This manual suggests that the system does not support Coppermine processors. Oddly enough, it does list the Celeron 566 and 600, which use the Coppermine core.

RubDub2k wrote on 2025-03-16, 21:03:

On paper it seems like these upgrades should be fine, as I've heard windows 98 has a RAM limit of about 512MB, and the HP Brio has a socket 370.

Windows 98 can take up to 1 GiB of RAM before it becomes unstable. Of course, Rudolph Loew's PATCHMEM fixes that right up.

Prices for vintage parts go way up, especially online , best to ask a friend for a cpu, and if you have local Electronic Waste collector , try find parts there, finding online to order and ship stuff is a waste of time&$ , and you have to add at least a 0 at the end , at your current budget.

GemCookie wrote on 2025-03-17, 13:56:

This manual suggests that the system does not support Coppermine processors. Oddly enough, it does list the Celeron 566 and 600, which use the Coppermine core.

RubDub2k wrote on 2025-03-16, 21:03:

On paper it seems like these upgrades should be fine, as I've heard windows 98 has a RAM limit of about 512MB, and the HP Brio has a socket 370.

Windows 98 can take up to 1 GiB of RAM before it becomes unstable. Of course, Rudolph Loew's PATCHMEM fixes that right up.

Celeron 566 and 600 (up to I think 700) supported running on certain PPGA Celeron mainboards if the VRM went low enough (1.8v minimum). They changed the pinout to be incompatible starting with 100FSB chips. I have run 566, 633 and 700 Celerons on an PPGA only slotket and an Acorp 6VIA81P, as well as a BE6-II for BX and a Zida 6DLX (aka LX98-AT) for LX. The LX board would hang during boot with Coppermines however - Mendocinos were the highest supported, despite the BIOS being able to identify a Coppermine chip, surprisingly enough.

GemCookie wrote on 2025-03-17, 13:56:

This manual suggests that the system does not support Coppermine processors. Oddly enough, it does list the Celeron 566 and 600, which use the Coppermine core.

RubDub2k wrote on 2025-03-16, 21:03:

On paper it seems like these upgrades should be fine, as I've heard windows 98 has a RAM limit of about 512MB, and the HP Brio has a socket 370.

Windows 98 can take up to 1 GiB of RAM before it becomes unstable. Of course, Rudolph Loew's PATCHMEM fixes that right up.

Thanks GemCookie, I did order that 600 MHz Celeron... we'll see if that works in a week here. It was only $9 thankfully, so if it doesn't, it's not the end of the world.

Is there any reason I'd really be able to utilize or otherwise need more than 384 MB of RAM? Would there be really any noticeable difference? Thanks for the replies everyone

More RAM?

No difference in any games this machine will be able to run.

Also published minimum specs aren't everything. Q3A will definitely run on this machine, but it won't run well - that's a game that likes >1GHz CPUs. This is a 1999-era low-end office machine and can be tweaked a bit (the i810 integrated VGA has been replaced by that Radeon and you're getting a slightly faster CPU) but that won't change the basics of the machine. This will give you a very accurate experience of what a kid in late 2000 might have had when their parents bought a non-gaming computer and they tried to use their pocket money to get it at least to pretend it was a gaming system. Don't expect wonders, this will only feel fast when playing older (<=1998) games.

And it's unknown whether the mainboard will even take the 566 - far as I know, the entirety of ASUS MEW series (all types) are stuck with Mendocino - unless their VRM goes low enough to take Coppermines.

I'll report back if the 600 MHz Celeron works for anybody that finds any Brio 400's in the future.