Mini Temporary Upgrade.

[chu]

Ok I am planning to upgrade my pc. I only want to upgrade processor, ram, and video card.

Current Specs:

AMD 1.0ghz
Asus A7N266-C nForce 415-D mobo
256mb DDR SDRAM
Visiontek Geforce2 Ultra 64mb

Now in my mobo manual it says it can support Athlon XP 1.6ghz and higher.

What I want:

Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton"
512mb DDR SDRAM

I am confused witht he ram though. My mobo supports PC2100/PC1600 DDR SDRAM. At new egg I looked under SDRAM DIMM, but they didn't say if it was PC2100 or not. Could you recommend the type of memory I should get?

Though right now I am unsure what video card I want. I was thinking along the lines of a Radeon 9600 Pro but I am not sure. Any recommendations?

 

[Asus]

If this is a temp upgrade, when do you plan the final upgrade?
What are you aiming for then? When are you going to do the final upgrade?

Any current Athlon XP will be a good improvement in speed for you. I would get the cheapest, especially if you plan to upgrade more later...
1900+ is the highest you are going to beable to go.
It is 1.6ghz anything above that won't work, not to mention your board doesnt support any higher than 133mhz (266)FSB

PC 2100 (133/266mbz) DDR RAM is what you want.
If you have a stick of 256mb then buy another 256mb and you are set.

9600Pro is a good choice and it will last quite a while.

If you plan to upgrade half the system (CPU,RAM,Video Card) and the rest later (mobo etc) then this would work OK for you.
You really should upgrade all at once, I would wait til you can buy everything. Right now you are limited as to what you can buy (CPU/RAM) that will work with your current and new setup. If you are going to buy another CPU/RAM later also then nevermind.

 

[chu]

Well I was planning on getting a whole new system but I am tight for money right now. I have no job because right now the job market in my town sucks.

I just want a cheap and affordable upgrade so I can run newer games better.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Originally posted by chu
Well I was planning on getting a whole new system but I am tight for money right now. I have no job because right now the job market in my town sucks.

I just want a cheap and affordable upgrade so I can run newer games better.

I'd probably suggest hanging on and keep saving, if you buy a temp system now, then you'll have to wait twice as long to get a dream machine, but if you keep saving up then you'll get a good one quicker I reckon.

 

[Asus]

I agree with Fenric. HL2 and other games are not out just yet.
But if you must...
Then I would sugget a stick of Crucial 256MB PC2100 DDR, AMD Athlon XP 1900+ 266 FSB, Heatsink/Fan of your chioce (Socket A/370) and an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB Retail. That's 263$ without the heatsink/fan (which you need).

 

[chu]

Will I need a new power supply?

 

[crabcakes66]

your mobo does not support the 2500+ (it uses 333fsb....your mobo is 266)

you can either go with a 2600+ or a 2400+

I have a simliar mobo ..so trust me i know..you can check ASUS's website if you dont believe me........ i went with a 2600+ and am very happy with it.


you will also need to upgrade your BIOS also.

 

[chu]

how do you upgrade bios?

 

[crabcakes66]

go to asus website and read there faq.


thats what i did

 

[chu]

well their site seems not to work for me...

to reiterate, will I need a new power supply? I think mine is a 300w.

 

[crabcakes66]

im ok with a 300watt PSU

i only run 1 HDD and 1 CD drive though

2600+ oced
9700pro oced
1024 pc2100

as long as your psu is decent you will most likley be ok.....especially if your just running stuff at stock speed.

 

[SidewinderX]

300w is generally ok for computers, unless you're running more than 2 HDD, 4 sticks of RAM, a radeon video card, 18 fans, etc.

 

[chu]

Is this what I need to do for bios? here


Just to get a second opinion: Could my mobo handle Athlon XP 2400+ 266 FSB?

 

[chu]

bump

 

[crabcakes66]

Originally posted by chu
Is this what I need to do for bios? here


Just to get a second opinion: Could my mobo handle Athlon XP 2400+ 266 FSB?

yes on both.


http://www.asus.com/support/support.aspx

go to that page.......look for "cpu support of mobo" on the left linkbar

click on "query by mobo"

go to the dropdown menu and select "socketA"(the bottom option)


select your mobo model........it will list what your mobo supports and what bios version you need.

 

[chu]

They show a 2400+ (Model 8)(Thoroughbred) and a 2400+ (Model 10)(Thorton), whats what?

edit/

Crabby where are you!!!

 

[crabcakes66]

the thorton is a barton chip with half of its l2 cache disabled

what performance differance there is between TB and thorton i have no idea

edit: hope ive helped you some...gnight.

 

[chu]

well the processor isnt Barton, so I would want the Thoroughbred, right?

 

[crabcakes66]

yep

 

[chu]

thanks crabby

 

[chu]

oh un-f*cking-believable

Now when I try to "Add to Cart" I always get that "Page cannot be displayed" error. Stupid internet.

 

[chu]

woohoo after an hour of fighting the interweb, I ordered my parts.

I also baught myself a 52x32x52x CDRW, I am still using an old 8x4x32.

 

[reed87]

fast drive

 

[Faravid]

Originally posted by chu
well their site seems not to work for me...

to reiterate, will I need a new power supply? I think mine is a 300w.

I had ~240W power supply for Athlon XP 2200+, 512Mb DDR, GF4 Ti4200, 2 HDDs, combo CD burner/dvd, sound card, PCI slot fan and 10/100 LAN card.
And it worked fine.

Though now I have Antec TruePower 330W for the same set.