Upgrading a P4 1.5Ghz System

[garyttu]

Ok so my friend wants to upgrade his 1.5 p4 system (oldest chip - williamette I think?) - he currently has just 256mb RDRAM and a standard Intel agp 2x with his ati 9500...time to upgrade a bit to take advantage of that vid card...his budget is only like 200ish for right now...

I was thinking this:
He could replace his MB with a Gigabyte GA-8VT800-L which supports his P4 1.5ghz and add some standard Mushkin PC3200 2.5CL RAM- 2x512 worth which brings his grand total to 209...

Then in a year or so he can pop in a new p4 3.0+ when he has the $...
Anyone have any comments or suggestions for this configuration? Anything I should look out for, etc? (I want to make sure the pc3200 ram, new mb, aren't too much for that 1.5p4 processor)

 

[magomago]

I beleive the willy cores used a different socket than the current generation of Intel Chips, so you can't use it. I'm not an intel bufff though so wait for a second opinion to confrim what I say 😉

If your friend wants a better system, his best option is to buy a new motherboard, processor and ram since he won't be able to upgrade very far (did the Willy core ever get relased at 2 Ghz? I don't even remember anymore 😛 ) So if he wants an upgrade, he might as well bite the bullet

And if he is a big gamer, you may want to conside the Athlon64

 

[garyttu]

According to the Gigabyte website, this MB supports the 1.5 willy....

I can't confirm he has the williamette, but that is the oldest correct?

 

[SneakyStuff]

Well, there were socket 423 willys, and there were socket 478 willys, I had one of the socket 478 willys at 1.8 GHz, and they can be identified by their socket type, and their 256KB of L2 cache.

 

[MichaelZ]

i have a 1.5 and 1.7 s478 willy. yes they do have them in 478. only problem is, your friend's 1.5 might be s423 and that's a problem if you're transplanting it into the upgraded rig. it won't work, friend.

 

[redbeard1]

They make a 478 to 423 adapter. This is one company that makes them. You could update just the cpu if his board was compatible.

Powerleap

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: garyttu
Ok so my friend wants to upgrade his 1.5 p4 system (oldest chip - williamette I think?) - he currently has just 256mb RDRAM and a standard Intel agp 2x with his ati 9500...time to upgrade a bit to take advantage of that vid card...his budget is only like 200ish for right now...

I was thinking this:
He could replace his MB with a Gigabyte GA-8VT800-L">http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-128-218&amp;DEPA=0[/S</a> which supports his P4 1.5ghz and add some standard Mushkin PC3200 2.5CL RAM-">http://www.newegg.com/app/SearchProductResult.asp?Description=20-146-219&amp;DEPA=&amp;order=PRICE[/S</a> 2x512 worth which brings his grand total to 209...

Then in a year or so he can pop in a new p4 3.0+ when he has the $...
Anyone have any comments or suggestions for this configuration? Anything I should look out for, etc? (I want to make sure the pc3200 ram, new mb, aren't too much for that 1.5p4 processor)

Why not just "junk" (Ebay or FS/FT forum) the whole Willamette/RDRAM rig, and snag an AMD Athlon XP/Barton/Mobile XP/Barton, cheap NF2 400/Ultra 400 mobo combo (roughly maybe $80-$120), and then slap in some DDR besides, and then you would have a rig that would still far outperform your 1.5Ghz P4 Willy. (Get that mobile Barton OC'ed to ~2.3Ghz or so, it would absolutely destroy that older P4 in performance in games. Even non-OC'ed, you would probably see a significant performance increase.)

 

[Budman]

Why not just "junk" (Ebay or FS/FT forum) the whole Willamette/RDRAM rig, and snag an AMD Athlon XP/Barton/Mobile XP/Barton, cheap NF2 400/Ultra 400 mobo combo (roughly maybe $80-$120), and then slap in some DDR besides, and then you would have a rig that would still far outperform your 1.5Ghz P4 Willy. (Get that mobile Barton OC'ed to ~2.3Ghz or so, it would absolutely destroy that older P4 in performance in games. Even non-OC'ed, you would probably see a significant performance increase.)

Yes that's the better option,no sense upgrading that old system because in the end you'll still be using a very slow 1.5ghz willy.