Totaly new to Processors need help with which to get

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skipper_96909

New Member
Hello, I have an AMD Athlon Thunderbird processor and I know that it is relatively old. I'm looking to buy a better faster processor but i don't know what kind I need to get or where to get it from. Or even if I'll be able to install it myself. All i know about my processor is that it runs at 1.21 GHz. I also have no idea what RAM does for a computer and I have 256 mb of it..lol i don't know whether or not i need more of that either( and if i did, i wouldnt know what kind to get!). I just need this information so I know what to put on my Christmas list. Thanks for your time,
Alex
 
Prof Pwnsworth

Prof Pwnsworth

New Member
The problem your facing is if you can find a T-bird Processor.I'me sure you could find one on ebay. If you have a socket A motherboard, also called socket 462, you can put in a newer Athlon XP processor, which isn't as outdated. The Thunderbird processors go from 650Mhz to 1.4Ghz, or 1400Mhz. The XP processors go from ~1.6Ghz to 3200+ speeds, which clocked at 2.2Ghz. the processor i have is a Athlon XP 3200+ which i overclocked from 2.2 to 2.6 Ghz. I don't recommend that you try to overclock any Socket A processor because you need ample cooling and a good amount of knowhow. The new socket 939 processors are very easy to overclock.
So baisically, if you have a socket A motherboard, then buy an athlon XP 2800 on ZipZoomfly.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80177-R&affiliate=pricegrabber
 
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skipper_96909

New Member
I would get that processor, but my uncle says I have a socket 7 processor. I looked up processors for that socket but the only thing that might be a socket 7 says its a socket 754. Is that what my uncle was referring to?
 
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ckfordy

banned
skipper_96909 said:
I would get that processor, but my uncle says I have a socket 7 processor. I looked up processors for that socket but the only thing that might be a socket 7 says its a socket 754. Is that what my uncle was referring to?
Click to expand...

yes socket 7 is socket 754 i am pretty sure on that. but also i am pretty sure that you dont have a socket 754 processor you should have a socket A processor.
 
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skipper_96909

New Member
is there any way i can look into my computer details and see what kind of socket my motherboard uses?My computer didnt come with the manual for the motherboard. And on another note I recently bought a 256 MB Radeon video card and it works great, but for some games its a little choppy , will the processor help this alot or will I need to get something else for my computer also?
 
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Filip

Active Member
skipper_96909 said:
is there any way i can look into my computer details and see what kind of socket my motherboard uses?My computer didnt come with the manual for the motherboard. And on another note I recently bought a 256 MB Radeon video card and it works great, but for some games its a little choppy , will the processor help this alot or will I need to get something else for my computer also?
Click to expand...

Download CPU-Z
 
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Filip

Active Member
can u tell us your budget so we can work everything out, and can u plz post the screenshots from cpu-z so we can see your system specs, if you dont know how to do that do it like this:

press PRINT SCREEN when u want to take a cpu-z screenshot, then open MS PAINT and press CTRL+V to paste it in ms paint, then upload it to your photoalbum (imageshack.us, photobucket.com etc) and post it here
 
StrangleHold

StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
Chances are, if it has a Thunderbird processor its a older socket A board and is limited on your FSB to 100 and 133 or to say 200 and 266 and even limited to what athlon processors even at that speed that the chip will even recognize. some older boards will only run Thunderbirds and Palomino cores!!
 
StrangleHold

StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
That board has a ALI Magik1 chip, so it will only run thunderbird, palomino and some lower end Athlon XPs, think like 1600 and below on XP, when you look on the processor it has to have a perfect square core on top, 1600 and above have a rectangle shaped core
 
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skipper_96909

New Member
so i can only get a 1600 ghz processor and nothing higher with my motherboard? hmmm..well will games play alot ebtter with that than my 1200 now or will it not be much of a difference?
 
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skipper_96909

New Member
So I should probably jsut buy a new motherboard with a socket 939 and than get a processor to fit that right? Will that be very easy to install into my computer or will i have to take it to a shop to do for me?
 
diduknowthat

diduknowthat

formerly liuliuboy
It most likely will. What case do you have? If it's an OEM one then there might be a chance that the screw holes aren't lined up, then you'd have some trouble. But otherwise, motherboard aren't as complicated to install as it seems, especially if you have a large case. Make sure you put standoffs between the motherboard and the case.
 
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skipper_96909

New Member
okay that souinds good...when i buy this stuff will it come with a manual on how to do all of this stuff or not? and if it doesn't is there a website on how to do it? by the way thanks everyone for helping me out so much, As for my case I think my uncle had directron.com put everything in it for him with that case so im not sure if its considered an OEM...but i dont know anything about...anything lol
 
fade2green514

fade2green514

Active Member
yea how much are you willing to spend? you can get a nice very ocable athlon 64 3000+ (1.8ghz) for $140 on newegg.com or you can go dual core for $320 at the lowest.
also, video card matters most when playing video games, and i would suggest at least 1024mb of ram for gaming... depending on what games you want to play.
personally im configuring a system with a dual core 3800+ dual channel Corsair XMS and a new 7800gt for christmas. thats gonna cost me a pretty penny though... oh, and SLI mobo in case i ever feel like it.
 
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