Motherboard + Processor compatible ?

**purebritishsmith** · May 31st, 2011, 11:26 AM

Hi ,
I Have a Acer F672CR motherboard , I have checked up and carried out my own research so I'm not just being lazy , but I was wondering if anyone knew what processors would be compatible ? preferably 2.0 GHz or more ? Any help whatsoever would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,

- Purebritishsmith

**osprey4** · May 31st, 2011, 02:03 PM

Hi Purebritishsmith,

Care to tell us what CPU you have now? Otherwise, there's no way for me to know whether I'm recommending something better.

**purebritishsmith** · May 31st, 2011, 02:31 PM

Hello Osprey4,

Embarrassing maybe but its Intel Celeron CPU 430 @ 1.80Ghz

- Purebritishsmith

**ShyguyXPC** · May 31st, 2011, 02:39 PM

Its an 800MHz FSB CPU, chances are your PC will only run similar 800 FSB CPU's which means your limited to the 1st generation Intel Core 2 series or its offspring (Your celeron being one, as well as the Pentium Dual Cores based off the Core 2 Duo series of that generation).

IntelÂ® CeleronÂ® Processor 430 (512K Cache, 1.80 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)with SPEC Code(s)SL9XN

Do you know what the Motherboards Chipset is? Intel 945, 965, etc series? Specifically which version of the series, etc.

**purebritishsmith** · May 31st, 2011, 02:43 PM

I have no idea but if you told how i could find out I will do , I know that the version of the MOBO is R01-A4 but suppose you knew that already aha and thats probably not relevent .

- Purebritishsmith

**ShyguyXPC** · May 31st, 2011, 02:47 PM

That R01-A4 is the BIOS version that the motherboard is using. not the version of the board.

can you use a program like Belarc, Speccy or something similar, to scan the system and have it show what chipset the motherboard is using?

**purebritishsmith** · May 31st, 2011, 02:54 PM

I Have tried BElarc but cant find the information I need & SIW , would it be under anything different than MOBO ?

**ShyguyXPC** · May 31st, 2011, 04:04 PM

in SIW, go to the Hardware section, to the Motherboard Subsection, and then see what it states for Northbridge and Southbridge (Northbridge is what we need to know, Each is a Chipset, the Northbridge Chipset is the main one, the Southbridge usually controls things like Ethernet, and other mundane items on the board)

Also While your in there, for your other thread, where I asked what Slots you have to upgrade a video card.

Check the System Slots Subsection and copy/paste what it says for those as well, this way we can know whether you have a PCI only or if you do have a PCI Express x16 slot to upgrade a Video card with.

Looks like Exporting to Text is unavailable in free version of SIW.

If you can, hit print screen with that tab (System Slots), open, then open up Windows Paint, paste the image, crop the section with the slot info, save the file somewhere easy to find (Desktop)

Then attach the image file in your reply (using the Advanced Reply instead of quick reply)

Attaching an example from my system (SIW isn't detecting all my slots for some reason, I have 2 PCI Slots, 2 PCI Express x16 slots, and 3 PCI Express x1 slots, SIW isn't showing all of them though)

**purebritishsmith** · May 31st, 2011, 05:30 PM

this is the system slots printscreen you asked for.

**purebritishsmith** · May 31st, 2011, 05:31 PM

These are the chipset details you asked for.

North Bridge SiS 671/FX/DX/MX Revision 00
South Bridge SiS 968 Revision 00

**ShyguyXPC** · May 31st, 2011, 09:45 PM

um... wow.

Thats a surprise.

An AGP slot, and an old SIS Chipset.

Yeah, You'll be limited to Core 2 Duo's with a 800MHz FSB for sure on that chipset. Which means you'll need to track down a used one, since those 1st gen chips haven't been made in years.

Probably look for a Core 2 Duo E4xxx series:

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor - Specifications

E4300 thru E4600 would be the ones.

As to the AGP slot, you'll need to find a decent AGP card, for something newer that could cope with GTA IV your going to want to find a Radeon 4650, 4670 or prior gen Radeon 3850.

