Need to kno the fastest CPU my mobo can handle, I'm upgrading my CPU

[rp_crotty]

I need help, i need to know what would be the best CPU for this motherboard and what EXACTLY it can handle, because i would really like to puch it and be able to use this thign for at least 6 more months. this is the specs on my mobo from the HP website... the mother board is an ASUS A7V-VM.




Motherboard Supplier
ASUS

System BIOS Supplier
Phoenix

Form Factor
uATX

Processor Brand
AMD

Processor Socket Type
Socket-A (PGA462)

Processor Family
Athlon (T-Bird, Palomino),
Duron (Spitfire, Morgan)

Maximum Processor Core Frequency
1.67GHz Palomino,
1.4GHz T-Bird;
1.2Ghz Morgan

Proc. Front Side Bus Freq.
266/200MHz

Chipset Name
Via KM133A

Chipset "North Bridge" & Revision
KM133A (VT8365A)

Chipset "South Bridge" & Revision
VT82C686B rev CE

Super I/O
(N/A)

Flash BIOS Device
Xbus 2Mbit

Memory Type
SDRAM

Memory Speed
PC133

Memory Sockets
2

Additional Info on my sys:

BIOS version: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0.G for Asustek
Chipset: Via VT8363/5 KT133/KM133 Sys controller
Southbridge: VT82C686A PCI to ISA Bridge
No DMI/SMBIOS Prensent

Current processor AMD Athlon 1.1 Ghz(11x100 MHz DDR)

if anyone has any sugestions or knows what I should do please tell me, i read this post in another forum whiel trying to figure this info out my self, you can check it out just go here:

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2048506

as it says in a few of those posts the FSB speed, can it be different than 100 like what can run? and I know HP posted the limits on it, but as in a few of the posts on the other site, it said you could probably run up to a 2400+ XP, but i dont want to waste my money, so does anyone know exactly what the limitations are and what would be the fastest type of AMD processors that i could use and that would work on this mobo with the BIOS i have or if i could change the BIOS though it could be locked, i dont know, any suggestions or comments will be useful, so please help.

If you need any additional details, I would be more than happy to find them out for you, thank you.

 

[Justin]

According to the posted specs, the motherboard supports a "max" of a 1.67ghz palomino, which is the AXP 2000+

However, I've used several A7Ms with KT133A chipset and I've had mixed results. All of them were able to handle a 2100+ Palomino, but not thouroughbreds of any sort.

Getting your hands on a palomino might be more difficult these days because they have long since been discontinued. I have a few, they are quite the heaters. I'd say try to get your hands on a 2000+ if you want to upgrade.

 

[SOcRatEs]

Hullo

From the AMD forum
The maximum that board can take is an Athlon XP 2600 133/266mhz fsb but you need a BIOS update and those CPUs are really hard to find so I would go with getting an Athlon XP 2400 Thoroughbred.

 

[Justin]

Interesting, I thought I had the latest bios for the A7M. I'll have to try it with a barton @ 133mhz. Thanks for the link Socrates.

 

[rp_crotty]

From the AMD forum
The maximum that board can take is an Athlon XP 2600 133/266mhz fsb but you need a BIOS update and those CPUs are really hard to find so I would go with getting an Athlon XP 2400 Thoroughbred.

Soulharvester just said no thoroughbred of anykind, does it matter? I know the t-bred runs at 266 instead of 200 or something and that it might not be compatible. I have found all three processors that ya'll have mentioned, the palomino 2100, the Xp 2600 and the t-bred 2400, will all of them work with my mobo? and where can i get the BIOS update so that one of these will work and how do you install these BIOS updates, like I was going to update my BIOS version on my laptop and it had a huge warning thing and i decided not to do it. Also my floppy drive isnt working properly, for a BIOS update will I need a floppy drive? One last thing, would I need to do the BIOS update before installing the new processor? Sorry about all the questions, but i dont want to mess my computer up or buy a non-compatible processor(I wont be able to return any i purchase unless they are messed up, I am buying off ebay), until I can get a completely new computer.

 

[rp_crotty]

While I'm asking all these questions and you all are so kindly anwsering, does anyone know where I can get extremely cheap PC133 Ram(used or new), like even on ebay a 512 dim is 60 bucks not including shipping, and I just put a decent video card on this sys, so what I am hoping is with a new processor, 1.6ghz minimum, 512 MB or ram minimum, a 128MB ATI radeon 9800 video card, and with a 60 gig harddrive is that Ill be able to use this computer at least 6 months longer and play a few extreme graphics needy games, maybe such as WOW, or Battlefield 1942. Ne way anyone know where I can get cheap ram? thanks for all the help so far....

 

[Justin]

Soulharvester just said no thoroughbred of anykind, does it matter? I know the t-bred runs at 266 instead of 200 or something and that it might not be compatible. I have found all three processors that ya'll have mentioned, the palomino 2100, the Xp 2600 and the t-bred 2400, will all of them work with my mobo? and where can i get the BIOS update so that one of these will work and how do you install these BIOS updates, like I was going to update my BIOS version on my laptop and it had a huge warning thing and i decided not to do it. Also my floppy drive isnt working properly, for a BIOS update will I need a floppy drive? One last thing, would I need to do the BIOS update before installing the new processor? Sorry about all the questions, but i dont want to mess my computer up or buy a non-compatible processor(I wont be able to return any i purchase unless they are messed up, I am buying off ebay), until I can get a completely new computer.

The palomino 2100+ is pretty much guaranteed to work.

Before you get the thouroughbred, update the BIOS.

After reading socrates link, I'd suggest getting a tbred. The worst thing that would happen is that you'd have to return the CPU and get a palomino instead - But that wouldn't take more than a week.

 

[rp_crotty]

well unless the processor is DOA or broken I wont be able to return it once I buy it, so I should just go ahead with 2100 palomino? I only found one htough and may have to get the 2000 palomino, this wouldnt make too much difference would it? Also one of the guys on the AMD processor support said the XP 2400 wouldnt be bad, would this be almost garunteed to work? or 2300, 2200, ect?