Processors

[J'Pol]

I wish to change the processor in one of our PCs.

The current processor is an AMD Athlon 1200. I know that different motherboards take different processors.

Can anyone tell me which processors I can replace it with, or how to find out.

I would like to get an Athlon XP processor if this is possible.

Thanks for any help which you can provide.

[ilw]

Do you know what motherboard you have, and also if possible the speed of the ram installed.

edit: if you run xp you should be able to find out what motherboard u have by typing systeminfo in at a dos prompt., dunno what the command is for other os's

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by ilw@9 April 2004 - 12:13
Do you know what motherboard you have, and also if possible the speed of the ram installed.

edit: if you run xp you should be able to find out what motherboard u have by typing systeminfo in at a dos prompt., dunno what the command is for other os's

I have typed systeminfo (in XP Pro). I cannot see the motherboard type, but the PC is a Fujitsu Siemens GA-7ZX.

[J'Pol]

GA-7ZX

That's the motherboard, isn't it

[Lamsey]

One would suggest getting a hold of AIDA32 - this proggy tells you all about your PC and will give you the info you need to tell which processors you can use.

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by Lamsey@9 April 2004 - 12:57
One would suggest getting a hold of AIDA32 - this proggy tells you all about your PC and will give you the info you need to tell which processors you can use.

Thanks for that.

I have downloaded and run the program.

I now have shedloads of info. Can I just compare that to the specifications for a processor and that will tell me if it will work or not.

I know this is really basic, but so is my knowledge.

[3RA1N1AC]

hmm... that's tricky. it's based on the VIA KT133 design. KT133s were originally intended to use Athlon Thunderbird chips, but some of the later ones supported Athlon XPs after a BIOS update. very few, but some of 'em nonetheless.

if you have a GA-7ZX revision 5.1, it'll support Athlon XPs up to the XP 2000 model. if not, yer upgrade option is limited to a 1.4ghz Athlon T-bird. i'm not sure how you'd find out which revision you have... other than by opening the computer and reading it off of the motherboard itself. according to this photo, it'll be printed on the board, right next to the graphics card slot. you might need to remove the card, to see it.



if it is a revision 5.1 board, you might then need to update the BIOS in order to add support for Athlon XPs. if you've never done a BIOS update before, read the update instructions and proceed cautiously. there is a slight FUBAR risk involved. http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Suppo...(Rev%205.1).htm

[Lamsey]

AIDA32 might tell you the board version, look in the motherboard section and see if you can find it anywhere.

[J'Pol]

Thanks to everyone.

Very helpfull as always.

Love the AIDA thing btw, a spiffing bonus to the info I have been given.

Nice touch with the photo 3RA1N1AC, that is really helpful to one such as I.

[ilw]

the full list for supported processors can be found here
Theres also a link there or click here telling u where u can find out which version you have, apparently the number is printed on the bottom right corner of the board, so u might not have to take out your graphics card.