Help with zocket 478

Hi everyone,

I have a old PC with a Pemtium 4 1.7GHz zocket 478 and one friend gave me one Celeron 2.7GHz, so I would like to know how I can check if it is supported by my motherboard in my old PC. I am a little lost, so thanks to everyone in advance.

well, for starters, what kind of PC is you old one?

Brand? Model?

with that, someone should be able to find out what motherboard is in it, unless you can read any markings on the motherboard you self, as far as brand and model number


in situations like this, Google is your best friend



chances are though, that system with a P4 1.7 came out before the Celeron's hit the market, so I don't know if it'll be compatible...


we'll see, but we need a little more info first


Welcome to the forums BTW!

iamsuperbleeder is correct, we need to know specifically what motherboard you are using right now, and if possible what bios version is currently installed. The reason is (as superbleeder points out), the 2.7 celeron is a newer chip and newer chips are not always supported by older motherboards. Odds are it will work but you will likely have to update your motherboard bios in order for it to detect the new chip and allow you to use it. If you just install it now, it may not work at all.

Your existing 1.7 pentium 4 would be willamette based chip, where as that celeron will be northwood based, unless its a "Celeron D". Most motherboards that used willamette P4s would support northwood based chips, but not always. I would say its a safe bet that it will either support the chip now, or will after you update the bios.

But frankly if you are looking to upgrade your old pc, you might want to consider the cost of getting a whole new system would only be about $300 or so, and not only would it offer significantly greater performance than even that 2.7 celeron, but you would be using modern technology that would give you a much better upgrade path...just food for thought

I would take a close look at it. The Celeron 2.7GHz could be a Northwood processor using the 130nm process... The P4 1.7GHz would be a Willamette.
Both have the same 100MHz base bus speed...

From what I am seeing it SHOULD work but I would still suggest a BIOS update before attempting it. Also if you have a OEM computer (Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, etc...) you will not likely be able to swap out the processor as many of the OEMs at that time locked their systems down to only use specific processors. I ran into this quite a bit with OEM Socket 478 systems.

I toyed with a couple Dell's way back when, and they weren't too picky with processors

just make sure your new cpu is same fsb frequency or motherboard is capable of supporting the fsb if different.
you can see the print on the cpu that tells you what it is.