Whats the highest I will be able to upgrade my p4 to?

[Headbust]

I have a p4 2.8ghz/533

mobo is a intel 845PEBT2..

I am nowhere near thinking of upgrading right now but will be in probably a year or so and really have no clue when it comes to proccessors and info on them. Say if by next year there are P4 5ghz CPU's out there..would i be able to ugrade to that?

Non related..How much a performance increase of switching from 266 RAM to 333mhz?. My board supports it I just have pc 2100 in it now though

[jAkUp]

nobody knows if your motherboard will support future cpus... you would have to see in the future to tell that. chances are... you will need a new mobo. sockets, features... etc. etc. etc. motherboards do not have support for changes in cpu's...they just support what is already out there. it all depends on what intel decides to do down the road. i imagine at 5ghz, they will have to change the die size to .11... possibly a new method of hyperthreading... all which require a new mobo.

as for ram.. you will probably not notice any difference at all.. that is a very small jump.... it really all depends on what you use your computer for.

[CaptNKILL]

Originally posted by Headbust
I have a p4 2.8ghz/533

mobo is a intel 845PEBT2..

I am nowhere near thinking of upgrading right now but will be in probably a year or so and really have no clue when it comes to proccessors and info on them. Say if by next year there are P4 5ghz CPU's out there..would i be able to ugrade to that?

Non related..How much a performance increase of switching from 266 RAM to 333mhz?. My board supports it I just have pc 2100 in it now though

Id say that as long as the CPUs use the same socket you should be able to keep the same mobo. Although Intel has changed the socket again and again so they will probably change it again before they hit 4Ghz.... I dont see 5Ghz for another 2 years or more.

And about the ram, go to www.newegg.com and check the prices. The performance increase is probably only slightly noticeable, but when ram is so cheap, you cant go wrong! For that system you have, Id reccomend buying some high-end RAM. Like Corsair XMS. That way you can do some good OCing to get the most out of your system. PC-2700 should be fine (and 512Mb is only $101!) but 3200 would be better for OCing (although its $142 for 512Mbs).

[Nemesis]

I think a worthwhile upgrade for you would be a 4Ghz plus P4 - and that's going to be a Prescott, which is a whole new socket, and therefore a new Mobo.

I think the fastest Northwood-core P4 is the 800Mhz FSB 3.2Ghz (May 2003) - and to make the most of that you'll need a Springdale or Canterwood chipset motherboard, although I assume they will work at 533 FSB in your Mobo.

I wish these companies would stick to the same socket for more than a couple of years... :rolleyes:

[borntosoul]

yeh get some good ram. what youre using now is not doing your 2.8 justice.

[Steppy]

Originally posted by jAkUp
it all depends on what intel decides to do down the road. i imagine at 5ghz, they will have to change the die size to .11... possibly a new method of hyperthreading... all which require a new mobo. Psst. Intel will be below .11 in 6 months at 3.4 Ghz with the Prescot(it's a .09 chip). They'll be moving down to .065 for the move to 5 Ghz.