Replacing old P2-400 with a Celeron

[iam29a]

Morning All,

I am looking to update a secondary PC in my home. This is not a primary-use PC and as such I am not looking for stellar performance. I am a little curious, though, regarding the current state of Celeron processor performance compared to my dated Perntium 2 400-MHz (non-Celeron).

About the only thing I'd imagine (outside of web-surfing, email, and maybe a little wordprocessing) I'd use this for is for DVD-playback to a projector, but certainly not processor-intensive like trying to play HD via WM9.

I would also be looking for a relatively inexpensive (but not overly troublesome) Abit motherboard to match to the new processor. Any suggestions or enlightenment would be appreciated.

 

[high]

I would probably, for the respective pricepoints, grab a 2500 Barton and an Abit NF7-S. But you will need new DDR ram and a video card, case, power supply. Dont know your budget, so it's hard to say.

 

[oldfart]

Why a new mobo? You can very often use the one you have. Since it is a P2 400, I assume it is a slot1 BX based board? Which model?

 

[iam29a]

Its a VT6X4 that Abit terminated in their BIOS development rather early. I think the fastest processor you can get for it is < 1GHz.

I should have said (my bad) I am sticking with Interl chipsets and processors.

 

[oldfart]

Upgradeware shows that mobo as supported with the Slot-T adapter. This would allow you to use a Celeron Tualatin up to 1.4 GHz.

 

[iam29a]

Yeah, but I'd think the bottlenexk wouldn't be worth it. Really, if I can keep around $500 or so I'd be happy.

CPU
Mobo
RAM
Video
M-Audio
Case w/PWS

 

[oldfart]

If you are getting all of that, you are building a new system. I thought you were looking to upgrade the existing system. I misunderstood.

 

[iam29a]

Sorry, my apologies. I keep forgetting that when I say 'upgrade' I mean upgrade my household with a new PC. Crazy, huh?

First, the current power supply will not feed any of today's ATX/P4 motherboards as its missing the aux power connector. Second, I could scavenge the DVD-ROM drive (albeit its slow as a first-gen DVD-ROM). Also, the memory is PC133 at best and its not going to work on a new motherboard. Sound card is an original SB Live! Value. I would need a good audio card for the output to the receiver.

Again, the level of technology is no where near up to date and this is typical of an aux. PC in my home. My primary (some 20-months old) is a P4/1.6A on Abit IT7 w/512MB Corsair PC2400 XMS DDR, 500GB of disk and a 128MB video card. About 6-months ago I built a new PC for the wife (her only PC) using a 2.4C on an Abit IS7 w/512 Corsaid XMS PC3200, 80GB disk, and a 64MB Radeon AIW (8xxx).

Since the replacement PC is only designed for DVD-playback I would think that it needed to be upgraded since I currently cannot get it to play DVD's. If I go with a P4 the mobo will not do, neither will the RAM. The new video is such that many seem to think the Radeon does better for DVD playback and everyone on AVS seems to like the M-Audio for HTPC-to-AV receiver transport.

 

[DieHardware]

oldfart's upgrade would play DVD's with ease. (For that matter a PII 400 would too if you could find a copy of Cinemaster '99). As for a MB/CPU/PSU upgrade while keeping most of your old parts look at this thread.