A New Lease On Life – How To Make Your PC 5 Times Faster – THG.RU

<!–#set var="article_header" value="A New Lease On Life –
How To Make Your PC 5 Times Faster” –>

Upgrade Or New System?

Charles M. is sitting there, glaring at his PC system. He has been waiting several minutes for his computer to do something, anything. Instead, the hard drive is just emitting loud grinding sounds and his mouse isn’t reacting to any movements he makes with it. “I don’t believe it!” he thinks to himself, still glaring at the monitor. He would love to vent his fury by just slinging the whole computer out the window. And to think that this swank computer is a mere 36 months old and has been totally deducted from his taxes! He can remember proudly ordering the system at the computer dealer’s around the corner. In those days, Charles was the king of his group of friends – no one had a PC tower with a fast Pentium II and a hefty 64 MB RAM. But today’s a different story – the computer dealer has been gone for quite a while now and his friends all have faster computers with GHz processors. I’ve got to do something, he thinks. Charles isn’t a total incompetent, so he opens up his PC system and resolves to bring his PC up to scratch again by selectively upgrading components.

Numerous users are stuck in this situation. Untold emails sent to Tom’s Hardware portray vividly how many readers are torn between upgrading and buying a new computer. This decision, however, is dependent on two factors – first of all, how old is the hardware that has to be upgraded and how does that limit my upgrading possibilities? Second, what applications will I be using in the future?

We have taken a 3-year old system that was on the cutting edge in 1998 as an example of how to upgrade it step-by-step, thereby increasing performance by a factor of 5. We’ve included lots of pictures to make it clear how you transform an old PC with a Pentium II/233 into a system with a Pentium III/800 or a Pentium 4/1500. In a future article, we’ll also be looking at a system based on an AMD processor and upgrading it.

A glance at all the components of our base PC. We’ve disassembled the computer entirely here.

Base PC Configuration

Our base PC was manufactured in 1998 and is based on a motherboard furnished with Intel’s 440BX chipset. This Abit BX6 is, however, not the original motherboard supplied with the system. The old computer originally came equipped with a board that used an Intel 440LX chipset. The Abit BX6 has turned out to be a motherboard that’s easy to upgrade with faster processors. The 64 MB memory installed on the board isn’t up to date any longer. Hard drive capacity has also been upgraded at some point in time as well. We’ll be discussing several upgrade options and their respective prices. A summary of these prices is given at the end of the article in the form of a chart.

Upgrading The CPU – Slot Or Socket Up To 1000 MHz

The Abit BX6’s CPU platform is still based on the Slot 1 – a standard that Intel has been in the process of phasing out for some time now. Currently, processors (Pentium III) for Slot 1 up to 1000 MHz are still available in stores. Since the multiplier on all Pentium III processors is hard-wired, hardly any problems crop up in reality. Coming back to our Abit BX6, any Pentium III CPU could have been used on it. In the first upgrade phase, we used a Pentium III/800 with a front side bus of 133 MHz. This CPU is relatively inexpensive and performs fairly well – provided that it’s not supposed to meet high-end standards of quality. All the Celeron processors are unattractive for an upgrade, since their second level cache of 128 kB is too small. As we said beforehand, we only want to exchange the processor in the first phase of stepping up our PC system. The remaining components will be installed step by step. There is one peculiarity of Pentium III processor, though – the 800 MHz comes with either 100 MHz front side bus or with 133 MHz FSB. The second version performs better than its 100 MHz counterpart. Another option involves installing a processor in the FCGPA case. To do this, however, you have to install a Socket adapter as well.

Intel processors at a glance – the lower CPU is our Pentium II/233, followed by a Pentium III/600 (Katmai core), a Pentium III/800 in a FCPGA case and a Pentium 4/1500.

Slot 1 – this CPU platform was replaced by the Socket 370. However, processors are still available up to 1000 MHz.

Socket 370 – the current standard for all Intel Celeron II processors (FCPGA version) and Pentium III processors.

Socket 423 – this platform has been conceived exclusively for use with the Pentium 4. The CPUs are clocked from 1300 MHz to 2000 MHz.

Slot Adapter: New CPU In An Old Board

By using this adapter, you can operate a FCPGA processor up to 1000 MHz in an old Slot 1 board.

The CPU is being positioned, applying a little pressure when placing it on the Socket.

Installing the adapter and processor combination in the motherboard slot.

Installing the Pentium III CPU (FCGPA) in a Socket 370 motherboard.

Thermal paste is a must-have. Smearing the silicon processor wafer evenly with the white paste improves heat transfer.

Afterwards, the CPU cooler has to be carefully placed on the processor.

Now a torsion spring holds the cooler perfectly.

