advise ?

[sergiofar]

Hi I just recently built my computer, and would like some advise as far as making go as fast as possible without overcloking (as I do not know how and do not have a good understanding yet as to what overclocking really, that will be my next project, but for now here it is)

AMD XP 2500+ barton
ECS L7S7A2 mobo
2x 512 ddr 400 geil golden dragon
80 gb wd hard drive
160 gb wd hard drive
sony dvd burner dru510a
dvd rom
cdrw
promise ultra 100 tx2
CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP

I have a few questions:

1- someone told me I needed to update my bios, I checked and there is a newer version of it. If I do it will it improve my performance? I have looked into it and have asked how to do it (feel comfortable I can do it, although I been told that if i screw up it will fry my mobo? is this true?)

2- can I run my ram in "dual channel" with this motherboard, and if so how will it improve my performance (also, what slots do I need to put the ram in, if I can run it in dual mode? the manual does not specify, so I suspect that I cannot run in dual mode, but I am unusure)

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mousepad]

Here is your mobo. From what I see, it would make sence if it could run dual memory. It doesn't say it though, but I think it will.

 

[sergiofar]

how would i know in what slots the ram is supposed to go in?

 

[nvalhalla]

No I'm sure you can't run Dual Channel. If you could, there would likely be 2 RAM slots close together or colored differently and then the 3rd a liitle farther away. Plus dual channel is something they would brag about, so if it had it it would say. Also, you can mess up your MoBo if the BIOS update goes wring. Try and do it in windows if the MoBo supports it, or on a CD if you can. The last resort is on a floppy disk, but those are unreliable. I corrupted a BIOS on an ECS K7S5A once and had to order a new BIOS chip from EBay for 25 buck, and my comp was dead for 2 weeks till it arrived. So all is not lost if it goes wrong, but it is a pain in the butt.

 

[sergiofar]

Thx for the info nvalhalla, figured as much on both the dual and update, but needed confirmation, will probably leave well enough alone for now.