Changing CPU, how do I know if it will work?

[Mike3]

So, I'm thinking of changing the CPU on my computer.

But I have a hard time finding onfo on what CPU's will work with my motherboard.

Now I read some explanations and from what I gather usually if it's the same socket, i.e. the CPU works with the motherboards socket it should be fine.

But then I also read that the other chips, the chipsets have to be compatible.

And also the BIOS has to be the right version.

So basically I might go with an older chip than I have now. Will my BIOS be backwards compatible?

How do I check from puppy linux what chipsets I have? And how do I check what CPU's are compatible with this chipset?

[mikewalsh]

@Mike3 :-

If you can let us know what make/model of CPU you're using, and what make/model of motherboard, we'll see what's what..... I'm not in Puppy ATM, so don't have access to the relevant Puppy tools; I'm playing around with the new Void-based KLV "Airedale". I DO know a couple of relevant sites that should let us figure out what you can safely use.

Mike.

[bigpup]

We have to have that basic info to tell you anything useful.

I think the first big question.

What is the issue, you think will be fixed, by changing the CPU?

[Mike3]

It is an eMachines EL 1850 and I think the motherboard is an Acer Aspire X1900.

It has LGA775 socket.

the current CPU is Intel Pentium Dual-Core CPU E6700.

I'm looking at replacing it with an Intel Pentium D of some model, or Intel Celeron D of some kind. Probably made earlier than the motherboard.

The chipset seems to be:
Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset &
Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 &
Realtek Semiconductor RTL8111

BIOS is: American Megatrends, P01-B1, Revision: 8.15.

But I also want to know how to check this in the future for myself for new possible combinations of CPU's and motherboards and chipsets and BIOS.

Basically how to check compatibility?

So, how does one go about checking the compatibility given the current CPU, BIOS, motherboard and the like?

I thought I could use Pc part picker website but they seems to not be working like I get an error message when trying to pick a part like starting with the CPU. It just states: "Error fetching list of CPU's, unknown" or similar. Is the webpage not working or is it something with my webbrowser? Does it work for others?

[mikewalsh]

@Mike3 :-

O-kay.

Now then; if, as you say, your mobo is an Acer X1900, then you can in fact go all the way up to a Core 2 Quad - 4-core - the top one of which is the Q9705, running @ 3.16 GHz, and with up to SSE 4.1instruction sets & Vt-x virtualization tech.

I found this out the following way:-

• Mobo chipset is a G41:- https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/AC ... X1900/8858
  .....but the X1900 appears to be a laptop? Is this the case?

  So, let's try another search:- https://icecat.biz/p/acer/pt.ncae2.077/ ... 72916.html
  ....yup; still says G41 and LGA 775 (these are the important items)

• Now; G41 chipset support:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets
  - sub-section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_I ... s_chipsets

• Then, Core 2 Quad CPUs:- https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/T ... 0Quad.html
  - and the Q9705 is here:- https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/I ... 876MG.html

This is not to say that you'll be able to actually find a Q9705 in the second-hand market, of course! It will depend on what you can find, what the seller is asking for it, whether you're prepared to pay the asking price, and if you think the upgrade will be worth it.

As my colleague asks, what are you actually trying to achieve here?

-----------------------------------------------------------

I don't know of any of the Puppy utilities that will actually give you the model of the motherboard itself, although HardInfo and Pup-SysInfo will give you details for everything ON the motherboard. However, there IS a terminal command that will give you this information (from HERE ):-

Open a terminal.Type in the following (or copy/paste it if you don't trust yourself to get it right):-

Code: Select all

dmidecode -t 2

.....and hit 'Enter'. You should get your motherboard details. This is mine:-

Code: Select all

# dmidecode -t 2
# dmidecode 2.12
SMBIOS 3.2 present.
# SMBIOS implementations newer than version 2.7 are not
# fully supported by this version of dmidecode.

