 X2 (T) 3800+ 2.0 GHz; 2000 MT/s (mega transfers/second); Socket 939: MSI Motherboard MS-7184; Compaq mob name: AmethystM-GL6E


Memory checks out as:

SR1765AN, SR1780AN and SR1790AN all using the same PC-3200 MB/sec; 184 pin, DDR SDRAM; Max 4GB (4 x 1GB sticks; may report less usable RAM).

Similar situation on all using the same ATI Radeon Xpress 200 video chipset.

Video Cards are:

SR1765AN - ATI Radeon x1300 Pro; 256 MB DDR memory; I/O Ports: S-Video, DVI, VGA

SR1780AN - GeForce 6600; 256 MB DDR memory; I/O Ports: VGA, Composite, S-Video

SR1790AN - ATI Radeon x1300 Pro; 256 MB DDR memory; I/O Ports: S-Video, DVI, VGA

As far as I can tell they all use the same PHOENIX Award BIOS ver 3.46 and HP/Compaq branded 230 volt 300W power supply.

It seems to me from this that I should be able to simply swap in a Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ Processor (2.2-GHz, 2x512K L2 cache, 2000-MHz FSB) and gain a little extra performance. From my investigation it seems the MSI MS-7184 motherboard should be able to cope easily. Of course I'll need to thoroughly clean the heat sink and any dust laying around, but am I wrong in thinking this should be simple?

 

[RGone]

but am I wrong in thinking this should be simple?

It is that simple if the bios recognizes the cpu. Back that long ago it often happened that a bios for AMD processors would see a strange and unknown cpu and boot reporting "cpu unknown" and seem to work fine. I certainly do not know what the outcome of the cpu swap you suggest will be and not sure anyone in these forums that will reply this thread knows either.

This no assurance of outcome is a reason I also suggested checking with the Compaq forum to see if anyone remembered such a swap. Now users still in a Compaq forum that made such cpu swap; giving a yes it works would be the best assurance of success. Otherwise you are in the trial and error mode. Some of those older cpus are now quite pricey though for testing. If; and I would not be trying to upgrade such an old proprietary platform, but if you must I see no choice but to try it and see.

I have only one other thought and that is way back then proprietary mobos for the OEMs were not so different from the board makers own boards under their own naming and some crossflashing of bioses converted the OEM type board to the standard board bought by regular DIY'ers. If you cannot get confirmation of working from somewhere like the Compaq forum and you go ahead with the cpu swap and for some reason it failed to work...you might try flashing that MSI built for Compaq board with a standard MSI bios. That as a last resort if MSI listed that board as supporting the X2 4200+.

RGone...

 

[ShrimpBrime]

It'll work fine.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00378480

Socket: 939
Supports AMD Athlon 64 X2 (up to 4800+) and Sempron (up to 3200+) processors

 

[RGone]

It'll work fine.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00378480

That is a pretty good find there S_B, since HP and Compaq are now seeming one and the same. Great work.

RGone...