Upgrade? And if so, what?

Wes Newell wrote:
On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:34:45 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:
On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 20:08:25 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Well, Knoppix didn't work. It gets to the end of the installation, and
just starts intermittently "flashing" some stuff on the screen. I let
it go for close to an hour, and it just kept flashing. Tried both
version 4 and version 5, with the same result.

That's strange.

Again, if I wanted to set up a system to play HDTV off of
cable/internet/phone what would I need to get? A new hard drive
probably, right? (I currently have 2 40 GB drives, but they'd obviously
be unsufficient for TIVO.) A new CPU probably, also? And a new video card?

For cable, you'll need a QAM capable tuner. Phone? (Fios maybe, don't
know). Internet, you can forget for HDTV. 1080i broadcast take about 7GB
per hour. 720p about 4GB per hour. SD only takes about 1GB per hour.

I wonder why Knoppix behaves this way? Perhaps it's the same problem
that I have with video? Some sort of intermittent problem? Some
hardware conflict?
Maybe that IRQ sharing you have.

I got this creatu

http://tinyurl.com/rvoaf

(Used http://www.tinyurl.com to resolve wrap problem for long URLs)

It will at least solve my DVD playback, although it didn't actually say
it was QAM tuner capable. If not, I suppose I can bring it back for an
exchange. But they only had three TV/Video AGP cards available, and
this was the cheapest.

IMO, you're wasting your money on crap like that. And no, it won't do QAM.
And when NTSC is disconbtinued in Feb. 2009, it won't do much of anything
except be a video card.

Now, I suppose I'll need to upgrade the HD (if I intend to use TIVO) and
the processor, in that order.


What Tivo? I don't understand what you're saying. I dumped my Tivo and all
my DVR's over 6 months ago. They won't record digital broadcast.

I'd still like a more substancial hint on
what to use as a processor. I just can't figure out what all the
nomenclature is about. Can you just suggest something in the $60-$70
range?

AMD 754 Sempron 3100+.

Thanks for all your help, BTW. Usenet is fantastic, as are you!

I think you're jumping into this too fast. Their are many many things to
consider before buying anything. If you've definately settled on regular
or HD cable, then that All in wonder probably won't even work for you to
record. And there aren't any Tivos that will record cable HDTV. The S3
should work if you can afford it whenever it's released. See last line in
sig.

I have a bit of a problem, I think. The video went all haywire as soon
as I logged on to XP, so I went into safe mode and disabled the video
adapter, thinking XP would substitute something generic. But it didn't,
it just blanked the display, so now I can't boot into safe mode.

And to make matters worse, I got in to boot into regular mode for awhile
before the screen when haywire, so I used the time to uninstall the ATI
drivers, so now nothing works. Not sure what I can do. I'm pretty sure
the device is booting to the logon screen, but I can't see anything. I
figured that when I get the home network set up in a week or so I can
Remote Desktop to the XP box, where the display will be governed by the
second computer's video parameters. I've also installed XP on the other
hard drive, so I have access to the files... if I knew what to do to
change things so that the video works.

That video card is a turkey.

As for the cable connection, that hasn't started yet so strictly
speaking I could cancel. But it's actually not a bad deal in comparison
to the alternatives. Verizon's internet charges are way cheaper, but
its phone rates are more expensive... so ends up costing the same for
those two services. And, of course, if I did that I'd have no TV.
Speakeasy is about the same as Verizon (more expensive internet, but
cheaper phone).

But the first order of business is to get my main XP box bootable, and
then take back that video card. Maybe get a regular video card and
worry about the tuner later.

Anyway, it could be a lot worse. I didn't lose any data, and I
installed that 2nd XP box on the partition that had the useless Lycos
distribution, so didn't lose anything in terms of space. I may not be
able to register it, though, with Gates' restrictions. Will they also
balk at a new CPU?

Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.

Freewheeling wrote:
Wes Newell wrote:
On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:34:45 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:
On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 20:08:25 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Well, Knoppix didn't work. It gets to the end of the installation,
and just starts intermittently "flashing" some stuff on the
screen. I let it go for close to an hour, and it just kept
flashing. Tried both version 4 and version 5, with the same result.

That's strange.

Again, if I wanted to set up a system to play HDTV off of
cable/internet/phone what would I need to get? A new hard drive
probably, right? (I currently have 2 40 GB drives, but they'd
obviously be unsufficient for TIVO.) A new CPU probably, also?
And a new video card?

