Best possible Pentium 4 CPU upgrade?

[TechiGamer]

Hi,

I was given an HP Paviolion 1020n computer from someone, and while it is a very old computer and extremely outdated and slow, I thought it could be useful as either a home theater computer or as a computer in my workshop to program things like arduinos etc, or maybe use it as a web server.
Since you can find a variety of old CPUs on ebay for low prices ($1-5) I thought it would be well worth it to get some extra performance.
Perhaps later on I would upgrade the ram to 2gb for around $10.

Anyways, my question is, what are the absolute BEST 3 processors that I could put into this computer?
According to the motherboard specs: "Supports Intel Pentium 4 HT processors"

Here are the specs of this computer:
http://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-a1020n-pentium-4-3-06-ghz-512-mb-ram-200-gb-hdd/specs/

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Yes. but what about the BIOS? It may limit your choices if it is locked.

 

[TechiGamer]

Yes. but what about the BIOS? It may limit your choices if it is locked.

Thanks for replying!
How is it possible to double check? Or is there a way to circumvent the restriction?
Edit* I can easily go into the bios and can change settings (except for cpu clock settings etc.) Is that an indication that it is not locked?

 

[USAFRet]

Does it run as is? If so, I'd just leave it. Any CPU would be a minimal change.
Add RAM if anything.

 

[TechiGamer]

Wups. I accidentally clicked best solution 🙁 Can someone please unselect best answer?

At the moment it is a single core processor. Wouldn't a quadcore or even a dual core offer an improvement?

 

[barto]

What I was able to find:

The motherboard supports only Pentium 4 CPUs.
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Downgrading-my-processor-in-a-Pavilion-a1020n/td-p/135632
http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00361570
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/285714-28-upgrade-lga775-mobo

I'm with USAFret. Changing the CPU isn't going to be noticeable.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Are you still running Vista?

Memory ( 1Gb sticks) are expensive and the CPU is fairly fast. I have no clue what BIOS version you have. I'd run it as is or forget about it.

 

[barto]

Wups. I accidentally clicked best solution 🙁 Can someone please unselect best answer?

At the moment it is a single core processor. Wouldn't a quadcore or even a dual core offer an improvement?

Once you post more, you'll be able to unselect it. Until then, I was able to unselect it for you.

 

[TechiGamer]

Is there anything else I could do to make it run faster (other than buying a new motherboard and processor)?

 

[TechiGamer]

Are you still running Vista?

Memory ( 1Gb sticks) are expensive and the CPU is fairly fast. I have no clue what BIOS version you have. I'd run it as is or forget about it.

I'm running ubuntu 14.04 at the moment

 

[TechiGamer]

Wups. I accidentally clicked best solution 🙁 Can someone please unselect best answer?

At the moment it is a single core processor. Wouldn't a quadcore or even a dual core offer an improvement?

Once you post more, you'll be able to unselect it. Until then, I was able to unselect it for you.

Okay! Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Is there anything else I could do to make it run faster (other than buying a new motherboard and processor)?

Other than reinstalling the OS, not really.

A new CPU/motherboard also means new RAM, PSU, case, hard drive, etc.
A whole new PC.

 

[TechiGamer]

Actually after checking, apparently the 915 chipset only supports single core processors, so I see why you guys are saying that I can't substantially improve it cpu-wise.

 

[TechiGamer]

Is there anything else I could do to make it run faster (other than buying a new motherboard and processor)?

Other than reinstalling the OS, not really.

A new CPU/motherboard also means new RAM, PSU, case, hard drive, etc.
A whole new PC.

That's true. I see what you mean. I guess my best bet is to buy some more ram, and use it until it dies as is.

 

[TechiGamer]

Is there anything else I could do to make it run faster (other than buying a new motherboard and processor)?

Other than reinstalling the OS, not really.

A new CPU/motherboard also means new RAM, PSU, case, hard drive, etc.
A whole new PC.

Do you think an upgrade to the ram to around 4gb would be worth it, or provide real-world improvement?

 

[USAFRet]

Is there anything else I could do to make it run faster (other than buying a new motherboard and processor)?

Other than reinstalling the OS, not really.

A new CPU/motherboard also means new RAM, PSU, case, hard drive, etc.
A whole new PC.

Do you think an upgrade to the ram to around 4gb would be worth it, or provide real-world improvement?

Depends on how much it costs, what you plan to use it for, and what OS.
Also, how much actual RAM can that board use?

 

[DonkeyOatie]

A bit (memory). You may be able to improve memory speed too, HOWEVER, it may not be cheap.

 

[TechiGamer]

Is there anything else I could do to make it run faster (other than buying a new motherboard and processor)?

Other than reinstalling the OS, not really.

A new CPU/motherboard also means new RAM, PSU, case, hard drive, etc.
A whole new PC.

Do you think an upgrade to the ram to around 4gb would be worth it, or provide real-world improvement?

Depends on how much it costs, what you plan to use it for, and what OS.
Also, how much actual RAM can that board use?

The maximum RAM capacity is 4gb , and the cost for something like that (800Mhz)on ebay is approximately $16 US.
Any flavor of linux (preferably Ubuntu) is what I plan to run on it.
As for use, I just plan on using it for light browsing such as browsing through forums and searching for help, maybe some youtube videos, but mostly programming microcontrollers like the arduion.

 

[USAFRet]

Assuming you can get the right RAM for $16, go for it.

 

[TechiGamer]

Assuming you can get the right RAM for $16, go for it.

Okay Great !
Thanks for all the help