Hi, I am looking for some expert advice on whether to upgrade my wife's Presario 5461, and if so, are the choices that I am considering the best ones?

Or, should I bite the bullet and buy/build her a new system?

Cost is an issue, if I can get her PC to perform reasonably for $100-200 on upgrades (vs maybe $800-1200 on a new system) that is my preference.

HERE'S THE CURRENT SITUATION:

The Presario has an AMD K6-2 500mhz with 192MB RAM and a 40GB HD, a 10/100 NIC on fast DSL. The system is mostly original equipment except for the second RAM board, the second CD burner, the NIC card, and also I had to replace the original HD which crashed (also had to install new BIOS at same time). Plus we have added various peripherals but those aren't an issue.

It has latest OS updates, shut off all useless startup processes, we run antivirus and anti-spyware regularly so the software is lean and mean and clean AFAIK.

My wife uses it for running auctions on eBay, light photo editing, and other routine stuff like email and forums. It gets pretty doggy when rendering image-heavy large pages from eBay (which is a dog itself these days), or when running multiple browsers and other apps. She uses FireFox, IE6 and Netscape 4.7 variously, depending on which one works best with which sites. Also it has problems playing music CDs in the latest Winamp without skipping and distortion, however WMP seems to work ok.

Qwest recently upgraded our DSL to 1500/1000 kbps so the line speed is ok and I have tested it to be sure. It is connected via Ethernet to a 10/100 NIC.

The Compaq Presario 5461 system specs (selected specs from a loooong report by EVEREST home edition) are attached at the end of this post.

I have been reading a number of posts in this forum and other upgrade/overclock articles about the K6 family so that I think I have some idea of what is possible to do.

THESE ARE MY QUESTIONS:
(1) What to upgrade?
Will I get a worthwhile performance boost by upgrading the CPU and adding more RAM? Articles say the K6-2 chip in it now lacks onboard L2 cache and that is a big mprovement the K6-III/III+ would provide.

The Gigabyte docs for the MB say it supports K6-2 and K6-III up to 550mhz and 384MB RAM, so I am hoping it will also support the K6-III+ CPUs as they are also Socket 7 chips.
Gigabyte Manuals link' ">http://www.giga-byte.com/Mothe...ual/Manual_GA-5SMM.htm

Also other articles say that K6-2 only handles 64MB RAM well due to cache issues and with K6-III+ it could handle the max RAM supported on the MB which the docs say is 384MB (3 x 128MB).

So if I put in some version of K6-III+ CPU and add 2 x 128MB DIMM's (replacing the 64MB in the first slot now), does that make sense?

(2) Which CPU?
I intend to run the CPU in standard mode if possible but if the only way to get good performance is O/C then I would like a CPU that supports that, which the K6-III+ family seems to provide. Which of the following would be my best choice? (the board and BIOS should support them AFAIK):
- AMD K6 III+ 450 APZ 1.7V Core Voltage
- AMD K6-III+ 450 ACZ 2.0V Core Voltage
- AMD K6-III+ 475 ACZ ?? Core Voltage
- AMD K6-III+ 500 ACZ ?? Core Voltage
- AMD K6-III+ 400 ATZ Ultra Low 1.6V Core Voltage
- other K6 chip?
Articles say:
ACZ chips are reported to overclock better than ACR chips
ATZ chip will OC to 600 very stable
(again I don't plan to OC but want to have the option if I need to)
(edited, forgot to add this also what kind of cooling should I get, some brand of heat sink or do I need a CPU fan too? Suggestions welcome for this.

(3) Which OS?
Should I stick with the buggy but working Win98SE or upgrade the OS, and if so should I go to WinXP Home, will it run that ok with these proposed upgrades? Or should I try to find a Win2000 OS, would that run faster/better? As a side note I have WinXP Pro on my Intel DIY system and am very happy with it, so I'd probably lean toward XP.

4. Which Vendors?
Vendors for CPU that I am looking at include JLM Tech. and Upgradeability, are they ok or are there better sources? Probably will buy the RAM from Crucial or someplace like that.

5. Any other advice or questions?

Thanks in advance for any help. Sorry for such a long post but thought better too much info than too little !!

