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General discussion

new cpu

Nov 26, 2003 4:22PM PST

i want to install a faster cpu without replacing the motherboard i have a gateway it currently has a intel celeron 500mhz cpu i have installed a 100gig hard drive and 256k memory how fast can i safely go with what i already have

Discussion is locked

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More info needed.
Nov 26, 2003 5:59PM PST

The only possible answer to your question is that it depends on the motherboard. The motherboard manual gives you the details about CPU's supported and what switches to set with each of these. I'm sure Gateway has used many types of motherboard in the last 5 years, so a more specific answer to your question isn't possible.

So: consult the documentation that came with the computer. If that doesn't tell enough contact Gateway technical support or see if their website contains the needed information. You'll surely need to know the model number of the PC. If you know the type of the motherboard, you can also visit the website of that maker (like Asus or Intel, or whatever it says).

If the above doesn't help: post the details of motherboard (there should be some identification on it) or Gateway model number on the hardware forum and see if anybody happens to have more info available then Gateway or Asus itself. This is definitely the wrong forum for a question like that.

Kees

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Re:new cpu. Don't do it.
Nov 26, 2003 10:42PM PST

With 2+GHz boxes going for $399 NEW with warranty, you could easily spend 1/2 that for a CPU, heatsink and maybe a new power supply and still be saddled with all the rest of the system.

Since a 500MHz Celeron is just enough CPU to do most things, I'd do some serious house cleaning to spruce up the performance. Here's a cleaning list:

1. Eject all PESTS you find with the Anti-Parasite Suite I wrote about at http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6132-0.html?forumID=32&threadID=1313&start=0

2. Uninstall any program you haven't used in 1 year. Really want results? Try 1 month.

3. Review and lightly clean up with the article Optimizing Windows from http://www.aumha.org/articles.htm Don't overdo this step. I've seen people fixate on getting 97% free resources. Their choice, but I stop after it rises to over 80 and I've reduced the startup items.

4. Now that the machine is fairly clean, run the Disk Cleanup, Scandisk (full surface scan) and if that works, a boot to Safe Mode for a Defragment run.

5. At this point I usually have a machine that boots in 1/2 the time as before and applications such as Word launch in 1/2 time. You can't get this result by doubling the CPU speed.

Bob

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Re:new cpu
Nov 30, 2003 1:36AM PST

It's best to buy a combination of faster motherboard and faster processor altogether. It seems that you have a Intel 440 motherboard with your gateway and that may mean that the old board will not see 100gig drive without a drive overlay software. Even so, putting in a faster Pentium or Celeron on the old board could burn out the chip and motherboard quickly.