PIII Slot 1 CPU Questions: Upgrade Options

[Jaimie]

Hey,

I've got a Dell downstairs from 1998, it's running a Pentium III 500Mhz in a Slot 1. I'm primarily using it as a file server/media (music only) center/folding box downstairs. It is running Windows 2000 Professional. It has 128MB of RAMBUS memory. I have since upgraded to my present computer in my room, but this computer still has life in it for what I need it for. Now, if I were to put approximately $100 into this computer what could i expect from upgrades.

1. RAM: 256MB of PC600 RDRAM is now approximately $50.
2. CPU: I have a 100Mhz FSB Pentium III 500Mhz processor, quite the deal for its day. However, what options would make sense for upgrades in the slot 1 package? Since it is an OEM board overclocking or moving a jumper to set it at 133Mhz bus is out of the question. What would happen if I were to purchase a 133Mhz bus processor? Also, what would be a good speed to upgrade to? Most of the processors are under $60 for the Slot 1 100 Mhz, except for the 1Ghz Slot 1 100Mhz.

The RAM would most likely boost overall performance, but the Processor would definately help with the folding. However, is this even worth it? Or am I just beating a dead horse?

Anyways, I'd like to hear your ideas
Jaimie

 

[superkdogg]

I'm not old school enough to really answer this, but here's my best shot from what I remember. Don't buy a 133 FSB processor. You'll automatically underclock it by 1/4 because your motherboard will run it at 100. Your best bet might be a Celeron and a "slotket." Thats the adaptor that people used to upgrade slot 1 to socket 370. IIRC the cellys for 370 all ran at 100. A check of Pricewatch says you could get the Celly @ 1.3 for ~$40. They're not that great, and your board would need to support the 13x multiplier, but it's really cheap and would be in the neighborhood of the 1.0 P3, but probably not quite as good. I'm not sure what a slotket goes for, but look here in the For Sale forum-somebody's prolly got one up.

 

[The_Lurker]

Check your motherboard to make sure what FSB it can handle (if it can handle 133mhz, ur set, but then u have to get 133mhz RDRam), and also check what the max multiplier it can handle (so make sure it can handle up to a certain CPU). If you know what the MAX speed cpu it can handle, and know what fsb it can handle, u can deduce the multiplier.

 

[ZL1]

chances of 133 fsb arent very high
but upgrading the ram may be nice


D

PS what exact model is it ?

 

[gwag]

I would consider one of the Sempron 2500 combos from outpost their like $60 CPU and MB, having 128M ram sux these days and rimms are expensive . if folding performance is what you after the FPU on that AMD will be similar to a 1.5 P3 you should be able to pick up a 512 for about $60.

 

[highlandsun]

I just tossed out my old PIII system into the dumpster last week. It was originally running a 500MHz PIII, I replaced it with a PowerLeap Tualatin 1.3GHz PIII a couple years ago. Last month the system died, wouldn't beep or POST, so I bought my current A64 system to replace it. I didn't bother diagnosing if any of the other peripherals were still salvageable, just tossed it all. Had 768MB of PC133 RAM on it too, the max it could handle. (Abit BE6, 3 slots.) It had been running 24/7 since about May '99, so I figured there wasn't much life left in it anyway.

(Oh, correction, I kept the floppy drive. I kept the CDROM drive at first, but it was hanging my new machine, so I pulled it and tossed that too.)

Anyway, the point of the post was that if you're running into a CPU performance ceiling, a PowerLeap kit could work for you. But maybe more RAM would be more effective.

 

[Netopia]

Agree with the Powerleap suggestion. They will give you a Tualitin CPU (Celeron... but the most kick butt Celerons of all time) and a special SLocket with its own power regulator. Not sure what they are charging these days, but you'll get a HUGE shot in the arm and get a bunch more life out of that system for the price.

Joe

 

[rogue1979]

Originally posted by: superkdogg
I'm not old school enough to really answer this, but here's my best shot from what I remember. Don't buy a 133 FSB processor. You'll automatically underclock it by 1/4 because your motherboard will run it at 100. Your best bet might be a Celeron and a "slotket." Thats the adaptor that people used to upgrade slot 1 to socket 370. IIRC the cellys for 370 all ran at 100. A check of Pricewatch says you could get the Celly @ 1.3 for ~$40. They're not that great, and your board would need to support the 13x multiplier, but it's really cheap and would be in the neighborhood of the 1.0 P3, but probably not quite as good. I'm not sure what a slotket goes for, but look here in the For Sale forum-somebody's prolly got one up.

A Celeron 1300MHz is a Tualatin, with a full 256k L2 cache as well as data prefetch. Clock for clock slightly faster than a Coppermine P3 on the same fsb, slightly slower than a Tualatin P3 on a 133MHz fsb.

 

[Jscanavan]

The Tualatin celeron 370 chip need a special slotkey adaptor to work, unless you find the schematics, cut pins, add wires, etc. The powerleap one is the best one, since it has it's own regulators. It's a lot more expensive than the t-slot adapters made by upgradeware.com, sold exclusively in the US here http://www.strattoncomputer.com/sldegx1g1cpu.html

I've used these in abit BH6 slot systems with the 1.4 chips without issues. (I add stick on heat sinks to the motherboard regulators, a potential weak spot)

Multiplier doesn't matter, only bus speed. The 1.4 will run at 900mhz if the 100mhz bus won't work. If you feed it 100mhz, it will run at 1400 no matter appears during the post.

EDIT: There's two powerleap adapters with 1.0 chips on ebay with chips really cheap. No affiliation, ymmv, buyer beware, etc.

 

[Netopia]

The nice thing about the 1.0 chips is that you can crank up the FSB some. If you wanted to use this for a server, you could throw a PCI graphics card in there and crank the 1.0 up to 1.3-1.4 speeds and have an even better performer (hight FSB than the 1.4's). I currently have a 1.4 in a BX-133/Raid which is still the 440BX Chipset but with a Socket instead of a slot. It's running as a Fedora Core 3 server with ease.

Joe

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: highlandsun
I just tossed out my old PIII system into the dumpster last week. It was originally running a 500MHz PIII, I replaced it with a PowerLeap Tualatin 1.3GHz PIII a couple years ago. Last month the system died, wouldn't beep or POST, so I bought my current A64 system to replace it. I didn't bother diagnosing if any of the other peripherals were still salvageable, just tossed it all. Had 768MB of PC133 RAM on it too, the max it could handle. (Abit BE6, 3 slots.) It had been running 24/7 since about May '99, so I figured there wasn't much life left in it anyway.

So sad... you probably could have sold the CPU + RAM for some $$$, maybe enough to even buy some RAM for the new rig. CPU/RAM doesn't normally "wear out", the mobo probably just went. Those do wear out, eventually.