Tom

SELECTED SPECS ON THE CURRENT SYSTEM

(the full report is very long, if you need anything else from it just ask)
CODE
Operating System       Microsoft Windows 98 SE
Internet Explorer      6.0.2800.1106 (IE 6.0 SP1)

Motherboard:
CPU Type               AMD K6-2, 500 MHz (5 x 100)
Motherboard Name       Gigabyte GA-5SMM  (2 ISA, 3 PCI, 3 DIMM, Audio, Video)
Motherboard Chipset    SiS 530
System Memory          187 MB  (SDRAM)
BIOS Type              Award Modular (05/09/00)
Communication Port     Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port     Communications Port (COM5)
Communication Port     Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter          SiS 530  (4 MB)
3D Accelerator         SiS 86C306
Monitor                Sony CPD-420GS(T)/19GS2  [19" CRT]  (7047361)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter          ESS Technology ES1938/ES1941/ES1946 Solo-1(E) AudioDrive

Storage:
IDE Controller         Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IDE Controller         Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IDE Controller         SiS 5513 Dual PCI IDE Controller
Floppy Drive           GENERIC NEC  FLOPPY DISK
Disk Drive             USBAT Compact Flash
Disk Drive             GENERIC IDE  DISK TYPE46
Optical Drive          ARTEC WRR-52Z  (52x/32x/52x CD-RW)
Optical Drive          IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24  (4x/4x/24x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disk Status Unknown

Partitions:
C: (FAT32)             19083 MB (13833 MB free)
D: (FAT32)             19059 MB (7124 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard               Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
Mouse                  WheelMouseIM (PS/2)

Network:
Network Adapter        PPP Adapter
Modem                  Lucent Win Modem

Peripherals:
Printer                Acrobat PDFWriter
Printer                HP DeskJet 810C Series Printer
USB1 Controller        SiS 7001 PCI-USB Open Host Controller
USB Device             e-Film Reader-2
USB Device             UMAX Astra 2000U

BIOS Properties:
Vendor                 Award Software International, Inc.
Version                4.51 PG
Release Date           05/09/00
Size                   256 KB
Boot Devices           Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, CD-ROM, ATAPI ZIP, LS-120
Capabilities           Flash BIOS, Shadow BIOS, Selectable Boot, EDD
Supported Standards    DMI, APM, ACPI, ESCD, PnP
Expansion Capabilities ISA, PCI, AGP, USB

Memory Controller Properties:
Error Detection Method       8-bit Parity
Error Correction             None
Supported Memory Interleave  1-Way
Current Memory Interleave    1-Way
Supported Memory Speeds      70ns, 60ns
Supported Memory Types       SPM, EDO, DIMM, SDRAM
Supported Memory Voltages    5V
Maximum Memory Module Size   256 MB
Memory Slots                 3

[ Processors / AMD-K6 ]
Processor Properties:
Manufacturer                 AMD
Version                      AMD-K6
External Clock               100 MHz
Maximum Clock                500 MHz
Current Clock                500 MHz
Type                         Central Processor
Voltage                      2.2 V
Status                       Enabled
Upgrade                      ZIF
Socket Designation           Socket 7

Cache Properties:
Type                         Internal
Status                       Enabled
Operational Mode             Write-Back
Maximum Size                 64 KB
Installed Size               64 KB
Supported SRAM Type          Synchronous
Current SRAM Type            Synchronous
Socket Designation           Internal Cache

Cache Properties:
Type                         External
Status                       Enabled
Operational Mode             Write-Through
Maximum Size                 256 KB
Installed Size               512 KB
Supported SRAM Type          Synchronous
Current SRAM Type            Synchronous
Socket Designation           External Cache

Memory Module Properties:
Socket Designation           DIMM1
Type                         DIMM, SDRAM
Speed                        60 ns
Installed Size               64 MB
Enabled Size                 64 MB

Memory Module Properties:
Socket Designation           DIMM2
Type                         DIMM, SDRAM
Speed                        60 ns
Installed Size               128 MB
Enabled Size                 128 MB

Memory Module Properties:
Socket Designation           DIMM3
Speed                        60 ns
Installed Size               Not Installed
Enabled Size                 Not Installed

CPU Properties:
CPU Type                     AMD K6-2
CPU Alias                    Chomper Extended, K6-2-CXT
CPU Stepping                 CXT/A
CPUID CPU Name               AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor
CPUID Revision               0000058Ch

CPU Speed:
CPU Clock                    501.07 MHz
CPU Multiplier               5.0x
CPU FSB                      100.21 MHz

