I've been looking into upgrading the processor (AMD AthlonXP 1900+) in my Evesham made machine. However, I'm still a little nervous about going for it 'till talking about it in the forum. The Motherboard is a Asus A7V333 - Socket A VIA KT333 chipset using 512mb of DDR memory (2700 I think). The Installation Asus Manual states 'The A7V333 supports Athlon XP processors with QuantiSpeed data processing, large data caches, 3D enhancements and 266MHz bus speeds.' I've talked to Asus who were very quick to help and they gave me the following link - http://www.asus.com/support/cpusupport.aspx http://www.asus.com/support/cpusupport.aspx Now I realise that if I wanted to put in a AthlonXP 2800+ chip I need cooling and a BIOS update via download but is this really possible (as they are 333MHz) or shoud I spend cash on upgrading the whole thing to (possibly) AMD Athlon64? Help VERY much appreciated...
The KT333 doesn't natively support 333MHz front side bus (FSB) Athlons. It's possible, but that would really depend on how well the board overclocks. If it has a PCI/AGP:FSB 1/5 divider that activates at 166MHz (x2=333MHz for the FSB), you could be able to do it. Asus may support it, but it's a crapshoot regardless. If it does work, there isn't a guarantee that you will be able to run it at 2800 speeds. A BIOS update isn't that bad. You may be able to use a Windows-based flash utility (I'm quite sure you can), and take some of the fears of doing so away. The board's design leaves something to be desired regarding heatsink installation, so certain heatsink's might be a chore. Unless you've really got cash you gotta spend, A64 isn't something I'd jump for right now, especially since the long term socket 939 hasn't come out yet. The current socket 940 is more or less a dead-end (socket 939 is it's replacement). To go with the CPU, I'd suggest getting a new socket A motherboard, which would allow you to max out the life of the socket A platform. 64-bit doesn't have enough available to make it worth your while yet, and this way you're not spending gobs of cash yet. You will want to install your current OS for best results.
Thanks loads - much clearer now Big B! Only question remaining - Which motherboard goes well with a 2800 or 3000 AMD AthlonXP and what other adjustments would be needed - cooling, memory chips etc....
Depends on your memory, but an nForce 2 board is a safe bet now. I picked up an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe board here in town the other day, and so far it's been great. Didn't give me fits with my pair of Samsung PC2700 either. If you buy the retail version of the CPU, it comes with a heatsink. It's not the greatest thing, but it works. If you want something better, take a look at ThermalRight and ThermalTake.
