No matter what your financial situation is, it can be frustrating and expensive to try to keep up with the ever-increasing hardware requirements that are foisted upon us by software and emerging technology. To stay on the cutting edge or even stay current, you just about have to replace your computer (or at least most of its components) every year. Want to collect MP3 files? Better get a bigger hard drive. Want to run the latest and greatest version of an operating system or even a game? Better get more RAM and a faster processor. Frank and Bert are currently working on a series of articles that give you some ideas on how to upgrade your machine to bring it up to speed (without going broke) starting with an article this month on a step-by-step upgrade of a Pentium-based machine and one of the devices they use is an adapter lets you use a Socket 370 processor in a Slot 1 board. The adapter they use is from Soltek, but another company, Evergreen Technologies, has also been putting out processor upgrades using adapters for years.

The company's new Hardware Upgrade Bundles for Windows XP are intended to up the performance of early Pentium III, Pentium II and Celeron systems in preparation for the increased demands of Windows XP, but raising your processor power without replacing your motherboard is a pretty good way to save money whether or not you plan on running the OS. Evergreen's Performa III 1GHz, Performa 1GHz, and Spectra III 1GHz, are teamed up with 128Mb of SDRAM. The Performa III 1GHz will also be made available bundled with 256Mb of SDRAM as a special offer for users of Windows XP through Microsoft's website during the official launch period. Evergreen says the Performa III 1GHz provides the processing power of Intel's full Coppermine PIII core, including the latest MMX and SIMD video enhancement instructions (SSE) and 256K of L2 cache memory, for upgrading early Slot 1 Pentium III and Pentium II systems running at 100MHz front side bus speeds (350MHz and higher). The Performa 1GHz upgrade provides the processing power of the Intel Celeron II flip-chip processor (128K vs. 256K L2 cache) for upgrading the same 350 MHz and higher Slot 1 Pentium III and Pentium II machines. Based on the same Intel Celeron II flip-chip, Evergreen's new Spectra III 1GHz can be used in new system builds based on Socket 370 motherboard architecture or as an upgrade for any older Socket 370 Celeron system. Additional speed grades are available in each product line.

Pricing for Performa III (based on Coppermine PIII) bundles for early PIII and PII systems running at 350 MHz and above is $299 for the Performa III 1GHz + 256Mb SDRAM (available only to new users of Windows XP through Microsoft's Windows XP Special Offers area ), $299.99 for the Performa III 1GHz + 128Mb SDRAM, $239.99 for the Performa III 800MHz + 128Mb SDRAM, and $159.99 for the Performa III 700MHz + 128Mb SDRAM. Pricing for the Performa (based on Celeron II, 100MHz front side bus) bundles for early PIII and PII systems running at 350 MHz and higher is $199.99 for the Performa 1GHz + 128Mb SDRAM, $139.99 for the Performa 900MHz + 128Mb SDRAM, and $119.99 for the Performa 800MHz + 128Mb SDRAM. Pricing for the Performa (based on original Celeron at 66MHz front side bus) bundle for 233 MHz and higher speed PII systems, as well as Slot One-based Celeron systems is $109.99 for the Performa 766 MHz + 128Mb SDRAM. Pricing for the Spectra III (based on Celeron II, 100MHz front side bus) bundles for systems using Socket 370 architecture is $189.99 for the Spectra III 1GHz + 128Mb SDRAM and $139.99 for the Spectra III 900MHz + 128Mb SDRAM. Haven't seen any reviews yet, but if they work as intended, upgrades are a much a cheaper solution than buying a new motherboard, processor, RAM, and probably an AGP graphics card to upgrade your an system while you scrape up the cash to build your hotrod.