K7-SEM Motherboard - fastest processor?

[BooneRebel]

My father-in-law has a K7-SEM with a AMD Duron 700MHz processor and 128MB of RAM. He currently uses this box as his primary system for gaming, etc. He's got a Nvidia GeForce3/64MB and I don't think the system is truly taking advantage of this card. He wants to upgrade for performance without spending more than $100 or so. I think the ideal would be to add a faster processor and another 128MB of RAM.

1. What's the fastest processor I can add to this board? I've tried looking at the support manuals but the ones I've found were printed over a year ago and I'm pretty sure that are were a few newer processors I can throw onto this board.

2. Would I/he be better off swapping out the motherboard/CPU for a newer one instead of just replacing the processor?

It's been a long time since I've done any component-level research for desktop systems so any assistance/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Boone.

 

[lsman]

Depend on OS, adding more RAM is a cheap and easy upgrade, especially so for Win XP. Win98 should be enough.
(another 128MB sell for $10-15 AR everywhere, check FS/FT for ppl who want to unload theirs when they move to DDR RAM or hot deal forum)

It should support up to AMD XP 2200, make sure you update the BIOS first Text

upgrade to the Xp 1600+ or 1700+ for around $55 will be the best value.
get a 80mm fan gc68 from svc or case-mod.com for quiet operation. ~$5.5 + shipping

Replacing board and CPU will almost need a DDR RAM which will be more expensive.

IMHO, upgrade HD speed (7200 rpm is better than a 5400) may be better than replace the whole, what speed is the HDD?

 

[Peter]

That really depends on how old the board is. Early ones cannot do 133 MHz CPU bus, hence no Athlon XP. Your safest bet would be a faster Duron, or a leftover T-Bird Athlon w/ 100 MHz CPU bus.

regards, Peter