Hi PC techies.
I need to upgrade a AMD k6-2 400MHz PC - the mobo is a TekRam P5MVP-A4 and from what I can determine I can't just slot in another AMD Duron or Athlon chip. So I think I will need a new mobo & processor.
I want to use my existing RAM (PC100) and DVD/CD, SB Live (Value) sound card, Motorola PCI modem, ATI AGP graphics card and FireWire PCI (Adaptec & Datavision) card and IDE drives x 2.
Are mobos a standard size? Can somebody suggest a mobo and setup.
I don't want an intel inside...
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regards
Steven Hood
[ O U T L A W : S D G ]
Yes, mobos are a standard size, but there are two sizes! These are AT and ATX.
All new boards, bar a few, are ATX, and that's what you should go for. If your current board is ATX then you can swap the mobo etc, but to go from AT to ATX you need a new case and power-supply - but these can be bought for around £35.
The ATX system uses a smart power supply, and PS/2 keyboard and mouse sockets, which should give you a clue what you've got if you're not sure.
You should be able to put a Duron in, but not an Athlon, because a 300w power supply is recommended for Athlons (unless you swap the supply too).
You can keep all the cards and drives, also RAM. AMD Mobos are best on 133 RAM, but can be set for 100 RAM. However, for the price of RAM, especially if you want to increase it, you might want to buy some 133 anyway.
What you should do, looking forward, is get a mobo that uses a KT133A (not KT133) chipset, and a type-C CPU. These can run the CPU bus at 266 MHz instead of 200, which makes a significant difference at very little cost. The newest chipsets use DDR RAM which is theoretically faster, but current benchmarks show very little actual performance improvement, for significant extra money.
As for actual brand/model of mobo, I can't say - I'm still checking them out myself 
But make sure it has enough PCI slots for your needs.
HTH
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Richard Jones, http://www.activeservice.co.uk
Home of the MediaStudio Pro Tutorial
If you want to keep you PC100 ram then you cannot run the FSB at 266Mhz and therefore use the type C Athlon without doing some minor surgery on the CPU to alter the multiplier.
The Duron and the A type run at 200Mhz and can use PC100 mem on any KT133 or KT133a motherboard.
If you are willing to change memory have a look at the DDR ram boards (AMD760, ALI Magik and KT266 chipsets) with the price of the faster PC2100 memory falling and approaching PC133 prices it may be worth while going that route.
thanks for the feedback. The mobo is indeed an ATX.
Checkout tomshardware and/or anandtech before splashing out on a DDR board. Results are extremely disappointing. It makes very interesting reading!
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Richard Jones, http://www.activeservice.co.uk
Home of the MediaStudio Pro Tutorial
Both tomshardware and anandtech, plus others have have roasted the current revision of the KT266 and to some extent the Ali chipset.
However the AMD760 is a good chipset; although in word etc the extra bandwidth gives less than 5% extra when looking at memory intensive programs (including video work) there is a significant advantage.
At crucial.com PC2100 Cas 2.5 256mb £80.09
128mb £43.19
PC133 Cas 2 256mb £74.69
128mb £42.29
Yes the MBs are more expensive but the extra speed is equivelent to an extra 200Mhz on the CPU.