Page 1 of Wanting to upgrade CPU - some help?

How easy is this process? I`ve currently got a P4 1.9 GHZ, and am looking at upgrading to 3GHZ. Is it as easy as grabbing the appropriate hardware online & slotting it into your PC? I`m also looking to up my RAM & get a new graphics card, so my main concern is compatibility I guess.

Jase,

check your mobo manual, it may allow you to slot a chip in, but then again
it may require a bios "flash" which upgrades the mobo bios to accept
faster cpu`s. check your mobo manufacturers website.

Not sure about the ram `cos it comes in may flavours, again check
manual for types you can use.

GFX card won`t be a problem, even if you choose 8x AGP, if your mobo
supports only 4x, the card will still work albeit at a slower rate.

Ste.

It`s never usually that simple unless you are lucky.

Different processors run at different bus speeds, so you need to find out the bus speed of your current cpu and the bus speeds your motherboard is able to run at. If it`s a P4 1.9 I`d assume the bus speed is 533mhz (but I think they also did them in 400mhz or something). The new P4 3ghz chips all run at 800mhz, but there are some older ones that run at 533mhz (I think! Intel is not my strong point).

Basically what I`m saying is check your motherboard supports the fsb speed of the new cpu - or it will not run at it`s correct speed. Obviuosly check that the chip is the correct pin layout that will actually fit in your mobo. There`s no way an Athlon fits in a Pentium slot, but I`m fairly sure that all P4`s currently use the same socket.

If you get a faster processor, it`s usually a good idea to get faster memory to go with it. Again, check what is the fastest memory your motherboard supports.

A new 8x AGP graphics card will work fine in a 4x slot, albeit a bit slower as splintercell says. I have read somewhere that the performance loss is only around a few percent!

This item was edited on Thursday, 22nd January 2004, 19:45

If you havent got one, look for a user manual for your MOBO online. It should tell you all you need to know, specs wise and how to do all the things you asked.

Fitting the parts can be fiddly but fairly straight forwards and once youve done it you are one step closer to being a true computer nerd! (like me ;) )

Jason,
Why are you upgrading the processor?

I doubt you`d see much difference to be honest from a 1.9ghz to a 3.0Ghz processor. Don`t get carried away with the numbers game - 1.9 is more than enough for almost anything you could wish to do. Spending money on the RAM and Graphics card should give you a noticeable improvement though..

Ste

Really sj? I`m looking at the next generation of game releases, such as Half Life 2, Doom 3, World of Warcraft & such. Right now, any modern graphic heavy game runs like ass crap on my machine. I only have 256 MB of RAM at the moment, would you sugest beefing that up first? If so what would you sugest?

what graphics are you running ? + is the 256meg ddr or sd as sj say`s a 1.9gig processor should not really strugle if the graphics card/memory is ok

This item was edited on Thursday, 22nd January 2004, 20:12

If it`s for games you`ll be MUCH better off spending a few hundred quid on a graphics card and memory.
Are you running XP? If so then 256MB of RAM is not enough. I regard 512 as a minimum really. Although it depends on your mobo you should be able to just stick a 512MB stick in with your 256MB and take it to a respectable 768MB.
Like I say, even the next generation games won`t need a 1.9Ghz processor - they`ll be really graphics card intensive.
Like has been said, you may end up upgrading your motherboard and memory just to upgrade your processor for, in my opinion, a small improvement on a `bang per buck` basis.
Look at the graphics card first - even if you do upgrade the processor, it will still work in it..Memory`s cheap enough too..

Ste

This item was edited on Thursday, 22nd January 2004, 20:18

Yup - look to the graphics card first. You`ll be amazed the difference it makes.

What do you have at the moment? Or have I missed it in a previous post?

If you currently have anything lower than about a Geforce4 Ti4200, then you`ll get no end of improvement with a Radeon 9600XT or higher.

I`ve got a GeForce 2 MX/MX 200. So where`d you guys sugest I goto shop for my RAM & GFX card? What would you recommend? I`ve had my eye on the latest Radeon model, but it`s a touch over my budget.

This item was edited on Friday, 23rd January 2004, 00:10