[mlwjackson]

I've got an 5 year old system that runs flawlessly but needs an upgrade if it can be done reasonably. It has an old Intel Monterry motherboard with 423 socket with a 1.3GHz P4 plugged into it and 768 of Rambus memory. I've spent as much on memory as I intent to spend. That leaves the CPU as the last potential upgrade. As I understand it I am limited to upgrading to a max of 2GHz with the present socket. I read very mixed review of 423 to 478 converters. I am told that increases less than 200 mHz would probably not be noticed. There don't seem to many 2.0 Ghz P4's around but a fair number of 1.8 P4's. So my question is: is 1.3 to 1.8 worth the $50-$60 I see being asked for these processors? Or, are the socket adaptors decent devices that will allow me to go to around 2.4 with a good stable system? What can you tell me about which way to go and what troubles to anticipate?

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You might notice alittle more performance on the CPU in certain applications you might run on the pc. It might hold you off for a few months until (my opinion) you should save up to buy a new pc soon.

If all you use that pc for is minor applications like the internet and word, paying bills like quickens, small programs you dont really need a new pc.

A new pc will be so much faster at everything because the parts today in time has faster specs and better performance.

[jrm20]

You might notice alittle more performance on the CPU in certain applications you might run on the pc. It might hold you off for a few months until (my opinion) you should save up to buy a new pc soon.

If all you use that pc for is minor applications like the internet and word, paying bills like quickens, small programs you dont really need a new pc.

A new pc will be so much faster at everything because the parts today in time has faster specs and better performance.

[mlwjackson]

You might notice alittle more performance on the CPU in certain applications you might run on the pc. It might hold you off for a few months until (my opinion) you should save up to buy a new pc soon.

If all you use that pc for is minor applications like the internet and word, paying bills like quickens, small programs you dont really need a new pc.

A new pc will be so much faster at everything because the parts today in time has faster specs and better performance.

Thank you for your response but my questions still remain unanswered. A 500mHz increase in CPU speed is ostensively a 39% increase in processor speed relative to the installed CPU. But, what does that translate into in terms of increased performance relative to the current CPU? The measure is not relative to a new PC but to the current system. Components are set to arrive Monday to begin to build a new x2 +4200 based system. This one is a secondary backup system. If a 1.8 gHz processor yielded a 20% increase in responsiveness it would be worth $50. Also, the question regarding the pros and cons of the socket adapter remains to be answered. Searches on the topic produce middling approvals and some strong condemnations. What is the experience of people on the forum with 423 to 478 adapters.

[SRX660]

Two systems i've tried that on. Went from pent3-800 to a pent 3-1000 and did not notice any speed up at all. The same thing happend with a pent 1.6 replaced with a 2.0. I really could not see any speed increase at all. The programs didnt open any faster that i could notice and the games played the same. Save your money up for a new puter. You will notice the difference between a 3 giger and a 2 giger. I really think it is because of the faster frontside bus and faster graphics cards( AGP over PCI) to where the real speedup is in newer computers.

SRX660