Compatabilty of processor for my 'ol msi.
 

my comp is now 4 years old. my third and final video card which i got a few months ago makes it run like a dream in nearly everything. a year ago or more i bumped it to 2 gigs. but my processor has now and for a while been the occasional bottleneck. i plan on keeping the rig for probably another year but i'm think about getting a 3.2 ghz to replace my 2.4 which seems to be at the very bottom of most system requirements these days and i would like to enjoy bioshock in as much of its glory as i can. so the question is are these two a good match?
my motherboard- http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p…O-LSR&class=mb
new processor- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll…tchlink:top:us

20 bucks is more than worth it even if the change is nominal. the change processors is always the most "gee i really hope i don't botch this up" upgrade:)

Yup, it's compatible -- your mobo is Socket 478 and supports 800 MHz FSB and 3.2 GHz CPU, which matches the processor.

I would not expect a huge performance boost, as you say, but if you can get it for twenty bucks, why not?

(Swapping the processor is a pretty simple operation unless you have some very fancy cooling gear. Microsoft might make you re-activate Windows though.)

http://processorfinder.intel.com/det…px?sSpec=SL7E4

ended up getting this one for just under 50 including shipping. i figure the l2 cache size being 1mb versus 512k in the 3.2 makes them about even. is that a correct assumption?

About. The difference between 3 and 3.2 GHz is pretty trivial to start with; the bigger L2 cache will help for some things.

In any case, don't sweat it. It's very hard to predict exactly what kind of a performance impact a particular CPU will have, and it varies a great deal by application.

For example, take the L2 cache: bigger is usually but not always better. Why? Because a smaller cache is faster. So, all else being equal, if you only need to put 512k stuff into the L2 cache, the 512k cache will outperform the 1 M cache; OTOH if you need to cache 1 M, the bigger cache will win since you'll be swapping stuff in and out of the 512k one more.

Anyway, good luck with the upgrade, and I hope it makes a visible difference. :-)

The one you got is better and more advanced than the other one. The one you bought is made with a 90nm manufacturing process while the other CPU is/was older and based on a 130nm process. I don't remember what exactly Intel did when they shrunk the die size of the Pentium 4 but it is quite likely that some architectural improvements went into the newer and smaller CPU (like optimized cache logic etc.). Good choice :) .

The manufacturing process will only affect power consumption and (possibly) overclockability, though. But yeah, still a good choice. :-)

that's good to know considering i'm already pushing my power source to its threshold. i probably shouldn't get a soundcard… though my philips one does blow at times in some games when it scratches and crackles.

oh and thanks for the info:)

Right, you probably shouldn't. Your computer is starting to show its age -- in your shoes, I'd use it as long as its legs take it, and once it really starts to chafe, re-purpose it and build or buy a new one for your main workstation/game box. My old computer is now ticking along as a home server, serving files, taking backups, and sharing a printer. :-)