hello and an upgrade question

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Matrix67
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat, 22. Nov 03, 23:10

hello and an upgrade question

Post by Matrix67 » Sat, 22. Nov 03, 23:31

First, i want to introduce myself to all of you 8) i've been reading the boards for well over 4 months, but haven't felt the need to post anything until now.

I'm getting ready to upgrade my computer in preparation for x2. Here are my specs:

Pentium 4 2.0 gghz
geforce 4 ti 4200
256 mb pc 2100 RAM.

So here are my questions. I have about 200 dollars (US) to spend on new hardware. I am thinking of either buying RAM or a new video card. I am thinking about grabbing a another 256 MB of pc 2100 ram, but I could also get more, faster ram. I don't know which way to go on that.

The other option would be to buy a new video card. I don't know how much better i could do than the ti 4200 that I already have.

So what do you think I should do?
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Faze
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x2

Post by Faze » Sat, 22. Nov 03, 23:35

Welcome.

Looking at your specs, I would say go for the memory.

The only way you would improve on the graphics front is a FX5900, FX5950 or Radeon 9800. Which I think would be over budget with mem.

HTH

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Unimaginative
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x3

Post by Unimaginative » Sun, 23. Nov 03, 04:50

Yep, seconded. The only worthy upgrade right now would be a Radeon 9800, and you're looking over $200 for one of those.

If I was in that situation, I'd get 512Mb of PC3200 RAM, and a nice Heatsink & Fan to go on the cpu, probably a Thermalright 947U and YS-Tech 92mm, and overclock the cpu as far as it'll go on reasonable voltages and heat production. Info on overclocking can be found at http://www.overclockers.com. Oh, and just so you don't forget, if you do get a new HSF, then buy some thermal paste, I'd recommend Arctic Ceramique, to use with it. The Arctic Ceramique is non-conductive, so for first timers it's pretty much as safe as using a thermal pad.
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pixel
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Post by pixel » Sun, 23. Nov 03, 16:22

ditto to the above.

But...

you don't need more than 512 mb of Ram in total, any more is unlikely to have any effect (based on the rolling demo benchmarks)

and...

you should make sure that your motherboard supports faster DDR ram. If it doesn't you might be able to buy the fastest ram anyway (it costs about the same) and you can set the clock speed in the BIOS (I think :wink: )

Also, maybe if you have onboard sound you could buy a seperate sound card - this would take some strain off your CPU.
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Unimaginative
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Post by Unimaginative » Sun, 23. Nov 03, 17:01

I meant as replacement to his current ram, rather than as an addition. If it was just additional, it'd be cheaper to get more PC2100, as buying anything faster would limit the new ram to the PC2100 speed.

Reason for replacing is that with PC3200 he'd be able to max out the fsb to the limit of his motherboard, increasing not just the CPU speed, but the entire bandwidth across the motherboard as well, which would improve performance alot more than jsut upping the CPU speed.

If the motherboard doesn't support ddr ram, or running ram in dual-channel mode, than maybe get a newer board as well.
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Matrix67
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Post by Matrix67 » Sun, 23. Nov 03, 20:35

The RAM I have now is DDR, so I know my motherboard can support it. Is there anyway to check what kind of motherboard I have without opening the case? is it in my BIOS?
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Unimaginative
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Post by Unimaginative » Sun, 23. Nov 03, 21:02

When you boot up, it should have a bios string in the bottom left hand corner. If you know the manufacturer, you can usually use that bios string to identify which product it is, and also which bios revision you're currently running on.
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