CPU Cache:
L1 Code Cache                32 KB
L1 Data Cache                32 KB
L2 Cache                     0

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID               05/09/2000-SiS-530-2A5IMG09C-00
Motherboard Name             Gigabyte GA-5SMM  (2 ISA, 3 PCI, 3 DIMM, Audio, Video)

Chipset Properties:
Motherboard Chipset          SiS 530
Memory Timings               3-2-2-?  (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

BIOS Properties:
System BIOS Date             05/09/00
Video BIOS Date              07/28/19
Award BIOS Type              Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
Award BIOS Message           (2A5IMG01) Gigabyte GA-5SMM BIOS Provided by eSupport.com
DMI BIOS Version             4.51 PG

Graphics Processor Properties:
DirectX                      4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)

Sensor Properties:
Fcpu                         5233 RPM
Vcore                        1.94 V
Vaux                         1.95 V
Vio                          1.94 V

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type                     Intel GTL
Bus Width                    64-bit
Real Clock                   100 MHz
Effective Clock              100 MHz
Bandwidth                    800 MB/s

Motherboard Physical Info:
CPU Sockets/Slots            1
Expansion Slots              2 ISA, 3 PCI
RAM Slots                    3 DIMM
Integrated Devices           Audio, Video
Form Factor                  Micro ATX
Motherboard Size             210 mm x 250 mm
Motherboard Chipset          SiS5595

You can always increase the RAM to the maximum allowable.

A + series CPU will add the "tri-level" cache feature to your machine, and will help it out.

You can check out the posts by cowen1000 and Charlie22911 here in the forum and see what they were able to do with their SiS530 boards.

For now though, have you tried to run your current CPU faster? Since it is a CXT core, you should be able to jumper it for 2.0x=6.0x, and gain some more performance.

BTW - Do this to get your HDD SMART information in Win98SE.

SMART Functionality Not Available in Clean Windows Installation -> http://support.microsoft.com/d...spx?...kb;en-us;265854' ">http://support.microsoft.com/d...x?scid=kb;en-us;265854


-------------------------
KachiWachi

Moderator - Wim's BIOS

CPU #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
CPU #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128MB EDO
CPU #3 - HP8766C, PIII-667, 768MB SDRAM
CPU #4 - ASUS P3V4X, PIII-733, 256MB SDRAM
CPU #5 - ??? ;)

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

No I have not tried to OC it, partly because I didn't think it would gain much and also some articles seemed to say that the K6-2 didn't OC well or much at all. I got the impression that the lack of an L2 cache was a MUCH bigger issue than the pure CPU speed, that the CPU was probably waiting for the cache much of the time. Is that not true?

Not to mention that the wife would be really PO'ed if I fried her PC and she had "zero" speed until I could fix it. The risk/reward ratio was not in my favor.

I just fixed the SMART problem, thanks for the link.
Now EVEREST says SMART is "ok" and the detail info says everything passes/normal.

upgrade to the K6 III+ 550mhz and OC to 650 mhz. I am not sure but maybe you could go to 700mhz. Then get three 128MB PC133 SDRAM modules and you should have enough memory to upgrade to Windows XP and do some memory intensive stuff. You could even play a few games with the memory and the cpu.

-------------------------
Desktop: AMD Opteron 170 2.7ghz OC, 440gb HDD space (3 HDDs in RAID-0), 4GB RAM, Hec X Power Pro 600W PSU, Gigabyte GTX 260 OC, two dvd burners, HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 15 N5040, Core i3 380M, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD

i wouldnt get ur hopes up on findin a k6-III+ at 550MHz. their pretty rare. also windows XP mite run a tad slow with this. I would go with WIN200 Pro which is basically the same thing w/o all the graphical interface and ull b used to it from 98SE.

-------------------------
My GT430 Is Folding For AMD Team 34106
FOR A GOOD CAUSE---Accepting Donations of New, Used, Working, Nonworking PC Components
Thanks to KLEETUS for his generous donation of components!!

In answer to your upgrade.

This is what I had: Compaq Presario 5102,5204,5150. I got all 3 with 350 mhz k6-2 socket 7 cpus and 64 megs of Ram. 8 gig hard drives, onboard video, etc etc.

When I sold them ( after a few months of use) they all had: AMD k6-2 550 mhz cpus, 384 megs of pc 100 memory. Bios updates, and 20 gig hard drives.

