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Iwill KK266-R and 2100+ Upgrade ??s

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mwhitwor

Registered
Joined
Jan 15, 2003
Location
Dallas, TX
To all -

I hope this isn't especially ignorant, but even though I've been building PCs for years I admit all of the changes in memory, chipsets, sockets, slots, etc. in the last year make me fearful I'll miss something. Anyway, I'm cash strapped right now, but I need to upgrade my system. I currently have an Iwill KK266-R running a hacked performance BIOS, a 1GHz AXIA Athlon Socket A T-Bird @ 1400, 512MB of PC100/133 SDRAM, a Hercules 4500 64MB Prophet, and a Diamond MX 300 sound card. My on-board drives, all on different IDE connections, are a 60GB Deskstar, a 40GB Deskstar, a DVD+RW, and a CD-RW.

Of course I'd like to have new everything, but since I can't, I anticipate after this upgrade I would next focus on 64-bit CPU and serial ATA drives, so I am trying to boost my current performance and stretch out the time to the next one. So to minimize cost, I was thinking - get a CPU with a lot of upward mobility and a new video card (AGP will be here a while) and go with that. So, the video card would be a Radeon 9500 software modded to a 9700, and here is the scary part, the CPU is a 2100+ TBredB?

Socket A is Socket A, right? I believe that means it would fit, I have a pure-copper heatsink, and if I recall correctly, my BIOS will allow for a 166FSB with a 15x multiplier. If that works, I can survive until I can get better memory, a better motherboard and HDs, and I won't have to buy $100 bucks worth of IDE-serial ATA adapters. I really like having the IDE RAID connectors as individual channels, as even on this "old" box I can burn a DVD, run a P2P app, listen to a CD, and play a mid-range game simultanously. Anyway, thoughts on whether or not this would work are appreciated.
 
So I gather you just want to upgrade CPU and Video card? It's kind of hard to follow your post.

If your ram can handle high FSB's, then I would get a 1700+ tbred (more than likely they'll be b's, find them at newegg.com) and overclock it like mad. That will give you a nice little performance boost.

The big jump will be when you move to DDR Ram.

Welcome to Overclockers.com!
 
Sorry, Eli! Yeah, I ramble ;)

In short, yep, it seems like a CPU+video card upgrade seems to be the best bang-for the buck jump for me at this point while allowing me to migrate to other "new" technologies (eg serial ATA RAID, 64-bit mobo) less painfully later.

I'd only chosen the 2100+ over the 1700+ because the early indicators are that this was a great OC chip, but my main concern is that I'd buy it only to find I can't use it due to my mobo for some reason, which I don't think is the case.
 
Socket A is Socket A, right?

Only from a pin perspective. Doesn't mean that the microcode or voltage requirements are compatible. ie Tbreds are not compatible with the KK266R, A's or B's. Sorry but time to invest in a new mb.
 
New board means new ram too. Price is justing going up from there. If I were you, I would stick it out a bit longer perhaps, or just upgrade video card now. 1.4 isn't bad and a video card would give you a much needed boost for gaming.
 
New board means new ram too. Price is justing going up from there. If I were you, I would stick it out a bit longer perhaps, or just upgrade video card now. 1.4 isn't bad and a video card would give you a much needed boost for gaming.

Sensible advise.
 
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