I need some upgrading advice... pretty please! :)

[MementoMori]

I have a rather old computer: an AMD K6-2 333MHz, running at 350; AOpen AX59 Pro mainboard (Super7, Via MVP3 chipset); Voodoo3 3000; 128MB PC100 RAM, etc. and now I'm thinking about spicing it up a bit.

The way I see it, the bottleneck right now is the processor, and to upgrade that I'll definately need a new mobo and probably some new and faster memory. Perhaps I also must get a new power-thingy. I'll also get a fan for the CPU.

So I could sure use some pieces of advice on what to get, and why. First I gotta make clear that I'm not willing to spend lots and lots of money on this, so I'm thinking about buying a Duron CPU of about 800MHz and clock it up to about 1GHz.

My questions are as follows:

1. Will 235W power supply be enough, or must I upgrade that too?

2. What kind of cooling system should I get for the CPU and how should I clock it (the CPU)?

3. I'm thinking about getting an ASUS A7V-E KT133 6PCI 1AGP 2DIMM UDMA100 SocketA: Will this mobo fulfill my needs or should I get a better one?

4. Speaking of motherboards... What is the difference between the KT133-chip (which is on the MB above) and the KT133A-chip, which can be fóund on more expensive boards??

5. Any other comments or suggestions? I'd really appreciate them.

Thanks in advance,
Magnus [Sweden]

P.s. The graphics card must wait - I'll stick with the V3 card for now. Can't afford too much stuff

 

[quepasa]

I'm upgrading from almost the same config except my CPU is @500. I'm getting an ABit KT7E, Duron 750, and Thermal Take Volcano II from Newegg for like $147 shipped. I got an Apex Supercase full tower for $70 at the local shop w/ 300 watt PS. Your PS should be fine for a Celeron but for a P3 or any AMD chip i'd recomend a new one.

 

[Desmoquattro]

1. 235W is not enough...IMO...i'm sure it's ok but 250w should be the minimum at least. you can find 300w PSs at the FS/FT forums here for $25.

2. Just get a respectable heatsink and don't go off buying those $50 ones but just remember that the better the heatsink (along with the case cooling)...the higher you can probably overclock. I don't have an AMD system but you're gonna need to unlock the bridges on your cpu to change the multiplier. People seem to use pencil lead but i'd personally go for conductive pens and sealer.

3. I suppose that mobo is good enough. Like I said I have no personal experience with AMD boards so I wouldn't know. But since you already have PC100 ram...maybe you can just use that still.

4. KT133A is the same as KT133 except it supports the 266fsb T-Birds. Durons have 200mhz bus so you probably won't need a KT133A board.

I don't know what kind of stuff is available in sweden but good luck...you should go check out these threads and overclockers.com just to help you start out.

 

[Scouzer]

If your getting a KT133, don't plan on getting your FSB above 110...it doesn't like FSB adjustments...KT133A on the other hand will probably go farther than your CPU will.