Re: upgrade or start over?

roxbury wrote:


" So this cpu is actually worth something?? why would someone pay more for mine than a p4 800fsb 2.8ghz?? "


Like I said, certain people will pay more for a 400FSB Pentium 4 2.8GHz than for an 800FSB Pentium 4 which won't be any good to them. Some people need to squeeze the last drop out of their systems without upgrading their motherboard, so it is a seller's market for older CPUs at the top end of compatibility with any particular range of motherboards.

Imagine someone who bought a pre-built system; Let's call them *Mr Dell Owner*. Their socket 478 motherboard only runs 400FSB Pentium 4 CPUs, with no support for 533FSB or 800FSB. They could upgrade both the motherboard and CPU if they wanted, but a new motherboard can cause major problems.

Firstly, the PSU might be soldered directly to the motherboard. Without the means or knowledge to detatch it and fix on a standard plug they will need to buy a new PSU.

Secondly, they might have proprietary RAM which only works on proprietary motherboards. I know that Crucial supply a lot of proprietary RAM for Dell which struggles to work on most standard retail motherboards. If you use the memory configurator at www.crucial.com , you'll find that it recommends completely different stuff for Dell motherboards; hence no guarantee that the RAM from the Dell system will be compatible with an upgraded motherboard.

Thirdly, they may not have a full license for Windows XP. If they have a partitioned restoration image with the operating system on, then it probably includes the drivers for the original motherboard as well. When they attempt to restore the partition it will load all the drivers for the original system, possibly causing the installation to crash. If they are lucky enough for the image to restore, then the system may not want to boot to the Windows desktop once it's restarted. It can sometimes be near to impossible to load the manufacturer's restoration image onto a different motherboard, so they may end up having to buy a new full copy of Windows XP.

If they call up Dell for help with their problems, then they will likely be told they've invalidated their OEM Windows XP license by attempting to use it on upgraded components. Dell will offer no support at all, and they are not obliged to offer any. They will offer their own expensive upgrade service if you put the original system back together and send it off to them.

So you see? Many PC owners in this world are up *** creek. A simple upgrade of motherboard and CPU can turn into a mightily expensive outlay, potentially meaning a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU and copy of Windows XP.

It isn't just Dell who use tactics like this though, although they are number one on my hit list.

Oh, and I can't guarantee that your SL7EY is multiplier unlocked. When it was originally released as an engineering sample it may well have been. However, they probably had many locked CPUs manufactured for a potential release, but pulled out at the last minute in favour of the new 533FSB CPUs. Releasing it at that time may well have hampered new chipset sales for other companies they were in cahoots with.


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