I've decided to upgrade this computer to a dual core using an inexpensive for the performance, 45 nm Wolfdale core Pentium dual core with 2 MB cache memory. And to keep costs down by, reusing the old PC two sticks of 1 GB 3200 DDR 1 as well as the Pine GeForge 7600GT AGP video card. After googling, I've settle on the refurbished Asrock 775i65G Rev2.0 motherboard purchased 3BTech.com for $30 including free shipping. The retail Pentium E5300 dual core was purchased at newegg.com for about $79 including shipping. my total investment came to $109 for this upgrade. a bios update to version 3.22 or 3.30 is necessary to use this processor at the full speed. Here is the link for the bios version 3.30 for this motherboard. I have no idea whether 775i65G Rev 1 motherboard would work or not with the newer dual core processor. perhaps, processor volttage regulator cannot regulate down below one volt. Using this CPU without the bios update, the multiplier was stuck at 6 instead of 13 with the resulting speed up only 1.2 GHz with no way of getting it change .Right after the update, the CPU is running at full speed of 2.6 GHz. Under normal operation the speed can change anywhere from 1.2 GHz to 2.6 depending on the load. It is done mainly for energy efficiency by default, but you can go into the bios program and change it to run at full speed at all time if you wish. For this motherboard, press F2 during booting to go into the bios setup,

One problem that I discovered with this motherboard is that it needed a power supply with a -5 rail otherwise it will not post or boot. Lucky for me, I happen to have an older power supply that has the necessary -5 rail but not quite up there in power. I am going to modify my Antec triple rail 430 W unit with the addition of a three terminal -5 volt regulator to provide the necessary power obtained from the -12 V terminal on the power supply. Hopefully with that modification, I can put this power supply back on the computer. In the beginning, the computer sometimes will not post and the remedy was to restart by holding the power button for more than 4 seconds. Gradually it works fine, although takes a little bit longer than most motherboard to initiate the post. This was the problem with this motherboard even before I flash the BIOs. Sometimes, I thought maybe something is wrong with this motherboard. Lately, it appears to work fine.

With this modification, the computer is much more enjoyable to use and much quieter and more energy efficient. The performance is more like almost 2 1/2 times faster than when it had the Prescott core Pentium 4 at 3.4 GHz without overclocking. And about three times, after overclocking it to 3 GHz . According to Sandra benchmarking program under full CPU loading, the maximum CPU power usage was approximately 47 W comparing what the3.4 GHz Prescott Pentium 4 using 90 W. Because of this, the heatsink and fan assembly is very skimpy in appearance yet under full CPU usage the chip temperature only reach as high as 46°C. The CPU case temperature is approximately 5°C cooler. The maximum safe temperature for this Intel CPU is 73°C and its base on the CPU case temperature and not the individual CPU die temperature. This particular processor has 3 temperature sensors on board. One is located precisely in the middle of the chip and the other two are located right on the hottest part of each of the particularly processor core.

I did manage to overclock this by a little amount to 3.25 GHz after updating the BIOs to version 3.30 dated, December 1, 2009. I went into the bios setup and changed the bus speed from 200 to 250 and obtain 3.25 GHz , which is 650 MHz overclocked. To overclock this system more, I would need faster DDR memory to do it safely. Also, when in the bios set-up be sure to use the manual instead of the auto setting for the memory speed at166 MHz instead of the 200 MHz. By the time you set the CPU speed to 250, the memory speed will be close to 200 MHz. With this setting, only the CPU will be overclocked not the memory. At the 3.25 GHz setting the power consumption peaks out at 58 W which is not bad considering the speed is slightly higher than my other computer. Using this setting, the computer is still stable. The nice thing about this motherboard when overclocking is that the PCI and the AGP speed remains at the stock setting when the bus speed is increased. With better memory, this motherboard is designed to run at a bus speed of 266 MHz Quad pumped to 1067 MHz. Using this setting, this motherboard will support a 1067MHz bus speed Core 2 Duo or a Core 2 Quad processor.

Update August 26, 2009: I've just purchased an identical motherboard and the result was the same. It will not post with the better Antec triple rail 430 W power supply. This definitely rules out a defective motherboard.  It appears that I wasted my $30 for an extra motherboard. This motherboard is very picky on power supplies that it will operate. The power supply that I am presently using that works is the Sparkle Power Inc. model number FSP250-60ATV 250 W power supply. I've noticed on 3B Tech they have a bare-bones kit that uses that particular motherboard and the power supply options are the three Viotek models varying from from the 550 W to the 700 W models. Because of that, I assume those should work with this particular motherboard. At this point my best option if I should have problems with my present power supply, is to try one of those.

It appears that the Power Good signaling is the cause of the failure with the better power supply on this motherboard. When you push the power button, the computer doesn't start up right away. It waits until the power supply is able to supply voltage at the correct specification on all of the rails before it turns on the motherboard. When the specifications are correct, about 5 V on the gray wire is sent from the power supply to the motherboard to turn on fully. Maybe the reason this motherboard won't turn on with the better power supply is, because the power good signal voltage from the power supply is inadequate for the better power supply. Normally, the signal voltage can very from 4 V to 6 V DC for most computer systems. Perhaps this motherboard may require more than 5 V Power Good signal to turn on.