I should have kept all three because they ran smoother and more efficiantly than the k-7 650 machine and the 1.0 gig machine and my pIII 1.8 machine.

I tried Windows XP PRO on a couple of the Presarios, but opted to go with Windows 2000 PRO/ w SPs. WIndows XP PRO seemed to resource hungry at the time and a little doggy. DO yourself a favor and stay away from XP Home. I have had nithing but troubles with it and have heard nothing but compliaint after complaint.

Never had the opportunity to try a k6-3 +. But I do know that a 450 mhz will cost you some money. Good luck fiinding a 500mhz k6-3+ and I didn't think they made a 550 mhz desktop version. I think the 500 is suppose to be for laptops, but will work in the desktop.

Anyway, you can go alot of different ways for upgrades. I get all my stuff off of ebay at reasonable prices. Knock on wood haven't had any faulty junk yet.
Good Luck!!

Sprinter 8


"Ain't this the best forum?"
"Git er done"

-------------------------
Sprinter8

i had a K6-2 500Mhz i overclocked to 600Mhz but it resulted in a dead board because of the mass amount of voltage i had to pump in it to get stable, 3.0v. i did have a K6-III+ 450 i overclocked to 600Mhz 2.2v. however it would not play games worth a crap because of the terrable onboard graphics.
i got my K6-III+ for $50 (USD).

a K6-III+ 450 will run circles around a K6-2 of any speed because of the cache.

-------------------------
Desktop:
Phenom II x6 1055T @ 4GHz | 4x2GB Patriot DDR3 1600 @ 2000 | 3x AMD Radeon HD6970 Crossfire

Laptop:
Core i7 2960xm @ 4.2Ghz | 4x4GB Kingston DDR3 1866 | 2x GTX 580m SLI OC 725/1450/1500

thanks to all who have responded

@ KachiWachi - I read the posts by cowen1000 and Charlie22911 and learned a lot from those, plus some of the links they provided got me into other good sites and reviews. So that was very helpful advice. Got my brain a whole level deeper into understanding of AMD chips, motherboards, benchmarks, etc. However I started getting crosseyed about 20 posts into the OC finetuning posts. Don't think that I really want to get a PhD in OC !!! But am willing to try a little OC'ing effort if it is low-risk and good payback.

@Athlonuser - I can't find any K6-3+/550 CPUs. Upgradeability.com has an "AMD K6-III+ ACZ Tested & guaranteed to run 600MHz @ 2.1v" for $100 which is a waste of money IMHO, I can get a good new MB for that. Also the specs for this board only support up to PC100 memory. So not sure PC133 is a good idea (?)

@technic58 & sprinter8 - thanks for tip on Win2000Pro vs WinXP

@sprinter8 - what kind of problems did you see/hear about with WinXP Home vs Pro?

@Charlie22911 - your experience with frying a board is why I don't want to OC the current K6-2/500 cpu. The K6-III+ 450 sounds like a good option, I did see one on eBay that went for $28 but not sure how well it would OC. As noted above the ones that are tested and guaranteed to OC that fast are a lot more $$$ from a vendor.
Also agree about the onboard video, when I run SiSandra it suggests getting a video board. Any advice on a good cheap video card for this board/chipset? It doesn't have an AGP slot so I guess that would be a PCI video card (?).

To all: In looking at the Everest and SiSandra reports more, I noticed that the voltage numbers look really low, am wondering if this is because the sensors on this chipset are not reporting the right values or if the PSU is dying. It has the original POS PSU that came with the box from Compaq. And it has been having seizures and BSOD more and more often. The cpu is *supposed* to be at 2.2V AFAIK. Here are the voltage reports:

SiSandra:
CODE
Environment Monitor 1
Model : NS LM78 ISA
Mainboard Specific Support : No

Cooling Device(s)
Auto Fan Speed Control : No
CPU Fan Speed : 5037rpm

Voltage Sensor(s)
CPU Voltage : 1.94V
Aux Voltage :  1.97V
+3.3V Voltage : 1.94V
+5V Voltage :   2.23V
+12V Voltage : 3.04V


Everest:
CODE
--------[ Sensor ]----------------------------------------------------------------

   Sensor Properties:
     Sensor Type         National LM78  (ISA 290h)

   Cooling Fans:
     CPU                 5233 RPM

   Voltage Values:
     CPU Core        1.94 V
     CPU Aux          1.97 V
     +3.3 V             1.94 V
     +5 V                2.23 V
     +12 V              3.10 V
     Debug Info V    79 7B 79 53 33 00 00 7F (01)
     Debug Info T    127 00 00

uh, thats imposable, your computer wouldnt even hum at those voltages... is your heatsink dusty?
as for the video what games do you plan to play?
the best pci card you can find is this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...esc....-139-166&depa=1' ">http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=14-139-166&depa=1

according to reviews that card will even run games like doomIII with no lag!

