System Upgrades

[KajoWaraku]

Hello. I understand alot of people don't want to bother trying to swap out CPU chips due to all the necessary considerations and the problems that may arise. However, I have two machines I would like to try and upgrade and I wonder if anyone can help me with the process.

The first machine is a Dell L866r, a pretty old machine. The current CPU is a Pentium III 866, which, as far as I know, is a slot 1 chip. I haven't actually had a chance to pop it open and look, but as I understand all P3s were slot 1 until the 1.1 GHz came around in a socket 570. (Please correct if this info is wrong) What I would like to do is to either a) replace the 866 with a faster chip that fits in the slot and will be compatibile with my motherboard or find a kit (which I heard in fact does exist) which will allow me to upgrade to a socketed chip.

The other machine is an emachines T2260 with an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ chip, that uses Socket A, so I would like to see if I can upgrade that chip to an Athlon XP 3000+, which also fits into Socket A.

Basically what I'd like to know is what information I'll need to find out if I can upgrade these chips and how to go about it. I understand there can be issues with power consumption and chipset compatibility.

Any input you folks may  have would be greatly appreciated. One of my biggest issues was finding out which P3 chips actually fit in the slot 1 connector, most online stores don't indicate.
 

[neb1211]

Things you need to take into consideration when upgrading the processor on any motherboard are the socket type (socket A, Socket 478, etc), the motherboards maximum fsb speed, and the fastest supported processor.

What are you planning on using both computers for?  The reason I ask is that it may not even be worth upgrading the first computer.  I don't know when the P3s switched over to socket 370 but if it is infact 1.1ghz, then the 234mhz speed increase isn't going to do much for you.  I don't know if the conversion kits work at all because I have never used them.

[KajoWaraku]

Thank you for the update, how might I find out the maximum fsb speed and fasted supported processor? Would I have to contact the manufacturer?

The first machine is used mainly for web browsing and microsoft office applications, including development in msaccess. It is essentially an office machine. I use it for some multimedia and gaming, but once I get the 2200 running I probably won't use it for this anymore.

As of right now I get alot of overload and the machine jams up pretty easily, so the performance boost, even if relatively small, will be worthwhile. The motherboard is pretty old, so since I'm limited to 512 MB of PC133 RAM I'd like to squeeze the CPU for all it's worth. I read on Tom's hardware that there are conversion kits available that will allow me to use a p3 1.4 ghz chip on a slot 1 board, any info on that would be higly appreciated.

As for the other machine, I want it to be my main gaming/multimedia/entertainment machine.

 

[neb1211]

Most times the fastest supported fsb and processor will be listed in the motherboard manual.  It is also often times on the products web page.  You may also need to know the revision of the motherboard to find this data online.  Often times the revision number is printed on the motherboard similar to something like "REV 2".