Upgrades

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Molson

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Hey, I'm a very hard core gamer and I want to know what I should upgrade on my computer that would make it better to play games. Just some opinions would be nice. I bought this computer for $1700 (Canadian).



Computer

Motherboard
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4A, 2800 MHz (5.25 x 533)
Motherboard Name ASRock X533 (6 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 SDR DIMM, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8753E Apollo P4X266E
System Memory 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (04/10/03)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
Display
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT (256 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 XT
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (12321)
Multimedia
Audio Adapter VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller
Storage
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive ST3120022A (120 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Optical Drive 52X24X52 CD-RW (52x/24x/52x CD-RW)
Optical Drive LG DVD-ROM DRD8160B (16x/48x DVD-ROM)


I think my ram is PC266.. Does that suck? Can the mother board i currently have hold better ones? What the hell does RAM do anyways? LOL me nooB!

Thanks!
 
ram - the most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on; an integrated circuit memory chip allows information to be stored or accessed in any order and all storage locations are equally accessible.
 
Well the RAM sucks quite frankly:p :D I'd upgrade to DDR333 or DDR400.

The GFX card is decent though nothing super and you will likely need to upgrade it within a year:rolleyes:

That computer ain't nothing special really, especially with a VIA chipset.
 
okay thanks. ya it was a very affordable computer though. and will my mobo be able to have those ddr400s? and how much are they (cdn or us$)? thanks.
 
Well I think I can partly answer my own question, but someone will have to translate this a bit for me. My mobo manual says it can hold:

"2 slots for DDR: DIMM1 and DIMM2 (PC1600/PC2100) Max. 2 GB.
2 Slots for SDR: DIMM3 and DIMM4 (PC100/PC133) Max. 2 GB"

Does this mean that I can't get ddr400, or should i just buy a whole new mobo all together. If it's the latter, what top-of-the-line mobo can support a p4 2.8ghz, ddr400 and my geforce 5600?

Thanks again!
 
Molson said:
Well I think I can partly answer my own question, but someone will have to translate this a bit for me. My mobo manual says it can hold:

"2 slots for DDR: DIMM1 and DIMM2 (PC1600/PC2100) Max. 2 GB.
2 Slots for SDR: DIMM3 and DIMM4 (PC100/PC133) Max. 2 GB"

Does this mean that I can't get ddr400, or should i just buy a whole new mobo all together. If it's the latter, what top-of-the-line mobo can support a p4 2.8ghz, ddr400 and my geforce 5600?

Thanks again!

Nope doesn't sound like it....

Asus makes fabulous boards, Gigabyte too, and my Chaintech come with ALL the extras and is truly top notch;)
 
You cant mix DDR and SDR.Since you got only 2 slots aim big 1gb of ram seems to be the sweet spot for most gamer's.

Remember there are 2 differnt 2.8's out there 2.8ghz a 533 fsb and a 2.8ghz c 800 fsb.
 
Can you tell which I have here?

CPU Properties
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4A, 2800 MHz (5.25 x 533)
CPU Alias Northwood, A80532
CPU Stepping C1
Original Clock 2800 MHz
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache 8 KB
L2 Cache 512 KB (On-Die, ATC, Full-Speed)
 
well, then,Ii would have to say your's is worse, as there is no radeon by that name, nor is there a radeon with 512 mb of mem. the only thing believable in your comp is the cpu.

Molson, you have the P4 with 533 fsb. and if you decide to upgrade your motherboard, the make sure you get an nforce chipset, I made the mistake of getting a via chipset in my first custom comp, and now I wish I was more informed about it (can't overclock much)
 
Okay, well I tried my hardest to figure this out on my own but I don't have enough knowledge to do so. My decisions are to get a new mobo because I've found out that mine sucks, and some new ram.

1)So for the new mobo, should I purchase a nforce 2? I looked at this one site but it showed that the nforce only supported AMD processors when I have a p4 2.8 ghz 533 fsb. So is that true then? (I'm looking at this site here http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...details.asp?EdpNo=25208&Sku=A455-2032 E&Tab=2)
If that is true then what mobo should i get? I'm looking for the top mother board that can support my cpu. This one looks good (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=590089&Sku=A455-1028&Tab=2) it says it supports up to Intel Pentium 4 up to 3.20GHz @ 800MHz FSB, does that mean it will support my 2.8 ghz 533 fsb? If not then I would appreciate any more advice. There is a long list of mobos on that site if you wanted to find one that would be good for me.

2) For RAM. I have 1gb of 266 ddram. I hear this is not the shiet so I want to up that. Should i go for something such as:

Corsair Value Select 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz CL2
The Corsair 512MB DDR is a Double Data Rate SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM), designed for applications in which both performance and density are... For $125.99 CAD which is roughly $95 USD? Again this is the site I am looking at: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?page=2&CatId=1043



Ok so any opinions or suggestions on what I should get would be great. I'm looking for top of the line here! Thank you as always.
 
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