Update August 27, 2009: I no longer recommend using this motherboard for this kind of upgrade. My second motherboard has failed, so I reinstall the first one and it functional again. The computer suffered the BSOD and then refuse to post or start up again. According to the failure code online, it appeared that the memory or RAM was the cause of the failure. So I disassemble everything from the failed motherboard and reassemble everything onto my first motherboard and then reinstall back into my case. Since everything works afterward, this seemed to indicate the motherboard was the culprit. It appeared possible that the memory controller on the Northbridge might have failed rather than the DDR RAM. I may considering (RMA) the bad motherboard back to the retailer to exchange for a good one. Since I paid $30 including shipping, I don't know how much it will cost for postage to return it. With the problems that I experienced, I don't think I would like to build another computer system using this motherboard in the future. I might as well just simply absorb the loss. This was a learning experience for me. I hope that the remaining motherboard will be reliable on the long run. Otherwise, after this upgrade the computer was extremely pleasant and enjoyable to use.

Update September 30, 2009: This computer was finally set to run at 2.8 GHz for long-term reliability and stability. When set to run a 3 GHz it sometime would BSOD. The error code seemed to suggest the memory is the problem because it cannot take this much overclocking. I took my chance and purchase a new power supply to use with this computer and happy to report it works fine with this new power supply. The power supply that I'm using right now on this computer is the CoolMax M-500B, 500 W power supply.

Warning risk of electrical fire! Do not use the included line cord included with the CoolMax M-500B power supply, but to discard it. If you need a line cord, it's probably best to buy one locally after inspecting it making sure it's 18gauge construction. It's usually indicated along its length with the imprint of 18gauge. The included line cord is of very poor quality and it doesn't have the UL certification. When I compared it with a standard line computer line cord, it was much lighter and thinner. The standard UL certified line cord has 18gauge wires minimum as compared to this one with only 26gauge. Prior to discarding this line cord, I've decided to cut it open and found the extremely thin wires inside. In the event of any malfunction or short-circuit, instead of the circuit breaker or fuses tripping or blowing the wires in this cord light up instead. This appears to be a problem with most generic power supply that also includes a line cord set.

Update October 10, 2009: The CoolMax power supply did not turn out to work right on this computer on a long run. After I fooled around with the bios trying to overclock the computer a little bit more and then it refused to post or boot from that point on. I've even tried completely clearing the CMOS by taking out the battery and shorting the Clear CMOS Terminal for about 10 seconds with no avail. But as soon as I put back the old sparkle power supply,the computer was able to post and boot normally again. At this point, I am just simply going to stick with the old power supply for as long as the computer still has the Asrock 775i65G motherboard.

Update December 13, 2009: After the official Asrock bios update to version 3.30,dated December 1, 2009. Using this latest version, which is more stable than the previous one and fully support the 45 nm WolfDale Intel CPU, I was able to use the 250 MHz speed for the Pentium dual core e5300 CPU which nets 3.25 GHz. It also allows better control for the memory which remains at the stock 200 MHz bus speeds.

Update February 9, 2010: Today I decided to put back the better quality Antec 430 W power supply that didn't work before with this motherboard. I assumed, that with the new bios update to version 3.3 it may work. I am happy to report that it does work fine after installation with this better power supply. The Antec Truepower Trio 430 W power supply is a much stable and more powerful one then the two inexpensive ones that I use on this system before. I guess it was problem with the bios all along the cause this pickiness when it comes to power supply. Also, I would like to add that the computer runs fine since the bios update to version 3.3. I was able to keep the overclocked setting at 3.25 GHz while maintaining complete stability.

Update May 1, 2010: I decided to test the second motherboard to see if it's still works with the new bios updates. I am happy to report that works fine. I may use this second motherboard to upgrade my old Dell computer after purchasing another set of DDR memory as well as another better Pentium dual core CPU to use on this computer. I would then take the old parts to upgrade the old Dell computer making it as fast as this one.

Update May 7, 2010: I've decided to go ahead and upgrade my old Dell computer using the second Asrock 775i65G motherboard. This was done after the purchase of an Intel Pentium dual core e5400 CPU retail kit as well as 2 better almost identical low density Super Talent DDR PC 3200 2.5 timing instead of the slower 3 DIMM 1 GB modules for use on this computer. I've made the swap and took those old parts to upgrade my Dell computer. This computer now runs at 3.38 GHz with complete stability at 25% overclock although it probably can clock much higher. Unlike the old CPU that it replaces. This new one can also runs Virtual Windows 7 XP mode. The default clock speed is 2.7 GHz. Using these faster memory modules it may be possible to set the clock speed up the full 300 MHz which is 50% overclocking from stock with the initial under clock setting as PC 2700. Using the 4/5 divider setting when the system bus speed at 300 MHz the memory bus speed would only be at 240 MHz. These systems has an effective bus speed of four times utilizing quad pumped. This means that if the bus speed is at 300 MHz it's really running at 1200 MHz. So far, I am running this system at 1000 MHz bus speed instead of the default 800 MHz. With this setup, this computer would be capable of accepting any socket 775, two core or quad core CPU that has a default bus speed of 1067 MHz. This is only possible with the latest version 3.30 bios update. At this point I am quite happy about the performance of this computer.

Here are the part numbers: The Intel dual core Pentium CPU, Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E5400 2.7GHz 800MHz 2MB LGA775 CPU, Retail - BX80571E5400 and the memory modules: Super Talent D400 1GB/64X8 CL2.5 16CH Memory - D32PB1G25. These parts was purchased at ewiz.com.

Update May 29, 2010: I've found out even with the latest bios update, unfortunately this motherboard does not support booting from the USB. Even though in the bios there is an option to set booting from the USB. When I tried to boot my bootable jump drive, it only returns a prompt indicating "error" yet the drive works fine on my other computer. As far as I can tell, the latest bios does support booting from the USB, but yet it does not work no matter how I tried. I have some feeling that the problem lies with the hardware that does not support booting from the USB. Although not able to boot from USB is no hardship with this computer since it has a floppy drive. Otherwise everything works fine with this system.