For cable, you'll need a QAM capable tuner. Phone? (Fios maybe, don't
know). Internet, you can forget for HDTV. 1080i broadcast take about
7GB
per hour. 720p about 4GB per hour. SD only takes about 1GB per hour.

I wonder why Knoppix behaves this way? Perhaps it's the same problem
that I have with video? Some sort of intermittent problem? Some
hardware conflict?
Maybe that IRQ sharing you have.

I got this creatu

http://tinyurl.com/rvoaf

(Used http://www.tinyurl.com to resolve wrap problem for long URLs)

It will at least solve my DVD playback, although it didn't actually
say it was QAM tuner capable. If not, I suppose I can bring it back
for an exchange. But they only had three TV/Video AGP cards
available, and this was the cheapest.

IMO, you're wasting your money on crap like that. And no, it won't do
QAM.
And when NTSC is disconbtinued in Feb. 2009, it won't do much of anything
except be a video card.

Now, I suppose I'll need to upgrade the HD (if I intend to use TIVO) and
the processor, in that order.


What Tivo? I don't understand what you're saying. I dumped my Tivo and
all
my DVR's over 6 months ago. They won't record digital broadcast.

I'd still like a more substancial hint on
what to use as a processor. I just can't figure out what all the
nomenclature is about. Can you just suggest something in the $60-$70
range?

AMD 754 Sempron 3100+.

Thanks for all your help, BTW. Usenet is fantastic, as are you!

I think you're jumping into this too fast. Their are many many things to
consider before buying anything. If you've definately settled on regular
or HD cable, then that All in wonder probably won't even work for you to
record. And there aren't any Tivos that will record cable HDTV. The S3
should work if you can afford it whenever it's released. See last line in
sig.

I have a bit of a problem, I think. The video went all haywire as soon
as I logged on to XP, so I went into safe mode and disabled the video
adapter, thinking XP would substitute something generic. But it didn't,
it just blanked the display, so now I can't boot into safe mode.

And to make matters worse, I got in to boot into regular mode for awhile
before the screen when haywire, so I used the time to uninstall the ATI
drivers, so now nothing works. Not sure what I can do. I'm pretty sure
the device is booting to the logon screen, but I can't see anything. I
figured that when I get the home network set up in a week or so I can
Remote Desktop to the XP box, where the display will be governed by the
second computer's video parameters. I've also installed XP on the other
hard drive, so I have access to the files... if I knew what to do to
change things so that the video works.

That video card is a turkey.

As for the cable connection, that hasn't started yet so strictly
speaking I could cancel. But it's actually not a bad deal in comparison
to the alternatives. Verizon's internet charges are way cheaper, but
its phone rates are more expensive... so ends up costing the same for
those two services. And, of course, if I did that I'd have no TV.
Speakeasy is about the same as Verizon (more expensive internet, but
cheaper phone).

But the first order of business is to get my main XP box bootable, and
then take back that video card. Maybe get a regular video card and
worry about the tuner later.

Anyway, it could be a lot worse. I didn't lose any data, and I
installed that 2nd XP box on the partition that had the useless Lycos
distribution, so didn't lose anything in terms of space. I may not be
able to register it, though, with Gates' restrictions. Will they also
balk at a new CPU?

Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.
I'm not actually as stupid as this scenario makes me look. I just got a
little P-Oed that the stupid card was screwing up the display, and chose
the wrong thing to uninstall. I should have just uninstalled the
software itself, instead of the drivers. I'm fairly sure it was the
software that was screwing things up, mandating some really nifty fade
effects no doubt.

I talked to the ATI folks who told me that the board is probably bad,
and I should take it back. Fine with me.

BTW, if I get a new hard drive will Gates allow me to register my
operating system on it? Also, what if I change the CPU? With the way
hard drives crash I can't imagine that it'd be a problem, but you never
know with those guys.

Oh yes, there a fan on the motherboard that seems to be going south. It
just barely turns. I wonder if that might be causing problems. It's
not the processor fan, so I'm not sure what it does, but I'd better
replace it (a second time). I usually hear them squeaking, but this one
is just silently dying.

Learning a lot, the hard way. Problem is, the technology will probably
have changed by the time I figure this out. I used to program EProms in
Assembly Language, believe it or not.

