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View Full Version : Yet another CPU upgrade question


Droopy
31st Aug 2005, 11:52
I'm halfway minded to buy a complete new system but I'd like to put it off for a year or so; at the moment all I need is a bit more speed for some games my son wants.

I have a 4 year old Athlon 1.2GHz on a K7 GA-72X motherboard and all I want to do is source a faster CPU; I'm happy with the actual process. The question is, just how fast could I expect to go without changing the motherboard etc? If it's going to get too much like hard work I might just opt for the new system.

Thanks in advance.

Stoney X
31st Aug 2005, 12:56
Droopy, is the motherboard a GA-7ZX? I couldn't find a 72X. According to this list (http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/CPUSupportList/CPUSupportList_GA-7ZX%20(Rev%205.1).htm) you aren't going to get much more from the board you have. But as fairly good motherboards can be bought for less than £40, you might want to investigate updating it too. But be careful! It's easy to get carried away going down this route when a new system would be cheaper and better.

Regards
Stoney

Droopy
31st Aug 2005, 13:10
Yes, it's a Z not a 2 - that'll teach me to look more closely. The link is exactly what I need, many thanks.

Conan the Librarian
31st Aug 2005, 13:17
You may find that upping the RAM will give you 12 months peace and much improved performance. Memory is so cheap these days and often extends the useful life of a PC. Especially if you can crowbar it out and flog it afterwards.

Try doubling your memory. If you have a 1.2 then given a guess at its age and likely config, you may well have 256 on board. Double it! If 512, still double it! If 128, throw the 128 away and fit 512.


Conan

Mac the Knife
31st Aug 2005, 15:42
Up memory to 512 as suggested.

Swop CPU for any recent Socket-A Athlon-XP or Sempron (up to the 2800 series at a guess). Socket-A is officially dead (though none of my 3 desktops know it) and consequently Socket-A CPUs can be found at bargain basement prices.

But you're above a certain minimum, games are far more dependent on the GPU/graphics card than the base PC, so beware. Best midrange bargain currently is the Nvidia 6600GT (much cheaper now that the 7800 series is out).

Or buy a new PC and install Linux on the old one.......

Stoney X
31st Aug 2005, 15:42
Conan has a good point. According to the specs you can put in 3 X 512Mb 168pin PC133 SDRAM modules. That's a pretty decent amount considering the rest of the package. Along the same lines installing a 3D graphics card with more memory than your current one will also speed up gaming.

Regards
Stoney

Mac the Knife
31st Aug 2005, 17:11
If he's running Win98 there's no point in exceeding 512Mb memory. The 9x series gets confused if it sees more than that.

See http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=333688

Droopy
31st Aug 2005, 19:12
Thanks everyone, my train of thought was that if I could go to 1.7 -2.0 it would give me a yaer's grace but it looks like I might as well look at a whole new system. I don't want to spend on bits and pieces when I could renew rather than tweak.

Conan the Librarian
31st Aug 2005, 19:43
Droops, you are discovering the joy of upgrades as many of us have. In fact, I wish on three occasions, that I had just gone off to buy a new system.

But don't let that get you down! If you have to buy a new sys - then your exisiting one will do wonderfully well for Ppruning, the net and God Forbid! - even work... Assuming that you are broadband, all you will need is a wireless dongle to talk to a wireless router and away you go... See? Things aren't always as bad as they might seem.... You could end up with less being more.

Conan