Upgrade Advice?

[olorinus]

Hey guys.

Well, I've had my PC for nigh on 5 years now, and have pretty much done all the 'little' upgrades I can (New CPU, new graphics card, more RAM)... but my computer still just isn't fast enough for me. Now the dilemma is, I've put quite a bit of money into this machine already, so I don't want to start over completely. I figure, I already have a case, RAM, a dvd rom drive, a video card, hard drives... But it's definitely time for an overhaul.

I think what I really need to do is just get a new mother board and processor combo.

The problem is, I have no idea what motherboard will fit into my case (and I don't really want to buy a new one, as decent ones seem to be rediculously expensive). I also don't know what motherboard will be compatible with the RAM that I have.

My current system is a Compaq Presario 6000.
Processor is an AMD Sempron 2800+
768 MB of DDR SDRAM.
Motherboard is an AM35 Socket A compatible.
Graphics card is an AGP slot Geforce FX 5900SE

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Oh.. and I'd like to keep the price range under $300.

Thanks for taking the time to read this guys.
-Amanda

[The Wizard]

The reason the computer isn't fast enough is the 2800+ Sempron chip .... this is a slug. ........ I take it you upgraded to this, without checking
The quickest/cheapest way of speeding up this rig, would be to swap the Sempron for an Athlon XP 2800+ (soocket A). You may find they are quite hard to find, but if you can track one down, it will make the world of difference for very little cost.

[G_Dem]

I have one. Is it of the 754 pin variety? ive just upgraded to a 3400+ from a 2800+ so if its compatible let me know.

**edit**

Just realised u r prob from the US so might be a bit difficult to send. But im sure you could find a cheap 2800+ athlon 64 on ebay or something. They are much better than the semprons as they have double the L2 Cache.

[The Wizard]

Unfortunately his mobo will only take a Socket A chip, so the 754 wont work.

Nice offer though, maybe someone else has a Socket A Athlon XP chip.

[The Wizard]

Justa thought .... did you keep the original Athlon XP 2100+ CPU ?

If you did, try putting this back in, as this may give better performance than the Sempron 2800+.

The Sempron chip is a crippled Athlon XP chip ... it has only half the cache, so the speed is inferior to the XP in every way.

Unfortunately, when you upgraded the CPU, in real terms you actually downgraded

If you look out for an Athlon xp 2800+, the one to look for is the Barton Core model, this has a 512mb cache.

This would fit the bill : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...MP=OTC-B1zrat3

[olorinus]

Thanks for the offer G_Dem, I really appreciate it, and I hope you can find someone else who can make use of that!

The Wizard:
Actually, the original CPU the computer came with was an Athlon XP 1800+.

Unfortunately, my computer doesn't even recognize the new Sempron 2800+ as the 2.0 GHz processor it is, it only runs at 1.6GHz. (The 1800+ was a 1.4GHz).

But that's a whole other ball of wax, and I guess there's not really a way to fix it apart from getting a new mobo, and that processor probably isn't worth rebuilding my computer around.

The whole ordeal with my Sempron not being compatable has made me a bit wary of upgrading my processor again with this motherboard. But anyway... I'll take a look around for an Athlon XP 2800+, see what comes up.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply guys, much appreciated.

PS... I don't know if this makes a difference but the only two jumper settings for my processor's FSB settins on my Motherboard are 100MHz and 133 MHz.... I was told this is why my Sempron processor is underclocked? So I'm just worried that it would happen with an XP 2800+ if I ended up getting one of those.

[khanibal]

Hi amanda, just thought I would point this out..

Newegg has a combo special going on now:

http://www.newegg.com/product/Produc...82E16856110032

Asus case/motherboard/athlon 64 (skt 754) 3000+ for about $250 shipped. The board has both SATA and IDE connections so a future HD upgrade is available. It has an AGP slot as well so you can use your current video card.


Just note it only has 2 ram slots.


There is also a socket 939 version of this case and a 939 motherboard/cpu combo located here:

http://www.newegg.com/product/Produc...82E16856110043

The socket 939 is roughly 17 dollars more when paired with the amd 64 3000+ 939. IMO, best option is the skt 939 combo, BUT you would need to invest in a new pci-express video card.


Hope this helps!

[olorinus]

Awesome, thanks khanibal! My only concern would be: Is my RAM compatible? My RAM is probably 184 pin, right? I can't remember at all. :x

Anyway, thanks again mucho much! I might just get that! It seems like what I'm looking for!

[Rich M]

Stop right there, you can't upgrade a motherboard for a Compaq case...that is if you want it to power up. They have proprietary motherbiard plugs and you will never get a board to utiize that.
Spend the $ and get a new case. You can use the ram, hard drives etc...but you will also have to buy XP cd because you won't be able to install with Compaq Restore disk, and the new hardware won't work with what is already installed.

[olorinus]

Ah, thanks Rich! Well, I guess that settles it, I'll just have to buy a new barebones with a case, then.

Thanks a lot for your advice guys! You probably saved me some cash!