p3 upgrade

[filadog]

I have a katmai 500mhz p3 cpu on a 440bx motherboard with 100mhz clock speed.  I am interested in upgrading to a p3850mhz which i understand is the fastest processor you can use with the 100 mhz clockspeed.  What is involved in changing out processors, is it something that I could do, or something that I need to have a professional do. I have been inside the computer, changing out cards, adding drives and such, but that is the extent of my "working on computers".  Let me hear your thoughts.


Filadawg

[bloom25]

You may have a problem Filadog.  Even though the 850 is a slot 1 P3, it is a TOTALLY different processor core known as Coppermine.  The two (Katami and Coppermine) require totally different voltages.  If you put a Coppermine in a board that doesn't support it, it will DIE INSTANTLY!

Don't give up hope yet though.    All is not lost.  *Some* boards with a bios upgrade are able to accept the Coppermines.  We need to know what brand and model of board you have to tell you though.  

Let us know and hope for the best.

If it ends up that it will not support Coppermines, the best you can use is a 600 Mhz Katami, and frankly you would not be able to tell the difference between the 500 & 600.  (Katimi's are the ones with 512kb of external cache ram.  Coppermines have 256kb of on-die cache.)



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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[TheWobble]

if the board is compatable with bot..and is jumperless, just plug it and and you should be set, if the board requires jumper stiings, just look them up in the book that came with the MOBO, or better yet on the net...

Its really much more simple than you think..its very easy.

[whels1]

i used to have a BH6 before 1.1 and Abit webpage said it didnt support coppermines but i read thier's and other message boards
and saw people running coppermines no prob. so i bought me a p3 600E coppermine and ran it for over a year no probs @ 800 mhz no problem. just make sure u have the latest bios for the MB before u stick 1 in. also
to run 133 mhz u need good quality PC100
or a stick of PC133 mem, and mem is CHEAP right now. 2 years ago when i bought a 128 meg PC133 ram it was $250 for it, i just upgraded to 256 meg PC133 cas2 stick for
$108 2 day delievered  

whels

 

Originally posted by bloom25:
You may have a problem Filadog.  Even though the 850 is a slot 1 P3, it is a TOTALLY different processor core known as Coppermine.  The two (Katami and Coppermine) require totally different voltages.  If you put a Coppermine in a board that doesn't support it, it will DIE INSTANTLY!

Don't give up hope yet though.    All is not lost.  *Some* boards with a bios upgrade are able to accept the Coppermines.  We need to know what brand and model of board you have to tell you though.  

Let us know and hope for the best.

If it ends up that it will not support Coppermines, the best you can use is a 600 Mhz Katami, and frankly you would not be able to tell the difference between the 500 & 600.  (Katimi's are the ones with 512kb of external cache ram.  Coppermines have 256kb of on-die cache.)

[bloom25]

Ok, here's the details I got via e-mail.  Filadog has a Dell P3 system based off a genuine Intel Se440Bx-2 board.  (He said bx-3, but as far as I know, the bx3 does not exist.)  I'm very familiar with that board, I own a system with a 450 P3 based on it.    Unfortunately I also know that only certain later production boards can support the Coppermine.  (Mine won't.   )

His serial number (the part that is important at least) is AA722396106.

Look here: http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/se440bx2/procsupp.htm#Note

Unfortunately it appears the board isn't new enough to support the CuMines.  At this point I would probably advise making the most of the system as is.  IMO the system is not old enough to consider replacing.  There is likely to be something that can be done to provide decent fps in AH without much work.

(My se440Bx2 system with a p3 450 and diamond viper v770 ultra is still plenty fast for AH at 1024x768 32 bit.  Admitedly it isn't as fast as my Athlon rig, but the game is still perfectly smooth.)

Wobbel, that may be true for some MBs, but trust me, if you try it on a SE440bx2 you won't kill the processor, but it won't work.  I guarantee it.  No amount of bios flashing will fix that.

Sorry Filadog.  


 

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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[MrSiD]

All filadog has to do now is to buy a new and better motherboard.

It's a perfect chance to upgrade to a KT133A motherboard and AMD t-bird around 1Ghz.
Won't cost you much more than changing Intel CPU and certainly cheaper than replacing your system with a new Intel based one.

Trash that old mobo of yours, it's antique.

[filadog]

So what is involved in upgrading to the kt133 motherboard and the thunderbird processor?  What other parts would I need to make the thing work?  This is a system i bought from Dell that is STILL under warranty.  It sucks that im already making changes to it.

Fila

[MrSiD]

Well as long as your Dell is built on ATX form factor, you can fit the new mobo inside the old case.

Your power supply should be at least 250W for AMD use.

Also you should note that some hercules/guillemot cards have incompatability issues with Abit KT133A boards. Abit is a very nice mobo, you can do a lot of stuff straight from bios (especially if you want to overclock) so I'd just find a brand that works with it.

Your other peripherals should work just fine in the new motherboard, you just need to plug them to the new board.

If you decide to build an AMD system yourself, at least study carefully the details of processor cooling. AMD cpu's have no built in overheating protection so installing a reliable and efficient cooler is very important. That can be tricky though since AMD cpu core is built very fragile and it can be destroyed easily with misuse.

Be very careful when installing the fan/heatsink combo..

If you want to avoid voiding your warranty, don't make any changes to the setup yourself..

However if you think the old POS is not worth the warranty anymore   ask a friend who knows to setup systems to help. Or then read up from www.tomshardware.com  for example. You can find a lot of useful tips there.

[bloom25]

Although I totally recommend AMD over *ANY* Intel processor anymore, I don't think a 500 P3 is obsolete yet.  I'd probably first try defraging the harddrive, setting typical role to network server, and making sure Ultra DMa mode is turned on IF you have an Ultra DMA/Ultra Ata Hard drive.  (Look in my optimal performance settings for the procedures for these two.)  Network server might pick you up a couple FPS, but if DMA mode isn't turned on you will gain maybe 5 - 10 fps possibly.

As far as the upgrade, all you'd need is a Motherboard, CPU, heatsink and fan for Cpu, and maybe some PC133 ram if you want top performance.  You also *May* need a modem and soundcard if either are build into the MB and/or an ISA type.  I'd probably also consider a video card if yours is not a TNT2 or better.  (I'd prefer at least GeForce. )  You WOULD have to reinstall windows from scratch, which means you will need a windows 98SE CD.  This does mean that I'd find a way to backup anything you want to carry over to the new system.  You are quite literally getting a new computer, and just reusing your CD, floppy, harddrive, monitor, case, keyboard, mouse, power supply, maybe the ram, modem, sound, and video cards.

MBs I'd recommend highly are the asus a7v133 and abit kt7a.  I personally prefer the asus, but the abit is excellent as well.  As for CPUs, if you get the kt133a chipset boards, you might as well get the 133 Mhz fsb version of the 1 gig athlon tbird.

Once again though, I'd say it is too soon for an upgrade this severe.  A p3 500 *should* be good enough for another 6 months or more.  I just thought I'd tell you what's involved just so you'd know.  I've done this kind of upgrade for my last three computers.  What is also kind of neat about doing it this way is that for about another $200 you can buy another case and all the stuff you reused and end up with 2 systems by rebuilding a system using your old 500 P3.  (This makes a great kids computer, or you could sell this computer and get over half your upgrade cost back potentially.   )



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bloom25
-MAW-
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS