Sorry for my question if it is lame , but I'm a noob when it comes to hardware stuff (i'm a software guy myself).

I want to upgrade my CPU from the 1000Mhz Intel Celeron with 810 chipset that is to something newer (like better than Celeron). I have a Intel Corporation Whitney System CR Board on this pc and I don't understand how you know what CPUs are upgrade compatible with your motherboard. Can anyone tell me what CPUs I'm limited to in upgrading or where I can find this information. I looked it up a bit on the intel site but couldn't find quite what I was looking for, figured I'd be better off just asking somewhere. Thanks for any help guys/gals.

- Its not a lame question

I don't know exactly, but I don't think that you'll be able to upgrade to get much more performance just be upgrading the CPU.

Although its the most expensive option, new CPU /mem/ mobo will probably be the only option that will give you a significant performance boost.

If you want a reasonably priced option, I would recommmed something vaguely along the lines of:

AMD XP 2500+/2400+
Abit NF7 - nForce2 - USB2+A133+Dual DDR400+AGP8x
512mb DDR

More experienced members may alter that slightly, but that's about right I think.

That should give you a serious performance boost for about £200 / $320

If you are looking for a cheapshot upgrade that will give you a huge performance boost, I suggest going with a lower end mobo. I highly highly reccomend the ECS K75SA. It supports up to AXP 2600+, the PRO version supports 166mhz CPU FSB, and that will definately last you a good while. At $49-59, it's a steal, and is still available.

Agreed, it is easier to save money on a motherboard, than it is on a chip, and the ECS K75SA Pro has almost all of the features of the Nforce 2 other than Dual DDR and Dolby encoding.

That and the fact the K75SA Pro is Purple if I recall

Yes, it is

I picked up mine just a few weeks ago and plopped an AXP 2000+ in it with 512mb PC2100... for less then $100 (rest I already had), this thing absolutely screams.

One more thing...try to avoid boards with VIA chipsets they can cause alot of problems ldue to software/ hardware compatibility reasons. I don't really like the drivers they produce.

In defense of VIA, I've always been a VIA chipset user, and I never had a problem!

Anyway, in regards to the question A mobo/mem/cpu upgrade does appear to be in order. With the prices of these things dropping like flies, you can get some nice stuff for almost nothing!

You said you weren't a hardware guy though, so a couple of other things to keep in mind:

1) changing the CPU may require more adequate cooling. I'd look into another heatsink fan combo to go with a new CPU, or just buy a retail package

2) if you don't know how to swap out a mobo, be really careful with what you do, perhaps a friend or co-worker may know how to do it safely so that you don't risk frying any of the components (I know I did my first system I built)

3) the FSB supported on the motherboard is going to make a bigger difference in actual speed in real world application processing then a faster Mhz or Ghz is going to.

I.E. a 900 mhz Athlon on 200 mhz FSB is going to perform faster than a 1 GHZ on a 133 mhz FSB.

Hope this helps you