Hi, let me start with my current pc specs Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.4 Intel Desktop Board D865GBF (2x)Samsung PC3200 (200MHZ) dual channels...not sure if its DDR or SDram power supply - ATX-350 230V? LG GSA 4163B DVD burner Liteon 52x cd burner Maxtor 80gb HDD ATA Seagate 120gb HDD SATA Seagate 200gb HDD SATA Sony floppy Linksys wireless PCI card Antec lightup chassis fan....disconnected due to lack of power plugs on the power supply and using the integrated video on the motherboard set to 64mb >.< Running on an 19" Samsung 930BF Ok, you guys are probably making fun of it in ur mind already. Before posting any suggestions, please put in consideration that im not a MAJOR PC gamer. I usually do most of my gaming on my TV consoles. Im planning to upgrade my pc in a slow 6 months process and not at once. So I want to know what is the most important things for my pc listed. Oh and I was offered the "POWERCOLOR RADEON 9250 256MB 128BIT PCI TV-OUT DVI-I VIDEO CARD " for 60 bucks CAN, is it gonna do my pc any good or is it a piece of junk? And one hardware questions about ram, is DDR faster or SD? DDR right? =i. Thanks in advance Things I'm considering to upgrade first. 1.512mb ram 2.Ati radeon 9800 pro
Hey Di3sel let me start you off with some info that I know. Im pretty sure ddr is faster im not quite sure about radeon due to I have nvr used any of there gpu's but I know radeon and Nvidia is pretty close together I would say to maybe upgrade the cpu if money allows maybe with like a 3.0 by intel upgrading the ram and cpu will give you the best bang for your buck in my opinon
if using pc3200 ram than is ddr 400. pcvillage in the toronto area sells the 9250 card for about $45-49Can. sdram top speed is 133 so ddr & above is a lot faster. also does your motherboard have an agp slot on it as good possibility it doesn't if using onboard video with intel.
Yes it does have an AGP slot, so you guys suggests thtat i should get more ram and then change the cpu?
No, put a video board in that AGP slot. And increase the RAM (you haven't said how much you have) to 512MB min, 1024MB better. Yes, PC3200 is DDR rated for 200MHz FSB. You don't really want to get a new Socket 478 CPU - that then becomes basically a new PC (big $$). 1024MB RAM (2x512MB) = ~$120 CDN Radeon 9600XT (256MB) = ~$120 CDN Intel® Pentium® 4 3.2E-GHz @ 800Mhz w/1Mb (Socket 478) = ~$270 CDN. Although, a 200FSB CPU would give your rig a nice kick :^) Your current P4 2.4GHz runs 133FSB (technically requires no more than PC2100DDR). The new CPU would be nice! but cost more than new Video + Memory put together. I would add 1GB RAM first; then set onboard Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 to 64MB / 256MB aperture. See if it helps onboard graphics ;^) Keep in mind: if you have only 256MB RAM now, your graphics is stealing 64MB leaving what, 192MB? Hell, WinXP needs that just to run, LoL. The 9600XT is a good deal, if req'd after memory upgrade. It plays FarCry etc. at 1024x768. Big improvement over onboard graphics. Hmmm... 9800 Pro is $200 bucks (with only 128MB). For you the 256MB 9600XT might be better, at very inexpensive price...? I think the P4 2400 is okay fine for most. Plenty powerful :^) But do the memory (PC3200) first, it'll be the #1 thing you could improve. It will REALLY help your rig with onboard graphics! Regards
sorry, forgot to post the amount of memory >.< its 2 sticks of 256 = 512. So first of all i should get another stick of 512mb memory and then get an AGP video card? how come you suggest that i should get hte radeon 9600XT 256mb instead of the 9800 pro? and are u talking aout the 9600XT made by ATI? thats it like 200 CDN aswell and its 128mb. CAn some1 give me a comparsion between these 3 cards? ATI All In Wonder Radeon 9600XT 128MB // ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB // ATI ALL-IN-WONDER X600 PRO 256MB thanks in advance.....and suggests some good cards around 200 CDN or lower. =D
I don't know what you're saying. A Radeon 9600XT (256MB) is $119. http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=1552 A Radeon 9800 Pro (128MB) is $199. http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=1196 The 9600, though getting somewhat 'long in the tooth', is a good buy for someone just like you... If you are running dual-channel RAM, you must remove your 2x256 and replace them with 2x512MB. You could add one 512MB but you would then run 1024MB in single channel. If you have 4 memory slots, you could add another 2x256 I s'pose, and then have 4x256MB still in dual-channel...? But most would use 2x512MB; 4x256MB might be flaky (unreliable, unstable at even SPD timings) and the four sticks should really be identical, which would be difficult. Here is a nice local Toronto website for you Di3sEL: http://www.pccanada.com/default.asp It may not be close to you, but you can check specification and pricing there :^) L8R
can some1 tell me whats the difference between dual channel and single channel? like how much faster or whatever its for
do you guys think that my power supply would be able to support 1 more 512 stick of ram and an AGP video card? thanks in advance
I think you might need to get a new power supply as the cards your mention require a molex connector from the power supply ..... some psu's come with 8 molex plus vaious other connectors, not only that if it's a generic psu it might start giving you strange problems if you demand more juice from it, so best to upgrade to a quality psu
