How Far Can I Upgrade PII 533MHz Celeron??

[Metolius]

I have a 533MHz PII celeron in a micro atx motherboard. It's a socket 370. My question is, how big of a CPU can I drop into that board? Seems pretty limited as of now. Thanks in advance!

 

[Superwormy]

First off, theres no such thing as a 533mhz PII Celeron, so thats your first problem

It's either a 533mhz Celeron, or a 533mhz Pentium 3, probably a 533mhz Celeron PPGA CPU.

First thing ya gotta do is find your motherboard manual or find out what board it is an look online for its specs, they shoudl say.

 

[neovan]

the CPU is mainly dependent of the motherboard so find out what brand and model the motherboard is.

good luck

 

[pamf]

Technically you should be able to use any socket 370 cpu out there.. the only limiting factor might be a lack of multiplier settings (although a bios upgrade should fix that).. like everyone else said, find the make and model of your board. Get the latest bios. Even if your motherboard maker's site doesn't specifically say it can take, for example, a p3 1.2ghz, if your board supports 133mhz fsb and a 9x multiplier, it should run it fine.

Now might be an opportune time to invest in a new board/cpu though

 

[altonb1]

I agree with the previous message. You could buy a new processor fairly cheaply, but you could also get a good deal on a new board/chip combo or barebones system for a little more. Start browsing the Hot Deals thread (if you don't already) and you may find your answer relatively easily. About 6 weeks or so ago, there was a post for a barebones system (mobo, CPU, case w/ 300W psu) for $199 from Frys. Oh...should point out this was an XP 1700+ system. That was pretty good deal, but it looks like processor prices are dropping further, so you can probably find a faster machine for the same price, or the same speeds for less. On the flip side, RAM seems to be increasing in price, so you probably want to upgrade to a system that will take your existing RAM to keep costs down. I believe you can find mobos that takeboth DDr and PC133 RAM (much like older systems had slots for 30-pin & 72-pin SIMMs, 72-Pin & 168-Pin, etc.)

You can also check Pricewatch t use as a gage, but from what I've seen, many of the deals in Hot Deals are better than the prices displayed on Pricewatch. You did not specify your current setup, so it's hard to say, but it may be beneficial for you to buy a bare-bones package that includes at least a 300W PSU. The barebones system I bought last year (750 Duron, Pc-Chips M810LMR mobo, 256MB PC133, & 300w PSU/case for $199, including shipping) has worked very well for me. It gave me a quick upgrade to my RAM, got me the upgraded PSU i wanted/needed, and basically had everything I needed in 1 quick purchase. Until I found that deal, I was originally looking for the CPU/board and the case as 2 two purchases. I found this package, compared specs, and found the one I got to be cheaper and included the RAM as a bonus. Set your budget, then look to see what you can get for it using the Hot Deals forum. You'll probably be surprised.

 

[KawLiga]

The 533 Celeron is PPGA, all the newer/faster socket 370 chips are FCPPGA. I dont know what the difference is, but you cant put a FCPPGA chip in a PPGA motherboard.
I have a 533 Cel in a second system and it was the fastest chip I could use.

 

[FPSguy]

Intel has a whole manual that covers the differences between PPGA and FC-PGA. I thought both types of chips fit a Socket 370, though, and that you therefore should be able to put an FC-PGA chip in your motherboard. What kind of motherboard is it? It should be easy enough to look up what kind of processors it will take and how fast you can get it to go.

 

[pamf]

FCPPGA just means (correct me if im wrong) flip chip plastic pin grid array.. basically it means the core of the cpu is exposed (youve probably seen this on p3s, athlons are like this too) .. as opposed to some older celerons which have a heat spreader on them (like p4s).. the only thing about them is that you have to be a bit careful applying the heatsink or you risk cracking the core. they should work fine in the same board. if they needed a new socket, i doubt intel would be shy about pushing it to get you to buy a new board.

 

[AndyHui]

An FC-PGA processor has a different pinout to a PPGA processor. Boards are not always compatible with both.

 

[Daniel]

<< The 533 Celeron is PPGA, all the newer/faster socket 370 chips are FCPPGA. I dont know what the difference is, but you cant put a FCPPGA chip in a PPGA motherboard.
I have a 533 Cel in a second system and it was the fastest chip I could use. >>



The 533 was the last of the ppga, and the first of the fcpga, it was available in both configurations, which one he has though is another question entirely.