Hi there

I have a computer and it is terribley slow, i have 256Mb RAM which i'll need to upgrade and im upgrading to a new 160Gb HDD to replace the 2 40Gb ones i already have. All that is simple but now i want a new processor, this area is a bit of a blur to me so any jargon will have to be followed by an explanation, i understand that you cannot simply plug in a new processor but you actually need a whole new motherboard, how???

What to i need to do to know what type to get or doesnt it matter? How do i install it etc?

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

first of all you need to tell me what your current cpu and motherboard model is...unless you want a complete new board and cpu to go with it...if so then you need to tell me a budget for these 2 things and i will give you all the help i can

My CPU is an Intel Celeron 800Mhz, it is completely useless and 1/2 the time when i have to ctrl/alt/del to shut programs down, when task manager finally appears the CPU is running at 95-100% almost constantly, that cant be good right? I have no idea what type of motherboard i have or where to find out, any help?

800mgz?...alright then you will want to upgrade the motherboard and the cpu ...do you know what kind of ram you have?...you may even need to upgrade that more than likley...tell me what you will be using for sure that you already have....then tell me what you are going to buy (upgrade)......then tell me your budget to spend and the items the money needs to buy.....lastly tell me what you are going to be using this pc for (games, video editing, ripping burning, multi tasking..ect)...sorry just need all the details so that i can get all the best info for you it would be easier to contact me via e-mail if possible...i dont know if thats against policy...ill wait a couple threades to see if anyone says anything about it...let me know though and ill do the best....

We discourage direct communications by email as it stops anyone else being able to help or offer their advice. Direct communications also mean that members can be more easily duped into going to dodgy spyware sites etc as we cannot monitor it.

For your info, a Celeron 800MHz system will have 168-pin SDRAM - it's too modern for 72-pin SIMMs but too old for DDR memory. So, you're right, Isaacual69, a new motherboard would mean new RAM as well.

Might end up being more cost-effective (and a lot less hassle) to stick the base unit on Ebay and buy a new one.

thats what i figured thats why i posted it first to see if anyone had anything to say about it thanks for letting me know...and right new board cpu and ram is his best bet...for my own knowledge...would you go with a dell board socket 478 with 1gig of duel channel ddr400 and a pentium 4 3ghz w/ ht northwood core, and not be able to overclocl it because its a sell...or go with a msi board socket 775 supporting only single channel ddr400 w/ a pentium 4 530 3ghz prescott core w/ ht?....last time ill ask an opinion need to get the part ordered as soon as i get some feedback on this thanks a lot people here a t the forum...you guys are trumendously helpful

thanks for your replies. Im not very good with all the technical stuff, im just one of those guys that learns as i go along, just undo things and swap 'em about until they work, i usually get it right in the end! This is too advanced for me so would it be better to just get a new base unit? Budget isn't a problem really, i have non set i just want to do it as cheap as poss.

So i would need a new motherboard which would have a new processor, which inturn i would need a new type of RAM to be compatible with the new motherboard as my current RAM (256Mb) is too old to fit new motherboard, am i following so far??? Would i need different graphics/sound cards to be compatible also?

Thanks

Originally Posted by isaacual69

......would you go with a dell board socket 478 with 1gig of duel channel ddr400 and a pentium 4 3ghz w/ ht northwood core, and not be able to overclocl it because its a sell...or go with a msi board socket 775 supporting only single channel ddr400 w/ a pentium 4 530 3ghz prescott core w/ ht? ......

Isaacual69 - I'm getting a bit confused here. Are we having two different conversations in the same message thread?! Weren't we talking about your Dell / MSI motherboard choice in the 'General Hardware Issues' forum?!

Scooby_dooby_dooo - If your sound card fits into a beige/white slot in the motherboard, which it probably does, then that's a PCI slot. You could swap that sound card straight into the new motherboard, although a new board will probably have on-board sound built into it anyway. With regard to the graphics card, that's probably an AGP card (in a brown slot). There has been a changeover recently of graphics card slots and new PCs are now using a PCI-Express slot, which is much faster. However, you may still be able to find a new motherboard with an AGP slot for upgraders such as yourself. If you can, then don't worry about the speed ratings - an 8x AGP slot in a new motherboard will be backwards-compatible with your older AGP graphics card, which will be running at a slower multiple.

Go ahead and upgrade if you will enjoy doing it. If you aren't really looking forward to getting into the guts of the PC and troubleshooting the problems that you'll get, then you should probably be looking at replacing the whole base unit with a better one. That way, you'll get the 160GB hard disk that you want and more RAM (which you'll almost definitely benefit from if you're running Windows 2000 or XP) and the overall cost could be less than buying the upgrade parts and fitting them yourself.

If you're in the UK and you'd like a quote on a new Dell system with the specs that you're looking for, then feel free to get in touch through my web site (link in my signature).

Hope that helps