UPGRADING P3 CPU - WHAT SHOULD I DO?

[brigden]

I bought my little Dell P3 733 with 256MB RAM (i810e mobo) over two years ago and it's beginning to show it's age. I love the machine - it's never caused me any grief, despite all the things I've done to it. Anyway, I haven't got enough spare cash to buy a new machine outright, so I've been kicking about the idea of upgrading it. I don't play too many games, and basically use the machine just for surfing and music, but sometimes it chugs.

I have several options:

1.) Upgrade the processor. P3 1Ghz, maybe? What about a Celeron?
2.) Buy a cheap new mobo and a P4 CPU?
3.) Just buy another 256MB of RAM?

What do you guys think?

Cheers.

 

[BigJ]

ECS K7S5A Pro + AMD Athlon XP 1700+ Retail, should come out to $120-$130, add in a cheap vid card for another 60$. Then you have Sound, USB 2.0, ethernet, Video, support for DDR and SDRAM, and a few other goodies for 180$.

Or the Biostar M7VIG PRO which has onboard video, 6x USB 2.0 slots, onboard audio, onboard lan, and support for DDR and SDRAM. Add the XP 1700+ Retail and u have a new rig for $125

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

how much money DO you have? (ballpark figure)

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: brigden
I bought my little Dell P3 733 with 256MB RAM (i810e mobo) over two years ago and it's beginning to show it's age. I love the machine - it's never caused me any grief, despite all the things I've done to it. Anyway, I haven't got enough spare cash to buy a new machine outright, so I've been kicking about the idea of upgrading it. I don't play too many games, and basically use the machine just for surfing and music, but sometimes it chugs.

I have several options:

1.) Upgrade the processor. P3 1Ghz, maybe? What about a Celeron?
2.) Buy a cheap new mobo and a P4 CPU?
3.) Just buy another 256MB of RAM?

What do you guys think?

Cheers.

If you want a cheap new mobo and CPU, get AMD all the way. MUCH better value for the money, AMD dominates the value segment. You can get a 1700+ Tbred that will run at 2 GHz and a cheap motherboard to accompany that chip for like $100.

Edit: btw, more RAM will give you near ZERO performance benefit, and the i810 motherboard is notoriously slow. i815 was much faster (but still pretty slow by today's standards). Get a KT266A or KT333 motherboard and a low-end Athlon CPU.

 

[EdipisReks]

yeah, the ECS K7S5A and an athlon XP is a pretty deal to beat. one advantage of this board is that you can use your existing RAM (i'm assuming it's PC-133) and then get some DDR later when you have more cash. that's what i would do.