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Worth the upgrade?


Tommy

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I have an HP Vectra VLi8 and I'm wondering if upgrading the CPU would benefit me that much. I would like to max everything out on it as much as possible but of course I'm stuck with a 100MHz front side bus. It also has slot 1 as the processor plugin unit. Right now I have a Pentium III 850MHz slot 1 processor in it. Now my suggested upgrade should hypothetical work as long as I follow the voltage but I have a slotket and I was wondering if it would be worth the $12 to upgrade to a Celeron 1.1GHz processor. It's coppermine based which is definitely required as tualatin will not work on this particular adapter. So would upgrading from 850MHz to 1.1GHz while downgrading from a Pentium III to a Celeron be worth it? I cannot seem to find a Pentium III 100MHz front side bus on eBay that would max out the system and if I could, it's usually quite expensive. I don't really use the computer for that much, mainly Zelda64 emulating using Project 64 and then a little bit of web browsing which still seems surprisingly fast for 850MHz, less YouTube of course.

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Honestly, your system is from the last century and I can understand if you want to upgrade it as an enthusiast, but to the question "is it worth it?", clearly no. I'd save a few dollars more to grab a much more powerful system that would bring you at least 300% further, even with the same software compatibilities. Any dollar you put in that old computer in order to make it better is wasted. No offense.

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Honestly, your system is from the last century and I can understand if you want to upgrade it as an enthusiast, but to the question "is it worth it?", clearly no. I'd save a few dollars more to grab a much more powerful system that would bring you at least 300% further, even with the same software compatibilities. Any dollar you put in that old computer in order to make it better is wasted. No offense.

I get exactly where you're coming from. I am the enthusiast and just trying to get the last ounce of power I can out of the computer. I do have lots of other more powerful machines in my stockroom so it's not like I really need another one more powerful. But since I do use it for a few things I wasn't sure if the extra 250MHz would make the biggest bang for the buck that it possibly could.

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...Celeron 1.1GHz processor. It's coppermine based ... ... So would upgrading from 850MHz to 1.1GHz while downgrading from a Pentium III to a Celeron be worth it?...

 

 

Not worth the trouble IMHO to sacrifice half the L2 cache. I'd better overclock the Cumine 850.

 

 

... I cannot seem to find a Pentium III 100MHz front side bus on eBay that would max out the system and if I could, it's usually quite expensive ...

 

 

I'd steer clear of the 1100/1133 Cumines. I'd get a 1000/133 and then OC the hell out of it.

 

ykcGRfwN.png _____ b7eoAlge.gif

 

 

... I have a slotket ... ... coppermine based which is definitely required as tualatin will not work on this particular adapter ...

 

 

For the paleontological interest, with a bit of tinkering you can run a Tualatin on some Slot-1 boards.

 

6vaTzCK0.gif _____ tHfbrBST.gif

 

 

Attack of the mutant Tualatinsaurus-Rexes  :D  :

 

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=42416

 

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=32786

 

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/155832-resurrecting-a-1999-vintage-win98se-machine/page-3#entry1003131

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  • 3 weeks later...

Years ago I wasted muuuch time with the Slot 1, its many adapters, and the so many incompatibilities between PIII/Celeron and Katmai/Coppermine/Tualatin.

 

Then I changed the mobo fro a socket 370 directly compatible with the Tualatin. That was much easier and cheaper than what I wasted in the many adapters, and the i815 got good performance of the 1.4GHz Tualatin plus was capable of overclocking further. This machine still operates in 2015.

 

To me, the comparison is absolutely clear. Even more so now, because for the same price, you get more recent hardware. Something like a Wolfdale combination must be affordable by now, and the E8600 brought me 20x the performance of the 1.4GHz Tualatin.

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