Old socket 754 mobo upgrade

[theubersmurf]

So my stepfather has an old computer he keeps complaining to me runs really slowly. I've implored him to just let me build him a cheap modern computer, but he won't. He's unwilling to give up this old computer for whatever reason. So anyway, his computer is an Old Biostar Nforce 2 mobo (N7NCG400) with a sempron 1.8GHz processor (not positive the version). There are a good handful of old Athlon 754s available on ebay for cheap, and I'm thinking of buying one for this comp of his. The problem I'm having, is finding info on the motherboard. I don't know the current bios revision of the board he has, and biostar's site doesn't seem to list this board (Presumably because it's no longer supported) and google hasn't been a ton of help so far. Basically I'm concerned about the bios revision, and what processors the mobo will support at all. Need some help with some fact finding basically. Know a good filesharing site that still has stuff like the old bios' for biostar mobo's? Lay it on me. Need a bit of help with this.

 

[Timonthy]

Mess with the jumpers and make him let you buy a new board, upgrading a 754 platform isnt smart at all.

Download CPU-Z and check the CPU Revision, though it should be a Paris/Palermo 3000/3100+, which should be compatible with most 754 CPUs.

But, considering the highest clocked 754 Athlon is only 2.4Ghz, you wont get much speed improvements from the upgrade.

EDIT: Are you sure its an Socket 754? Heres a board called "M7NCG 400" and its socket A.
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=m7ncg+400

 

[theubersmurf]

Mess with the jumpers and make him let you buy a new board, upgrading a 754 platform isnt smart at all.

Download CPU-Z and check the CPU Revision, though it should be a Paris/Palermo 3000/3100+, which should be compatible with most 754 CPUs.

But, considering the highest clocked 754 Athlon is only 2.4Ghz, you wont get much speed improvements from the upgrade.

EDIT: Are you sure its an Socket 754? Heres a board called "M7NCG 400" and its socket A.
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=m7ncg+400

Appropriately, it seems you're correct. I found it on biostar's site not long before your post. It is socket a it seems. for some reason I had recalled it being socket 754, my mistake. I haven't touched his comp in a while.

 

[Timonthy]

Appropriately, it seems you're correct. I found it on biostar's site not long before your post. It is socket a it seems. for some reason I had recalled it being socket 754, my mistake. I haven't touched his comp in a while.

Being Socket A, you're pretty much in an dead end.
The best CPU you can upgrade to is a XP 3200+, which is merely 400Mhz over the existing Sempron, and I wouldn't trust to OC on vintage hardware like that.

 

[theubersmurf]

Being Socket A, you're pretty much in an dead end.
The best CPU you can upgrade to is a XP 3200+, which is merely 400Mhz over the existing Sempron, and I wouldn't trust to OC on vintage hardware like that.

It's not going to get overclocked. The dude is just stubborn and 63 yrs old and can't see the value of upgrading if it's functioning as he needs it to...for the most part. He's also ultra cheap so a small processor upgrade is something he could stomach. Drives me nuts because he want's to upgrade it, and he seems to think that he can work with what he has to make it more viable. And more or less for my mother's sake I've got to entertain this crap. But whatever, it's easier to help him with a useless upgrade than get into an argument, at least from my perspective.

 

[Timonthy]

It's not going to get overclocked. The dude is just stubborn and 63 yrs old and can't see the value of upgrading if it's functioning as he needs it to...for the most part. He's also ultra cheap so a small processor upgrade is something he could stomach. Drives me nuts because he want's to upgrade it, and he seems to think that he can work with what he has to make it more viable. And more or less for my mother's sake I've got to entertain this crap. But whatever, it's easier to help him with a useless upgrade than get into an argument, at least from my perspective.

And Ive almost the same situation with my dad trying to play 1080P with a Athlon XP and an IGP320M. He insists "were just missing the software to do it!"

What RAM does he have? getting at least 1.5GB/2GB should help improve the performance more than the CPU.

 

[theubersmurf]

And Ive almost the same situation with my dad trying to play 1080P with a Athlon XP and an IGP320M. He insists "were just missing the software to do it!"

What RAM does he have? getting at least 1.5GB/2GB should help improve the performance more than the CPU.

I actually don't know off the top of my head, I suspect it's 256-512Mb, DDR333 or something. Like I said I haven't touched his comp in several years. I seem to recall it being 512, but I'm probably misremembering it.

 

[Timonthy]

I actually don't know off the top of my head, I suspect it's 256-512Mb, DDR333 or something. Like I said I haven't touched his comp in several years. I seem to recall it being 512, but I'm probably misremembering it.

Then Buy 2 512MB Sticks of DDR RAM for $15 and a CPU like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Sempron-300...2126?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item35aa177a9e

$30 and both are happy.

 

[theubersmurf]

Then Buy 2 512MB Sticks of DDR RAM for $15 and a CPU like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Sempron-300...2126?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item35aa177a9e

$30 and both are happy.

That might even be a good solution.