Owen Posted April 15, 2000 Share Posted April 15, 2000 I like Fionn am considering an upgrade of my computer. It's currently a PII350 with a banshee and voodoo 2( I know it's weird, but it came with two cards. Firstly could someone tell me if it's worth upgrading. Secondly if so, how easy is it to upgrade from a pII to a pIII? Also which are the best graphics cards out on the market, taking money into account I don't want to be spending ludicrous amounts of money. (although I am willing to spend a bit). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted April 15, 2000 Share Posted April 15, 2000 I can help a bit...Your motherboard determines what CPUs you can upgrade to. You can't upgrade a PII to a PIII; this requires a completely different motherboard and processor; though you should be able to use most (if not all) of your current components on a new motherboard. Check Fionn's thread for others suggestions on graphics cards. Mostly, the best advice is, how much money you have to spend and stick to name brand components. I'd seriously consider the AMD line; good performance at a lesser cost; leaving more funds for other components; just check for compatibility issues with other components (they seem to be very few to consider). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted April 15, 2000 Share Posted April 15, 2000 Actually, since you are running a PII 350Mhz CPU, then you are probably running at 100Mhz front-side-bus. If you want to use your current motherboard (which MAY be possible) you will need to find out the model, manufacturer & REVISION of the board. These details can usually be found silk-screened (painted) on the motherboard (except the manufacturer name, in most cases). Since your board is older, your upgrade options for a newer CPU are going to be limited (i.e. - more than likely you may not be able to use the latest PIII Coppermines which start at 550Mhz & hihger - but some of the standard PIII CPUs go up to 600Mhz). You MAY be able to use a PIII with your current motherboard. Once you've identified your board manufacturer & other info you need to go the the manufacturer's website & see what kind of info they have on your board. FAQ's and other info about CPU compatibility will be useful. Pay very close attention to your motherboard revision (which you will hopefully be able to find). There may be details on upgrading the BIOS and CPU compatibility that may be VERY dependent on the revision. If you need help on identifying your motherboard I would suggest going to http://www.ping.be/bios at this website you should find some more info & programs for identifying your motherboard, but I would highly suggest a visual inspection (the revision will NEVER be reported by software). If you find that you have an Intel BX chipset based board, then I would probably suggest staying with it for now. They are still good chipsets performance-wise and it will save you US$110 or so if you keep your motherboard. You probably have an AGP slot on your board (assuming that you don't have BUILT-IN video). I would suggest, for those who are price-concious to get an NVidia TNT2 based video card. Creative, Diamond, Hercules and a good number of other companies make them. Any AGP card that is capable of AGP 4X will not use that feature on your current motherboard which will only be capable of AGP 1X or 2X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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