Cpu upgrade

[Personx]

Hi all,

This is probably an easy question, so I'm hoping someone can give a definite answer.

Can the cpu be replaced with anything that uses the same socket? I currently have an AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.4 GHz (Socket 462), motherboard is K7T, MS-6330v3.X. The Athlon XP series uses the same socket and I was thinking of a 2600+ or so.
Mobo specs at: http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec....Limited_Edition

However the manual and website for the mobo states it can support 600MHz to 1.3 GHz. This would have been the newest processor at the time, and I'm wondering if thats why it says 1.3 GHz. (Note that a 1.4GHz is currently used). Would the mobo be able to support a faster processor?

One last thing is the FSB. Will a new processor work if it has a faster FSB than the mobo? Or would it simply be capped to the FSB of the mobo?

I'm thinking that any processor using Socket 462 would work, although the FSB would be capped to match the mobo.

Any input or thoughts would be appreciated.

[neb1211]

You might be able to but it would probably require a bios update but I cannot guarantee that it would work because it varies between motherboards.  I am not firmilar with that motherboard at all so I really couldn't give you a definate answer.

The processor fsb would only be able to run as high as the maximum fsb supported by the motherboard.  In a case where the supported fsb is lower than the processors fsb speed, a XP 2600+ would run at a speed slower than 2ghz which it would normally run.

Overall your best bet would be to buy a new motherboard.  Technology has greatly improved over the years and if you wanted to take full advantage of your new processor, you would need a new motherboard as well.  Your motherboard only supports 4x AGP, single channel SDRAM and IDE while newer motherboards support things such as 8x AGP, dual channel DDR ram, and SATA.  These improvements in technology translate into better performance.  Also the newer motherboards would be able to support most of your old hardware with the one exception being the ram.

[tomalakborg]

Yep, at this point you should upgrade your mobo if you're going to upgrade at all. Neb got it - agp 8x and a new socket will be a good investment. What do you want to run/do with this machine?