Is it worth upgrading 900 to 1.4ghz AMD CPU???

[MyGiggaHurts]

HI, I have a AMD 900 T-Bird on a Epox 8kta3 mobo, two ?s, my mobo manual says 1.2GHz is the limit, the Epox site says 1.4Ghz and I saw a review online that says 1.666GHz, how fast of a cpu should I put on there and is it worth upgrading over my 900? I just installed a PNY NVidia 4 4400 and I would like to squeeze some more time out of this mobo if possible. Thanks for any help and advice!!!!

 

[Duvie]

Likely those speeds are supported by flashing board with new bios from epox's site...probably had to enter additional multipliers and support for 266mhz "c" chip tbirds....


Worth upgrading??? depends...What are you going to do with it? Apps you will be running? Gaming, if so what vid card?

The 1400 will be the 266fsb chip, right? Or does the board still lack supprt for 266fsb chips???

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

I'd stick with the 900, but if you do decide to upgrade - don't throw it (the 900) out, I could use it!

 

[jeffrey]

"I just installed a PNY NVidia 4 4400 and I would like to squeeze some more time out of this mobo if possible. Thanks for any help and advice!!!!"

You just installed a Geforce 4 and you need to squeeze more out of your system??? What are you having trouble running?

 

[Arundel]

I never say no to a little upgrade

 

[wake]

Why not wait 2 months until the 1800/1900+ drops down to what the 1400 is worth right now
Going from 900 to 1800 is a little more viable of an upgrade

 

[Jace]

Check some of the benchmarks here, they compare many different processors, one of which is an athlon 850. Look how much faster the Athlon XP 1600 is, (1.4ghz). If your board supports XP processors, one of them might be your best bet.

 

[Jace]

Check this for cpu compatibility.

CPU Support

It looks like your board is not Athlon XP compatible, but that it does support the 266fsb Athlons. In that case, I would definitely upgrade, the FSB increase and the MHZ increase will make it worthwile. The 1.4 does take good cooling though.

 

[AKDUDE1]

For some reason the EPOX site states that the board does not support XPs, but in fact it does. They have had a couple bios updates for XPs, and updates to raise the multiplier. Though I don't currently have XP installed in my board, I have done some research on the motherboard forums around the net and plenty of people are running the XPs on the 8KTA3.

Im currently in the same boat, I have the 8KTA3, with a 900mhz TBIRD and im just waiting for a cheap XP chip to hold me out till hammer gets here.

Since the board is a KT133a chipset, of course it will support a 266mhz FSB.

I seriously doubt the board will support a TBRED.
AKDUDE

 

[Gomce]

"Is it worth upgrading 900 to 1.4ghz AMD CPU???"
No, wait until 1.8 Ghz Palominos get afordable.

 

[SteelCityFan]

Summer is coming up, and upgrading to the 1.4 T-Bird will increase your cooling bill. Wait until the winter months so you can lower your heating bills

(Please see heat chart on Tom's hardware guide for more information)

hehe

 

[Boogak]

<< Summer is coming up, and upgrading to the 1.4 T-Bird will increase your cooling bill. Wait until the winter months so you can lower your heating bills >>


LOL, it's true! I only had to turn on the heater in my apartment 3 times this past winter (granted I live in Dallas, but it still falls below freezing alot). I leave my 1.4ghz Tbird and 800mhz P3 on 24x7 cracking SETI. Summers do suck though...

 

[smp]

I just did the same thing you wan to do .. or pretty much the same.

I had a Asus A7V w/ 900 tbird on it and I switched to a KG7 w/ 1400 and DDR . the performance difference is negligable. The machine boots faster and it's a little snappier .. that's about it. Loads programs a bit faster but not really worth paying lots of money for. Of course, I got all my stuff from the for sale/trade forums, so I saved a good bundle

I haven't done any banchmarks though, cause I can't be bothered anymore.