Upgrading MB and CPU-need a little advice

[chrisharris]

I just installed Windows XP Home on my old 'puter.

Specs:
Intel WS440BX mobo 100mhz FSB
PIII 550mhz
384mb SDRAM PC133
nVidia gforce2
soundblaster live
IBM 20GB 7200RPM

Here's what I wanna buy:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157034R

It's an ASROCK P4V88RAID--Socket 478--P4--800/533mhz FSB--Supports 4G of DDR400 (PC-3200)
This board is $25

The CPU:
Intel Celeron 1.8ghz 400mhz FSB (BX80532RC1800B) w/cooling fan.
This CPU is about $65

And a couple sticks of 512mb Kignston DDR400 Ram
About $80

Is this going to be a decent upgrade from my sloth-like PIII or am I throwing money at a boat with a big hole in the bottom?

Will my video card and sound card plug into this board and work correctly? Thats my biggest concern. Can't afford to buy a new video card right now. It's got integrated sound, so I can live with that.

If this won't work- then can anyone make recommendations?
Thanks much

 

[DarkBlade1]

Umm, P3 versus Celeron.. not much improvement, might actually be slower depending on the P3 series, the 800MHz-1GHz PIIIs were excellent CPUs, and that Celeron will degrade the overall performance barriers you have established. Anyways, I would save up some more money, and go for a low budget Sempron upgrade or even better, a low class AMD Athlon64, since their prices are very good per workload.

 

[chrisharris]

Thanks for the advice.
I'm not here to argue, but I do have some questions about your response.

I will start by stating that I know exactly nothing about the new technology-hell I don't know anything about the old technology.

The PIII is only 550mhz. I would think that a 1.8ghz CPU would win the race everytime?? Educate me, please. Tell me why the Celeron is junk.

The FSB between the 2 boards is ungodly. I'd be going from a 100mhz FSD Socket 370 to a 800/533mhz Socket 478 board. I have no idea why there are 2 numbers listed for the board I want. Whats the 800mhz mean? Is that FSB on the northbridge? And the533mhz? Whats that mean? Is it southbridge specs? Or have I got it backwards? Or have I not got it at all?

To me; and again, I don't really know squat about this stuff; it would seam that my speeds would be more than TRIPLE over what I'm running (crawling ) with right now. The board bus speeds are over 4 times the speed of my current board and the CPU at 1.8ghz compared to a PIII at 550mhz is no race at all---------at least on paper. But if the Celeron is junk-- then please elaborate.

I've been reading a lot for a couple weeks about this stuff. I had gathered that the Athalon 64 were super top end and very new to the market. Something about internet and beta-- cause they are TOOOOO fast. I dunno-but I'd decided to stay away from the newest top-of-the-line stuff. Too much $$$ and not really necessary for my application.

Is the board at least decent? Will my nVidia gForce graphics card just plug into a PCI slot and run? What about the Ram I listed. DDR400 PC3200? Is it decent for the board?
Recommend a specific CPU?

Thanks very much for your time.

 

[chrisharris]

Sempron CPU?

I can only find Sempron CPUs for Socket A boards.

Am I just not looking in the right places? Do they make Sempron CPUs for the 478 boards? Where to find?

I got a friend telling me Socket A is antiquated junk. He even laughed at me when I told him I was going to upgrade to Socket 478. I guess thats antiquated junk too- at least to him.

Is it the "Ford v.s. CHEVY" conundrum?

I haven't bought a thing yet, and already I'm so frustrated I could kick the neighbors cat.

 

[DarkBlade1]

LMAO!! is this for gaming? Or is this for Video or Audio? Tell me that please, and then you will get what you want.

As far as the educating part, that is NP. Basically, the Celerons have barely ANY L2 Cache, making them VERY INEFFICENT! Now, as far as... well... as far as Celerons go.. they SUCK..

Now, as far as AMD64s go, the are not that new at all, they are in their third year now, and they are HORRIBLY STABLE, and excel at gaming and single threaded applications unbeliveably well! I would recommend one anyday above a Celeron!

 

[chrisharris]

It's for general home use. Some bookkeeping, some photo stuff, some video, and a bit of gaming. I'm not looking to have a home Arcade or theater system here. Just want to upgrade a bit over the current system.

I surf the web a lot and read emails. Download videos about my hobby (RC Planes) and play a few flight simulators.

So, I don't really "NEED" a monster. Just a bit of an upgrade over my current hardware--using parts and technology that was old news last year. (cheap)

Thanks

 

[TRDCorolla1]

What you got will work fine. Your video card and sound card should not pose any incompatibilities with the new ASRock motherboard.

Maybe spend a few dollars more and get the Northwood core Celeron CPU:

Intel Celeron 2.0 Northwood 400MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache Socket 478 Processor
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819112173

Runs cooler and faster.

 

[chrisharris]

Hey, I'll pop a couple bucks for that processor. Thanks for the heads up about speed and temp on that. Actually, I think it will run about the same cost as the other--because newegg won't charge me $8 for Shipping.

I'm thinking-----significant boost in performance over my current system.

What do you think?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Oh yeah. I'm thinking it should. I mean it's comparable to the Pentium 4 but with smaller cache size. The old P3 you have is only 550MHz compared to the Celeron's 2GHz, plus you can overclock it more. Is your P3 sitting in a slot or a socket? Older Celerons is no match and is a value compared to the P3, but with the Northwood core-it's picked up a lot.

 

[chrisharris]

Power Supply?

Just dawned on me.

I have an Astec ATX202-3545 200Watt

12V and 6AMP MAX with max 200watts

I have:
IBM Deskstar HD 20GB 400ma at 12V
Pioneer 114 DVD-CD 1.1Amp at 12V
Creative RW1210E CD-RW 1.2Amp at 12V

What kind of power does my nVidia gForce2 vid card pull?
And the SB Live audio card?

Think I'll need a new ATX Power Supply?

Thanks