Follow up on previous post.

[bretty]

As you can all see my previous post ended up in recommending a new CPU.

I did have my eye on a 2100+/2200+, although I have learned that I will need to buy a new motherboard to support these chips.

It so happens that my girlfriend is upgrading her beast to a Pentium4 2.0ghz at WHOLESALE prices. We working it out to be about a $80 saving. This then led me to....If I have to get a MOBO to get a few more MHZ, would it be worth getting a new MOBO and a P4 of the same speed?

I can still use the same RAM I have, same everything, but I will have to format, thats it?

Again I ask......Is it worth the extra dough?

 

[Rick]

Will you have to format? Most likely, no... Especially if you are using Windows 98/Me or XP.

I strongly suggest formatting, however. Many "anomalies" can pop up such as unexplained crashes, suggishness and improper settings for your hardware. Other times, it can work out fine.. So it depends largely on how lucky you are.

I did have my eye on a 2100+/2200+, although I have learned that I will need to buy a new motherboard to support these chips.

Are you certain you have to buy a new board? Typically, a simple BIOS flash update will allow newer processors to function properly. I know you said you have a MSI Pro.. Although not very specific, I also know it uses DDR ram from your previous post which leads me to believe it might be the K7T266 Pro2, which does support at least a +2100 I'm aware of.

You should be able to find +2100's around 120 dollars, where a comparable P4 processor would cost you probably about 200 dollars or so. So if you are cost conscious and if your board does turn out to support the Athlon XP 2100+ or higher, than that would be my suggested course of action.

Normally, if you were building a new system, I would recommend the P4 (cost set aside of course)... But you want this to be as simple as possible, I'm sure.. Since you do not want to format. To avoid complications and save some money, it might be a good idea to not change your platform and stick with AMD.

 

[bretty]

Yes it is the KT266 Pro, although not the 2.

I was on the web site, and the highest the board supports is the 2000+ I have checked the BIOS updates, and it needs one to support the 2000+.

I will have to buy a new board. I can use the same components though, vid card, RAM and so on. I am a little price consious, so all I need is somthing that can house all my components
What board would you recomend for a shiny new 2200+?

Bretty

 

[Phantasm66]

If you are getting another motherboard and chip then I would format, yes. For Windows 2000 and XP you will almost certainly have to. For Win9x it could work out fine but on the other hand it could not. Essentially getting a new motherboard is like getting a new computer, it just has a lot of peripherals in common with your previous machine.

 

[LNCPapa]

Or you could try running sysprep on the machine before you replace all the parts. Then shutdown and replace parts - then on boot it "should" be okay - else it might require a repaire of windows. That's kind of a sloppy/lazy way of doing it though. Nothing would be cleaner than reformatting.

LNCPapa

 

[bretty]

I thnk it would be better to just format...

Thanks fella's for the replies I will be back soon.