A Socket adapter is not meant to be a technically spic-and-span solution. The changes in signal speeds suffice to create potential stability problems. There weren’t any difficulties during the entire testing procedure, which still isn’t an absolute guarantee. If a slot adapter is used, the temperature monitoring feature absolutely has to be deactivated in BIOS. This is necessary because there is no special temperature sensor on the Socket adapter and no thermal signal is transferred on top. There are different models of Socket adapters – some only have a jumper to adjust the front side bus, whereas better equipped models also allow the CPU core voltage to be adjusted. We used a brand-new Socket adapter from Soltek (SL-02A++), which allows for voltage and clock speed adjustment.

FSB Clock Speed – 100 or 133 MHz

Since the Abit BX6 comes furnished with the Intel 440BX chipset, the board only officially supports a maximum front side bus clock speed of 100 MHz. For all other speeds that exceed the 100 MHz limit, the AGP bus and possibly other devices are being run above their specified limits. When used in conjunction with certain graphics cards, this can result in instability. During the week-long testing phase we still didn’t register any anomalies. Aided by the Socket adapter, the Pentium III/800 fulfilled its duties with nary a whimper. The effect installing a new processor had on the performance can be seen in the benchmark results in this article. The Abit BX6 had a high performance at an FSB clock speed of 133 MHz.

The Newcomer Pentium 4 – A Sinfully Expensive Upgrade

If you want to build your entire system around an Intel platform, you could also consider purchasing a Pentium 4 system. Ignoring the fact that, in addition to the CPU itself and the accompanying RDRAM, the motherboard has to be replaced as well, the newcomer Pentium 4 could also be a choice. However, a closer examination of price lists, with costs soaring over $800, has this dream deferred drying up like a raisin in the sun. Be that as it may, there exists a clientele that only trusts Intel technology, particularly in the business sector. On the other hand, there are also users who would never dream of purchasing a Pentium 4. However, these decisions are always a reflection of each user’s political affiliation.

When upgrading to a Pentium 4, it is important to remember that a Socket 423 motherboard requires an additional voltage jump from the power supply. This is provided by an ATX-12V connection, which isn’t part of our old power supply. Available for a few bucks in computer supply stores, an adapter can remedy this problem. In order to include the most expensive upgrade in our comparison, we installed a Pentium 4/1500 with its motherboard (Gigabyte GA-8TX) and 256 MB RDRAM in our old case and ran tests on it. One thing is already clear – the cost of totally revamping the system like this are much too high and aren’t worth it. We could have just as well installed a new board with a Socket 462 and AMD Athlon processor – it would have been considerably less expensive. This example is only intended to demonstrate how the most recent Intel platform, consisting of the board with the 850 chipset combined with the Pentium 4/1500 and 256 MB RAM, behaves in different benchmark disciplines.

The Pentium 4/1500 bundled (boxed version) with 256 MB Rambus memory, CPU fan and thermal paste.

Memory Clock Speed – 66, 100, 133, or 400 MHz?

The RAM clock speed influences the total performance of a PC system considerably. Whereas the base system still runs using a front side bus of 66 MHz – processor and memory – once the Pentium III/800 has been installed, the FSB runs at 133 MHz. Intel offered clock speeds on the Pentium II of up to 333 MHz (5 x 66 MHz) with an FSB clock speed of 66 MHz – 100 MHz wasn’t available below a core frequency of 350 MHz (3.5 x 100 MHz). Our Pentium III/800 automatically runs at 6 x 133 MHz. The multiplier isn’t adjustable.

Upgrading The Graphics Card – From TNT2 To GeForce 2 Ultra

A comparison of three generations (from top to bottom) – The starting point is the TNT2 Ultra card. The level is ratcheted up through the GeForce MX200 all the way up to the GeForce 2 Ultra.

In the course of all our articles, we’ve discovered that exchanging the CPU and RAM aren’t the only factors crucial to improving performance. In the area of office applications, a graphics card upgrade can be sacrificed in the name of cost-saving. There was an Nvidia TNT2 Ultra card in the old PC case, which was the bee’s knees in 1999. Nowadays, this card is only powerful enough for simple 3D games. In order to maintain excellent value, we upgraded our system’s graphics card to a GeForce 2 MX200. It only costs about $60-70 and cuts a really good figure in the benchmarks. High-end users and frame fanatics ought to take the Nvidia GeForce 2 Ultra, which gets especially good performance scores in current 3D games. For this reason, we’ve contrasted these two cards with the original, the Nvidia TNT2 Ultra, in the benchmarks.

Step for Step – Upgrading an Old PC

Now we’ll show you how we disassembled our old PC system step by step. Afterwards, we’ll install the new components, mentioning important details along the way.

Removing the Old Components

You need at least these tools for this upgrade.

Our PC system with Intel Pentium II/233 and 64 MB RAM.

You have to open the case to perform this upgrade.

The PC components are behind the side panel.

Removing the Old Components, Continued

First, all wires are to be removed from the disk drives and all other components.

Danger of injury! Numerous low-quality cases are very sharp in places.

Here you can see the boards.

Afterwards, the screws on the boards are unscrewed and taken out.

All the components have been removed.

