Upgrading the Processor

[Jayj2k1]

Whats good people? I'm thinking about upgrading the processor on one of my pc's. Its really for my father. It is an emachines that I bought for like $150 for the tower and monitor in Best Buy's Black Friday sales. This pc looks something like this right now.

-340 Celeron D 2.93GHZ, 533mhz FSB, 256KB L2 Cache
-768 MB Memory (Came with 256mb but added a 512 of Corsair)
-80GB HD
-MX4000 128MB PCI Card (Crappy but wanted to stay away from integrated Graphics)
-DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo Liteon Drive

The processor that I'm thinking about going to is a Pentium 4 2.4 GHZ Prescott Processor, 533mhz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache. It is definitely better than what I have now even though it is a lower clock speed. I think it is running on Newegg right now for $120. It is also sold by CompUSA for $160 if I need it right away.

Here is the P4 processor that I'm looking at. Click here

Here are my cpu and motherboard specs as well. Thanks a lot ya.

 

[mike4realz]

http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/hz/hz_proc.htm

supported processors for ur intel mobo

 

[Jayj2k1]

Good looking out man.

Now as far installing these bad boys, do I need to delete everything off of the hard drive before I do so, or I can just install it?

If I'm a beginner at doing this type of work, would you just recommend me to take it to someone who can do it for me?

 

[mike4realz]

u can just install it. windows will automatically configure it.

also is this ur first time installing a processor?

 

[Jayj2k1]

I am new to installing processors but I have installed memory, optical drives, and video cards.

For the particular processor I'm looking at, I have to actually take a look at my mobo because it states that I have to have P13 for the last three entries in order for it to work. I hope I don't have to fully take out the mobo to tell.

If you look back at the website you gave me, you can go to where it says 2.4 GHZ, 533 FSB, and 1MB L2 Cache. It says that my mobo need to say P13 or greater.

 

[mike4realz]

oh that's the bios version. if u click on the BIOS Version link, it'll take u to the BIOS download page. u currently have a more recent BIOS update than the available updates they have.

also upon installing a processor, ur gonna need some thermal pastes for reinstalling the heatsink.

 

[Jayj2k1]

See right now, you are talking Greek. lol But its all good. I appreciate you taking the time to help. Where can I get thermal pastes from? And how do you install them or do they come with the processor's manual?

 

[mike4realz]

if u bought a retail processor, u won't have to worry about thermal compounds cuz it includes a heatsink that u can just install it without having to apply thermal compounds. it also include a manual, so read it first.

 

[Jayj2k1]

I looked in my manual and it didn't state anything as far as installing.


Now I know that I can order online and just wait for it to come in. However, I am not a person that can wait when I order something. I become too anxious and I'm trying to work on that. I have 4 options. This is how it goes.

1) Buy Pentium 4, 2.4 Ghz, 533 FSB, 1MB L2 Cache
NewEgg Price (best price) = $122.00
CompUSA (only retail store that carries it) = $159.00

OR

2) Buy Pentium 4, 3.0 Ghz, 800 FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading
NewEgg price(best price) = $190
CompUSA (only retail store that carries it) = $230.00

I really want Photoshop to run smooth. I tried it with my Celeron 2.9ghz, and it took almost 8 minutes just to do a difference cloud( i was working on a sig). I am also running Reason 3.0 which is a music program. It takes up like a gig of space and a lot of resources. I'm doing my own tracks. Would I be fine with the 2.4 Pentium?

*Note that I have a MX4000 128mb PCI video card and 768mb of ram.

 

[locki433]

you be way better off with the 3.0Ghz HT if your board runs its.