I'm trying to learn here, but I'm still somewhat clueless.
I have a
700MHz Celeron in a Trigem Congac mobo/
810-DC100 Intel Chipset/
384MB PC-100 SDRAM/
GeForce 4 MX440SE(64MB-PCI).
As is this thing has a 66MHz fsb. I've read many posts that say this mobo will take a 1.1GHz Celeron. So I have 2 main questions.

1)Is the fsb on the processor? Can I just pop in the 1.1GHz and be cruzin with a 100Mhz fsb? I know my mobo supports clearing the CMOS, would that help?

2)Even with the 1.1GHz I still have to get the one with the 128k L2 cache, so is it even worth upgrading from 700Mhz to 1.1GHz. Especially considering the 1.1GHz is $65 and a 1.0GHz is $40. Think $$'s to Ramen-noodle ratio. I'm poor.

BTW I am a general multiple application user. This 700 Celeron becomes very overburdened(and slow) if I have more than 8 or 9 IE windows open, and Wolfenstein(by itself) pushes the CPU to its max always, but works ok.

Any thoughts and opinions would be appreciated.

1 - no, yes, yes. The fsb is a physical path between the cpu and the mobo northbridge chip. The mobo will detect a 100fsb cpu and set the fsb frequency accordingly, assuming your bios is updated to support the cpu in question.

2) no its not worth it.

Your cheapest upgrade (worth doing) is to move to an athlon xp system. But this will mean getting a new power supply, memory, cpu, and motherboard. You can just transfer over your existing hd, floppy, keyboard, etc.

pcusa.com and others sell cheap barebone systems starting at about $200 for an xp 2000+. Check pricewatch.com under "pc - no OS". Some of those vendors are good and others are shady - call 'em and interrogate them to help screen who is who.

Don't do it! Save your money for a new machine. Upgrading a Celeron to a "faster" Celeron doesn't make a lot of sense to me, although maybe with your tight budget, it might be fun to just go to the 1 gigahertz version (although I doubt you'll see much improvement). Can you get a Pentium III for this motherboard? It may cost more, but it would probably be the only CPU worth upgrading to in your situation. And no, the FSB isn't on the CPU. It is either set with jumpers on the motherboard or through the CMOS Setup (BIOS); check your manual and look in the CMOS for such settings. The chip itself may only be designed to run with particular FSB settings in mind (In your case, with Celerons, 66 or 100 or 133, for instance). Good luck.

Thanks all...if the 1.1GHz isn't going to be a worthwile improvement, I'll probably hold out for the barebone system. And no this old mobo won't take a pIII without an adapter of some sort 'cause it's limited to FCPGA only(128k L2 cache), not FCPGA2 with the 256k L2 cache.

Thanks again...goodbye Intel.