I own a Gateway GT4016 media center pc, it came stock with a 2.2 ghz AMD athlon 64 3700+(s939) processor. I want to upgrade it. The mother board's model # is FIC KTBC51G. It says it is compatible with the 2.4 ghz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+(s939), which is what I would like to upgrade to. I tried calling gateway for help, but since my warranty is expired I would have to pay out the nose for the kind of help I think i need, so i was hoping someone here could help.

My main concern is, if I just take out my old CPU, and put in the new one, and as long as every component is put in correctly(CPU, thermal stuff, heatsink, fan, and fan power supply), will it work, simple as that? Is all I have to do is install the new one and it will boot-up fine, like I never did anything, except the performance will be better? Or am I gonna have to update the BIOS (which I have never done and am scared to death of doing), and other junk that I really don't have any clue how to do. I asked gateway via there "free" chat and the guy, briefly before he told me I would have to pay to continue, said that there was no other BIOS for my motherboard. I didn't know whether to believe him or not saying that he didn't seem like he wanted to help me very much, and I wasn't paying.

Any help would be appreciated.


Here are some of my system specs

Gateway GT4016
Windows XP Pro SP 3
FIC KTBC51G motherboard (integrated geforce 6100 GPU nforce 410/430)
4 GB dual channel PC3200 DDR sdram (System Specs say only 3.17 though??)
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2 Ghz CPU
BFG Nvidia Geforce 9600 GT OC GPU
500W Antec psu
And other PCI stuff i can't remember, I'm on my work computer now

Welcome to CD Freaks.

The Gateway site says it should be able to accommodate the 4800+ as-is, it seems.

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERB...5553sp26.shtml

The FIC website doesn't even seem to offer any BIOS updates for its boards, from my quick glance, so I'd think you'd be okay.

Have you located an Athlon X2 S939 CPU? I don't think you will find one that is new. ebay (or someplace similar) might be the only place you can find one at all nowadays. If your BIOS is able to recognize the X2 CPU then it should be a plug in and play matter.

Thanks for the welcome Albert, and you're correct UTR, there aren't any new ones on the market available, well not for less than $500, which is more than I can afford. I was trying to find an OEM one b/c I already bought the fan/heatsink assembly for $10 on ebay, but I can't, so I am forced to troll ebay for a good used one that is still in great condition and guaranteed functional (also never having been overclocked etc is a plus). I'm probably going to end up paying $200 for one, but I figured it would help increase the performance of my desktop enough to make it worthy of not being replaced for a few more years. Since that is just a guess, does anyone know what kind of performance increase I'll see in doing this upgrade?

I bought a couple of S939 X2 CPUs last December as upgrade chips to replace single cores. I paid $60 for a 2.2 ghz (512k cache) and $39 for a 2.0 ghz (256k cache). For the money I spent the upgrade was well worth it. If you are going to pay $200 for a 2.2 ghz CPU then I don't think I would do it. For $200 you can by an AM2+ motherboard (can be upgraded to a Phenom later), 2 gig of DDR26400 RAM and a 2.2-2.4 ghz X2 CPU. Then reuse your other existing components (and case, if possible) and you will be far ahead of just getting the S939 CPU. Since you have a decent Antec PS, you could replace the case for less than $40-$50 if necessary. Here is what I would buy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227078
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103062
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138105

If you need a case,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068

You will have about $220 in the above, including the case. You will also have a computer that can be upgraded to a Phenom quad core CPU in the future. Then sell your old stuff on ebay and you might have less than $100-$125 in the upgrade.

I have to concur with UTR, if you sell your old stuff you can make a modern system that will last a few years.

Another cpu to get 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz dual core

I know that the smart thing to do would be to buy myself a whole bunch of new components and build a desktop for myself, but to be honest I don't have the time to get all the stuff together(deciding what I want, finding it, buying it, checking for compatibility, putting it all together, then re-installing all my software and files I would want to carry over). It is actually my fiance's computer, and it's pretty decent as is, and I just wanted to make it pretty much as good as it could become. Plus I don't think she would appreciate me selling her computer(even if she knew I'd make a better one, and I've put as much money into it as her) and her not having access to the files she needed to for several days, plus no internet, I'd never hear the end of it.

Came across some more information in my at-work computer search. I came upon something called a processor instruction set. I have no idea what this is, but here is what I found out about my current processor and the one I want upgrade to:

Current Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2 Ghz
Instruction set: Intel MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3

Upgrade Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 2.4 Ghz
Instruction Set: 3DNow!, Intel MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3

I also noticed that my current processor has a front side bus of 1000 Mhz, and the upgrade has a fsb of 2000 Mhz. Does that have any significance?

Yikes, I just looked at the eBay prices for that processor !
Sundown, last chance pricing.
Same thing happened to the big socket A's when s939 was in its heyday.

If you have a local Craigslist check that.
You could also post a WTB ad @ CL.

FSB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_side_bus

Hey oberstwake, if its running fine then I would leave it alone. No point in investing in old technology.

Yeah, I know it sounds bad buying this old stuff, but i just want this pc to run at peak performance and know that I did actually put some work into it. This whole experience of upgrading this pc has served as a lesson in building one of my own one day, and that will definitely be the next step.

I actually found a good deal on a AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ yesterday on craigslist (thanks jflan for the suggestion). $75 for it and the Asus A8n32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard it came with as a package deal. The seller says the processor is unlocked, so I assume that means I will have no problem removing it and putting it in my system. Any thoughts on this? Do you forsee me running into any probelms? Thanks.

Unlocked means the cpu's multiplier can be changed for easy overclocking. It should be a good deal, the seller may have overclocked it but he's selling it in good/used condition so it should be a fine. good luck with it

The best part is that he said he bought it a few months back and never did anything with it, it has just sat in his house since purchase, so hopefully I'll be dealing with a good as new processor. And thanks for the luck, I'm probably ganna need it. I also wanted to thank everyone here for all their help, I posted this issue in 3 forums, including an AMD specialized one, and everyone here has been the most help of any of them. Great forum, look froward to sticking around, perhaps even to consult on making that new rig one day.

Kevin

Whoa! Yikes! Hold the phone!
That Asus board is lightyears ahead of that vanilla FIC.
I would leave the processor and mobo together and transplant both.
It will be more work, the OS will get involved, etc., but you should remove the mobo anyway to replace the CPU.
It's cramped and more risk to do it inside the box.
Errant screwdrivers (and such) are one of the leading causes of motherboard deaths.

If the Asus board has a northbridge fan, keep an eye on it...some early revisions had NB fan failures. Not a big deal at all...just replace the fan(+HS) with the improved version from Asus.

Congrats on the CL deal!

Edit:
The Asus mobo is full-size ATX...make sure your box can handle a full-size ATX board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard_form_factor

Make sure you have your own license for Windows XP, too, because there's a good chance that if that is an OEM installed version, it's locked to the original FIC mobo.

If you have to make the call to Bangalore (MS support), it depends on who answers and what they are told.