Boring Upgrade Options Thread

[Muel]

Howdo,

I'm looking at upgrading my aunty's computer, and at the moment it has an Athlon64 3800+, the motherboard is an Asus M2NS-NVM/S, which according to the manual is an AM2 socket board that supports Athlon64, Athlon64 X2 and Sempron CPUs.

Here is the manual I found. It's on a German site but appears to be for the correct board.

Would this CPU work in it? I can't find out if AM2+ CPUs work in AM2 boards.

I'd also be looking to upgrade the RAM, but I think I have that sorted. It will take upto 4x1gb 400/533/667/800mhz unbuffered non-ECC modules. At the moment it has some 4x256mb 400mhz rubbish. The plan is to get 2x1gb 667/800mhz for it.

What I'm wondering is, would it be worth upgrading the motherboard at the same time? I stuck an E5300 with a Gigabyte G41M-E2SL and 2gb of 1066mhz ram in my brothers computer recently, and it flies now for everyday stuff. (Overclocked to 1066mhz RAM and 3.4ghz CPU). Would that be a better cost/improvement ratio than just upgrading the CPU and RAM in this motherboard?

I guess the first step is to find out if that CPU will work, then compare it with an E5300. Changing to that Gigabyte board would have a lot of advantages, I know my way round it for one thing, and it's a much better board than this current one with a lot more features, but they're not needed. It's not going to be overclocked, it's only for surfing the web. Also if I change the board, I'd have to reinstall the OS, which would be a pain in the arse.

Cheers guys!

 

[Muel]

It is indeed a Packard Bell. Apparently the board is the uATX form factor according to the manual.

I'll look into the CPU upgrade in the future. For the time being I reckon giving it a good clear out is the best bet, then the next stage more ram. It has been supplied with 4x256mb of ram, and Vista. Whoever drew up this spec needs shooting! Even when idling it's hammering the page file by the looks of it.

 

[Muel]

I've got so many other little grievances with Vista after working on this computer today that I'd be here all night if we went down that path lol.

I heard 2gb minimum? W7 seems to run really smooth for everyday stuff with 2gb to me. In your opinion, would going from 1gb to 2gb make a significant difference, despite this CPU? It's only a 2.4ghz single core after all. I know they were more efficient than the equivalent Pentium 4, but it's still a little weedy...

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Muel]

First step is to clear out the OS and see what difference that makes, and keep an eye out for the right RAM second hand. Once it has 2gb in there we'll see if it's fast enough. If not then I'll look at CPU upgrades.

Cheers.