Upgrading processor

I agree with jhance

(please don't accept this post as answer - I'm just seconding what he said)

I had an AMD 950 mHz and could have upgraded to a maximum of 1.3 gHz.

I decided to get a new motherboard + processor + ram instead.  

I got (i guess) a good deal on an ASUS P4S8X board with a Pentium 4 (2.4 gHz) + 512 MB of DDR ram for 560ish dollars a few months ago.

www.jncs.com sells tested Mobo + proc + ram Bundles and I had a good experience so I would recommend them.

Check your version number first. KT7A version less then 1.3 cannot support XP processors. It is possible to use on 1.3 above version in fact you can still use 2000+ one as long as it's still 266 FSB processor. But the performance will be hindered by SDRAM. Try upgrading to DDR version. If you want to upgrade one by one, you can try ECS K7S5A, or if you want to radically switch your system, buy an nForce2 with MCP2-T, then you can abandon your sound card and NIC, and get the best board on the planet right now. Find some Barton core with 333Mhz FSB.
BTW, 1.2Ghz of TBird is very different from 1.8Ghz of XP. 1.8Ghz on XP means it can kill 2.4 Ghz P4 easily. I am still using 1600+ (1.4Ghz) and it can still do 3DMark2003 just fine, scoring about 2000 points. It can still do Unreal Tournament II, with a better framerate than my friend's P4 2Ghz using the very same Ti4200.
I bought NF7-S for $120 and AXP 1600+ for $45, 2x 256MB samsung for $75 both. Total of $250. Barton 2500+ with 333FSB costs only about $179. With about $374 you get get a much faster and better system than $560 P4, plus bonus Dolby digital Audigy2 class sound card and network card.

prd00: Your friend's P4 is clearly set up very badly, then--my 2.4GHz P4 with Ti4400 gives me a 3DMark2001 of 10600 (not tried the 2003 edition yet, and I know the numbers aren't directly comparable!) and its runs Unreal 2 smooth as glass.

If you want a REAL comparison of speeds of decently-set-up machines, check out Tom's Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com)--I think you'll find that an XP 1800+ does NOT generally kill a 2.4GHz P4 in any real world case.

Oh, and note that I have no bias toward Intel OR AMD--until I upgraded a couple of months ago I was running a 1.2GHz T-bird just like our questioner here.

pjknibbs: I got 11708 with AXP1600+ and Ti4200..

sorry... 11708 is with 3DM2001SE. Perhaps yours also set up very badly too? You also need to fix your computer then.. :) And, I never trust Toms for ANY reviews he wrotes.. anything, not monitor, not mainboard, not processor, not sound, not even his technology backgrounder. His reviews never match the truth since about 2-3 years ago. But yes, XP1800+ did wins only a few benchmark, and 2.4Ghz is majority but that's compared to 2.4, and 1800+ is 1.6Ghz, and with about a quarter of P4 2.4Ghz price.
Well.. if you see the best performance on the planet, money has nothing to do with it, go with 2.8 and 3Ghz+ P4, below that point, AMD has better price/performance. Same performance in about half price. For Alex, choice is yours.

Oh, i forgot something... I DID say 1.8Ghz, not 1800+ and 1800+ is less than 1.6Ghz if I'm correct. Be careful of AMD's model numbering.. :) 1.8 is about 2200+ i think.. I never remember the model number

Thanks very much.