CPU upgrade - will it work?

confoundicator

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Feb 15, 2002
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First of all my existing system is as follows:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+ Palomino
Abit KR7A (Via KT266A chipset)
1 GB PC2100
GeForce4 Ti4200

It's starting to show its age in newer games and I would like a cost-efficient solution to extend the life of this PC. I don't want to spend the money on a new mobo, RAM, CPU, etc, but I AM willing to spend up to about $300 to inject a little more zip. I have already decided to pick up a Saphire Radeon 9800 Pro, so my question turns to the CPU.

I have read that the Athlon XP 2500 Barton is a great CPU for the money and is oc friendly (I plan on mildly overclocking the FSB), but everywhere I see it is listed as a 333MHz FSB part. Can I drop one into my DDR266 mobo? Are they back compatible? Will it work?
 
No. You can't run a 333 cpu on a 266 board. But you can run a barton mobile 266, even if it posts as "unknown cpu". But don't expect to overclock it as high as with a newer board. I would skip the upgrade, and use the money towards an athlon 64 system later.
 

confoundicator

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I appreciate the quick response, and thanks for the info regarding the fsb stuff.

The only problem I have with it is that while I'm waiting till "later" I still have the same computer.

I don't expect to have performance on par with a brand new system, just a substantial performance increase. And most importantly I want it NOW, not later.

So by saying to wait you're saying that I will not see a noticable performance increase? (to a 2500 barton mobile - still under budget) If that's the case I'll just get the new gfx card.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Im pretty sure you could run that CPU at a lower FSB.
If you pickup the mobile athlon, you get unlocked multiplier. Im not quite sure some1 has to back me up on this one but you could run it at 14X133 instead of 11X166...

I dont know if the upgrade would worth it but im sure you could fit that cpu in your motherboard.

Asus P4P800DX, P4C 2.6ghz@3.25ghz, 2X512 OCZ PC4000 3-4-4-8, Leadtek FX5900 w/ FX5950U bios@500/1000, 2X30gig Raid0
 
G

Guest

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On second tought, dont think you have the option to raise the multiplier, only to lower it...
I dont really have experience with these cpu some1 enlighten me =)

Asus P4P800DX, P4C 2.6ghz@3.25ghz, 2X512 OCZ PC4000 3-4-4-8, Leadtek FX5900 w/ FX5950U bios@500/1000, 2X30gig Raid0<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by labbbby on 08/24/04 03:32 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

DonnieDarko

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you can raise it, it just depends on what's the highest muiltipler your mobo can set.

Watch out for the <b><font color=red>bloody</font color=red></b> Fanboys!

AMD64 2800+ :: MSI Neo-Fis2r :: 512mb Kingmax ddr400 :: Sapphire 9800pro 128mb :: 10K WD Raptor

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endyen

Splendid
The board supports xp2400+ at 15X 133, so higher multipliers are available. Board should get to 140 fsb no problem. Run an xp-m at 16 X 140 and you will be fine. May take 1.7v. Then you can try to OC. My xp-m2500+ does >2.4 as do most (if you know how.)