Freewheeling wrote:
Freewheeling wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:

On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:34:45 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:

On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 20:08:25 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Well, Knoppix didn't work. It gets to the end of the
installation, and just starts intermittently "flashing" some stuff
on the screen. I let it go for close to an hour, and it just kept
flashing. Tried both version 4 and version 5, with the same result.

That's strange.

Again, if I wanted to set up a system to play HDTV off of
cable/internet/phone what would I need to get? A new hard drive
probably, right? (I currently have 2 40 GB drives, but they'd
obviously be unsufficient for TIVO.) A new CPU probably, also?
And a new video card?

For cable, you'll need a QAM capable tuner. Phone? (Fios maybe, don't
know). Internet, you can forget for HDTV. 1080i broadcast take
about 7GB
per hour. 720p about 4GB per hour. SD only takes about 1GB per hour.

I wonder why Knoppix behaves this way? Perhaps it's the same problem
that I have with video? Some sort of intermittent problem? Some
hardware conflict?

Maybe that IRQ sharing you have.

I got this creatu

http://tinyurl.com/rvoaf

(Used http://www.tinyurl.com to resolve wrap problem for long URLs)

It will at least solve my DVD playback, although it didn't actually
say it was QAM tuner capable. If not, I suppose I can bring it back
for an exchange. But they only had three TV/Video AGP cards
available, and this was the cheapest.

IMO, you're wasting your money on crap like that. And no, it won't do
QAM.
And when NTSC is disconbtinued in Feb. 2009, it won't do much of
anything
except be a video card.

Now, I suppose I'll need to upgrade the HD (if I intend to use TIVO)
and
the processor, in that order.



What Tivo? I don't understand what you're saying. I dumped my Tivo
and all
my DVR's over 6 months ago. They won't record digital broadcast.

I'd still like a more substancial hint on
what to use as a processor. I just can't figure out what all the
nomenclature is about. Can you just suggest something in the $60-$70
range?

AMD 754 Sempron 3100+.

Thanks for all your help, BTW. Usenet is fantastic, as are you!


I think you're jumping into this too fast. Their are many many things to
consider before buying anything. If you've definately settled on regular
or HD cable, then that All in wonder probably won't even work for you to
record. And there aren't any Tivos that will record cable HDTV. The S3
should work if you can afford it whenever it's released. See last
line in
sig.

I have a bit of a problem, I think. The video went all haywire as
soon as I logged on to XP, so I went into safe mode and disabled the
video adapter, thinking XP would substitute something generic. But it
didn't, it just blanked the display, so now I can't boot into safe mode.

And to make matters worse, I got in to boot into regular mode for
awhile before the screen when haywire, so I used the time to uninstall
the ATI drivers, so now nothing works. Not sure what I can do. I'm
pretty sure the device is booting to the logon screen, but I can't see
anything. I figured that when I get the home network set up in a week
or so I can Remote Desktop to the XP box, where the display will be
governed by the second computer's video parameters. I've also
installed XP on the other hard drive, so I have access to the files...
if I knew what to do to change things so that the video works.

That video card is a turkey.

As for the cable connection, that hasn't started yet so strictly
speaking I could cancel. But it's actually not a bad deal in
comparison to the alternatives. Verizon's internet charges are way
cheaper, but its phone rates are more expensive... so ends up costing
the same for those two services. And, of course, if I did that I'd
have no TV. Speakeasy is about the same as Verizon (more expensive
internet, but cheaper phone).

But the first order of business is to get my main XP box bootable, and
then take back that video card. Maybe get a regular video card and
worry about the tuner later.

Anyway, it could be a lot worse. I didn't lose any data, and I
installed that 2nd XP box on the partition that had the useless Lycos
distribution, so didn't lose anything in terms of space. I may not be
able to register it, though, with Gates' restrictions. Will they also
balk at a new CPU?

Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.

I'm not actually as stupid as this scenario makes me look. I just got a
little P-Oed that the stupid card was screwing up the display, and chose
the wrong thing to uninstall. I should have just uninstalled the
software itself, instead of the drivers. I'm fairly sure it was the
software that was screwing things up, mandating some really nifty fade
effects no doubt.

I talked to the ATI folks who told me that the board is probably bad,
and I should take it back. Fine with me.

BTW, if I get a new hard drive will Gates allow me to register my
operating system on it? Also, what if I change the CPU? With the way
hard drives crash I can't imagine that it'd be a problem, but you never
know with those guys.

