Compaq Computer processor upgrade

josh_parsons626

I dunno if this was the right place of it this is topic is accepted here at CP. But I have an old Compaq Presario S4020WM that my father-in-law gave to me because the hard drive had been destroyed by a virus. Well I bought a ?180? gig hard drive (I think it's that big) and added an additonal 256mb strip of RAM which before it only had 1 strip of 128mb. I will eventually take out the 128 and put in another 256 then I think that's the most I'll ever have to put in. The next thing I'm wanting to do is upgrade the processor, but that's one thing I dont know how to do. Can somebody help me out on this. Oh and another thing when I burn a CD I can never read in my CD player but only in DVD players. Why is this?

I'm also wanting to upgrade the CD burner, possibly making it a CD/DVD burner is this possible? And wanting to upgrade the sound card and graphics card. The sound card in it right now is a Realtek AC97 which I'm sure is WAY outdated. As far as the graphics card I dont know what it is and I dont have to be a HUGE improvement, just a little. I've got like Doom and old Duke Nukem on here and every now and then I may buy a hunting game or I've got Silent Hill 4:The Room on here. So I mean I'm not a hardcore computer gamer but I would like up to my graphics just a tad bit. Can somebody please help me out?

ben62670

It probably has an Athlon XP2400 processor. We need to know what you currently have in it. I'm pretty sure its a socket A motherboard. You would be best off just to upgrade to a gig of ram than change out the processor. Are you burning Mp3s to the cd, or are you converting them to Audio CD's. What program are you using for the burning?

Ben

PhantomOG

System info

Compaq instructions for upgrading the processor

Go to NewEgg and search for a Socket A processor. Do some more research and make sure the mobo bios supports the processor you want.

ben62670

PhantomOG wrote:

System info

Compaq instructions for upgrading the processor

Go to NewEgg and search for a Socket A processor. Do some more research and make sure the mobo bios supports the processor you want.

Thats the problem with Compaq's and HP, and many mobo's to be fair. The XP-2400 is a 333 FSB and faster proc's typically have the 400 FSB (barton core) which doesn't work with many of the Compaq boards in that series. Get more RAM.

PolkThug

Hey bud, I think I've got a 256mb compaq ram stick at home I'll give ya for cheap.

josh_parsons626

Well I figured since I was upgrading all of what I already done it might not hurt to go ahead and upgrade the Processor as well. But if y'all think it's fine then I guess I'll leave it alone. The processor is an

x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD ~1998 Mhz

that's what it says under my system information.

ben62670

josh_parsons626 wrote:

Well I figured since I was upgrading all of what I already done it might not hurt to go ahead and upgrade the Processor as well. But if y'all think it's fine then I guess I'll leave it alone. The processor is an that's what it says under my system information.

Yep it is a Athlon 2400XP
That is a fine processor if you aren't loading a ton of junk programs at startup. Just do the ram upgrade:)

bobman1235

Agreed that that processor will be fine.

Upgrading the CD burner is super easy, just unplug and unscrew the CD burner and plug in the DVD burner. The hardest part is getting your hand in there.

Sound card isn't THAT bad, although you may run into some problems if you don't uninstall the sound drivers before you unplug the old sound card. Ditto for the video card (maybe even moreso - last time I did a video card it effed with things so bad that i had to reinstall XP).

Good luck man.

josh_parsons626

So as long as I dont have a lot of crap on my startup taskbar then I dont have to upgrade the processor, correct? Just another strip of ram. Should I take out the 128 (stock) and put in another 256 or put in a 512 then later on replace the 256 with a 512 OR would I EVER need that much memory?

OK

If I can find just a DVD burner can I still burn CD's? And what if I wanted to burn movies would I have to upgrade my processor then?

bobman1235

You don't need to upgrade your processor. I think my main PC has a 2400+ in it, and I burn movies all the time.

DVD burners are capable of burning CDs, so you will have no problem.

PolkThug

All DVD burners I've seen, also burn CD's. Your cpu speed is fine. I burn DVD's and play the latest games with a slightly lower speed than yours.

PolkThug

Josh, does your mobo have an AGP slot for a video card?

josh_parsons626

PolkThug wrote:

Josh, does your mobo have an AGP slot for a video card?

Um......I have no idea what you said man sorry!!!

PhantomOG

Total expansion slots Three PCI, AGP4x 1.5v
Available slots Two PCI, AGP4x 1.5v

From the link I posted...

PolkThug

crap, the extra RAM I've got is only 128MB. If you've got a third RAM slot, I'll mail it to ya for free.

josh_parsons626

no I've only got 2 slots. But I really do appreciate though. I just wish I did have a 3rd slot LOL that would be awesome. What do you think my plan sounds like? Another thing, where's a good place to shop for computer parts?

bobman1235

NewEgg all the way.

josh_parsons626

Hey I found this DVD / CD Burner on newegg. I dont know how to see if it'll work on my computer so I thought y'all might be able to take a look at it and tell me if it'll work.

bobman1235

The only line that really matters when seeing if it'll work on your computer is this one :

Interface E-IDE/ATAPI

So yes. They're all pretty compatible. As long as it doesn't say "SATA" or "serial ATA" in that space, you're fine.

ben62670

Damn Bob I have to agree with all 3 post you have wriiten :eek:
I'm getting scared:D

For memory newegg.com + corsair=:)

sophie

for memory the timing matter more than the speed when you have a amd processor.

your processor will be fine for almost everything. if you want to rip DVD's i would use "DVD shrink" works great for me.

do you still have your old hard drive? i dont think it is destroyed, just needs to be reformated.


some good memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144122
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146896

JoshParsons84

Sophie, no I went out and bought a new 180 gig (i think) hard drive.