EggXpert

I am thinking about doing some upgrading to my current setup. Currently I have a P4 2.8 w/HT and 1 GB DDR running on a Gigabyte 8I915P Duo Pro motherboard. My MOBO has 2 DDR2 slots so I have already ordered 2 GB of DDR2 to throw in there, but my question lies more about the processor. With the current BIOS available for my board, the fastest chip I can put in there is a P4 3.8 w/HT or a P4 3.4 Extreme Edition. Would it be worth it for me to invest in either of these chips? Unfortunately the only place I can find supported chips is ebay, Newegg no longer has chips that work in my mobo. Here is a list of supported Chips http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=1802.

I am mainly concerned with video conversion and general speed increases on my PC, I do not game on it and other than SageTV capturing HD feeds, Web browsing by me and my wife and archiving my video collection the PC isn't used for much else.

I would love to get a new Motherboard and processor, but seeing as that would require an OS reinstall I'm really not feeling like putting up with that hassle. SO if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I would really appreciate any input you have!

Regards,
VikingCrown

IMO, no. A P2 system is in retirement age, not refurbishing age. Keep using it until you have cash to put down on a newer HTPC setup. (which are really not very expensive these days anyway)

Video conversion and general speed increases?

I recommend you save up more and go core2duo.

BTW, where the hell r u gonna get a 3.8ghz P4?

Doesn't matter anyway if a P4 was 5.0ghz, would still be pwned by a 2.0ghz core2duo xD
 

P4 3.8 HT and Extreme Edition 3.4 are NOT worth the money you'd have to pay for getting one, also these items are VERY HARD TO FIND, since they are no longer being manufactured and you are stuck looking for parts in stock all this time or worse, recycled "pulls".

I figured as much, I am only loath to spend more and buy a mobo/cpu upgrade to get to core2duo because it will require a timely OS reinstall. Does anyone know any tricks to change out the mobo and cpu and not have to reinstall the OS?

The odds of being able to pull off a CPU/Mobo replacement without having to reinstall your OS are probably a bit less than hitting 31 black twice in a row, yet slightly more than the odds of being killed by a moose.

Its highly worth it though, I recommend saving up and getting gigabyte p35 mobo for like$89.99

and core2duo E4500 or even the E2xxx series

you will see MUCH improvement with video conversion

 

Do you have a DVD burner? Can just copy your important files to DVD

id save your money for either a core 2 duo or a pentium dual core.

Just to reiterate the comments of those before me, it's not worth it to upgrade your PresHOT to a newer PresHOTTER. Just save up if possible and grab a better CPU and perhaps motherboards. Installing new mobo/memory isn't necessarily going to cause system failure (ie Boot Disk Failure or BSOD) unless an OEM such as DELL installed it or unless you are interested in playing Russian Roulette with Microsoft Operating Systems. However, I've had good luck with most of my installs of Operating Systems (including XP/Vista) with new build completely, granted they have not been OEM so do not expect OEM installs to work correctly and if they do, it may fail due to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA).

 You could even try a system repair (boot from disk, then repair using filesystem in tact). Then try clearing and restoring the master boot record and recreating the entire bootloader, but now we may be getting a bit far over what you are interested in for now.

Slmclarengt 

Conflict of drivers will happen with the new components, "old/not use" drivers that still running on the OS background will lower performence. Replace mobo to a branch new generation, I recommend to install a new OS.