Upgrading the Processor

[-Demosthenes-]

I have a emachines T1842, and I've upgraded the RAM before, and put a video card in there, could upgrading the processor be a good idea? I've never done that before, how do I know which processors will work with it?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

You'll need to find what sort of motherboard you have and what socket type it uses.

 

The easiest thing to do would be to replace the whole motherboard, as replacing the CPU may be more difficult.

 

The important question is, of course, is what you need a faster processor? Is the computer slow because of a slow disk, lack of RAM, or the processor? Compare the speeds of things that use lots of disk access (loading large files) to those that do only processing (there are some programs that calculate pi that you can use for benchmarking... google).

[-Demosthenes-]

It's a IM845GL Motherboard, I think How do I find the socket size?

 

Edit: I believe the socket type is 478 pin, sound right? Would these two work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116175

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819112225

edit2: decided to get the first Im pretty sure it will work...

[bluesmudge]

its not certain to work - the correct pin amount isn't everything -

 

Your best bet would have been to find a processor compatibility list for your Motherboard.

You may find it will need a bios upgrade before it works.

 

and from experience whacking in a high power processor and expecting it to move alot faster doesn't always work - a computer only moves as fast as the slowest component.

 

Memory speed is the best thing to upgrade first - put in the highest speed ram - if you're on an IDE Hard Drive upgrade to SATA (if mobo supports)

Of course check the mobo bus speed as well all data travels along it so if its slow it'll only bottle-neck.

[-Demosthenes-]

with a 400MHz system bus, would a 800MHz FSB processor be slowed?

 

Edit: it seems someone wrote to the company to find out exactly what processors the motherboard supports (http://www.help2go.com/postp13783.html), either Willamette or Northwood. How much of a difference is there between the Northwood (533MHz) and others like 800MHz FSB?

 

Is it worth getting a new motherboard, they're pretty cheap. (sorry, I'm new at this )

[bluesmudge]

if the board only supports Willamette or Nothwood - i can pretty much guarentee your prescott one you linked above won't work -

 

I myself brought a prescott and there was generally only support from newer mobos - plus i think it was some sort of new direction from intel so they're a little different to some other P4's

 

Oh and you'll need to get a good fan - mine operates generally at around 70-80 deg C - which is stupidly hot.

 

Don't go too cheap on the mobo - think about the future expansions you may want to undertake - oh and you'll probably want some faster ram for it.

[-Demosthenes-]

I think I'll stay with the old motherboard for now, I don't need too much. The only thing left I need to know, can I use the cpu fan and heat sink that my current cpu uses?

[bluesmudge]

you should be able too . . . though its better to upgrade it as the prescott burns hot - - - thats if the new CPU actually works on the mobo . . . i think we should start placing bets as to whether it will or not . . . look into a bios upgrade, see if anyone else has done one!

[-Demosthenes-]

you should be able too . . . though its better to upgrade it as the prescott burns hot - - - thats if the new CPU actually works on the mobo . . . i think we should start placing bets as to whether it will or not . . . look into a bios upgrade, see if anyone else has done one!

I decided just to get a northwood, a lot better than what I have (Celeron), pretty cheap, and it's more likely to work Would I need a bios update for that? (never done a bios update before ).

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

BIOS updates aren't too painful. Check eMachines' website for BIOS updates.

[-Demosthenes-]

BIOS updates aren't too painful. Check eMachines' website for BIOS updates.

 

And I'd probably need to update for a northwood?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I'm not sure they offer updates for different architectures. Check the motherboard manufacturer as well - although sometimes it's necessary to use the BIOS from the vendor, not the manufacturer, because they make some stupid change.

[Klaynos]

Make sure you download the old version of your bios as well (the current running version), I've seen upgrades take down computers so you'll need to go back to the old one as I doubt you've got a dual bios!

[-Demosthenes-]

Yeah, I'm having a hard time finding anything on emachines or on from the motherboard manufacturer (trigem? Asian company?), but I'll keep looking.