ok teckies I need your help!

[~Patrick~]

I am currently running an AMD K-6 3d processor. What is the best upgrade I can do without changing the motherboard?

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[Steven Edwards]

What kind of stuff do you use your computer for, Pat?

For general purpose things, you could add more RAM and move to a faster hard drive.

-Steven

[Cris]

When people ask me on advice about computers my first question is what do you want to do that your computer will not let you do?

Invariably it is cheaper to buy a complete system that to upgrade piecemeal. A new Pentium three giga Hertz chip is going to cost around $300 at a good motherboard and you're a $500 already. Add another 500 dollars to that and you get a fast hard drive, 512 of DDR memory, the case, the drives and basically a lot of spare parts.

To get back to your upgrade question if all you want to do is switched chips you have to have the instruction manual for the motherboard. You need this to identify which jumpers to switch to tell the motherboard what type, speed, and voltage is required.

Do a search on the Web for your motherboard instruction manual in this will give you the information you need.

[Scott Pruett]

motherboards & processors really aren't that expensive unless you buy something that *just* came out... hardware prices drop so darn quickly...

Check out www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) & www.pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com)

[~Patrick~]

I dont have a need. But the kids are getting more and more games that need better and faster graffics. What would be a better investment a new processor or hard drive ? I know a better video card is in the future.

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[Steven Edwards]

For games, a new processor is definitely what you will want. A new/larger hard drive only allows you to put more junk on your computer. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

-Steven

[Andy]

How old is this computer? What kind of video card do you have? If it is games you are after, getting a current 3d video card will update it nicely to play those games. Most game software runs off the raw processing power of the video card. Do you know if your computer has an AGP port that you can use for this (newer) card?

[Steven Edwards]

If it's a K6 it's pre-Athlon [K7] days, so it would be a few years old; that's why I suggested a new processor.

-Steven