Nervous Newbie Swapping Out CPU - A Couple Questions...

[JessRobinson]

Hi All,

I'm currently running a TBird 900@1000 on an Abit KT7-RAID. I'm just about to swap out the 900 for an Athlon 1.4 Ghz CPU. The KT7-RAID is at 200 FSB so the Athon 1.4 is the fastest processor I can use. I've never swapped out a CPU before and I have a couple questions:

1) Is this really as simple as popping out the old TBird 900 and popping in the 1.4? Assuming a successful install, when I boot up will the mobo autodetect the new CPU and life will just go on as I knew it before? Should I be backing up all of my data?

2) Will the heatsink/fan from my TBird 900 transfer over to the Athlon 1.4? They are both Socket A.

3) Anything else I should know? Is there a CPU swap-out article/tutorial anywhere that I can read?

4) Anyone want to buy a TBird 900?

Thanks in advance for any answers and/or moral support that you may provide.

Jess

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

yes i believe it is as easy as pop in new tbird and you are done
make sure the 1.4ghz is also a 200fsb chip

you should keep old tbird for a bit though, im pretty sure you wont have any problems since its only a cpu swtich, not a chipset switch or anything like that, but just incase the unthinkable hits you would want to revert back to old cpu, backup, and install new cpu and then fresh format

i doubt anything will go wrong software wise however

tbird 1.4 was afaik by far the hottest running athlon processor, so im thinking probably not if you are using the retail tbird 900 heatsink

if its not the retail heatsink off tbird 900, what heatsink is it?

nothing else you need to know, just use thermal grease (arctic silver 2/3 maybe?) and you are set once we someone tells you whether your current heatsink will work or not (if its retail off 900) if its an aftermarket, tell us what heatsink you have adn someone will respond with yay or nay

 

[mrman3k]

1). The installation process should be as simple as you are hoping for. The key word is "should be" (I know it is 2 words). It is very likely that you may need a BIOS update, but other than that, it should be fine. Also a big thing is definetly back up your data. When you work on things like this, you are doing fairly risky work which for some fluke chance, ruin your data.

2). The heatsink/fan should be fine as long as it is rated for the 1.4. If you are unsure, can you post what model/make it is, or if is a retail AMD HSF.

3). I think AT has a tutorial.

4). No