i have a AMD athlon AGP motherboard (71XE4), currently running a 750 mhz duron tm processor. I would like to know how fast a processor I can upgrade to and still stay within the clock generator speed limits, which has a maximum of 115mhz. I would like to continue using AMD products. and i want to do as little reconfiguring for this upgrade as possible because i'm not a computer buff! thank you!

QUOTE (drlscout @ Jan 15 2005, 08:59 AM) i have a AMD athlon AGP motherboard (71XE4), currently running a 750 mhz duron tm processor. I would like to know how fast a processor I can upgrade to and still stay within the clock generator speed limits, which has a maximum of 115mhz. I would like to continue using AMD products. and i want to do as little reconfiguring for this upgrade as possible because i'm not a computer buff! thank you!
You have the Gigabyte GA-71EX4 motherboard, and here's the CPU Support list.

http://www.giga-byte.com/Mothe...uppo...st_GA-7IXE4.htm' ">http://www.giga-byte.com/Mothe...pportList_GA-7IXE4.htm

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The Athlon XP 3000+ would be the way to go.

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Hi folks,

I don't think it would take that processor. Highest you can go is 1.3GHz "Morgan core" Duron or 1.4GHz "Thunderbird "B" core Athlon, both using a 100 FSB. May be worth keeping in mind though

drlscout, How high you do go depends on what software you want to run and what limits are imposed by the board as well as the upgrades on offer and for a good price you can get a board that offers better price/performance ratio's; just watch out for the DDR memory and AGP compatibility requirements..


Software Issues

From a software viewpoint, any upgrade may not be fast enough for you needs especially where games are concerned.

The 1.0 to 1.3 GHz Morgan Duron's have SSE support, unlike all Athlon's upto 1.4GHz which is important if you want to run some Adobe apps. The Athlon does have more L2 cache however (256k vs 64k).

Without taking into account SSE, the difference in performance between the Athlon and Duron varies according to the software used; roughly, Athlon is around 10 to 20% faster than Duron when compared at the same clock and bus speeds. More in specific scenario's. For general office use these processors are more than capable, but for heavy 3D blasting even with a good graphics card, you'd struggle.

Effect of SSE support: http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/palomino/' ">http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/palomino/
Duron games performance vs T-Bird Athlon and Intel P4/Celeron: http://www6.tomshardware.com/c...121/...ron1300-06.html' ">http://www6.tomshardware.com/c...0121/duron1300-06.html

I would look for an Athlon, not necessarily the fastest version, and see if you can get some extra speed by upping the bus and using bags of PC 133 or quality PC100 SDRAM.


Hardware Issues

Upgrading these older boards is not always plain sailing..

. Before you do any upgrades you need to check that you have the latest BIOS, so that the board can correctly identify the new part.

. Gigabyte GA-7IXE4 specs: http://www.giga-byte.com/Mothe...rodu...ec_GA-7IXE4.htm' ">http://www.giga-byte.com/Mothe...ucts_Spec_GA-7IXE4.htm

. CPU specs: http://www.geek.com/procspec/procspec.htm' ">http://www.geek.com/procspec/procspec.htm & http://www20.tomshardware.com/...ard/...history_big.gif' ">http://www20.tomshardware.com/...es/cpu_history_big.gif

. These older processors are rare, mostly system pulls. Can be expensive.

. These parts get hot - expect 60 - 70 watts for the top models. Check your PSU wattage rating and case airflow just to be on the safe.

. The AGP X2 slot - only stick with 4x/2x cards and not 8x/4x models as they can cause damage because of the signalling voltages used:

1x/2x = 3.3v
4x = 1.5v (4x cards can run at 2x spec)
8x = 0.7v (8x cards can run at 4x spec but no lower)

. If you have 256MB of RAM, adding more (upto 512MB usage for Win98 and 768 for XP), will definitely help.

. Overclocking. The Duron 750 should be capable of running on a higher bus: 112MHz x 7.5 = 840MHz. Using 115MHz is not recommended.

Hope this helps.

p.s. AMD rocks - accept no substitute!

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. AMD CPU Data: http://www.tomshardware.com/20.../amd...ult/page23.html & http://www.amdboard.com/amdid.html
. Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
. GPU Comparison for Laptops: <a href="http://www.notebookche