Im currently on a pII350mhz and need to run an old game that im barely meeting requiremets.I upgraded everything except processor/mobo.

Currently installed:
256mb SDRAM (dont know speed)
SounBlaster Live! 24bit
Geforce4 MX420 64MB

My motherboard is ga-6bxc intel 440bx agpset

Im guessing i need 500-600mhz to play this game smoothly.A friend of mine has a pentium 3 700mhz processor to give me but will it work with my mobo/chipset?

In the manual it says it supports up to PII 650mhz,and on the internet i only found descriptions as "Supports Pentium 2/3"

If its any help it has system bus up to 133mhz / AGP 89mhz and clock ratio up to x6.5.I know im running on an ancient system but i rebuilt it for fun and since ill get the processor free i might install it too!

Thanks in advance.

The place to look for CPU compatibility would be the Giga-Byte website.

AGP at 89MHz? You don't want that! Lock it at 66MHz if possible.

If you wanna game, get a decent video card, the MX420 never was all that good, plus I think it's only 64-bit? Increasing your RAM amount to 512MB would help too.

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200
Asus A9550 128MB/128-bit
Gamer Edition
WinME/WinXP Pro

Many people upgraded their BX chipset motherboards far beyond their intended speed. A Slot 1 to Socket 370 converter would allow you to go to one GHz with a Celeron from what I've read. Then there are Socket 370 Adapters that allow up to a 1.4 P3/Celeron. But that involves money that you probably don't want to spend. The P3 700 should work fine in that motherboard. Realistically, you probably can't run it at 133. The AGP and PCI bus will be too far out of spec. If it is the 100 (7x100) P3, you can try overclocking it a little by raising the FSB from 100 after you have the system running stable. One site said they ran it at 112 FSB with no problem.

the mobos manual shows

cpu | agp
100 66
133 89
112 75
66 66
75 75
83 83

all in mhz.I dont know if the processor is 100 or 133mhz

for ratio i have

x3
x3.5
x4
x4.5
x5
x5.5
x6
x6.5

From what i gather it uses the same socket as the processor i already have.

I dont relly know much about cpus/mobos im just reading stuff off the manual and what i gather on the net.

So if the processor fits on the mobo i should set the switches to what? 6.5x100? 112x6?

gigabyte.de shows support for pentium2/3 and celeron ---> http://www.gigabyte.de/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-6BXC.htm

jam: I just want to play this particular game,this is a "free" system,only stuff i bought whas soundcard and psu.

Did you really need a soundcard & PSU? Maybe your money would have been better spent elsewhere (i.e. CPU & video).

The PSU requirements are totally different for a P3 system than a P4. The P4 gets all it's power from the +12v rail, but the P3 gets it's power from the +5v rail. Hopefully your new PSU has a hefty amount of amperage on the +5v (30A or more)...even 10A on the +12v would probably be enough.

Also, the P3 is multiplier locked, so you're stuck with the default setting for whatever CPU you may happen to have. The 112/75 setting is defintely do-able...133/89 is not. AGP = PCI x 2, so if the AGP is 89MHz, the PCI is 44.5MHz...that's WAY outta spec!

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200
Asus A9550 128MB/128-bit
Gamer Edition
WinME/WinXP Pro

well at first i wanted this pc for browsing the net/music and whatnot,i needed a psu because it wouldn't run(dead psu),and a soundcard -> no onboard one.I think the psu is p4 ready.Thing is i was ok with this system until i found this game i wanted to play (neverwinter nights).So i threw this geforce4 on (free) and now i found a p3 700mhz (Also free/dont have it yet).I found out that with flashed bios i could get an x7 multiplier.Im thinking on 100/66 x7.

The psu is 300w , i dun know much about psus but it says on it

RED 5V 30A
YELLOW 12V 15A
WHITE -5V 0.5A
BLUE -12V 0.5A
ORANGE 3.3V 20A
PURPLY (typo on the psu i guess) 5VSB 2.0A

The PSU specs are fine...you should have no problem.

The CPU is locked & the multiplier setting cannot be changed from the default. You don't have to change any settings relating to the multiplier...they're automatic. According to the Giga-Byte website, the settings goes as high as 9.5x

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-6BXC.htm

http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/BIOS/BIOS_GA-6BXC.htm

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200
Asus A9550 128MB/128-bit
Gamer Edition
WinME/WinXP Pro

so ill just replace the cpu and its all done?

Ill do a BIOS flash,needs an upgrade anw.

Thanks for all the info so far,i didnt know anything about overclocking/cpus before today. :D

"so ill just replace the cpu and its all done?"

That's basically correct. The CPU multiplier will be auto-detected & so will will the CPU voltage. All you have to worry about is the FSB setting. After you get it up & running at 100MHz & you're sure everything's OK, give 112MHz a shot. If it runs stably at 112, great! If not, 100MHz is the best you can do.

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz
768MB PC3200
Asus A9550 128MB/128-bit
Gamer Edition
WinME/WinXP Pro

seems im already running @ 100x3.5, so this will be easier than i thought.Thanks for everything guys(especially jam),you helped alot!