Cheap upgrade for el cheapo pc

[firebob78]

I have a few old dell 450mhz pcs i got for free from work and I purchased a couple of the fcpga adapter and the Retail box Celeron 1.3Ghz CPU, I know that the cpu is not a very hot deal but the adapter is. The FCPGA adapter I paid $6.99 and the Intel CPU I paid $47.00.

Once I installed the cpu and adapter on my machines it posted at 550mhz. However installing Sandra 2003 the speed readings read 1.4Ghz. Not too shabby if you are looking for a cheap upgrade to a very old machine.

This is a very cheap, simple, and easy upgrade if you have an old Intel computer lying around somewhere in the house.

 

[dabuddha]

?

 

[smw]

Not really a hot deal, and nothing special, these things have been available for years.

 

[SimMike2]

He doesn't say how much he paid for shipping, but as long as the rest of the computer is in good shape, this isn't a bad deal. $55 to go from 450 MHz to 1400 MHz is not a bad deal. Maybe not the hottest for some people, but for people desiring an easy and fast upgrade, not bad. It is certainly cheaper than buying a new CPU, mainboard, memory and maybe new case that other upgrades would require.

My concern would be the rest of the computer getting to the age where things start failing.

 

[SimMike2]

Originally posted by: smw
Not really a hot deal, and nothing special, these things have been available for years.

Do you post any hotdeals of your own? Or do you just put down other people's deals?

 

[htne]

The 1.3 celeron you linked to is a Tualatin Celeron. On the description for the fcpga adapter (slot-1), it makes no mention of being Tualatin compatible. Has anyone else ordered this slot-1 adapter, and is it Tualatin compatible?

 

[ringzero]

this is a big ymmv as some motherboards will not accept these type of adapters. If your motherboard supports it, it's a good deal. However, when you want to do an upgrade you also want to upgrade the memory too. And if it's an intel chipset (i810/i815) you're limited to 512 megs of ram, and if you have an older PC, you have to use low density memory which is really, really expensive. In all reality it's usually cheaper to upgrade the motherboard/cpu/memory and get the benefits of DDR, pentium 4 class cpu (if you go with intel/celeron), and a newer/better chipset.

Of course, chances are you have to reinstall the OS, and you'd want to upgrade the hdd, etc..

 

[JImmyK]

I just took the plunge and ordered the pair for a 450mhz dell I have sitting around just to see if I can breath some usable life into her.

If it doesnt work Ill just return it or selll it for a 25% loss

Ill keep u all posted

 

[TrentSteel]

Not bad.

Like many others I'm sure, I have an older machine or two lying around for emergencies/tinkering and can really appreciate this. NewEgg has a 500mhz K6-2 for $15 that I've been eyeing for a while. It probably won't outrun a 64 FX, but you really have to appreciate the longevity of some things. Well, you don't have to, I suppose, but I do.

 

[freechina]

This old hack has got to be one of the easiest and best price values I've seen. I have successfully implemented it on two PCs (Asus-Cusl) using the Celeron 1.2

http://www.kilowattalley.com/easy.htm

In essence, you bust a pin, bump the volts, and `viola` you're running at 1.6 Mhz P3 Stable!!!

Only problem stemmed from lack of document for jumpers used to set voltage, but I found the sweet point around 1.6V
Askme for settings.

Not bad at all.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: freechina
This old hack has got to be one of the easiest and best price values I've seen. I have successfully implemented it on two PCs (Asus-Cusl) using the Celeron 1.2

http://www.kilowattalley.com/easy.htm

In essence, you bust a pin, bump the volts, and `viola` you're running at 1.6 Mhz P3 Stable!!!

Only problem stemmed from lack of document for jumpers used to set voltage, but I found the sweet point around 1.6V
Askme for settings.

Not bad at all.

I wouldn't really consider it 1.6Ghz guaranteed. I have a 1.2Ghz Tualatin Celeron, in an SiS P6S5AT mobo, and even at 1.65v or 1.7v, it won't even post at 1.6Ghz. So much for "guaranteed" overclocking. But a 1.2Ghz machine still isn't all that shabby, it plays most of the games in MAME, is more than enough to watch DVD and DivX movies, and plays UT fine. Dunno about UT2K3, that needs a pretty beefy video card.

 

[smw]

Originally posted by: SimMike2

Originally posted by: smw
Not really a hot deal, and nothing special, these things have been available for years.

Do you post any hotdeals of your own? Or do you just put down other people's deals?

Do you know how to use the search function?