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
	Manufacturer: HP
	Product Name: 843B
	Version: 00
	Serial Number: PGSXP0JK9CSBJN
	Asset Tag:  
	Features:
		Board is a hosting board
		Board is removable
		Board is replaceable
	Location In Chassis:  
	Chassis Handle: 0x0003
	Type: Motherboard
	Contained Object Handles: 0

#

.....from which we can see that my HP Pavilion desktop has an HP 843B motherboard (which is correct).

Once you know the motherboard ID, you can basically research everything else on-line.

Mike.

[Mike3]

I want to get rid of the Intel Management Engine (Intel ME) and AMT.

And also I don't want multithreading.

The reason is security I see these as possible backdoors and also vulnerabilities. There is a reason NSA disables the Intel ME from their devices.

Anyways therefore I wanna go with an older chip. Most likely a Intel Pentium D or Celeron D CPU. How do I check if they will work?

But now I checked Intel's homepage for the chipset which is a NH82801GB chip. And it sais:
"Intel® ME Firmware Version - YES"

Does this mean it has the Intel ME?

But I read they brought in the Intel ME in 2006, june that year and this chip was released in Q2'05, i.e. Q2 2005. Did they put it into older chips allready released if they were manufactured after 2006? Or is it the Intel AMT thing? But I thought Intel AMT was also after 2005?

.....but the X1900 appears to be a laptop? Is this the case?

It's a tabletop.

[mikewalsh]

I want to get rid of the Intel Management Engine (Intel ME) and AMT...

...But now I checked Intel's homepage for the chipset which is a NH82801GB chip. And it sais:
"Intel® ME Firmware Version - YES"

Does this mean it has the Intel ME?

I would imagine so.

Personally, I've never understood why folks want to go to all this trouble to prevent anyone "snooping" on their online activities or computer-related activities in general. Do you have something to hide.....something of which you're embarrassed, or ashamed?

Most of the big Internet 'players' - Google in particular - must have a book of data on me as thick as a stack of Bibles by now. I couldn't care less; I have no money in the bank worth talking about, and I'm the most boring, un-interesting individual bar none. They're welcome to snoop; they'll get bored LONG before they find anything!

(*shrug*)

Mike.

[Mike3]

Personally, I've never understood why folks want to go to all this trouble to prevent anyone "snooping" on their online activities? Do you have something to hide.....something of which you're embarrassed, or ashamed?

I guess it depends on what you do. If you work in technology, art or design or anything worth stealing basically I don't see any reason not to add security measures.

Also, yes I am a private focused individual, I think it is a human right to have privacy, well actually it is so legally which seems to be ignored (to state things mildly).

My perspective is certainly less naive than most people's, or different. And this is due to personal experiences and experiences of my family.

And why would you trust anyone else to have information on you? Why should a private company have ton's of information about you? You trust them because they are large corporations? Or you think everyone running ĺarge companies is "nice"?

Surveilance is dangerous, just a fact.

[mikewalsh]

@Mike3 :-

Anything work-related, or to do with "national security", yes; of course I agree. But to my way of thinking, too many 'private' individuals have an over-inflated opinion of their importance in the scheme of things....

As a retired, very average 'private' individual, I'm under no illusion as to MY place in society.....or the degree to which anyone would be interested in me.

Mike.

[Mike3]

I looked inside the computer and the large Intel chip besides the CPU I could see was the:
NH82801GB.

When I check the PCI devices I get these chips/chipsets:
Intel Corporation 4 Series
Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7

But the 82G41/G41 and the 82801GB chips seems to be different ones:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... oller.html

First enetered the market in 2005 and then:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... r-hub.html

Came into the market in 2008.

Or is the G41 the chipset and the 82801 just the IO chip.

I ran the terminal command you suggested and just got: eMachines, EL1850. No serial number. But I think the board is just a slight rework of the Acer Aspire X1900, with the same chips.