Up grading CPU

[Eric G]

I want to up grade my the cpu of my computer. It is currently a Gateway with a mother board #4000321 . How hard will it be to install a new CPU and will I have to do. Will any CPU fit in this style motherboard or is there only certain kind.

[dl65]

Eric G.......have a read .....this is you MOBO I think .

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/INTEL/m00321/m00321nv.shtml


dl65  

[Computer_Commando]

1.  Will any CPU fit in this style motherboard or
2.  is there only certain kind. ???

1.  No.
2.  Yes.  Pentium II only.  Best to add memory and faster hard drive.  Forget about upgrading CPU.

[Eric G]

Thanks for the info. I was hoping to up grade a little bit at least. Right now I have 400mhz PII. To be honest I only want to get about another year out the unit until a new game comes out. I was looking to run a program(game) on the unit right now but the minimum for the game is a PIII 500 mhz.  

What would a fast hard drive add? What components makes the computer run faster?
I am pretty sure I maxed it out on ram.

[Computer_Commando]

... Right now I have 400mhz PII. ...but the minimum for the game is a PIII 500 mhz...What would a fast hard drive add? What components makes the computer run faster?
I am pretty sure I maxed it out on ram.

There's really not much that difference between a PII-400 and a PIII-500.  I had a PII-450 and a PIII-500 and saw no difference.  BTW, you can't just replace processors, unless the motherboard supports the different voltage the processor requires and is able to vary bus speed and multiplier.  PII-400 has bus speed of 100MHz and multiplier of 4.  PII-450 has multiplier of 4.5.  PIII-450 has multiplier of 4.5, PIII-500 has multiplier of 5.  All have core voltage of 2.0V.  You might be able to upgrade to a PIII-500 or even a PIII-600.  All are Slot 1 processors at 100MHz bus speed.  All memory must be PC100 or better.  Upgrading processors is not as simple as you might think.

Any 7200 rpm hard drive will make a huge difference.  Max RAM for your computer is 384MB.  Windows 2000 and Windows XP require at least 128MB RAM, but more speeds things up a lot.  Windows 98 is about the same, but any more does no good.

[Eric G]

So I take it that the motherboard will only take a max bus speed of 100.  Does the voltage have to remain 2.0 V or can that vary.
I was looking around on ebay and I found a few auctions for some processors, most of them have the heat sink on there with a fan biult in. Where does this fan plug into on the motherboard, or do I even need to plug in the fan? This is an old computer so I don't really mind messing around with or learning on it.  Thank you for answering all my questions.