 

[dchakrab]

Any way to get a compatibility listing? Am Googling, but nothing yet...i have older machines ranging from 233 mhz to 800 mhz, which could use an upgrade before my non-profit uses them to build a computer lab for a small school this summer...these seem like a good way to go, but i'd like some way to check compatibility before trying it...

-D.

 

[Macgyversite]

http://www.strattoncomputer.com/slot1-fcpga2.html

I got my slot "T" adapter here and 1.1 gig Cel 2.

I have it at 145 fsb on my Abit BE6-2. Thats almost 1600mhz.

It runs every game well with a GF4 TI4200.

So yes it is a hot deal per say.......Linky

 

[jerkdiggler]

anyone got a coupon code for this place, possibly free shipping or somethin?

 

[PKPunk]

this is a pretty good deal, I had a simillar situation a while ago. It was time to upgrade my old celeron 300 o/c'd to 450, I used this thing for years!!!! but instead I got lucky and Frys had a duron 1.2 mobo/cpu combo for 69 bucks and the board took both ddr and sdr ram. So I ran the thing with my old PC100 ram and it worked fine. Fry's usually runs these sort of sales all the time. I bought a 2.4 amd cpu/mobo combo for 89 bucks a few months back so it might be a better deal to spend a 20 or 30 extra bucks to get these cheap cpu/mobo combos if you have a fry's near by you.

 

[Svnla]

I am using a Dell Dimension XPS T700R (almost 4 years old). It has Pent 3 700Mhz. I am wondering if Firebob's suggestions will work on my computer.

 

[Z80]

I upgraded 3 old Abit slot1 MB's with FCPGA adapters and 900 Mhz Celerons that oc'd to 1200 Mhz with a slight vcore increase. They didn't have the FC2 Tualatin compatible adapters (referenced in Macgyversite's post<FONT face=Verdana size=1>) back then or else I would have went that route. Definitely a good bang for the buck upgrade. I donated the systems to some needy relatives </FONT>

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

I wouldn't really consider it 1.6Ghz guaranteed. I have a 1.2Ghz Tualatin Celeron, in an SiS P6S5AT mobo, and even at 1.65v or 1.7v, it won't even post at 1.6Ghz. So much for "guaranteed" overclocking. But a 1.2Ghz machine still isn't all that shabby, it plays most of the games in MAME, is more than enough to watch DVD and DivX movies, and plays UT fine. Dunno about UT2K3, that needs a pretty beefy video card.

That last sentence wouldn't have been so bad except that UT2K4 is out now. Yes it's just out, but it's out(4 days!).

So if you can't run 2k3...you're already over a year behind in the games that you can run, which is somewhat of a sad place to be.

 

[TekDemon]

oh and my own suggestion for a cheap upgrade is a cheap AMD based board(KT266A is an excellent choice) and some uber cheap AMD processor. You can probably go Athlon 1600+(and overclock) for dirt cheap with the board.

And the DDR, well if you can get it FAR go get some, but if not, maybe get one of the boards that takes PC133 instead(they have them), like that ghetto ECS board of yore.

I had a KT266A board(shuttle AK31A baby...the legend in the silicon), and it's still kicking today, after a processor upgrade.

And if you want a CPU cheap, I can sell you a 1.2Ghz T-bird for $5 if you pay the actual shipping+paypal fees(unless you mail a money order). So if you can find a board for like $15, that's like a $20 upgrade.

Just my 2 cents lol. Oh FYI, the CPU runs perfectly although the edges of the cpu die thingy are kind of rubbed off. Stupid cheap AMD CPU packaging...my intel CPU had MUCH less ruboff with a lot more messing around with it(cuz it had this ridiculously oversized Alpha heatsink on it that I had to constantly adjust heh....overclocked like a monster though...550->852 cuz my bus maxed out lol...this was before PC150 was common so I used a stick of Corsair branded PC133...godlike at 153Mhz FSB...)

Heh, I was so proud when my older system smoked a brand new 900Mhz PIII based Dell in the benches. Ah, those were the days *sniffle*

 

[dchakrab]

TekDemon, can you shoot me an email at dave@nirmanweb.com? I'd like to talk more about a cheap upgrade board with buying your proc.

Anyone got any way to verify what boards this adapter will work with?

Thanks,

Dave.

 

[NucEm]

You can find the same adapter at: Linky for $4.95. I don't think it supports Tualatin like this one: Linky2

I've thought about the upgrade and I find it hard to justify spending $215 for a 1.4 Ghz P-3. I have a 1 Ghz P-3 in the system now (BE6-II). I haven't check to see what improvement if any going to a Celeron 1.4 Ghz.

 

[JImmyK]

w00t

 

[jerkdiggler]

so what motherboard specifications could handle this adapter???

 

[bman46]

very kool