I have an old apple desktop. I want to change the processor to a faster and more efficient one. Can anyone recommend any processor that will best suit my desktop?
Hi Azreil,
Upgrading your processor and choosing the best one to upgrade to is a matter of knowing your motherboard first because it all depends on the processors that your motherboard can support. So here is how to start:
-First you need to download the CPUID program to your mac. The program will detect the model of your computer hardware including your motherboard not to mention a lot of other features.
-After you know the model of your motherboard you will have to check the specifications of that motherboard usually you will find it on the manufacturer website. In the specifications you will find the type of processors the motherboard supports and you can choose one of the models higher than the one you are using and upgrade to it. This can also be used to know the limit of RAM you can expand to since every motherboard have a support limit for RAM space too.
Hope this helps.
Like any other PC, upgrading or changing your processor will depend on your motherboard. The compatibility of a processor to a motherboard will be based on its socket number or socket model and supported FSB speed. For example, if your motherboard supports socket 478, you need to find a socket 478 processor that has an FSB within the range of the motherboard so it will work and be compatible.
So, it’s better to check your motherboard first when upgrading and before buying a new processor. Aside from checking the supported socket number, you also need to check the minimum and maximum FSB rating for your board. Installing a different or incompatible processor to your motherboard will sometimes result in overheating the processor. This is what happened when I tested and installed an incompatible processor on my motherboard.
I have a Pentium 4 3.06 GHz socket 478 533 MHz FSB processor which is an upgrade to my previous 1.8 GHz 400 MHz FSB. I tested and installed another Pentium 4 processor which is 3.2 GHz 800 MHz FSB. The result, the CPU started for a few seconds showing a little of POST of the BIOS and then shut down.
I tried starting it again but it didn’t work. Upon checking, I learned that the processor overheated. The CPU cooling fan wasn’t enough to handle the heat of the processor. I replaced back the original processor and the CPU started normally again but displaying an error during the POST of the BIOS saying that the previous shut down was caused by the processor overheating.
When I checked my CPU’s manufacturer’s website, I learned that my CPU was tested with Intel Celeron and Intel Pentium 4 processors ranging from 400 MHz to 533 MHz FSB. So that puts my motherboard to be compatible with Intel Celeron and Intel Pentium 4 ranging from 400 to 533 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB).
You need to know more about your motherboard before upgrading your processor to avoid risking of frying the processor. To know the FSB rating of your processor, check the print on top of the processor itself. You will see something like “1.8GHZ/512/400/1.525V”. 1.8GHZ refers to your processor’s clock speed or core speed or in layman’s term, the speed of the processor.
512 refers to the cache level of the processor. 400 refers to the FSB rating of your processor. 1.525V is the voltage rating of the processor. If you want to know the specifications of your processor, download and install CPUID CPU-Z.
