Updating my Computer...

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 10:53

I am going to update my computer to atleast something better then it is now... I have $400 New Zealand dollers to spend and a mushy confuzzled brain, I have only just worked out what was inside my computer as my friend managed to find the wierd way my computer opens up after 1 hour of searching (take off the front panel then unscrew the side panel and slide off) anyway he told me i have loads of space for upgrades and my machine could very well support the very things that could build a Brilliant computer... but then i come to the huge wall that i might have to spend the same amount as i spent on this very computer

2000 bucks... ofcourse that is upgrading it to the best system money can buy, just saying that it is possible to bring her up to the speed of "modern life" rather then the "stone age" including space for another hard drive

but ill upgrade that next time i get alot of money

anyways... i have to restart again to tell you my system specs at the moment, but i have windows ME and a 32GB NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS Pro and around 128megs of RAM and also 2.52GB HD space (not so great i know but i been buying games like mad and my comp only has 18GB space on the hard drive) I did a benchmark test on the rolling demo and i came out extremely badly: Overall average framerate: 15.168 fps. i been reading other posts about cards and i think a card called GeForce4 Ti4200 or something along the lines of a GeForce4 And i would also like to Atleast double my pityful systems RAM

so anybody bother to read all that text without falling asleep on the keyboard and accedentally pressing "system erase" while in deep sleep?

I dont have very much experience with computers but i know the basics (or most of them atleast) Oh and i would upgrade my ME system to XP but its too expensive, its either graphic card or XP

Klupoctuous · Post by **Klupoctuous** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 11:52

If you have a 1.5Ghz CPU or higher (like a Pentium 3-4), stick with that and go with your upgrades. Go for the Hard Drive first, as i find XP to be real annoying with those damn pop-up messages. ME is good apart from those damn memory leaks.

I'm gonna be going for the same aproach as you are, but buying a new CPU (hopefully). Tis a ****** old P3 856Mhz

Nite

Unimaginative · Post by **Unimaginative** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 12:25

A GF4 Ti is probably your best option for gfx card upgrade. It isn't DX9, but for the cost they are extremely powerful. If you try, you should be able to get one for under 200NZD, hopefully 150 (Going by the price of such cards over here in England).

With the remainder, get yourself up to at least 256Mb ram, and a CPU upgrade (buy the best your current motherboard can support and is within your budget).

Don't upgrade to XP unless you can afford the above beforehand, as it won't increase your capacity to run X2 much, if at all, and would run extremely slowly in only 128Mb.

Buzzark · Post by **Buzzark** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 14:07

I'd need more system specs, like current CPU, motherboard, memory type/speed etc before I could give a full evaluation.

BUT, more memory IS needed for modern games and a GF4 4200Ti is a worthwhile upgrade from a GF2. Also consider a Radeon 95/9600 if budget allows.

Give some more system specs and we can probably help more.

Thursday · Post by **Thursday** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 15:13

i find XP to be real annoying with those damn pop-up messages.

If you mean the Messenger Pop Ups, those are easy enough to disable. Click Start - Run.
Type MSCONFIG and hit OK.
Click on the Services Tab
Uncheck Messenger.
Apply.
Close the window.

You'll probably be asked to restart. Do so. That should shut them off.

If you mean regular pop ups (i.e.: website ads), and are finding that you're getting a small mountain of them, then it maybe a downloaded Adware/Spyware issue, in which case download and run Ad Aware from www.download.com

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 17:03

Belongs in Tech Support, this...

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 22:40

ya ok, thanks for the feedback... but it looks like mixed thoughts, ill restart and get the full system specs for ya.

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 22:55

Here are my specs: AMD Athalon 1200 is my cpu i think, well thats what it says on startup, oh and i only have 32MB of RAM... Whoops... piiitttyyy meeeee!!!!

well, if thats it then an upgrade will be welcomed with open arms

it says it has 128M of memory... but i dunno So thats basicly my system specs.

I only think that all these wierd gobbledygoopy numbers have something to do with what ya guys need. i could be wrong....... i dunno my Ghz sorry

but i dont know if my comps as powerful as a pentium 3... as it doesnt have the pentium name signed to the computer.

Edit: Actually, the AMD Athalon 1200 might not be my cpu... but my motherboard... im confuzzled again! if theres a way i can check my cpu and speed in something like control panel... Guide me through it

*sits and watches*

Unimaginative · Post by **Unimaginative** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 23:23

When in windows, hold down the windows key (the one between the ctrl and alt keys) and press the break key (next to the scroll lock key, and above the page up key). On the general tab there it should tell you Your CPU and amount of memory. Does it say AMD Athlon or AMD Athlon XP? I'm suspecting it's a old Athlon Thunderbird.

If it is a Thunderbird, it's unlikely that your motherboard will run any of the modern processors currently on sale. So if you're going to upgrade that, you'd have to go the whole hog and get a new CPU, RAM and Motherboard. The total for just those three would probably blow your entire funds, but would still be hampered by your gfx card.

