How to upgrade my P3 to P4 - How Much?

[nagibbs]

I have been thinking about upgrading my P3 system (Abit BH6 ver 1.1 mb, Intel P3 1000mhz 100fsb Fcpga, 512mb of PC133 ram) was wondering how much that I would have to change and whether or not I should just buy a new system to bother with upgrading this system. Please give me your honest opinions and if I could upgrade my present system what MB, Intel processor, Ram etc would your suggest. Thanks

r.gibbs@insightbb.com

 

[Vette73]

Best thing to do is sell what you have and start over. Better in the long run.

But what are you looking to spend and what do you do mostly and want the system to do??

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

you would have to get rid of cpu/mobo for sure and most likely ram unless ECS makes ddr/sdr hybrid boards for p4, along wtih the psu if its a weak one

we need to have somewhat of a price limit, otherwise we could come up with like a $500+ combo for ram/cpu/mobo

 

[nagibbs]

Probably just better to wait for a Dell deal to show up. Right?

r.gibbs@insightbb.com

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

Originally posted by: nagibbs
Probably just better to wait for a Dell deal to show up. Right?

r.gibbs@insightbb.com

maybe
if you plan to overclock however dell is not the way to go

what kind of price range would you be looking at?
someone here or myself can make a setup for pretty much any price range

 

[SFang]

If you ever looking for a Asus P4 motherboard, here for $50. I used this board overclocked a P4 1.6A to 2.4G very stable if you are interested in OC.

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: nagibbs
I have been thinking about upgrading my P3 system (Abit BH6 ver 1.1 mb, Intel P3 1000mhz 100fsb Fcpga, 512mb of PC133 ram) was wondering how much that I would have to change and whether or not I should just buy a new system to bother with upgrading this system. Please give me your honest opinions and if I could upgrade my present system what MB, Intel processor, Ram etc would your suggest. Thanks

r.gibbs@insightbb.com

You'd need to upgrade your Powersupply, RAM, Motherboard, and CPU. You may be better off getting an entirely new rig, unless you like assembling your own stuff and have buyers for your old stuff.

To notice any real-world improvements over your current system, I would suggest getting no less than a P4 2.4 or better. You may also be able to find nice 1.6 or 1.8 that can overclock (with the right motherboard/ram) to 2.4-2.6 depending on the cpu.

Good luck!

 

[Zap]

Yes, ECS does make such a board. The P4S5A/DX+ uses the SiS 645DX chipset supporting 400/533FSB and DDR333. This board also has two SDRAM slots, plus integrated NIC and USB 2.0. It does NOT require the P4 12v connector, so it'll work with an older power supply. Whether it is stable or not is your problem Just FYI, that's all.

If you can afford to replace enough parts to make it GOOD... new power supply if your's isn't P4 compatible. Motherboard, um, maybe based on the Intel 845PE chipset (like you currently have, Intel CPU on Intel chipset board makes for a good combo). RAM, get at least PC2700 DDR333, higher if you plan to tweak/OC. I second the "no less than 2.4GHz" that Thor86 said. Price-wise the spread from the slowest 1.8A to the 2.4 is around $40. A bit more and you can get the 2.53 (another $40), putting you into guaranteed C1 stepping territory. Above that, the price jumps a bit more. Get the 533FSB version, meaning if you go 2.4GHz get the 2.4B. High FSB is the P4's friend.

Nobody else mentioned it, but... VERY IMPORTANT... if you go with an Intel chipset P4 board, make sure, no, make POSITIVE that you have a 1.5v AGP video card. The older ones (Voodoo 3, for instance) can damage both motherboard and video card.

 

[oldfart]

If you want to wring the last bit of life out of the 'ol faithful BH6, you can get a Slot-T Slocket for $20. This will allow you to run a Tualatin CPU in your BX board. You can get the Tually Celeron 1.4 Ghz for ~ $62. Total is ~ $85.