CPU advice relative to CD-RW

Don't ask how to over-clock.
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jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

I have a PCChips Motherboard M571 V. 3.2A and currently running Win. 98 SE with a 233 Mhz processor, 80 MB RAM.

Two weeks ago, I bought a Buslink Internal 32:12:40X CD-RW and have been using it and it has been working, but occasionally slowing my system down. I just found out from the company that I meet all the system requirements except one: a minimum processor speed of 266 Mhz, and I only have the 233 Mhz.

The tech. person from the co. says I should upgrade because it could strain my system over time. Another tech person from a local computer co. I spoke with where they rebuild computers said that if I run the CD-RW by itself with nothing else running in the background, there shouldn't be a big diff. between 233 and 266...

I don't have much technical knowledge to know and would like some advice on this. And, if I do upgrade to 266 Mhz., can I do that with my motherboard? Would I have to upgrade the bios if I change the CPU from 233 to 266? And, is it easy to do? Also, if I should upgrade, where in the world does one get 266 Mhz processors? Apparently, new ones aren't that easy to come by...

Again, I don't have much technical experience with hardware yet and would need some help/guidance to change the CPU. (I probably could find a friend to help if it was too much for a rookie like me to do.)


Thanks in advance for addressing these questions.
Denniss
BIOS Guru
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With a V3.2A you have 2.2V for a AMD K6-2 - usuable up to 400MHz or 450 if using 75MHz clock .
Enable DMa Check box for your CDRW
ajzchips
El cheapo dude
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Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2002 12:41 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.
As long as you have a fast HDD, you should be ok, but I'd use a minimum of 128MB of RAM.
jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

ajz wrote: Yes, HDD = Hard Disk Drive. Its speed will depend on the mode it is working at... UDMA33, hopefully, which is the maximum your
board will take.>>

Please, what is UDMA33? Is that a setting on the motherboard itself? If so, how do I find it? How do I determine what speed my hard drive is working at?

<<Regarding the RAM, I have a feeling you have 2 x 32MB and 2 x
8MB EDO SIMMs in there. You'll have to either replace the 2 x
8 with 2 x 32, or simply replace the memory with DIMMs, which
will easily take you to 256MB of RAM, which is quite cheap now.>

That makes sense since I started out with 64 and upgraded to 80MB. So, if I replace the SIMMS with what I assume are 2-128MB of DIMMs, do we know for sure that my motherboard has the capacity for it? Just want to make sure before I go and buy anything...and any idea, roughly, what is considered a good price for these DIMMs?

Thank you for your patience with my questions and my lack of technical knowledge, and thank you in advance for your response. I appreciate it.
ajzchips
El cheapo dude
Posts: 3048
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2002 12:41 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

There are a lot of M571 issues covered in the PCCHIPS LOTTERY: http://go.to/th2 (use the forum "search" feature).
...and several unofficial M571 support sites linked over there too.
jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

Dear AJZ and other 'experts',

I took your advice and went to the PC Chips lottery site and read over the linked websites and could find info on the UDMA 33. I went to the PC Chips M5xx Forum and did a search and it only came up with one response for UDMA 33 and the answer was in the negative and not relevant to my motherboard model. I also downloaded my motherboard manual for the M571 v. 3.2a and read the whole thing through and it only acknowledged that there was a hard drive speed of Ultra DMA 33, but did not address how to set it up, etc.

I know you said that the web-site is very helpful, but I have spent the past few hours searching and am still left with the same questions: wondering what speed my hard drive is working at, how I find out, how I can change it to UDMA 33, and if that will work well with my system components.

I would greatly appreciate some further assistance as I really tried and am not finding the information through these links and website. Many thanks for your help and your patience.
jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

I did HOWEVER find info. about my memory questions in the manual, so that part was very helpful. : )

Apparently, I can expand up to 384 MBs of SDRAM DIMM expandable memory (not that I know exactly what that technically is, but I wrote it down and can search online or ask at the computer store).
Denniss
BIOS Guru
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Remember this Board and it's SIS chipset are some years old and they have some limitations with SDRAM modules .
Maximum SDRAM module is a 128MB doublesided module(64MB per side) which may not be easy to find .
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

jesterabk -

I've found a good place to get basic information about computers is at the PCGuide website. Just search there for UDMA33 . I'm sure all the info you may need is there. Also a good place to start is at your Hard Drive Manufacturer's website where you can find out the specifications for your particular model.

Your motherboard must also be able to support this transfer mode in order to use it.

Good Luck in your search!!
jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

Dear Kachi Wachi:

Thank you for the referral to PCGuide. It definitely has some great info. and explanations of computer terms that helps a lot. It also seems to have other pages to break down terms further if you need that, which really helps. Thanks.

I will also look on hard drive mfgr. website.

Just from initial reading, it looks like I will have to change settings on the hard drive itself for it be in the UDMA 33 setting. I will have to take that one step at a time. Never done that before.

jester
jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

Kachi Wachi:

Follow up: I went to the WesternDigital website, and I did a number of searches and couldn't find any specification info. about my hard drive, I put in the model #, and also tried the serial number, both with no luck for some strange reason...

I also did a search under UDMA 33 with no good responses, so I e-mailed the company and hope they will help.
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
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Contact:

Post HDD model here (usually ACxxxxx or WDxxxx) - sould be displayed by BIOS during HDD autodetection.
Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

It is Western Digital AC23200L
Rainbow
The UniFlasher
Posts: 3122
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 4:16 pm
Location: Slovakia
Contact:

Patched and tested BIOSes are at http://wims.rainbow-software.org
UniFlash - Flash anything anywhere
jesterabk
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri May 10, 2002 5:32 am
Location: Boston, MA

Dear Bios Forum Helpers,

My hard drive is UDMA 33 enabled, the BIOS is set up for it, and everything is working well.

I just wanted to update you and to say thank you again for all your help.
I am grateful.
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