New processor feasible?

Hi,

I'd like to get a new processor for my pc but because it's 4 yrs old, I'm not sure if my mobo can handle it. I'm also not sure if the processor is built into my mobo so that replacing it wouldn't work. Here is some info about my pc (sorry if it's too much):

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
Board: ECS K7S5A
Bus Clock: 66 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 07.00T 04/02/01
950 megahertz AMD Duron
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
64 kilobyte secondary memory cache
768 Megabytes Installed Memory
All required security hotfixes (using the 03/14/2006 Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary) have been installed.
.Net Framework 1.1
1271.41 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
308.88 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

TSSTcorp CDW/DVD TS-H492A [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

IOMEGA ZIP 100 [Hard drive] -- drive 2
Maxtor 6E040L0 [Hard drive] (41.11 GB) -- drive 0, s/n E154X6FE, rev NAR61590, SMART Status: Healthy
Maxtor OneTouch II IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device [Hard drive] (300.08 GB) - drive 4
Maxtor OneTouch II IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device [Hard drive] (300.08 GB) - drive 6
Maxtor OneTouch II IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device [Hard drive] (300.08 GB) - drive 3
ST325082 4A USB Device [Hard drive] (250.06 GB) - drive 5
WDC WD800JB-00ETA0 [Hard drive] (80.03 GB) - drive 1, s/n WD-WCAHL6173891, rev 77.07W77, SMART Status: Healthy

Denise

 

for the love of all that is holy, you sure do have a lot of storage space. what you got, like 4 or 5 hard drives? anyways, download Everest Home (from here) and attatch a log (dont copy/paste it). How much do you want so spend, and what are you going to do with it? Being 4 years old it may be in your best interest to upgrade the mobo as well as the CPU.

 

lol, I have a lot data stored on my drives and I back up data on other drives . . . much faster and easier than backing up on CDs. I just bought 2 more 300G's. My pc's a work-horse, especially considering its age, but it was built rock solid at the time. But I've changed the way it's used, from home to small home office so it needs to be updated.

I don't want to spend much for a processor and I don't want to buy another mobo because I'll be buying a new pc in about a year. I'm just doing some patching for now and some of the programs I use need a faster processor. On the other hand, I don't want to overload the mobo.

I did a search for Everest Home here at MajorGeeks and it didn't turn up any results for a download. Would you paste the link here please?

Denise

 

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

 

Ok Viper . . . it took me a while, but here's the Everest Report. It's very thorough. The test was for hardware only. I couldn't attach the report as a .log because it was too large so I copied and pasted it into a word pad doc. If you need it in a different format and if you need one of the other tests performed, just let me know.

Denise

 

hey, i used to have an old duron.....love it Ok, its a Socket A mobo which kinda limits your options but heres what i came up with:

first, just to make sure, is this what it looks like? http://www.firingsquad.com/media/article_image.asp?fs_article_id=897&pic_id=3

if so then here is whats compatible with it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=

 

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/ecs/k7s5aguide/

You can upgrade to anything up to an Athlon XP 2600.

 

Thanks Viper and Just Playin,

I checked out the picture you provided, Viper, and it's exactly the same.

I also checked out some processors and I'm interested in this one because it received good reviews, and going by the people who left the reviews, it's seems to be fast enough for what I need it for (almost twice as fast). It's also within my price range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104205

One question I have is about the cache. It says:

I read somewhere that 64Kb cache is small. Is it small for normal use or is it small for gaming? I don't do gaming so I'm not concerned about that. There are just a few programs that I would like to have go faster . . . 2 hrs instead of 5 hrs to process.

Also, I browsed the Everest Report and In “CPUID Features” section of the Everest report, it says:

And in the “Desktop” section, it says:

I have no idea what SSE is so I might be mistaken, but it seems to be telling me that I need a faster processor and that the refresh rate should be 85Hz for a CRT display, but I have a LCD monitor, or doesn't my pc know that I have one? If I'm wrong, please let me know what I need to do?

Last question . . . I recently purchased additional RAM and all I did was plug it in. When I get the new processor, what else do I need to do besides plugging it in? I've read about setting the BIOS and overclocking (BIOS is a four letter word to me), installing drivers, etc. Can I just plug in the processor and forget about it like I did with the RAM, or am I going to have to play around with settings, download and install drivers, and do other things?

My pc is working constantly, even when I'm sleeping. I can't do without it for a few days if the settings aren't correct or if the wrong drivers are installed.

To give you an example, I decided to install .NET Framework 2.0. It was a nightmare. I couldn't do anything with videos because "Visual Studio Just-In-Time Debugger is not turned on." The bad thing about it was that I didn't have Studio Just-In-Time Debugger in my pc and I couldn't find a place to download it, so I uninstalled 2.0 and went back to 1.1, and it took me 2 days to sort it all out. I had gone to the Microsoft forum before I downloaded and installed it and I was told that there'd be no problem . . . that it was just the same as updating Media Player. . . not!

Anyway, if you can let me know what I can expect when installing a new processor, I'd appreciate it, and I'd also appreciate it if you would let me know what you think of the processor I chose, the size of its cache, and what I need to do to resolve the problems that the Everest Report found. (I'm not asking much, am I?)

