PPGA Socket 370 Upgrade

[pappadj]

I've been searching everywhere for this answer and cannot seem to find it exactly. My friend has an old HP Brio BA 466mhz system and wants to know what processor it can handle. I understand that the current FSB is 66mhz and that it's a PPGA processor so it will have limitations. I know a new pc is the way to go but my friend just wants me to find out what options he has.

Basically what I need to know is:
- How can I tell if the BIOS would restrict a new processor
- Do I need to stay with the PPGA 66mhz bus chip or can I use 100mhz FC-PGA

An example of a processor that I'm looking at, I'm open to other suggestions
$37 Intel Celeron (Pentium III based) 766MHz 128K Socket 370 PPGA CPU Processor -OEM

Thanks for the help on this one

 

[Doh!]

you can use 100mhz FC-PGA only if you use an adapter such as the one from powerleap since the socket is different and the voltage requirement is different. In addition, just because your motherboard is socket 370, it doesn't mean that it will take any socket 370 cpu's. I hardly doubt that your board will take any PIII-based processors without either an adapter or a hardware modification to the board. At the end, it's not worth the money and the time to upgrade.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Don't bother, there is very little choice. You can't put a coppermine CPU in there, and the RAM is also probably too little. The best advice to him is to build/buy a new PC.

 

[pappadj]

thanks for the replies Doh! and StrangerGuy.... I was worried about that. I was hoping that the processor I listed above would work as it's a PPGA 66mhz bus processor. So the coppermine would not work even though the rest of the specs match up?

It does have 512MB of RAM in it.... not too shabby so a $40 upgrade to a 766mhz processor would make a decent young kids pc but a 466mhz would make a fine web/music pc but there's not many games that will support 466mhz anymore.

Thanks again for the replies

 

[superkdogg]

Originally posted by: pappadj
thanks for the replies Doh! and StrangerGuy.... I was worried about that. I was hoping that the processor I listed above would work as it's a PPGA 66mhz bus processor. So the coppermine would not work even though the rest of the specs match up?

It does have 512MB of RAM in it.... not too shabby so a $40 upgrade to a 766mhz processor would make a decent young kids pc but a 466mhz would make a fine web/music pc but there's not many games that will support 466mhz anymore.

Thanks again for the replies

There's also not many games that support 733 very well. He'll need something newer to play most anything, but you do have a couple of good uses laid out for that machine. GL.

 

[pappadj]

thanks superk, I think I'll leave it alone unless the cpu above is worth the "try"... if it cannot because it's coppermine then I won't even bother risking the return shipping. The socket 370s were a crazy bunch... Here's what I vaguely remember from them:

PPGA = 66mhz (non-FC-PGA chips)
FC-PGA = Coppermine 100mhz
FC-PGA2 = Tualitin 133mhz

It almost looks like the chip sold on newegg is a Coppermine non fc-pga, kinda like a hybrid ppga/coppermine chip and would work. All the other Coppermine chips I've seen are 100mhz based. Then again, even if it was a (Non/FC-PGA) Coppermine, the BIOS would still have to recognize it and that would require HP to have updated... yeah.

If only OEM companies were forced to provide a motherboard spec sheet. I'm always reminded why I'll never buy one again. I'm 90% of the way to telling the guy that he's SOL... I just hate saying that being a old-school fix-it/don't replace it tech. That's why he came to me but at least I have HP to blame.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: pappadj
thanks superk, I think I'll leave it alone unless the cpu above is worth the "try"... if it cannot because it's coppermine then I won't even bother risking the return shipping. The socket 370s were a crazy bunch... Here's what I vaguely remember from them:

PPGA = 66mhz (non-FC-PGA chips)
FC-PGA = Coppermine 100mhz
FC-PGA2 = Tualitin 133mhz

It almost looks like the chip sold on newegg is a Coppermine non fc-pga, kinda like a hybrid ppga/coppermine chip and would work. All the other Coppermine chips I've seen are 100mhz based. Then again, even if it was a (Non/FC-PGA) Coppermine, the BIOS would still have to recognize it and that would require HP to have updated... yeah.

If only OEM companies were forced to provide a motherboard spec sheet. I'm always reminded why I'll never buy one again. I'm 90% of the way to telling the guy that he's SOL... I just hate saying that being a old-school fix-it/don't replace it tech. That's why he came to me but at least I have HP to blame.

That's so old school.
Upgrade.

 

[pappadj]

yeah, some peeps cannot bring themselves to taking their old pcs outback and putting them out of their misery. I'm like the dog trainer who's trying to teach an old dog new tricks... but if it gets me extra business, I'm all for it.

 

[lycurgus]

Actually the Coppermines also went to 133MHz FSB. The Tualatins represented a die shrink, and lower voltages and slightly higher clock speeds. There was also a 'server' version with 512KB L2 cache.

In any case, I agree with previous comments - not worth the time / money to try to upgrade. You should be able to get a dirt cheap socket A m/b and corresponding processor.