Pentium 3 Upgrade

[Xor]

I have an ASUS P3V4X (slot 1) motherboard with a P3-700 (100mhz FSB) and 512megs of PC133 ram.

If I upgrade to a P3-1000 (133mhz FSB) will I notice much difference?

Is it possible to upgrade to a P3-1.13 or 1.2 or any of the higher P3's? If the interface is different, can you buy an adapter (like the one I'm using now to use a socket 370 chip in my slot 1 board)?

 

[DimZiE]

correct me if i'm wrong...

- but i don't think your board support 133 MHz FSB......

- piii-700 to piii-1 G... imo you won't really notice it... ( assuming you're using the same motherboard ) since your memory would run in 100 MHz anyway and the system bandwith is exactly the same as before....

imo : save your money for a full upgrade

 

[Xor]

Actually, it does support 133mhz FSB (and I'm already using 133 ram).

That's the only reason I was considering the upgrade... not only would I gain 300mhz CPU speed but also an additional 33mhz FSB speed.

I still need a major upgrade (to a P4), but as a temporary stopgap measure, while waiting for the right MB to come out (not sure which one will be right yet though), I was thinking that a $100 chip might make enough difference... maybe?

I know the 700 to 1000 CPU upgrade is going to be barely noticeable, but will the 100 to 133 FSB upgrade add enough to make it worthwhile?

Even after I get the BIG upgrade, this computer will still be used as a second computer ( for my wife ) so the upgrade won't really be thrown away in a couple of months.

 

[Vette73]

Would it be a little faster yes, will it be worth it no.

I would just wait and get a new Athlon or P4 system

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Originally posted by: Xor
I have an ASUS P3V4X (slot 1) motherboard with a P3-700 (100mhz FSB) and 512megs of PC133 ram.

If I upgrade to a P3-1000 (133mhz FSB) will I notice much difference?

Is it possible to upgrade to a P3-1.13 or 1.2 or any of the higher P3's? If the interface is different, can you buy an adapter (like the one I'm using now to use a socket 370 chip in my slot 1 board)?

1) There won't be a HUGE difference in going from 700 MHz (100 MHz FSB) to 1.0 GHz (133 MHz) FSB.

2) There might be a possible upgrade to the higher clocked P3's (Tualatin) but only through PowerLeap and it will cost more. Check their website for motherboard compatability if you are interested.

Since you are considering an upgrade anyway, have you considering attempting an overclock on your 700 MHz CPU to see if you can get any noticable improvement that way? If you are able to get the CPU to overclock to 133 MHz then you will get a 933 MHz CPU which is almost what you are looking at anyway and it will be free. It would only be a CPU overclock as well so the motherboard, video card, RAM, etc. should still be in spec. That's probably the route I would consider if I were you.

 

[Toro 45]

Yes,do like Nelson said,thats a free upgrade just a bios setting away.Your chip has a very good chance of hitting 933mhz.you already have pc133 ram & your board has the adjustments in the bios to up the fsb to 133.

Toro

 

[Iron Woode]

one question no one has asked: how much is the 1gig slot1 cpu going to cost? What about a slocket to use 1gig fcppga cpu?

 

[randypj]

Xor--I'm not familiar with your mobo, but I'm using an Asus P3B-F (slot 1) with an MSI 6905 ver 2.3 slotket, and 1 gig of PC133. I'm going to attempt to go with a 1.0a or 1.1a wire hack Cel Tul, and hope to get to ~1.4 ghz. As pointed out before, this is pretty much equal to the same clock speed P4.

I don't know if you are familiar with the hack or not, but it would only cost you ~$50 for a Tul Celeron at newegg to give it a try....if you wanna experiment.

Yes, I do expect to get quite a bit of extra performance from this cpu/overclock.

I dunno if it will work with your mobo/slotket, but you can find the basic info on the wire hack at:

www.overclockers.com walk thru
--Randy

 

[JSSheridan]

I agree with Nelson and Muntz, overclock it. I have the same setup as you, a P3V4X motherboard w/ a P3 700MHz processor and 512 MB of PC133. All I had to do was go into BIOS and set the CPU speed to 933, BIOS adjusted the FSB to 133 in response. Then I set the voltage to 1.75 V. Since then, I haven't had a problem. It should be easy for you to do. Good luck with it. Peace.

 

[cwagner118]

check out PriceWatch for prices (im sure you already knew but incase you didnt!)

 

[Xor]

I just read a solution over at Tom's Hardware. There is a new converter for socket 370 motherboards to accept Tualatin processors. When they tested it, they even used a slot-1 MB with an Abit Socket 370 to Slot-1 converter. In the process, they upgrade a P3-600 on an Abit motherboard (BX chipset) to a Celeron 1.4... not a bad jump. The unit retails for only $35.. now I just gotta find someone who sells it!

So, after reading that option, what's the fastest Tualatin cpu? ...Celeron 1.4 or Pentium3 1.2? (or is there an even faster Pentium3 Tualatin?) And which is the best deal for the price?

 

[oldfart]

So, after reading that option, what's the fastest Tualatin cpu?

That would be the PIII-S 1.4 GHz with 512K cache.

And which is the best deal for the price?

I would say any of the Celeron Tualatins are good deals.