You know, the fact that you refer to Microsoft as "Gates" tells me
roughly 90-plus percent of everything I'll EVER need to know about you.

--
--
Well, whaddaya know? War WAS the answer, after all. Go figure.

A lone Micronaut lost in a world of Star Wars action figures,
(The Excessively Parenthetical) Geena-- Worrier Princess

"Reciprocity... is the key to every relationship."
--LAPD Capt. Dudley Smith (James Cromwell), in L.A. Confidential

"Andy Warhol once said that everyone would be famous for fifteen
minutes. The unfortunate corollary is that everyone will also appear in
a Freddie Prinze, Jr. movie for fifteen minutes."
--me

"This is like driving a Rolls Royce, naked, in mink underpants."
--Tony Bourdain

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it
helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons,
but at the very least you need a beer."
-- Frank Zappa

"I'm not sayin' it's the best thing in the world FOR ya; I'm just sayin'
it's the best thing in the world."
-- Alton Brown

"The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is
that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes,
wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their
prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet
this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all
the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in
all history."
-- Robert Heinlein

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:22:21 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.

I saw Win XP Saturday fro the first time in my life. i'm not impressed. I
chenged the MB in my brothers box. XP wouldn't boot at all, not even into
command line mode. I knew from reading that a repair install should fix
it, but I couldn't get that option. After a little web searching dicovered
it won't work if you have Go Back installed and enabled, which he did.
Disabled that and then ran a repair install and got everything working.
So, boot the install cd and do a repair install. That should get it
working.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 12:31:19 -0400, Geena Phillips wrote:

Freewheeling wrote:
BTW, if I get a new hard drive will Gates allow me to register my
operating system on it? Also, what if I change the CPU? With the way
hard drives crash I can't imagine that it'd be a problem, but you never
know with those guys.

You know, the fact that you refer to Microsoft as "Gates" tells me
roughly 90-plus percent of everything I'll EVER need to know about you.

And the fact that you quoted 120 lines just to write your stupid remark
and that your sigline of over 30 lines isn't setup properly tells me 100%
of everything I need to know about you.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

Geena Phillips wrote:
Freewheeling wrote:
Freewheeling wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:

On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:34:45 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:

On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 20:08:25 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Well, Knoppix didn't work. It gets to the end of the
installation, and just starts intermittently "flashing" some
stuff on the screen. I let it go for close to an hour, and it
just kept flashing. Tried both version 4 and version 5, with the
same result.

That's strange.

Again, if I wanted to set up a system to play HDTV off of
cable/internet/phone what would I need to get? A new hard drive
probably, right? (I currently have 2 40 GB drives, but they'd
obviously be unsufficient for TIVO.) A new CPU probably, also?
And a new video card?

For cable, you'll need a QAM capable tuner. Phone? (Fios maybe, don't
know). Internet, you can forget for HDTV. 1080i broadcast take
about 7GB
per hour. 720p about 4GB per hour. SD only takes about 1GB per hour.

I wonder why Knoppix behaves this way? Perhaps it's the same
problem
that I have with video? Some sort of intermittent problem? Some
hardware conflict?

Maybe that IRQ sharing you have.

I got this creatu

http://tinyurl.com/rvoaf

(Used http://www.tinyurl.com to resolve wrap problem for long URLs)

It will at least solve my DVD playback, although it didn't actually
say it was QAM tuner capable. If not, I suppose I can bring it
back for an exchange. But they only had three TV/Video AGP cards
available, and this was the cheapest.

IMO, you're wasting your money on crap like that. And no, it won't
do QAM.
And when NTSC is disconbtinued in Feb. 2009, it won't do much of
anything
except be a video card.

Now, I suppose I'll need to upgrade the HD (if I intend to use
TIVO) and
the processor, in that order.



What Tivo? I don't understand what you're saying. I dumped my Tivo
and all
my DVR's over 6 months ago. They won't record digital broadcast.

I'd still like a more substancial hint on
what to use as a processor. I just can't figure out what all the
nomenclature is about. Can you just suggest something in the $60-$70
range?

AMD 754 Sempron 3100+.

Thanks for all your help, BTW. Usenet is fantastic, as are you!


