upgrade advice

Laffertytig · 10-26-06, 05:27 PM

ive just checked and found that the ram is ddr400 which i the older type of ram. i assume i will have to get ddr2 or sdram instead

SUBMAN1 · 10-26-06, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laffertytig

ive just checked and found that the ram is ddr400 which i the older type of ram. i assume i will have to get ddr2 or sdram instead

Not neccesarily. Maybe if you are going Intel Core 2. DDR400 will work fine for an AMD 64 Dual Core CPU (Which can be had for a steal lately).

-S

scandium · 10-27-06, 01:59 AM

So essentially you have, after sorting out the extraneous gibberish that is completely irrelevant/redundant from a hardware upgrade perspective:

Athlon XP 2600+
Via KT400A motherboard
1 GB DDR RAM
ATI 9600 AGP w/ 256 MB (XT?)
onboard AC '97 sound
60 GB Hard Drive
CD/DVDRW drive

Not much to work with. You have almost the same system I last had and sold (minus 1 hard drive) to scratch build my current PC, which is also due for a new build.

The motherboard is for the obsolete Athlon XP CPUs so that's useless to you and a 9600, even an XT, is too underpowered to justify buying an AGP motherboard since PCIe is the present and future... AGP is in its final death throes. No idea what your power supply is, but I doubt its anything higher than a 350W so you can probably toss that aside too... ditto the HD when you can get 250 GBs now for next to nothing, though based on the usage you don't seem to need a lot of space so if you want to save a bit you can hold off on a new one & just use the 60... ditto the burner since a DVD burner's a burner, I'd hang onto that too. The 1 GB of RAM is useful since DDR1 is all the S939 Atlhlon 3800 uses anyway.

Thus my advice would be a new S939 mb, cpu, PCIe video card, and power supply for now... if money's tight you can get a board with onboard video (as long as its ATI or Nvidia) and an empty PCIe slot to use for now and then add a video card later. Rest is mandantory. No specific recommendations right now, that's just my first reaction and I haven't been hardware shopping lately as I'm trying to hold off on my own upgrade until January (best time of the year to buy: best prices, sales, selection).

kiwi_2005 · 10-27-06, 02:41 AM

I just couldn't stop laughing at your PC list which seem like 50 miles long.

I mean im sure we need to know your Directx components:rotfl: Oh well you always read "Please show us your PC specs"

Laffertytig certainly did that.

Anyway a good sys setup thats pretty affordable

AMD 3400
2 gigs ddr2 ram
7800GTX 256ram
160gig hdd
Alienware case (lookalike)
Price $1400
Throw on your windows OS, monitor/kb, mouse

The Avon Lady · 10-27-06, 02:49 AM

Hardware purchase moratorium here until Vista is out.

JSLTIGER · 10-27-06, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

Hardware purchase moratorium here until Vista is out.

Agreed...waiting for Core 2 Quad and DX10 graphics.

sonar732 · 10-27-06, 09:23 AM

I'm not planning on getting Vista for a couple years as this will allow both Microsoft and hardware manufacturers to get everything squarred away. MS has an incandid ability to have problems during the first year of a new OS release.

So, with that in mind, my suggestion is to get rid of your XP Home and upgrade to XP Pro. What are you planning on doing with the old computer? If you are going to keep it, network it with your new one. If not, wipe the OS from the hard drive and slave it as a data backup.

SUBMAN1 · 10-27-06, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSLTIGER

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

Hardware purchase moratorium here until Vista is out.

Agreed...waiting for Core 2 Quad and DX10 graphics.

Be sure to invest in an air conditioner and expect to tripple your power bill to run both machine and aircon. A decent system now days only draws in 150 Watts total power. Just a DX10 video card alone they are talking 250 watts, and I bet that quad core will be over 200 Watts as well. Add everything else in there and you will need 550 Watts to 600 Watt PSU running near its capacity just to power the damn thing.

Can we say 'Space Heater'? You won't be cold in your room during winter time, that is for sure. Expect highs in house in the 80's and 90's without even turning on the house heat.

-S

PS. The point? You're nuts if you plan to purchase these things! :p

I will pass this generation personally and wait for some better power management!!!

10-27-06, 01:59 AM	#3
scandium Ace of the Deep Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,098 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	So essentially you have, after sorting out the extraneous gibberish that is completely irrelevant/redundant from a hardware upgrade perspective: Athlon XP 2600+ Via KT400A motherboard 1 GB DDR RAM ATI 9600 AGP w/ 256 MB (XT?) onboard AC '97 sound 60 GB Hard Drive CD/DVDRW drive Not much to work with. You have almost the same system I last had and sold (minus 1 hard drive) to scratch build my current PC, which is also due for a new build. The motherboard is for the obsolete Athlon XP CPUs so that's useless to you and a 9600, even an XT, is too underpowered to justify buying an AGP motherboard since PCIe is the present and future... AGP is in its final death throes. No idea what your power supply is, but I doubt its anything higher than a 350W so you can probably toss that aside too... ditto the HD when you can get 250 GBs now for next to nothing, though based on the usage you don't seem to need a lot of space so if you want to save a bit you can hold off on a new one & just use the 60... ditto the burner since a DVD burner's a burner, I'd hang onto that too. The 1 GB of RAM is useful since DDR1 is all the S939 Atlhlon 3800 uses anyway. Thus my advice would be a new S939 mb, cpu, PCIe video card, and power supply for now... if money's tight you can get a board with onboard video (as long as its ATI or Nvidia) and an empty PCIe slot to use for now and then add a video card later. Rest is mandantory. No specific recommendations right now, that's just my first reaction and I haven't been hardware shopping lately as I'm trying to hold off on my own upgrade until January (best time of the year to buy: best prices, sales, selection). __________________ What can you do against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy? -- George Orwell

10-27-06, 02:41 AM	#4
kiwi_2005 Eternal Patrol Join Date: May 2004 Location: Aeoteroa Posts: 7,382 Downloads: 223 Uploads: 1	I just couldn't stop laughing at your PC list which seem like 50 miles long. I mean im sure we need to know your Directx components:rotfl: Oh well you always read "Please show us your PC specs" Laffertytig certainly did that. Anyway a good sys setup thats pretty affordable AMD 3400 2 gigs ddr2 ram 7800GTX 256ram 160gig hdd Alienware case (lookalike) Price $1400 Throw on your windows OS, monitor/kb, mouse __________________ RIP kiwi_2005 Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others. Last edited by kiwi_2005; 10-27-06 at 02:46 AM.

10-27-06, 02:49 AM	#5
The Avon Lady Über Mom Join Date: May 2005 Location: Jerusalem, Israel Posts: 6,147 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	Hardware purchase moratorium here until Vista is out. __________________ "Victory will come to us from the wombs of our women." - Houari Boumedienne, President of Algeria, Speech before the UN, 1974

10-26-06, 05:27 PM	#1
Laffertytig Grey Wolf Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 757 Downloads: 110 Uploads: 0	ive just checked and found that the ram is ddr400 which i the older type of ram. i assume i will have to get ddr2 or sdram instead

10-27-06, 09:23 AM	#7
sonar732 The Old Man Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Central MO Posts: 1,562 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	I'm not planning on getting Vista for a couple years as this will allow both Microsoft and hardware manufacturers to get everything squarred away. MS has an incandid ability to have problems during the first year of a new OS release. So, with that in mind, my suggestion is to get rid of your XP Home and upgrade to XP Pro. What are you planning on doing with the old computer? If you are going to keep it, network it with your new one. If not, wipe the OS from the hard drive and slave it as a data backup.