help with processor

[cragllo]

I want to but a new processor, a Pentium 4, I have a Celeron at the mo.. is it possible to simply change them, swap the?

Or would I need to buy a new mother board?

Thank you,
Cragllo.

[Roy Sinclair]

If that's a Socket 478 motherboard you can probably find a P4 chip that'll work in it.

[oracleguy]

If that's a Socket 478 motherboard you can probably find a P4 chip that'll work in it.

Yep, assuming its one of the newer celerons (I forget the core name), it probably is socket 478.

[cragllo]

I was on ebuyer and was looking at the Pentium 4 compatable section of mother boards, and most of them sais compatable with Pentium 4/Celeron, So i just wanted to see if they were both the same, as in socket 478 and stuff...

[Roy Sinclair]

What you need to do is determine which motherboard you have right now and then look it up on the web to see what it says it'll support. You might also find a firmware update or two but remember the old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

[cragllo]

lol, ill have a look now...

[cragllo]

Do all Celerons and Pentiums have the same 478 socket, because ive been looking around and at cooling fans and stuff and they say, Socket 478 Celeron/Pentium ?????

[oracleguy]

There is only one socket 478, however Pentium 4s and Celerons are/have been made in other sockets.

The Pentium 4 originally came in Socket 423 but that is no longer made and only CPUs with the Willamete core were made to fit that socket, by the time the Northwood core came out it was obsolete. Now they are most commonly found in Socket 478. Pentium 4 motherboards with PCI Express have Socket 775/LGA775 also unofficially called Socket T. Only P4s that are 2.8Ghz to the top speed of 3.6Ghz are available in LGA775.

Celerons have been made in PGA 370 sockets up to I think about 533Mhz, beyond that they were made to fit FCPGA 370 sockets. Then they came out with a new generation (Roughly 1.5Ghz and above) and those I believe are all Socket 478. Now there is the Celeron Ds and those are all definetly Socket 478.

[Roy Sinclair]

No, not all the chips labeled Pentium nor all of the chips labeled Celeron will be Socket 478. You should always make sure the chip and the motherboard are compatible when making purchases.

The commonly available Pentium chips and motherboards these days are Socket 478 but that can change with the introduction of a new generation of chips. IIRC, the socket has changed once or twice since the introduction of the first Pentium 4 chips.

[cragllo]

My pc is a windows me bought new in 2000 i think, so waht do you think it would be, and how do i check what the spec of the processor is?

[oracleguy]

Is it a manufactured PC like a Dell? Or is it custom built?

If it is the former, it is as easy as looking up the model on the internet or looking up the information in the manual that came with your computer.

If neither of those will work, do you know the specs on it at all? Like the CPU speed?

[cragllo]

It is a packard Bell, Ill get the box down from the atic and have a look...
I didnt think of doing that :)


Ok, Your gonna laughf,
Processor: Intel Celeron 850 MHz
Chipset: Intel i810 (100 MHz)
lol, I dont understand it, but i know ist ribbish...

[oracleguy]

Okay, with an 810 chipset you have a socket 370 on your motherboard. Pentium 4s will not work in that computer, however a Pentium III will work.

[cragllo]

I found the link, they have updated it abitr, windows xp, i wounder if it will even start up, lol

http://www.packardbell.co.uk/products/node1601.asp?partNumber=P480100801

Thank you ppl, So i know now that i need to but a new motherboard aswell

THANK YOU!

[Roy Sinclair]

With that system any upgrade you make to get a serious improvement in performance would imvolve changing the motherboard, the processor chip and the memory. The memory on your current motherboard is also not going to work with a new motherboard.

If you're serious about upgrading don't neglect to look at AMD, I recently upgraded an old dual processor Pentium II 400 system to a AMD 2700 which indeed involved changing the chip, motherboard and memory and I did it for less than USD $300 but the prices have already dropped since then.

[cragllo]

I think that I will build a new pc and keep this one for school stuff, and other stuff like that...

[oracleguy]

I think that I will build a new pc and keep this one for school stuff, and other stuff like that...

That'd be the best way to go since there isn't much you could salvage hardware wise from your current computer.

[cragllo]

Yea, im gonna save up top buy all the stuff, what would you say is the best and cheapest processor is out there...

Im gonna get a graphics card that can support two monitors too...

[Roy Sinclair]

You can have the "best" or the "cheapest" but not both as one item. Better to determine how much money you can afford to spend, decide what you expect to be able to do with the new system and then plan your purchases accordingly to maximize your new system's abilities in the areas which will meant the most to you.

[cragllo]

Waht is the best type of AMD? I dont realy want to spent more that £100 on a processor...

[Roy Sinclair]

The AMD Opteron chips which will support 64 bit OSes (Linux now, XP eventually when MS finally gets around to publishing it) are your best AMD chips, their Athlon series (32 bit only) are also quite nice. The Opteron chips should make for the best "future proofing" but the Athlon chips may be all the you can find in your price range right now. That's not all that bad since it'll be a couple years at the soonest before you'll start seeing software that's only available for those who're running on a 64 bit platform.

[cragllo]

Ive been on ebuyer and got all the stuff i need (with some help form my bros m8) all together its gonna cost £172.95 plus vat and shippint, thats... £207.96

Not bad realy... (i dont think anyway)