I think you're jumping into this too fast. Their are many many
things to
consider before buying anything. If you've definately settled on
regular
or HD cable, then that All in wonder probably won't even work for
you to
record. And there aren't any Tivos that will record cable HDTV. The S3
should work if you can afford it whenever it's released. See last
line in
sig.

I have a bit of a problem, I think. The video went all haywire as
soon as I logged on to XP, so I went into safe mode and disabled the
video adapter, thinking XP would substitute something generic. But
it didn't, it just blanked the display, so now I can't boot into safe
mode.

And to make matters worse, I got in to boot into regular mode for
awhile before the screen when haywire, so I used the time to
uninstall the ATI drivers, so now nothing works. Not sure what I can
do. I'm pretty sure the device is booting to the logon screen, but I
can't see anything. I figured that when I get the home network set
up in a week or so I can Remote Desktop to the XP box, where the
display will be governed by the second computer's video parameters.
I've also installed XP on the other hard drive, so I have access to
the files... if I knew what to do to change things so that the video
works.

That video card is a turkey.

As for the cable connection, that hasn't started yet so strictly
speaking I could cancel. But it's actually not a bad deal in
comparison to the alternatives. Verizon's internet charges are way
cheaper, but its phone rates are more expensive... so ends up costing
the same for those two services. And, of course, if I did that I'd
have no TV. Speakeasy is about the same as Verizon (more expensive
internet, but cheaper phone).

But the first order of business is to get my main XP box bootable,
and then take back that video card. Maybe get a regular video card
and worry about the tuner later.

Anyway, it could be a lot worse. I didn't lose any data, and I
installed that 2nd XP box on the partition that had the useless Lycos
distribution, so didn't lose anything in terms of space. I may not
be able to register it, though, with Gates' restrictions. Will they
also balk at a new CPU?

Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.

I'm not actually as stupid as this scenario makes me look. I just got
a little P-Oed that the stupid card was screwing up the display, and
chose the wrong thing to uninstall. I should have just uninstalled
the software itself, instead of the drivers. I'm fairly sure it was
the software that was screwing things up, mandating some really nifty
fade effects no doubt.

I talked to the ATI folks who told me that the board is probably bad,
and I should take it back. Fine with me.

BTW, if I get a new hard drive will Gates allow me to register my
operating system on it? Also, what if I change the CPU? With the way
hard drives crash I can't imagine that it'd be a problem, but you
never know with those guys.

You know, the fact that you refer to Microsoft as "Gates" tells me
roughly 90-plus percent of everything I'll EVER need to know about you.

When I was younger, just as the PC was beginning to emerge and Apple
didn't have any real competitors other than Commodore, a small software
franchise opened up in the Pacific Northwest called "Microsoft". One of
my techno-challenged friends observed that this might be construed as a
form of hyper-impotence. Just goes to show what's not in a name.

Wes Newell wrote:
On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:22:21 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.

I saw Win XP Saturday fro the first time in my life. i'm not impressed. I
chenged the MB in my brothers box. XP wouldn't boot at all, not even into
command line mode. I knew from reading that a repair install should fix
it, but I couldn't get that option. After a little web searching dicovered
it won't work if you have Go Back installed and enabled, which he did.
Disabled that and then ran a repair install and got everything working.
So, boot the install cd and do a repair install. That should get it
working.

I've done that. :-(
I actually can't see any way other than to use Remote Desktop, assuming
Windows is actually booting but I'm just unable to see it. The fact
that it gets to the point where the logon screen should come up,
suggests that it is, but I can't tell for sure without trying Remote.

I hear that the Apple OS is far more stable than Windows. Heck, the
Amiga operating system from 1986 was more stable, come to think of it.
Windows was just a third-rate version of those, at the time. It got off
the ground because, well... Big Blue.

Wes Newell wrote:
On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:22:21 -0400, Freewheeling wrote:

Anyway, it's irksome but it'll get sorted out.

I saw Win XP Saturday fro the first time in my life. i'm not impressed. I
chenged the MB in my brothers box. XP wouldn't boot at all, not even into
command line mode. I knew from reading that a repair install should fix
it, but I couldn't get that option. After a little web searching dicovered
it won't work if you have Go Back installed and enabled, which he did.
Disabled that and then ran a repair install and got everything working.
So, boot the install cd and do a repair install. That should get it
working.

