Any worthwhile cpu upgrades for a Biostar M7NCG 400 motherboard with 2.2GHz Sempron 3300+ processor? I don't want to change the motherboard because I only recently reactivated windows xp with this motherboard (the other one died). Not expecting quad core performance, but a little faster load times would be nice :-)

There are no CPU upgrades available. The Sempron 3300+ & the Athon XP 3200+ were the fastest socket A CPUs made. They're both based on the Barton core & both run at 2.2GHz (11 x 200MHz). The only differenece is their wattage rating...the AXP is rated at 77W & the Semprom is rated at 62W. Try doing some system maintenance...run MSCONFIG & disable useless startup apps, scan for viruses & spyware, defrag the drive, run CCleaner, make sure you have all the latest drivers, etc. You might wanna add more RAM too. The socket A platform doesn't benefit from dual channel mode anyway. And it's very possible that a 3rd stick wouldn't even knock it out of dual channel. I know it didn't matter with my SHUTTLE AN35N-ULTRA motherboard.

I need to replace the hdd also. It's only 6GB. I'm looking at the WD1600JBRTLW 160GB hdd. This hdd is not only small, it's speed is horrible according to pcpitstop. I don't know if that'll make much difference in the speed of the computer, but it will add more storage.

I'm sure it will make a huge difference. Your 6GB HDD probably spins at 5400RPM & may have a buffer as low as 512k. And it probably only transfers data at ATA33...at best, ATA66. Before getting a new HDD, look into the limitation of your board. If it doesn't support 48-bit addressing, it won't recognize more than 137GB, in which case it would be better for you to get a smaller HDD such as 120GB. http://www.48bitlba.com/faq.htm

Ya get a new HD, Thats what is slowing you down alot. Not only the fact its a 5400rpm for sure. but your windows page file (swap file) can't load nearly as fast as winxp would like.

I was going with the 160GB because it's available locally. I'd be satisfied with 80 or even 40.