New Motherboard? Please>quick reply!!

[GreG]

Hey guys,

I have a question I hope someone can answer, within the next 24 hours.  I recently got an Intel Celeron 2.4GHz processor for Christmas, which I was definately chuffed about as you could imagine.  The only problem is, that my motherboard could only handle a processor up to 1.6 GHz with a 370 Pin socket, the new one is for a 478 Pin socket.  Here's the main question, would I be able to buy a motherboard that could fit that processor, my current Pentium 3 Ram, a PCI Graphics card, and an internal modem.  And the next obvious question, how much do you think it would cost.

Cheers,
Greg

[stan]

Greg,
     www.newegg.com has several mainboards that
would fit your needs. there's an asus board for $60.00
for the 478 socket. Check it out  excellent site.

[GreG]

Thanks for the quick reply stan, gonna check it out now.

Cheers,
Greg

[4_Series_Scania]

Greg, I hope this isn't too late! ......

Bearing in mind I'm thinking long term here, I'd go & find the cheapest Intel "Springdale" chipset based Sct 478 motherboard you can afford - a cost of about

[GreG]

Nope, it's not too late, still haven't been able to do anything.  I live down in darkest Africa, Zimbabwe!!!  My uncle is up from South Africa, and he's gonna try get me a motherboard from there.  Does anyone know how much about 512Mb of Ram for P4's must cost, cause when I get a new motherboard, I obviously won't be able to use all my P3 Ram (768Mb)  which is a real waste, it took about 2 years to collect all that Ram, which I then find out that I wouldn't be able to use with a faster processor!  You can imaginehow pissed off I am.  And I won't be able to afford anywhere near that amount of P4 Ram!  Ah well, could always sell it, and use the proffit to save up for more P4 Ram.

Greg

[congo]

My favourite Springdale Chipset is also known as the "Intel 865PE Chipset".

There are plenty of good boards availabe using this chipset, I bought the Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 Pro and it was cheap and fully featured.

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Pr ... %20Pro.htm

You may be able to use your old RAM chips if they are DDR, but you really want 2 x 512mb PC3200 DDR Ram Modules (400mhz DDR), these 2 modules need to be identical and high quality to run the RAM effectively in Dual Channel mode on the Springdale mainboard.

Don't get too thrilled over the 2.4 ghz Celeron, it's still just a cheap and nasty CPU and the speed won't overcome the CPU's design limitations. A P4 CPU is expensive for a reason, it performs!

Well, now for the alternative advice...........

Try checking your mainboard manufacturers website to see if a BIOS upgrade on your present mainboard will enable you to use your 2.4ghz CPU. It's possible.

OR........ Get the cheapest mainboard you can that will fit the new CPU, as it isn't ever going to be a power system anyway.

Good Luck