Advice on CPU/Mem Upgrade

[nick1]

Greetings,

I am trying to help my brother upgrade his somewhat dated desktop computer. He is interested in playing some of the more recent PC games.
With an upgrade, I think his system still has the potential to satisfy his needs.

Here are the system specs:

Motherboard: Abit KT7/KT7-RAID
Max Memory: 1.5GB
Chipset: VIA Apollo KT133
168-pin DIMM Banking: 3 (3 banks of 1)
Error Detection Support: Non-ECC only
Supported DRAM Types: SDR SDRAM only
Max Unbuffered SDR SDRAM: 1536MB
Module Types Supported: Unbuffered only
Max Component Density: 256Mb
SDR SDRAM Frequencies: PC100 and PC133
Graphics Support: AGP 4X
USB Support: 1.x Compliant

motherboard documentation:
http://www.uabit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=48&page=6&category=5&subcategory=257&model=91&product_name=KT7-RAID

I believe his system is currently using an AMD Athlon 1GHz CPU.
We would like to upgrade the:

1.) Memory
2.) CPU & heatsink
3.) Power Supply also?

Crucial.com has the memory we need: http://crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=KT7-RAID

The motherboard documentation describes the type of CPU required however finding someone who sells it has been difficult. I would appreciate recommendations (and a link to) which CPU and heat sink I should purchase for this system.

Is overclocoking a safe option in this case? Is the total cost of this upgrade worth the results it will yield?

Thank you for your time,

Nick

[nick1]

*BUMP*

Can anyone help me?

Thanks,

Nick

[gshv]

I had KT7-RAID board and never liked it... Anyway, this board doesn't support 133 MHz FSB, so you can't use any Athlon XP processors in it. The fastest supported CPU is 1.4 GHZ with 100 MHz FSB. In my opinion this board/CPU is a bit slow for recent games - you may want to buy new board/CPU/memory.

Gennadiy

[isa-d]

I'm sorry but your system can play only the MAME games or the games built befor the 2000 year.

The max you can upgrade is:

CPU - Athlon 1200Mhz
Memory - 3x256MB sdram PC133 (double face, 18 chip)
Video card - Nvidia FX5100 128MB
HD - min 40GB (80GB is better)
An USB PCI card with 4 port for the Joystick

For my opinion add something at this money and buy a new system with an Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 or an AMD Athlon 64 X2 EE 4600+ with 1GB of memory, a 200GB HD and a video card with the ATI Radeon X1950 Pro or the Nvidia GeForce 8600GT videochip.

With this system your brother can play at the last games available.

[Guest]

Thank for your replying.

I am confused about the fastest CPU this motherboard can support:
Gshv says it supports up to 1.4GHz.
Isa-d says it supports up to 1200Mhz.

In either case, can you please recommend a reliable place where I can purchase the CPU and heat sink. Do you recommend upgrading the Power Supply also?

Thank you for your time,

Nick

[gshv]

http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng/faq/generic/checkcpu.htm

I'm afraid it'll be difficult to find 1.4 GHz CPU outside of eBay.

Gennadiy

[isa-d]

Your MB isn't an "A" revision so you support CPU's with a 200 fsb
http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=K7S41GX&s=
Looking at this table (is for AsRock MB but is the same), Athlon CPU's are too old and I don't remember exactily the max CPU available with 200 FSB but in this table is a 1,2Ghz, the 1,4Ghz is 266FSB.
On Ebay with a bit of patience you can find something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Athlon-Processor_W0QQitemZ220140085278QQihZ012QQcategoryZ15919QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You don't have to change the power supply but you need also 512MB minimun of ram and a FX5100 (or equivalent) videocard with 128MB of ram.

But I think with these upgrades your brother can't play at games more young of 5 years.

[gshv]

Now I see where you got the 1.2 GHz number... The fastest Athlon with 100 FSB CPU is 1.4 GHz:

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon%201400%20-%20A1400AMS3B.html

Gennadiy

[isa-d]

Oohps!!

I'm sorry, my collection ends at K6 CPU's and I use this table for reference.

[Guest]

Guys, thank you for working together to clarify all of this.

So, I will look for an AMD SocketA Athlon (100 MHz FSB) at 1.4GHz with heat sink and fan.

I will try looking on Ebay as well as pricewatch.com, unless someone can recommend another source or has this equipment for sale.

Thank you

Nick