Hardware Upgrade - Help?

.ak

Hey, I want to try a new computer I got recently, to be honest it's pretty much empty, with a PIII 450mhz, 128ram, and a 6gig drive, with no additional cards.

So I'm new to upgrading, and I was wondering if anybody here could answer a few n00b questions.

First off, how do I know what type of socket my CPU uses?
Secondly, how do I install a CPU?
Thirdly, how do I find out what type of socket my HD uses?
Fourthly, how do I install my HD?

I think I'm okay with installing ram, but any advice would be handy.

.ak

p.s: I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to post on, but I didn't know where else to post, if I posted in the wrong forum I apologize.

Ryo Hazuki

I say buy a new motherboard and get a decent processor.

That PIII sounds like a slot 1, Slot 1 processors are hard to find, hard to install, and give poor performance.

Buy a good Socket 1 motherboard for around 100 euro, and an XP Barton 2600+ for around 100 euro again.

Theres no point spending money on an expensive upgrade for an old motherboard, that by the sound of it, does not even have an AGP slot.

Also, go for a DDR-Ram motherboard, Faster, Easierr to get etc.

www.komplett.ie

esquier

I recently built a second pc using a MSIWMAM mobo and a Duron 1.4 ghz plus a 40gig Hdd all for €170 at www.komplett.ie. It`s got onboard sound and video and if you want a faster cpu the board supports up to 3000mhz. All IDE Hdd`s have the same connectors so it`s just a case of swopping your old one. Hope this helps

Gerry

well, if the machine already has a motherboard and a p3 450mhz cpu, no point in throwing that out. I think you are referring to getting what you already have working, instead of upgrading. If not, well yeah you will have to get new everything. Kinda confused by your post, if you can clear up whether its actually a working machine, or whether its just the parts you have, that would be cool.
Ryo, a slot 1 cpu doesn't perform any worse than a socket 370, for the cpu types that are available in both slot1 and socket 370 ( coppermine ). p3 450mhz isn't available in socket370. I don't see how its harder to install either.. you just plug the cpu in. Don't even have to pull up a lever. It can be quite tricky to put the heatsinks on, but no more than a socket cpu. Theres also the advantage that you can swap slot1 cpu's very quickly, due to not having to remove the heatsink each time.

Virus_Inc

Cheap and elegant solution is get a Slot 1 to Socket 370 conveter card or slocket. Make sure you get one with jumpers to modify voltage and bus speed then you can use basically any socket 370 CPU in your old Slot 1 mobo....

You prolly can't buy them new anymore so look around for 2nd hand - I had an old Slot 1 mobo which I ran a 1GHz P3 in quite happily.... have to be a little careful with the size of your heatsink though because the CPU is mounted perpendicular to the mobo....