Thanks again Viper and Just Playin

Denise

 

that processor looks good, but it doesnt come with any tipe of a heatsink/fan combo. You may have to use your old one, buy a new one, or grab a proc that comes with one. For what you're doing, that size cache should do just fine. Semprons are kinda like the Intel Celerons, they are mainly for normal use, nothing TOO intensive such as gaming.

Ok i just found a new proc, this would be your best bet:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103350

or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103376 (no heatsink tho)

 

The processors at the first url you gave are beyond my budget. The only one that comes close (I was hoping to spend no more than $80) is

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103376

I can see the fan inside my pc but what's a heatsink? What circumstances would cause me to not be able to use the ones that I already have?

What exactly is involved in installing a new processor?

Denise

 

The processors at the first url you gave are beyond my budget. The only one that comes close (I was hoping to spend no more than $80) is $129:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103376

I can see the fan inside my pc but what's a heatsink? What circumstances would cause me to not be able to use the heatsink and fan that I already have?

What exactly is involved in installing a new processor?

Denise

 

I was surfing around the net and found these 3 processors, but I'm not sure if they're compatible with my pc.

AMD SEMPRON 2600 1.6GHZ SOCKET754 L2-128KB 64-BIT RETAIL SDA2600BXBOX

http://www.atacom.com/program/print...6S_CPUX&Item_code=CPUX_AK6S_26_B1&USER_ID=www


and


AMD SOCKET 754 SEMPRON 2600+(1.8GHZ) L1=128KB L2=256KB RETAIL

http://www.atacom.com/program/print...6S_CPUX&Item_code=CPUX_AK6S_26_BY&USER_ID=www


What do you think?

 

You have a Socket A motherboard, which is for a 462 pin processor. You can't use a Socket 754 processor and the maximum processor your mobo supports is an athlon XP 2600+, so the AMD Athlon 2800+ most likely will not work and all the Socket 754 processors definitely will not. The AMD Sempron 2600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104205 should work, but I check with MSI to be sure.

Here is AMD's athlon/duron processor installation PDF. http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/23986.pdf

 

Thanks for the guide. It seems easy enough to install a processor and heat sink.

What else needs to be done? BIOS, flashing, drivers, etc?

You said to check with MSI to see if the AMD Sempron 2600 will work. My pc was made for me by someone who is no longer available. Is there any other way for me to know for sure?

Denise

 

seems most newer mobo's are fairly affordable, if you can afford, I would say buy a new mobo, and proc. Slam it into your tower, and add your existing hardware to that. This way you can update new as you can afford. just an Idea, because it will need to be done anyways one day. especially at the rate PC's are becoming more powerfull so fast...
Just an Idea

 

That's the specific reason why I don't want to sink more money than I have to into it. An $80. processor is an amount I can live with until I purchase a new pc in about a year. I also just added 512Mb RAM for $65. and a firewire card for $35. I want to get as much use out of these new parts and the pc for the money I've put into it, but a new mobo would put the cost of its upkeep to an amount that I'm not willing to spend on an old pc. It would be almost as much as a new pc after I've replaced the mobo, processor, added RAM and a firewire card, but I'd have other older parts inside it.

So a new processor would do the trick for right now and I don't want to pay someone to install it because the cost would again outweigh new versus old.

If I can get a year or two out of the new RAM and processor, it'll be more than worth the money I'll have spent on them, and when I get a new pc at that time, it will be even faster and better than one that I would have bought now.


I still need to know what I have to do to install a processor besides physically inserting it into the mobo. I've Googled it but didn't come up with anything.

 

I meant ECS, the motherboard manufacturer. ECS support

I didn't see anything that would indicate that your motherboard supported Sempron CPUs. Your motherboard is old and it will be hard to find compatible hardware for it.
By processor By board

Your board will support an Athlon XP 2600 processor.
OEM (No warranty, heatsink, fan)
Retail (3yr warranty, Heatsink & fan)
This retail Athlon XP 1.8 will also give you a significant performance boost over your current CPU without spending a lot of cash.

 

Thanks for checking out processors for me. The price with a fan and heatsink are much higher than I thought they'd be, so if I can't use the fan and heatsink that are in my pc, I won't buy a processor . . . I'll wait until I can get a new pc. Due to the age of my pc, it just isn't worth sinking so much money into it. I'll need to replace my video card soon also.

eBay has new pc's that are loaded for $325. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8798677349&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

In a year, I'll get a better pc for $325.

This one is $299 . . . http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8800086693&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

They have a store and I can get it there for $289 and it'll be cheaper in about a year. It's bare bones but I already have a 300G ATA hard drive and a Windows XP disk. If I buy a video card and memory, I'll have a brand new pc for less than $500, and I can buy and install a SATA drive for it in the future. So I don't want to spend $150. to $200. for a processor with a fan and heatsink that I'll use for only a year or two at the very max.

How did you make a link using words instead of copying and pasting the url?

Denise

 

The barebones is the best deal. As for the word link: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/misc.php?do=bbcode#url

Full list of vB codes