Upgrade a P150 ??

[Jeffwo]

My daughter has a P150. I think it's AT. You have to turn it off, doesn't turn itself off.

I would really like for her to have a 450-600 MHz.

Is it worth switching cpu/mobos and PSU or am I better off to just get another whole tower?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[TheGrandHooHa]

You are better off just buying a new tower. You'll need a new motherboard anyway to get up to 400mhz or greater, and plus a new case with the power supply included costs less than many stand-alone power supplies.

 

[Goldfish]

Actually, you can find AT form factor slot one motherboards, and could put a PII system in one. A PII should run fine on a 200 watt PSU, and I'm sure you can find one of those for cheap somewhere.

 

[Jeffwo]

<< Actually, you can find AT form factor slot one motherboards, and could put a PII system in one. A PII should run fine on a 200 watt PSU, and I'm sure you can find one of those for cheap somewhere. >>



That's kinda what I was hoping for.

What does a PII go up to? (MHz.?)

Jeff

 

[Heisenberg]

The fastest PII's were 450 MHz.

 

[Cygni]

I suggest a whole new tower.

To step up to the 600mhz range your going to need a new processor, ram, motherboard, and if that new motherboard is ATX, your going to need a PS and maybe a new case too. Add in the fact that the vidcard/soundcard in that 150 are probably ancient, and you get the picture.

It would be better to start from scratch and put together a whole new system. As long as your getting a new CPU, its not going to make much sience to go lower than about 900, because prices level off. For example a 750 Duron = $34, a 800 = $35, 850 = $37, 900 = $38, 950 = $41 and a 1Ghz = $47. As you can see, its a matter of pennies of difference as they get slower.

As you can probably tell, i suggest going the Duron route. Its cheaper than a Celeron route, and much faster. If she doesnt play many games or much hard activity, i suggest pairing a 950 or 1Ghz duron with a KM133A motherboard like This One. KM133A is an intergrated chipset, so you get build in sound and video, making things easier on you. If shes into games, you might want to get a ECS K7S5A and add in a medium power video card. If you want some good power and no fuss about Sound/Video/LAN for a LONG time, you can always spring for an nForce based board like this one as they have all of that built in, althought there are deffinitly cheaper solutions out there.

I hope you get something that works well for you, Good luck!

 

[Jeffwo]

Uhmm.......I guess I forgot to mention I wanted a really cheap upgrade. I know I can get a 450 tower
over at FS/T forum for $150-200.

Jeff

 

[Cygni]

Duron 900 = $41
MSI KM133A Pro5 = $85
256mb PC133 = $38
Aopen Mid Tower ATX w/250watt PS = $35
Total = $199

EDIT:

OR

Duron 900 = $41
ECS K7S5A = $57
256mb PC133 = $38
Aopen Mid Tower ATX w/250watt PS = $35
ATI Xpert 98 Rage XL 8MB = $22
Total = $193

 

[Jeffwo]

Hey, you are talking my language now. I already have a spare 600 Duron that will OC
to 1000.

What would be a cheap mobo to get so I could use it?

Jeff

 

[Cygni]

Hmmm.... my favorite cheap mobo, the K7S5A, doesnt have much in the way of OC'ing. There IS an OC'ing bios out there, but i havent had much experiance with it. I heard it works quite well though.

 

[Mltsao]

As for overclocking with the K7S5A, i used the ocworkbench.com BIOS and overclocked my 650 duron to 900 @ 1.85V (6.5x138)

Very stable and running WinXP pro

 

[Jeffwo]

Thanks guys. You have given me the info I need to get her upgraded for the pricerange I needed.

Thanks,
Jeff