"This card is great from the not so well intergrated intel extreme graphics 2. I can ACTUALLY play doom 3 now with no lag( i did the little thing where it sets itself) and the other games i play are more detailed also. I thank newegg for having a great PCI card. Even though, most people dont have a PCI card "

you should get AT LEAST a 450Mhz K6-III+ to 550Mhz out of the box.

***EDIT***

on newegg it seels for $99 but on jatons website (card maker) its MSRP is at $129.99, get it while its in stock, plus you can carry it over if you upgrade to a K7 in the future.

-------------------------
Desktop:
Phenom II x6 1055T @ 4GHz | 4x2GB Patriot DDR3 1600 @ 2000 | 3x AMD Radeon HD6970 Crossfire

Laptop:
Core i7 2960xm @ 4.2Ghz | 4x4GB Kingston DDR3 1866 | 2x GTX 580m SLI OC 725/1450/1500

No, it's not dusty, I blew out the cobwebs really good a few weeks ago when I put in a new NIC card and it wasn't very dusty even then (it sits on a table not on the floor which helps).

And it is humming (with a hang every day or two), so I think maybe the sensor is giving the wrong readings since both programs show about the same values. Maybe the 12v reading is really for the 3v line. That would make more sense, but even so they would still be low. Does anybody reading this have experience with this board/chipset/sensor??

As far as games, that is not a priority (I know, that's heresy on this forum probably). My wife is not a gamer (see my first post for a list of what she needs to do). So that video card is overkill, just want a good cheap PCI card to take the load off the CPU so it can do its other jobs faster. Looking at newegg I see a bunch of them around $40 which w/b ok.

I have also been spec'ing a new system for fun. Have a wish list on newegg with title "New LLF PC - AMD", see what you think. Remember we are not gamers. Trying to build a system with good horsepower, balanced components, and current technology that will carry us a few years and won't be obsolete right away. The only thing not at newegg is the case, they don't carry the one my wife wants which is a Planet Purple Chieftec Dragon DX-01PLD Mid-tower Case that I can get from Directron for $88. (Yes I know it is a gamer case but that's not why she wants it, she wants it because purple is her color. Plus for me it's one of the few purple cases that doesn't come with a cheapie PSU already included so I can get a good one).

http://secure.newegg.com/app/W...ryRe...VIEW&ID=1335590' ">http://secure.newegg.com/app/W...submit=VIEW&ID=1335590

thats a very good setup, since gaming is not your thing it will carry you at least 5-10 years. what does the bios give for those readings?

-------------------------
Desktop:
Phenom II x6 1055T @ 4GHz | 4x2GB Patriot DDR3 1600 @ 2000 | 3x AMD Radeon HD6970 Crossfire

Laptop:
Core i7 2960xm @ 4.2Ghz | 4x4GB Kingston DDR3 1866 | 2x GTX 580m SLI OC 725/1450/1500

the BIOS readings look a lot more realistic, thanks for the tip. They are in a bios screen that I hardly ever look at, with IRQ settings etc:

+12V: 12.03V
+ 5V: 4.94V
VCC3: 3.32V
VCORE: 2.15V
CPU Fan: 5075RPM

So I guess the LM78 voltage sensor has some kind of problem, but the PSU looks ok, maybe a little low. Then again it is over 5 yrs old so it is probably getting tired.

actualy those values are fine, your psu is just dandy!

do me a favor and do a google for toast, download and run it, if she crashes out something is unstable. if it crashes out do another google for memtest86 and run it, if it finds an error of anykind then your ram is bad and needs to be replaced...

