Alec said:
Hello,
I have an old PC :
motherboard: ELITE P6BAP-ME
processor: INTEL Pentium3 733Mhz
Now I'd like to put on this old motherboard a better processor.
Which one can be suitable? Ex. Celeron D 320?
Thank you for help.
AK
I could write you a 3 page essay on what to do, but you didn't give me
enough information
I don't know if when you mentioned a Celeron 320 if that was just looking
for some sort of type of answer you were looking for or if it was something
you are considering. A Celeron 320 is a 2.4GHz part, which sounds
impressive to your lowly 733MHz, but remember it is a Celeron (which means
putrid shit), and it is based on the P4, which means super high clock speed
with lower performance than you think because of the 20 stage pipeline.
Let's break down the Celeron 320, shall we? First off, let's start tossing
away the numbers, it is a 2.4GHz Celeron. Maybe, just maybe, that is equal
to a 2.0GHz P4. Now, let's follow logic: 2.0GHz = 2,000MHz = 2,000,000,000
operations/sec. 20 operations = 1 cycle (P4 Architecture). So,
2,000,000,000/20 = 100,000,000 operations/sec. Now, let's compare that to
an Athlon 64 3000+, which runs at 2.0GHz itself, but with a 12 stage
pipeline, thus you get 166,666,666 operations/sec. That is 66% faster.
So, a 2.0GHz Athlon 64 should be about 66% faster than a 2.4GHz Celeron.
What would be equal to a 2.4GHz Celeron, then, you ask? Well, a 1.2GHz
Athlon 64 should be equal to a 2.4GHz Celeron, just because of the math.
Now, the trouble is, a 1.2GHz Athlon 64 doesn't exist. Nay, the lowliest
Athlon 64 is a 2800+, running at 1.8GHz.
From your current setup, I see three things are likely.
1) You have an obvious budget situation
2) You truly do no care if your system becomes obsolete so long as it still
does what you neeed.
3) The games you play are minimal at best
Given these things combined, I would say a CPU/mobo/RAM combo based on a
Socket A board, with, say, an Athlon XP 2600+ Barton core (1.9GHz; 333MHz
bus; 1.65v; 512k L2) should be sufficient, and relatively cost effective.
It is about $90, without heatsink/fan. Since Socket A is no longer being
advanced, the board that are available are rock solid and dropping in price.
They also use DDR RAM, which for a 333MHz bus is PC2700, and that is also
relativley cheap.
You should also need a new power supply. Depending on the CPU, Video card,
and number of drives you have, it should be about 400W.
As to the board, I would be looking for something along the lines of this
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-128-257&DEPA=1
don't go cheaper than that for Socket A, though, you find a bunch of
PCChips, Biostar, ASRock, Jetway, and ECS boards. Of the five, I'd trust
ECS the most, but it's still not something I would *want*. Good thing about
that board is it supports a 400MHz bus, so if you want to upgrade later on,
from a 2600+ you do have a path. It would be to a 3200+, as that's the
highest they go. That runs at 2.2GHz, so you would gain 300MHz, not much of
a gain, but you also get the 400MHz bus, improving memory bandwidth. Thing
is though, you probably wouldn't notice the gain, unless you suddenly take
up video encoding or gaming. Really, if you don't do either of those
things, it just makes sense to get a lower end Athlon XP, maybe a 2400+ or
something like that. It's faster than you have, that's for sure.
As to the RAM...for 333MHz bus, you have to use PC2700. For 400MHz, PC3200
is needed. If you think you might get a Athlon XP 3000+/400 or a 3200+, you
will need the PC3200. Be sure to get ones with good timings, especially if
you are using PC2700. The best timings are 2-2-2-5, but those are expensive
and you wouldn't notice the difference from "good" ones. I think that you
might notice the timings from the crap RAM to good timings, though, and at
the very least you are getting better quality RAM than the cheap stuff. I
have 2-3-3-6 timings in mine (I think the cheap RAM has something like
3-4-4-7, so you see that 2-3-3-6 is better). It doesn't matter if you know
what the timings are or not, just take the sum of the numbers and compare it
that way if you wish. It would show you that a 2-3-3-7 is worse than a
3-3-3-5, even though it has a lead-off "2". Basically, it is the amount of
cycles teh RAM takes to do something, the quicker it can do it (lower #) the
more it can do in the same time frame, a second. The more it can do, the
higher bandwidth you get. It has been tested and found that 400MHz RAM at
2-2-2-5 is better than 500MHz ram at 3-3-3-7, despite running 100MHz slower.
It basically reverts back to the CPU pipeline thing up top. Mathemetically,
at 581MHz, 400MHz RAM @ 2-2-2-5 and 581MHz RAM @ 3-3-3-7 are equal. Any RAM
speed faster at 3-3-3-7 is better, anything less is worse. (3+3+3+7/2+2+2+5
* 400 = 581). That corresponds to about PC4650, nonexistant as it is.
So, yes, it is quite the long thing I have wrote off you little question.
I would not touch Intel. They are far too likely to do things that are
stupid. Look at how P4 went, they have Socket 423, Socket 478, Socket T
(LGA 775). Now, even in LGA775, they are creating a rift. Boards that have
PCI Express and DDR II, and those with AGP and DDR (I). Soon, they should
create another difference, those that can do FSB800, and those with FSB1066.
They did the same thing with Socket 478; changed the FSB533 to FSB800 and
made upgraders find rare CPUs or buy new boards with the proper chipset.
Not sure if Socket 478 started at FSB400 or not, but I doubt it. Anyways,
thats at least 6 different incarnations of P4 boards thus far (Socket 423;
Socket 478 FSB533; Socket 478 FSB800; LGA775 AGP+DDR; LGA775 PCIe+DDR2;
LGA775 FSB1066[soon]).
Check out AMD with the Athlon. From the same time frame, they have stuck
with Socket A (462) right up until they went 64-bit. The only change they
made to Socket A was when new cores came out. This happened just 2 times.
From the same time frame, mind you. When P4 was in Socket 423, Socket A was
already over 1.3GHz, and thus getting into the 333MHz bus moving from the
266MHz bus. The move from 266 -> 333 is counted as a change. Then again,
they moved from 333 -> 400, and that is a change. If my timing is off a
little, and they went from the original Thunderbird to the Athlon XP after
the P4 came out, then it is 3 times, but I think Athlon XP was already out
when the P4 came out in Socket 423. Now, with Athlon 64, they use Socket
754 or Socket 939, depending on which CPU you wish to use. You would have
to see what CPUs are available for each socket, I think you'll find the more
economical ones are Socket 754, and the more poweful ones are Socket 939
(Socket 940 is also used sometimes, although not for anything
exclusivley...Socket 940 has 1 more pin, which requires registered DIMMs to
be used).
Oh, yes, and AMD did not invent PCI Express and make our AGP video cards
extinct, nor did they invent crazy new power supply plugs, or make a change
to the RAM system to DDRII (which at this point is *SLOWER* than 400MHz DDR
(I) RAM; unless it is DDRII-667 or better; most is DDRII-533 and thus
slower).
Enjoy!
