Upgrading LX motherboard

[superflysocal]

i am trying to upgrade my friend's computer. It is a Dell XPS D233 which has an LX motherboard. What is the highest or fastest chip it can support. Dell claims that it will only support PII 333 mhz, but I think it can do better. Will it accept a celeron 600 or higher?

 

[gtd2000]

Have u tried calling Dell to ask?........ or is that just from the manual?
I'd say it will support higher speed CPU's - are you near a computer store that is helpful?
Perhaps you could ask them to put a new CPU in and you'll buy it if it works - or at least give you a money back offer on the CPU?

 

[Diesel21]

With a bios upgrade supporting the newer celemines it should do 600. If you cannot find the bios updgrade it will run a 533 mhz celeron.

 

[MadRat]

If its a Dell and an LX motherboard then you know two things. Dell uses Intel motherboards. Intel LX motherboards can support up to a Celeron 533mHz PPGA processer, mainly because its limited to an 8X multiplier and a 66mHz front-side bus. (Don't confuse the PPGA form of 266-533mHz Celerons with the 533-766mHz FCPGA's, because they use far different voltage settings.)

Powerleap has a $25 adapter that may allow you to run the Celeron-2 up to 766mHz. Their website has the details of what they are compatible with. Just be forewarned that there is little performance difference in Celerons when you get above 633mHz.

From their website:

Important note: we've found that the Intel 440LX chipset supports AGP 1.0, and when upgraded to the Celeron-II will not work with certain AGP 2.0 VGA cards in 3D accelerated mode, even if they worked before the CPU is upgraded. This would include any GeForce-based cards, ATI Radeon, and many nVidia TNT/ TNT2 cards. One very notable exception to this are the 3DFX VooDoo cards, including the latest VooDoo 5 5500, which works very well with the 440LX chipset even when the CPU has been upgraded to a Celeron-II 500 MHz CPU (using the PL-iP3, of course!).

Brand-name systems such as the Gateway (G6-series), Dell (XPS Dxxx family), Micron (Millennia XKU, ClientPro 766XI), and systems made by HP, Sony, and NEC, as well as non-branded PCs that used the "boxed" version of the motherboard, share the AL440LX as a common foundation. They typically started out as Pentium-II systems running at 233, 266, 300, 333 MHz.

The BIOS in systems that use the AL440LX typically has an identifying string of characters (found in the SETUP menu, or displayed briefly when the system boots up) that looks like this: 4A4LL0X0.XXA.____.P__. The XXA portion can be any one of the codes from the list below, which indicates the brand name of the system that the motherboard is being used in:

04A Sony
05A Micron
10A Dell
11A NEC
15A Gateway
21A Hewlett Packard
86A Intel (boxed)

In the case of our Gateway G6-266, we had to upgrade the BIOS to the latest version (BIOS ID string ending in "P18&quot available from the www.gateway.com website. Once that was done, Windows 98 SE booted up at 667 MHz without a hitch, and even though the BIOS misidentified the Celeron-II/700 as a 500 MHz Pentium Pro, several CPU-identifying utilities, such as our CPU Control Panel, WCPUID, and Sysoft Sandra recognized the CPU correctly and confirmed that the CPU was running at a full 667 MHz core speed.

 

[macssuck]

The powerleap adapter looks like a regular slocket is it?

 

[superflysocal]

So are u guys saying without a powerleap adapter, I can't just use a regular slocket with a celeron FCPGA even if the slocket has adjustable voltages?

Also is this my understanding?: without a powerleap adapter I can use a PPGA (with slocket) or slot I celeron chip but not a FCPGA.

thanks again

 

[Smbu]

"So are u guys saying without a powerleap adapter, I can't just use a regular slocket with a celeron FCPGA even if the slocket has adjustable voltages?

Also is this my understanding?: without a powerleap adapter I can use a PPGA (with slocket) or slot I celeron chip but not a FCPGA."

That's exactly what they are saying. Even if the slotket has adjustable voltages the motherboard has to support those voltages. Unless you want to run your fcpga cpu at like 2.0v, which, is really very high for them, but that is the standard voltage(maybe a little higher) for ppga Celeron cpu's and P2's.

 

[MadRat]

You really want to stay below 1.85v on the FCPGAs. The Powerleap allows you to do this because it has voltage regulators on the slotket/socket adapter. Normal slotkets do not have the voltage regulator so its 1.8v setting will yield 2+ volts. Be careful, because on some motherboards the 1.8v setting of a slotket means 2.8v on an LX motherboard!

 

[Zucchini]

yup go with the powerleap, best to follow dells instructions.. esp for older stuff. Just remember your screwed by the 66mhz bus speed

 

[superflysocal]

What about putting in a PII 400 or 450? Will this work if I don't upgrade the BIOS on an Dell with Intel LX motherboard? Does it matter if it's SECC vs. SECC2?

 

[burnedout]

MadRat.... Excellent, excellent find.

 

[MadRat]

superflysocal-

The LX chipset only handles 66fsb chips, not 100fsb. The P2-400 and P2-450 run on the 100fsb. Sorry, man, no can use these at 100fsb on the LX chipset.

 

[RickH]

Madrat---where do you see the Powerleap adapter with regulator for $25??? Their web page has it for $50, the $25 has no voltage regulator. If you need to spend $50 on an adapter and then only be able to use a 66MHz bus processor, you should get a Duron and motherboard the cost will only be a little more. You would get much beter performance and a modern motherboard that is upgradable to a T-bird. R

 

[RickH]

PS----Will a standard motherboard (ATX) fit in your case. How big is your powersupply??? Upgrading a Dell, Compaq, etc can be more involved than you realize. Does your current motherboard use 168 pin ram?? Sometimes it is better to donate an old machine and take the tax break then to throw money at an old machine. An upgrade must be cheap or it's not worth it. Remember your CDR, hard drive, and memory are probably old and slow. Go cheap or make it go away!!!!!!! R.

 

[MadRat]

Celeron 533 PPGA for $50

Celeron 766 FCPGA for $90

So he spends $50 on an adapter to go above 533mHz... Why not?
It's still a huge performance increase over what he originally starts.

 

[RickH]

I didn't say it wouldn't a great increase in performance, but is it worth the cost??? The C533 on Pricewatch is approxamatly $50 plus $10-15 shipping. Then the adapter, $15 plus shippng. The fan, $10 to $15 plus shipping. The cost on the first link on Price Watch (Accubyte) for the Celeron 533 with adapter, fan and shipping was $110. Thats a real amount of money. I would spend the cash on a Duron, board and fan. Only if the new board is compatablewith his memeory, case and powersupply. R.

 

[MadRat]

When you do a system upgrade its easy to blow another $150 on little details. This is something that will significantly increase the speed of his system without alot of hassle. He doesn't want a hassle.

 

[Jhhnn]

Try here, they might have some useful info...

Dell Upgrades

 

[Zucchini]

yup go dell, those dell setups are troublesome upgrades if you don't know what your doing. Not all that much to salvage either if you decide to build anew.