Removing the Old Components, Continued

Removing the power supply – for some PC cases, this is a must-do. To do so, first remove the screws.

While the screws are being removed, the power supply has to be supported so that it doesn’t fall into the case and wreck the other components.

Our PC system without boards or power supply.

Now the wires (hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD drive, CD burner) are to be removed from the motherboard.

Removing the Old Components, Continued

Now you can finally remove the motherboard.

To do so, you have to remove the screws on the motherboard, all the while supporting it with your hand.

To make taking it out easier, the PC case ought to be tipped to one side.

Ready for the upgrade!

Installing the New Components

The Asus CUSL2 is the new base for our PC.

The old plugs have to be positioned on the new board before you install it.

The memory modules have to be installed on a stable surface before installing the motherboard.

The board has been furnished with a Pentium III/800 (133 MHz FSB) here.

The boards have to be secured.

Installing the New Components, Continued

Now the old and new boards have to be installed on the motherboard.

Now the power supply can be re-installed.

The electricity hook-up for the motherboard and the disk drives can be attached.

When using a Pentium 4 system, remember that it needs an additional voltage boost (ATX 12V).

A look at the back panel of the upgraded PC system.

Improvement in Performance – Up to 500 Percent

All the following results were obtained using the standard BIOS settings. Unlike the majority of our tests, we didn’t make any changes to the memory timing in order to eke out the very last spark of performance. Only the AGP bus was run above its specified limit.

Office Performance – Sysmark 2000

A glance at the chart reveals it all – in order to improve office performance, all you need is a faster processor and more RAM. A faster graphics chip doesn’t affect 2D performance whatsoever. The PC system upgraded with a Pentium III/800 and 128 MB is almost four times faster than the base configuration with the Pentium II/233 and 64 MB. The difference in performance between the Pentium 4/1500 and the Pentium III/800 is relatively minor. This is a result of the Pentium 4’s architecture, which is missing a powerful L2 cache.

MPEG-4 Encoding – Flask Mpeg (Divx)

Converting videos in MPEG-2 format to MPEG-4 has become very popular. Be that as it may, MPEG-4 encoding remains quite a challenge to any system. Creating MPEG sequences gobbles up a lot of memory – which makes the old system with its 66 MHz FSB run very slowly. In comparison, the Pentium 4’s high clock speed of 400 MHz keeps frame rates high. In comparison to the last test, we created the video and the audio data streams at the same time. This pushes the refresh rate considerably below the level of results obtained in previous tests. The system we upgraded using a Pentium III performs more than three times as well – in comparison to the base configuration. The Pentium 4/1500 is more than twice as fast as the Pentium III/800 – don’t forget, though, that the Pentium 4/1500 works with 256 MB memory.

OpenGL Performance – Quake 3 Arena

Merely installing a powerful graphics card doesn’t have much of an effect, as our chart clearly shows. When combined with a GeForce 2 Ultra, our old base system chuffs out a mere 10 frames a second more. In this case, installing a Pentium III/800 has a considerably greater effect. The frame rate increases from 28 to 94.4 frames per second. Installing the GeForce 2 MX200 also produces a sizable increase in performance, while the GeForce 2 Ultra isn’t worth its hefty price tag. The Pentium 4 is best able to supply data to the GeForce 2 Ultra – but has no competition in this comparison.

Prices – Upgrade Starting at $137

This chart lists our three different upgrades. The cheapest version consists of only purchasing the Pentium III/800 and RAM. Anyone needing a Socket adapter in addition has to pay at least $10 more. If the motherboard is too old for an upgrade, then the cost of purchasing a new motherboard has to be added to the equation. In this case we’ve used the Asus CUSL2 (Intel 815E chipset) as a basis. This motherboard is available for approx. $110. Upgrading with the Pentium 4 is a real non-issue, since the cost of doing so is astronomical. The Pentium 4 configuration has only been included for those users that want to have the most current Intel system as a point of reference. In case the graphics card in the system is too slow, we’ve also included both cards used in the tests.

Conclusion – Selective Upgrade Very Cheap

First things first – upgrading with a Pentium 4 isn’t worthwhile. The costs incurred are much too high and the gain in performance is minimal in relation to the money spent. This situation is very different for the Pentium III/800 – it is currently very inexpensive and also available in a Slot version. SDRAM is cheap – at present, 128 MB costs less than $30 – and it improves performance dramatically in comparison to the base system with 64 MB. For a lot of older PC systems, only a CPU and RAM upgrade can significantly increase performance. Gamers will have to get a current 3D graphics card in addition – the thickness of your wallet will decide whether it’ll be the GeForce 2 MX200 or the GeForce 2 Ultra. The decision isn’t quite as easy if you have to exchange not only the processor and the RAM but also the motherboard. In that case, you can also switch gears and get an inexpensive AMD Athlon system. What improvements in performance can be reached using an old AMD K6-2 system on a Socket 7 as a basis? This will be the topic of our next article, in which we will focus on the AMD platform.