Needed: upgrade path for Compaq Presario SR1010Z

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I've got a socket 754 motherboard based Compaq system that I bought cheap in the summer of 2005. I was interested in upgrading the CPU, but then noticed that it cost $250 to buy the 3700+. I could buy a socket AM2 processor that does better than that for $100.

So, I'm starting to wonder if there is a decent motherboard with onboard Nvidia or ATI video out there, socket AM2, that would let me upgrade this thing and use up to an AMD Athlon X2 6000+ CPU in it.

Right now, I've just got the socket 754 Sempron 3000 in there, so it would be quite an upgrade.

Can anyone recommend such a beast?

 

[tcsenter]

GeForce 6100/6150 is a decent entry-level performer with mature driver support, though even a $43.00 GF6200 PCI-E card would hugely out-perform any current integrated graphics. This should fit the bill:

ASRock AM2NF6G-VSTA Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100+405 mATX - $65.00 shipped

Product Specs from ASRock: AM2NF6G-VSTA

Might even support Barcelona when AMD finally gets its sh-t together. ASRock has a good track record of adding support for new/emerging processors to the BIOS of motherboard models already sold instead of trying to push sales of its latest models.

The PCI Express graphics slot supports x16 cards but only has x8 lanes, which would not hinder performance by much except on the highest-end graphics cards. If you should go with another GeForce 6100 board, ensure it is based on either nForce 405 or higher Southbridge. The PCI Express graphics slot on boards using MCP61V (i.e. 6100 + nForce 400) is limited to x1 operation, which does cripple performance significantly.

All AM2 boards require DDR2 memory. DDR2 is dirt cheap these days @ around $45 ~ $50 per GB.

You might need a new power supply, too. Those factory OEM units usually have a minimum amount of overhead to support additional power requirements. I've used a dozen of these without a problem:

Rosewill RV450S ATX12V 450W PSU

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

This Asrock mboard sounds great, except it has one primary, and one secondary problem:

1) It only has support for 2 IDE/PATA devices
I have 2 IDE hard drives, and 2 IDE optical drives in my system, (1 of them brand new)
so this would cause a problem

2) It doesn't have Gigabit LAN


Can anyone suggest a board that has 2 IDE connectors, as well as Gigabit LAN? The board sounded great except for those two limitations.

 

[o1die]

I'd save your money and go with the socket 754 3200 venice (2.2 ghtz). It's only $36 shipped as a newegg open box special, and only 200 hertz slower than the 3700. You can use your old sempron heatsink. If your compaq board has a separate pci-e slot, I would add a separate video card.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: GunsMadeAmericaFree
Can anyone suggest a board that has 2 IDE connectors, as well as Gigabit LAN? The board sounded great except for those two limitations.

Those will be a tad more expensive:

ASUS M2NBP-VM CSM Socket AM2 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S - $81.00 shipped

ASUS M2NPV-VM Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 - $96.00 shipped

MSI K9NBPM2-FID Socket AM2 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S - $83.00

The two ASUS boards are identical except for the integrated graphics. One features the Quadro NVS 210S integrated graphics (same as the MSI board), the other features GeForce 6150 integrated graphics. I don't know how the Quadro performs relative to GeForce 6150, but probably very comparable. NVIDIA's Quadro product line uses the same GPUs as its GeForce product line, only the drivers are different.

Quadro drivers are optimized for professional graphics segment (e.g. CAD, design, animation, multiple displays, etc.), whereas GeForce drivers are optimized for consumer graphics segment (including 3D gaming). ATI does the same thing vis-a-vis FireGL and Radeon products. Generally, the Quadro drivers can't be installed on a GeForce product nor vice versa without modifying either the drivers (or the hardware ID).

Additionally, drivers for Quadro are not released as frequently as GeForce. The latest XP/2000 driver for Quadro NVS was released in April 2006 vs. November 2006 for the GeForce 6 Series. The latest Vista 32-bit driver for Quadro was released in February 2007 vs. May 2007 for GeForce 6 Series.