Need help with a P3 mobo

[TheGr81]

My dad picked up an old computer from a goodwill near his job. He says it used to be from some insurance company or something. Well, he wants to give this computer to my brother, so he can play his games on it, instead of my parents' computer. Even he knows it will need some upgrading. ;D

We need some new ram for it. PC133. I think he's got that covered.

Right now it's got a 866 MHz PIII in it, but we want to make it faster. I found out a little bit about this board. It has the Intel 82815 chipset, so it has an AGP port on it, not bad. I think I can get a R8500 in it. What we don't know about it, is what kind of processor we can throw in this machine. Intel's webstie didn't specify. It only said 66/100/133MHz fsb P3. Something like that.

Can you help? What's the fastest processor we can slap in this mobo? What would you recommend?? Thanks!

-Rick

PS. In the meantime, I could always add this machine to my mini folding farm! :fold: :)

[Thrax]

Without knowing the specific motherboard, it's impossible to tell the fastest.

The Intel 82815 chipset went on boards that supported Pentium 3s as slow as the first edition Katmai chips to the fastest Tualatins.

[TheGr81]

It's the socket 370, if that helps at all. I can't examine the board right now, it's not here. If I find out exactly what that board is, I'll report back here. How do I find out the mobo based on the numbers along the bottom of the screen at POST? Is there a website?

Are ram timings of 2-2-2-5 an accomplishment on old PC133? I have a compaq from about the same time as this machine that also uses PC133 we got from circuit city. Timings are 2-2-2-5 at default. I'm thinking the same stuff would serve very well in this computer.

[Omega65]

Probably the fastest chip this board will support is an FC-PGA P3 1000mhz 256K. It probably wont support a FC-PGA2 chip (P3 512K 1.0-1.4ghz & Celeron 256K 1.0-1.4ghz) But then again it might.

make sure the PC133 you get is Cas2 and everything should be golden.

[TheGr81]

When you say FC-PGA2 are those the Tualatin .13 processors? The Coppermine are .18 right? According to Intel's stie, it can run either.

[Thrax]

As I said earlier..

The Intel 82815 chipset went on boards that supported Pentium 3s as slow as the first edition Katmai chips to the fastest Tualatins.

And it all depends on the board. Does it have the right power features? BIOS support? The chipset may support it, but the board itself just might not.

The coppermines are indeed .18u FC-PGA and the Tualatins are indeed .13u FC-PGA2.

[ryko]

Either way, you should get this <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14292&item=3494186298&rd=1"> adapter</a> from from ebay for 99c just to be on the safe side.

Then you could pick up this <a href="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-114-163&depa=0">1.13 tualatin pIII</a> from newegg for $44.

cpu upgrade for under $50.....

[TheGr81]

Hmm? That adapter looks funky. How does that work? The FSB is still limited to 133 MHz right? How would an adapter make it work? And wouldn't the extra height make it impossible to mount a heatsink?? I think we're just better off with a new mobo...

BTW, the mobo is Intel D815EEA. Goes up to 1 GHz Coppermine PIII's I'm pretty sure.

[edcentric]

The adapters work, I have seen a number in use.
As long as the mobo has AGP it is prob worth messing with.
It won't be any slower than a P4 ;)
You should hunt for a bios update.
Yes you are stuck with 133FSB, but so are a lot of us.

[TheGr81]

Well, since this Intel motherboard came in a system I know nothing about, probably customized from some seller like Dell or Compaq, I'd be much more comfortable with a new motherboard. This board has no overclocking capabilities. I'm just unfamiliar with the bios, and I'm sure there's better performing mobos we can get.

[Gargoyle]

I once found an article that was written back when the Tualatins were new that explained how to tell whether or not the chipset was a new enough revision to support them. It would involve looking at the codes on the northbridge. I'm not sure where I saw that article though.