I took the ATI board back. A question about the Sempron Socket 754
3000+. The processor speed is listed at 1.8Ghz, so strictly speaking
it's only marginally faster than the Thunderbird at 1.4Ghz. Would it be
advisable to get a newer motherboard *and* a faster CPU? Alternatively,
can the Sempron be overclocked to get it above 2.0 Ghz? If a new
motherboard, what would you suggest?

Also, there appear to be 2 flavors of the same CPU: 90nm SOI and 130nm
SOI. Does it matter which? Finally, will my board take a 754 pin?
It's supposed to be a Socket A. What's the difference? Just curious.

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:19:59 -0700, Freewheeling wrote:

I took the ATI board back. A question about the Sempron Socket 754
3000+. The processor speed is listed at 1.8Ghz, so strictly speaking
it's only marginally faster than the Thunderbird at 1.4Ghz. Would it be
advisable to get a newer motherboard *and* a faster CPU? Alternatively,
can the Sempron be overclocked to get it above 2.0 Ghz? If a new
motherboard, what would you suggest?

don't get a socket 754 3000+, get the 3100+. It has twice the cache.
Either will clock well over 2GHz. I'm running a 3100+ at 2.1GHz now
(9x233) and i didn't even raise vcore from 1.35v And you can't compare the
1.4 of the old Tbird to 1.4 of a K8. Even at the same speed, the K8 will
be quite a bit faster. As for a 754 MB, I'd get one with Nforce 3-250
chipset or newer. If you want to consider an upgrade path I'd get a new
AM2 MB. The one I'm using now is excellent and has all the bels and
whistles you are likely to need for many years. it does require DDR2 ram
though. But it will run anything from a Sempron to an X2 dual core.

Also, there appear to be 2 flavors of the same CPU: 90nm SOI and 130nm
SOI. Does it matter which? Finally, will my board take a 754 pin? It's
supposed to be a Socket A. What's the difference? Just curious.

No, your board won't take a 754 Sempron, and you don't want a socket A
Sempron because your board won't run at the default 166Mhz FSB speed. if
you want to use your board, you'll need a cpu with a default 133MHz fsb or
an unlocked model. upgrading your cpu is definately the cheapest route for
more cpu power, but if you want to not leave yourself stuck, then an AM2
MB and new cpu and ram won't cost too much if you start with a cheap CPU
that will still be much faster than your tbird 1400. I know. Too many
options.:-)

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Wes Newell wrote:
On Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:19:59 -0700, Freewheeling wrote:

I took the ATI board back. A question about the Sempron Socket 754
3000+. The processor speed is listed at 1.8Ghz, so strictly speaking
it's only marginally faster than the Thunderbird at 1.4Ghz. Would it be
advisable to get a newer motherboard *and* a faster CPU? Alternatively,
can the Sempron be overclocked to get it above 2.0 Ghz? If a new
motherboard, what would you suggest?

don't get a socket 754 3000+, get the 3100+. It has twice the cache.
Either will clock well over 2GHz. I'm running a 3100+ at 2.1GHz now
(9x233) and i didn't even raise vcore from 1.35v And you can't compare the
1.4 of the old Tbird to 1.4 of a K8. Even at the same speed, the K8 will
be quite a bit faster. As for a 754 MB, I'd get one with Nforce 3-250
chipset or newer. If you want to consider an upgrade path I'd get a new
AM2 MB. The one I'm using now is excellent and has all the bels and
whistles you are likely to need for many years. it does require DDR2 ram
though. But it will run anything from a Sempron to an X2 dual core.

Also, there appear to be 2 flavors of the same CPU: 90nm SOI and 130nm
SOI. Does it matter which? Finally, will my board take a 754 pin? It's
supposed to be a Socket A. What's the difference? Just curious.

No, your board won't take a 754 Sempron, and you don't want a socket A
Sempron because your board won't run at the default 166Mhz FSB speed. if
you want to use your board, you'll need a cpu with a default 133MHz fsb or
an unlocked model. upgrading your cpu is definately the cheapest route for
more cpu power, but if you want to not leave yourself stuck, then an AM2
MB and new cpu and ram won't cost too much if you start with a cheap CPU
that will still be much faster than your tbird 1400. I know. Too many
options.:-)

I noticed that the bios on my board allows you to increase the FSB speed
in 1 Mhz increments. I was sort of scared to try it, but basically
there's a menu item for +1Mhz or -1Mhz, and you apply it repeatedly. I
suppose one can't assume that this would actually work, but it's
interesting that the bios software allows it.