So, for now I'd restate the you'd be best off getting a GF4 Ti, but then save the remainder and wait till you've got enough money to upgrade your CPU, Motherboard and RAM together before buying anything else.

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Thu, 20. Nov 03, 23:47

it says:

AuthenticAMD
AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
128.0MB of RAM

hey i do have 128 RAM i woulda told you the tm bit before but i thought it was just a trade mark thing. thats basicly all it says

it also says its configured at optimal performance and has a few tid-bits you might make some use of:

File System: 32-bit
Vertual memory: 32-bit

i thought that might help.

Rob_0126 · Post by **Rob_0126** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 00:32

Also, make sure you get a 300+ watt power supply. The G3's and G4's on up suck major powerage.

I would recommend a 350, and 400 if you plan on upgrading to the latest and greatest.

Robert

Aro · Post by **Aro** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 01:25

Try looking in to windows 2000. As in which programs will still work with an upgrade, etc.

I upgraded from winME to win2k and some things did stop working/needed drivers. Havn't looked back. Best upgrade I've ever done.

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 02:19

I dont really feel the need for a new OS as windows ME is "Acceptable" for now. my computer is more in need of a new Hard Drive which is probebly what i will get Before i upgrade to XP. all that is needed At the moment as my OS isn't in urgent need of an upgrade, and i still have space on my Hard drive. all i need is a new graph card and RAM card, and by the looks of you guys, a new proccessor and CPU would be a good investment too. i got this "Hunka junka" 2+years ago, and the cards/proccesors/CPU/Motherboard was outdated Even then.

so looks like this computer will get the star treatment this xmas, plus my friend is a computer programmer so i get free installation

The_Abyss · Post by **The_Abyss** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 02:31

FuzzyLightning wrote:I dont really feel the need for a new OS as windows ME is "Acceptable" for now. my computer is more in need of a new Hard Drive which is probebly what i will get Before i upgrade to XP. all that is needed At the moment as my OS isn't in urgent need of an upgrade, and i still have space on my Hard drive. all i need is a new graph card and RAM card, and by the looks of you guys, a new proccessor and CPU would be a good investment too. i got this "Hunka junka" 2+years ago, and the cards/proccesors/CPU/Motherboard was outdated Even then.

so looks like this computer will get the star treatment this xmas, plus my friend is a computer programmer so i get free installation

Although Win ME may still be acceptable to some, I think it is now only passivelt supported by Microsoft. Also, several new game releases this year certainly do not support it and won't even run with it (CM4 was one) so this should probably be still fairly high up your list - should be nice and cheap for an OEM version if you're buying hardware at the same time.

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 03:52

OEM... What does that Stand for?

But all im saying is a new graphics card and RAM is higher on my list as ALOT of games still support ME, plus i got wormy protection

But, still, I will EVENTUALLY upgrade to XP in the interests of newer games, does anybody else here think they will release a better version of windows if we bide our time

Unimaginative · Post by **Unimaginative** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 08:05

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer. Bascially, you get two versions, the retail version which you'll find on the floor of a shop like pc-world, and the oem version, which is pretty much the same thing without fancy packaging but at a lower price.

The next version of windows isn't likely to be around before 2005, from what I've heard on the net.

Bear in mind what Rob_0126 says, if you buy a gf4ti and you get random reboots then you'll have to get a better power supply. Recommended are Antec and Emermax brand PSU's.

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 19:33

i dont think im at a disadvantage at the wattage im getting, as the computer runs fast and i havent ever had a power problem (apart from a few harmless power surges) and my computer is a pretty recent make, but i will take it up with my friend and try to figure out the watts im getting.

thankyou.

**Edit** oh and the 4-way im running to, has a 2400 watt capacity if that makes any difference, plus my printer and scanner is off so im only using two pluggers

Rob_0126 · Post by **Rob_0126** » Fri, 21. Nov 03, 22:58

I had to upgrade to WinXP, because of a hardware issue(of all things)

The mobo I had(asus nforce 1) did not like Win98.

Most of the newer games wont run on Win98, and I just had to bite the bullet.

Gladely though

, XP is pretty nice. After a few days, the new decktop theme got old, so I reverted back to classic, Win2000 style.

Now it's just like Win98, but more stable

EDIT: I picked up an OEM WinXP Home Edition, from my local tech, for round $100.

Robert

FuzzyLightning · Post by **FuzzyLightning** » Sat, 22. Nov 03, 07:14

yeah ty, i might have enough for an OEM if only i had an idea of where to get it in new zealand

But im focusing mainly on graphics and RAM boards as my computer is an annoying, slow... slug... *cough cough* a slug would have higher frame rates, i will consider buying XP if i have enough money left over, but untill i know i will, i want to buy a graphic and RAM card.

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Updating my Computer...

Updating my Computer...