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Would this upgrade plan be a go?

S

ScanDisk

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Apr 1, 2017
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Niagara Falls, Canada Eh?
I have a Compaq Deskpro EN, the base specs are:

Intel Penitum II 400mhz
192MB RAM
20GB HDD (I already upgraded that a while ago, from the original 6GB)
ATI 3D Rage Pro (8mb)

It's actually pretty good and I like it a lot, one of the time periods I want a fully working good machine to cover is the turn of the millennium, which this already covers, but I know I can do better.

I am thinking of upgrading to a Pentium III, getting a good GPU from 99 or 2000, and Installing a DVD drive.

Being that the included graphics is not soldered on board, and is an actual AGP 1.0 (2x) card, I won't be losing any slots upgrading the GPU.

A friend has told me that since I have an in-slot processor I should be able to upgrade to an "in-slot" Pentium III just like the GPU pretty much.

Obviously a DVD drive will work with regular IDE, so that's nothing special.

What I really want to know before I start buying and upgrading anything is, should I be able to upgrade to a Pentium III that easily?

For more information the chipset on the board is Intel i440BX/ZX (B1), and the processor is Slot 1 SECC.
 
Looks ok to me. i'd check in the BIOS to see what the max frequency/multiplier is, to see how far you can upgrade. Or perhaps its jumpers on that board. IIRC most BX boards can do 550MHz, probably more, depending on BIOS revision.
 
according to cpu-z the current PII is running at 100mhz, so I assume it's 100. Luckily there are Penitum III that run with that bus speed, even some up to 1.0ghz.
 
I took of the case and took a look inside, mainly to see if there is already a fan installed, or just a cooler. It's good that I did, because what's there is not like the processors I have been seeing on ebay, it is in a housing, but it's much larger and horizontal, instead of vertical.

I don't know what this is.
 

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Good news, I removed it to check, and it is just a normal looking slot 1 housing, however just the heatsink is much larger than the rest, so it overhangs the assembly by an inch. At least I know that I should be able to upgrade this now indeed.

Also, it was a lot easier to remove and install than I thought. I wish processors stayed like this. I booted up after and it still works, I thought I might ruin something being me lol.
 
My ENP 600 has the same heatsink, but also has a thermistor clipped to it. So, don't forget that, if it's present.

The "100 MHz" pertains to the FSB speed, standard for the 440BX. (My EN-P came with a 600MHz PII)
 
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I will remember that for sure, there is no fan as you can see directly on the heatsink, but as visible in the picture there is one on the front of the case which looks like it blows air directly over it, I assume then, that the thermistor helps regulate the that fan?

Also, as far as upgrading the GPU goes, I am thinking of buying this one: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Sapphire-Ra...555349?hash=item2f407f6b95:g:Bl0AAOSw4iJeesL0

However, as I said, I only have a 2x AGP slot, which I know is 3.3v, seeing how the card seems to have 2 AGP keys, I take it one of them is 3.3v, and the other for 1.5v, meaning that it's compatible with both 2x and 4x, and I should be good to go?
 
I don't recall what I'm using for the video; only that in my system, it takes a low-profile bracket--one of those short double-wide affairs, My take is that the thermistor is indeed for the fan. I'm assuming that the EN is the SFF version of the ENP.

Some time ago, I slipstreamed a mod for the VIA SATA adapter into the BIOS. It's supposed to work, but I never got a chance to check it out--just too lazy.

It's a nice system for the time, but heavy as heck (intended for server use), so it doesn't come out to play much. Basically, it's this one. Tower only, with slide-out slots.
 
It's good that you mentioned the low-profile bracket, I just checked, that's the case for me too, even though the card looks "full size" it does use a bracket like you desribed.

I guess I'll have to find one in that form factor, or get a PCI one like a Voodoo instead.
 
Just find a low-profile bracket and use it. They differ by card type, so check the card's operation first.

Or just get a low-profile AGP card--ebay seems to be littered with them.
 
I may just do that, as I tried my ATI Mach64 (PCI) in it twice, and nothing comes on screen at all, and there's 3 beeps, that's it.

I guess I would need to search up on using PCI cards with these too, just in case.

Edit: I just found out that it's the NLX from factor, so I know what to look for now. The best I see so far is a 16mb one, but I see there are some 32mb PCI cards.
 
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As I said, the best AGP card that will fit in the case I can find is a 16mb card, but I see lots of 32mb PCI cards out there.

I am still trying to get my Mach64 PCI card to work before buying anything, the computer has the latest BIOS (I checked), so it should be good. Apparently from what I found, one long beep and 2 short beeps (which is what I am getting) is that it can't start up the video adapter, or to check the connection.

The Mach64 is not screwed in when I use it, but that's because it is extremely hard to get access to screw in that particular slot, because of how the case is designed, so I guess I will have to try another slot, even if it means removing another card, then if it works, figure out how to screw in the hard to reach areas.

I know that AGP is faster than PCI, but 32mb is twice that of 16mb, so theoretically which one would be faster over all, a 16mb agp card, or a 32mb pci card?
 
Yes it's universal PCI, I just did some research, so the radeon 7000 64mb PCI card will indeed work for me.

You can still pull your deskpro out and tell me what you've got there, because I am curious, and because If it's good, I'll have a specific card to look for as well.
 
Well, it'd not space limited, as far as I can tell; it's just the connector positioning. I'll get back to you after I've run down a few candidates.
 
ScanDisk said:
Maybe if you have any that will fit.
Click to expand...

Ah, there's the rub. A full-height AGP card is no problem, but the lower left part of the card below the VGA connector has to have a "dogleg" cutout to clear the serial port DE9 connector on the rear bulkhead. I don't have too many better AGP cards that can do this without mangling the part of the PCB with the DVI connector off, which I'm not willing to do.

However, my Diamond Viper V770 (32MB, 300MHz) AGP card does fit and works fine:

viper770.jpg
 
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