-------------------------
Desktop:
Phenom II x6 1055T @ 4GHz | 4x2GB Patriot DDR3 1600 @ 2000 | 3x AMD Radeon HD6970 Crossfire

Laptop:
Core i7 2960xm @ 4.2Ghz | 4x4GB Kingston DDR3 1866 | 2x GTX 580m SLI OC 725/1450/1500

when I started poking around with it a few weeks ago, I ran the torture test feature in prime95 for 16+ hours with zero errors. Would toast tell me anything more than that?

quote:

---

Originally posted by: tld33
when I started poking around with it a few weeks ago, I ran the torture test feature in prime95 for 16+ hours with zero errors. Would toast tell me anything more than that?

---

tld33,
It's been 2 years since your last post, so you might not still be listening... I hope so, because I've just been given a Compaq Presario 5461 to upgrade for a friend who pretty much just stores photos and does email on her computer--definitely no gamer, let's just say. So far I have upgraded the bios (thanks to eSupport.com! and installed the max memory (384 MB), but it's still soooo sluggish running XP Home. Just wondering how your upgrade went, and if you have any wisdom to pass on? Did you go ahead and replace the CPU? If so, what was your choice and did you decide to try overclocking? I'm all ears!

Does the BIOS and other diagnostics programs(eg Everest, cbid, cpu-z) indicate the L2 cache in use, if it has such? (dunno what proc you have in there but some K6's seem to miss seeing the cache after BIOS updates, so a clear CMOS is needed at least).

-------------------------

i have a 5461 2 500mhz k62 320 mb ram and win xp sp2 and highspeed internet and xp dogs it i would say buy a new computer or change the mobo

quote:

---

Originally posted by: techmate37
tld33,
It's been 2 years since your last post, so you might not still be listening...
Did you go ahead and replace the CPU? If so, what was your choice and did you decide to try overclocking? I'm all ears!

---

Hi techmate37,

Yes, I am still here, the forum sent me an email notice that someone had posted on this old thread.

No, I never did upgrade it, but I did buy an AMD K6-III+ 450 ACZ 2.0V CPU on ebay a while ago.
So I still intend to try it at some point, but I can't right now, because I am currently using the box
as a VPN client for work reasons and can't risk blowing it up yet.

Instead, I built my wife a new PC two years ago, here are most of the specs (from NewEgg).
Also got a big neat purple case from someplace else, (my wife loves purple).

CODE
Qty Product Description              Unit Price   Extended Price

1  MB CHTECH VNF4/Ultra NFORCE4/ULTRA    $109.00    $109.00
1  CPU AMD 64 |3000+ ATHLON 939P 90 RT      $155.00    $155.00
2  DDRAM RSWLL|512MB PC3200 RET                $ 54.99    $109.98
1  VGA SAPHIRE|X300 128MB 100591L                 $ 78.00    $ 78.00
1  HD 80 GB|SEAGAT ST380817AS 8mb %           $ 69.00    $ 69.00
1  CMBO 52x32x52x16|SMSG TS-H492A/BEBN    $ 34.99    $ 34.99
1  FDD 1.44MB NEC|FD1231H-302 OEM BLK        $  8.00    $  8.00
1  POWER SUPPLY ANTEC NEOPOWER480 RTL    $126.00    $126.00
1  CD MS|WIN XP PRO w/SP2 %                                   $147.95    $147.95


From reading the responses to my original posts, I think WinXP is too much of a resource hog for
any upgrade of this system, but it might run Win2000 acceptably. A PCI video card should help too.

I do think the K6-III+ will be faster. When I upgrade, I'll post the before/after speed test results.

Welcome fellow K6ers well I didnt have the compaq, i had a home brew comp a few years back and still have on right now. The old one was a simple K6-2+ 450, 256mb PC100, 40gb HD and TNT2 Ultra. Now i did a few things to it, first i oced to 500mhz, I then installed windows XP Pro on the system, then did an XP lite install and killed alot of the crap i didnt need. IT wasnt super fast, but it was responsive for my needs at the time, aka Red Alert 2 and yahoo messenger. A friend now uses it still with XP Pro on it and runs a few older games and surfs the web on it just fine. Just turn off the services you dont need and you gain alot, also set your page file to a set size and you will improve preformace

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Core I7-3930k -- MSI GTX670 Quad SLI -- ASUS Rampage Extreme IV -- 4x4gb Muskin Redline DDR3 1866 -- 128gb SSD -- Windows 7 Ultimate
Phenom II 960T -- XFX HD4870 -- ECS IC780M -- 2x2gb DDR3 1333 -- 500gb HD -- Windows 7 Home Premium