Nvidia stopped making AGP cards after the Geforce 7 series, so those are pretty much out of the question.

According to your screen shot there, it says you have the AGP slot in use, how ever in your other thread you mentioned you have a Geforce 8500GT, I'm willing to bet its one of the PCI slots in use and a PCI slot 8500. the AGP might be the onboard SIS AGP integrated graphics if anything, as many times SIS's chipsets integrated their AGP chip as well, so even if the actual Physical slot wasn't occupied or used, it showed AGP was in use, due to the integrated graphics chip.

The other confusing thing is that based on the Make/Model of the System you have according to SIW, in the screenshot it shows Acer Aspire M1610, here's the specs for that PC:

Acer Support: Aspire M1610 Specifications

it states it does in fact have a PCI Express x16 slot.

Best way to confirm would be to open the case and look at it.

This link explains PCI Express, and shows 2 x16 Slots in the pic on the right, color of slot might be different, but look at it, look at your system (your 8500GT might be plugged into it), and see if your slot matches that, or an AGP slot

PCI Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This link is AGP, note in the picture on the right, how much farther back it is set than the white PCI slots: Accelerated Graphics Port - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm wondering, for these upgrades you have in mind for this PC, for the cheap budget.

How much are you talking about.

Reason I ask is if it is indeed an AGP based system, its hard to find many of these parts these days with out resorting to Ebay.

Brand new in box AGP cards usually go for 2 to 3 times as much as their PCI Express versions.

from your other thread, your already looking at a Power Supply Upgrade.

Add to that a Core 2 Duo/Pentium Dual Core 800MHz FSB CPU (whatever that will cost)

Adding more RAM (DDR2 I suspect, and you'll want to have at least 2GB, maybe 4GB in there, and with DDR2 prices slowly climbing back up, you'll be paying more for that)

AGP Video card upgrade to handle GTA IV.

Overall, you'd be better off just building a new low budget PC for most of that.

a Decent AMD Dual core for $50-60

4GB DDR3 for less than $50, a Decent Motherboard with PCI Express for $50-75.

A PCI Express Video card for $50-75 that would be at least 2 or more times better performing than any of the AGP cards out there.

Not sure if your in the US, UK, or elsewhere (guessing from the name, your probably UK), but this is just a sample list of a cheap budget build.

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX250OCGMBOX

Newegg.com - Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BA1339

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Newegg.com - HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case w/ Front Blue LED 120mm Fan & Top 120mm Fan

just that there comes to about $315 USD. No Hard drives, CD/DVD drives, or Operating System (Your current PC's OS is non transferable, if it came with the PC, or its a Retail Upgrade version)

A DVD Drive, and Hard drive, would maybe add another $75 to the price, then about $100 for an OEM full copy of Windows 7.

Overall you probably wouldn't be able to run GTA IV on max settings, but would be very playable, GTA IV is notorious for being a CPU hog, as well as various GPU issues (even top end systems have troubles running the game, due to the crappy programming of it)

**purebritishsmith** · June 1st, 2011, 06:45 AM

Wow thanks for all that

um the true reason why im not just buying and building a new budget pc is purely because I dont think I could do it , I mean its one thing replacing and changing things on one pc but actually starting from scratch to make one :S well i dare not find out what il do haha

**ShyguyXPC** · June 1st, 2011, 01:23 PM

There's absolutely no difference between swapping out parts to replace, versus from scratch.

only things that would be new, is mounting the motherboard in a case, connecting the front panel connectors, and MAYBE installing the CPU, otherwise its exactly the same thing as swapping in and out parts for upgrades.

if you can handle upgrades with out any or much trouble, you can handle a ground up system build.

I really don't know why so many people think its 2 completely different things.

PC's are entirely modular as far as components go.

Only thing is that maybe you started with a fully functional PC, and upgrading you at least know its working. But if your replacing a defective part, then the PC isn't working and you have no idea if the new part will get it working again. In much the same way as starting a PC from scratch, you don't know if it will fire up on first try or not.