I think you should be using the word "replace", not upgrade.
Not much about the motherboard is going to carry over, so you will really be
buying a new computer. I don;t know if you mean you are going to go out and buy
a new computer, or if you are thinking of trying to carry over components from
your existing computer.
All your peripherals should work OK with a new motherboard and chip, but make
sure you still have enough of the right type of slots in the new board. Many of
the newest are cutting way down on ISA slots, some with none at all! Until
recently, internal modems and most soundcards would be ISA, as well as things
like packaged scanner interface cards.
The memory from your P75 will not be usable on a newer board, so be sure to
include some new memory in the price. Also, a new board will probably have an
AGP slot for a graphics card, and it would be a shame to keep an old PCI card
with 1 MEG of VRAM on a nice fast computer that can do AGP.
Newer computers support higher speed EIDE drives (Ultra DMA2,4) and your older
drive will not take advantage of this technological advance either.
For a whole new computer, the most *reliable* thing to do is not fiddle with
overclocking. You don't sound like someone who enjoys wrestling and tweaking
hardware, so the maxim "buy as much speed and space as you can afford" probably
applies. For the speed range you specify, you have a few options. A
PentiumII/450 is a solid performer and should be available reasonably, as it has
been out a while. A Celeron 466 is a possibility and is a good, lower-cost
option that reportedly works well in games. A PentiumIII/450 will carry a
premium based on its newness to the market, but the PentiumIII is supposed to
have many advancements that benefit gamers and may be worth the extra$$$ to you
if that is your interest.
AS always, as soon as you buy something, something better will come out and the
price will drop on your recent purchase. That's a fact of computer hardware.
It is to your advantage that computer prices are quite low these days, so maybe
jumping up one step beyond your target would pay off in the long run as a hedge
against obsolescence.
HTH,
~daxe
Well, if you're buying a new box, the PIII450 is now the same price as (if
not lower than) the PII450. It went down about 150 quid last month at the
system supplier that I'm looking at. In 1-2 weeks time, when the August (yes
August) price list comes out, I -will- be buying a PIII450 with 128Mb from
www.ssccomputers.com - it's the best bang per buck for a built system from a
largish supplier (should be there tomorrow, in other words) with on-site
warranty and 24hr support that I've been able to find. No I don't work for
them! Bung in a V3 for GPL and buy a SBlive Value with the money I make on
selling my P200 CPU and assorted gubbins and I'm sorted for a while. The
premium to go 550 looks to be about 400 quid just now (ouch) so what I'll
also do if required, is buy a 550 when they come down to PII350 prices (ie
150).
There you go. I'm putting my money where my mouth is.
Cheers
Mark
Reading, UK
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
> There you go. I'm putting my money where my mouth is.
> The other advantage to a PIII seems to be that they overclock much better
> than a PII. My PIII 450 is running happily at 560 (4.5x 124mhz FSB) with
> standard PC100 SDRAM. With a V3 3000 I get the magic 36fps at 1024x768 at
> the back of a 19 car grid at Monza at the drop of the flag -BLISS !!
--
Kirk Lane
Tempe, AZ
ICQ: 28171652
RMRL #119
>> The other advantage to a PIII seems to be that they overclock much better
>> than a PII. My PIII 450 is running happily at 560 (4.5x 124mhz FSB) with
>> standard PC100 SDRAM. With a V3 3000 I get the magic 36fps at 1024x768 at
>> the back of a 19 car grid at Monza at the drop of the flag -BLISS !!
What worries me is that I've heard overclocking AGP cards can _really_
shorten their life spans.
-Larry
-Larry