Remotely determine processor socket type?

June 8, 2007 9:55 PM

Remotely determine processor socket type?

So my parents live in Japan (I'm in the US) and their eMachine (groan) could really use a processor upgrade. It's currently a 2.8 ghz celeron (eMachine T3882 if anyone cares).

I need a utility I can run remotely to determine the socket type (775, 478, ???) of their current processor so I can buy a better (non-Celeron) one off Newegg. WinAudit leads me to believe that the motherboard chipset might be either an Intel 82801 or an 82865. Can't tell which since it gives me both numbers in different areas. (Don't worry, I'll be able to talk my dad through the CPU installation, I just can't use him to diagnose.)

Alternatively, do any techies living near Karuizawa/Nagano Japan wanna make an easy $50?

posted by mysterious1der to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Aida32 was a fantastic way to find out every detail about a machine without opening it up, but it has been out of development since 2004. Your parents computer might be old enough, or not.. There are links to other information tools on that page, but I've never tried any of them.

powerleap has an extensive database of upgrade options for various systems, but not the T3882.

based on various for sale sites it is more than likely a Celeron D 335, but that comes in both s775 and s478 models.. Based on those same sources, the chipset is intel 865GV, which also comes in both varieties.

Here is a forum thread with pictures of motherboards out of a few eMachines, including the T3882. It is clearly a s478 board. That still doesn't tell you what the max processor is, although it is probably safe to go to most s478 processors, because a Celeron D 335 is already a very late model for s478 boards.

After all that, honestly, I'm not sure you will see much improvement out of the upgrade you want to do. What are your parents doing that they need so much CPU horsepower?

But, the really important question is, how much RAM do they have? Boosting RAM to 1GB will have a much bigger effect on general purpose desktop performance than a small clock rate increase.
posted by Chuckles at 10:52 PM on June 8, 2007

What exactly is it that your parents are doing that requires a processor upgrade?

A 2.8ghz is more than good enough for the basics, browsing, e-mail, music, photos.

Have you tried cleaning the system - spyware, defrag, uninstall programs, etc...?
posted by mphuie at 11:00 PM on June 8, 2007

@all
Excellent point that there's not any one task that requires more horsepower here, but let me put it this way: my mom couldn't tell you what multitasking is, but she can do it like an old pro. Between browsers, Outlook (full, not OE) that never closes (only minimizes), Picasa, IM clients and video IM clients that all run simultaneously, the machine could use an upgrade (Upgrading will be much simpler than retraining my mom. I still have no idea how she figured all that out). Top all of that off with the fact that I manage the machine remotely via LogMeIn, and it starts to lag. I know it could benefit from some more L2 cache that a true Pentium proc could offer.

Now, I realize that it needs more RAM as well (currently 496 after the onboard video tax), so I should have mentioned in the OP that the machine will already be going to 1 gig, maybe 2 (thanks to the Crucial online system scanner and Newegg).

Thanks also for the spyware, defrag, etc advice. Check, check, and check on everything. The system is clean (I'm a help desk analyst by trade, so I do this for a living, I just don't have local access to the machine in this 'case', pun intended).
posted by mysterious1der at 11:39 PM on June 8, 2007

Best answer for Chuckles - that forum actually lists the T3882 explicitly and says it'll take a 775 (number 2 forum post).

Thanks to all!
posted by mysterious1der at 11:43 PM on June 8, 2007

I thought model 335 of the Celeron D was 478 pin?
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:13 AM on June 9, 2007

Scroll down to slot provided and it says 478.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:15 AM on June 9, 2007

CPU-Z should tell you just about everything. Have them run it, go to About -> HTML Dump, and send the resulting file to you.

Intel 82801 (more commonly known as ICH2) and 82865 are likely correct; the former is the southbridge (PCI and other IO), the latter is the northbridge (memory controller, maybe on-board graphics).

S478 looks likely going from a quick search and the age of the system.
posted by Freaky at 7:02 AM on June 9, 2007

Looks like BrotherCain is right, and the Celeron D 335 was only ever s478. I saw some google results that suggested that a s775 version existed, but it looks like those are all prerelease articles.

that forum actually lists the T3882 explicitly and says it'll take a 775 (number 2 forum post).

I'm hoping this is just a typo :) The second post applies to the T3882, but it is definitely a s478 board. The third post is a s775 board, but that is for different models..


I would do the ram upgrade and see what happens. Good luck.
posted by Chuckles at 8:33 AM on June 9, 2007

Looks like BrotherCain is right, and the Celeron D 335 was only ever s478.

Err.. I misread that intel chart. It says "LGA775 or mPGA478" for Celeron D 335. D'oh!
posted by Chuckles at 11:48 AM on June 9, 2007