a few newbie hardware questions

HELLO MajorGeeks! im a bit of a newbie when it comes to computers and i have a few questions :
can my motherboard support ddr2 video cards?
can i also add pci video cards not only agp? because i know my motherboard has 3 pci expansion slots ... what else can i add in the pci slots? and i also dont understand whats an amr card... because i read this in the manual :
Because the installed AMR card will occupy the same external connecting
position with the PCI card installed in “PCI3” slot, you will not be able to
install any PCI card in “PCI3” slot if an AMR card has already been
installed in the AMR slot.


and also... how do i know what kind is my current cpu cooler... because i want to install a pentium4 3.0 ghz processor and i'l need a cooler and i dont know if my current one that cools a celeron 1.8 will be good enough...


heres my motherboards manual (mine is the p4i45GV version)
http://download.asrock.com/manual/P4i45GV R5.0.pdf

heres what everest had to say:
Field Value
Motherboard Properties
Motherboard ID 62-P300-001368-00101111-040201-INTEL$I45G300_P4I45GV BIOS P3.00
Motherboard Name ASRock P4i45GV

Front Side Bus Properties
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 100 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 400 MHz
Bandwidth 3200 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties
Bus Type DDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 267 MHz
Bandwidth 2133 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties
Bus Type Intel Hub Interface
Bus Width 8-bit
Real Clock 67 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 267 MHz
Bandwidth 267 MB/s

Motherboard Manufacturer
Company Name ASRock Inc.
Product Information http://www.asrock.com/product/index.htm
BIOS Download http://www.asrock.com/support/index_BIOS.htm

Field Value
North Bridge Properties
North Bridge Intel Brookdale-G i845GEV
Revision 03
Package Type 760 Pin FC-BGA
Package Size 3.75 cm x 3.75 cm
Core Voltage 1.5 V
In-Order Queue Depth 12

Memory Timings
CAS Latency (CL) 2.5T
RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD) 3T
RAS Precharge (tRP) 3T
RAS Active Time (tRAS) 7T

Error Correction
ECC Not Supported
ChipKill ECC Not Supported
RAID Not Supported
ECC Scrubbing Not Supported

Memory Slots
DRAM Slot #1 256 MB (DDR SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #2 512 MB (DDR SDRAM)

Integrated Graphics Controller
Graphics Controller Type Intel Extreme Graphics
Graphics Controller Status Enabled
Shared Memory Size 8 MB

Chipset Manufacturer
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm
Driver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/index.htm

Field Value
South Bridge Properties
South Bridge Intel 82801DB ICH4
Revision / Stepping 82 / B0
Package Type 421 Pin BGA
Package Size 3.1 cm x 3.1 cm
Core Voltage 1.5 V

AC'97 Audio Controller
Audio Controller Type Intel 82801DB(M) ICH4
Codec Name C-Media CMI9739A/9761
Codec ID 434D4983h
S/PDIF Output Not Supported

Chipset Manufacturer
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm
Driver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/index.htm

Field Value
CPU Properties
CPU Type Intel Celeron, 1800 MHz (18 x 100)
CPU Alias Northwood-128
CPU Stepping D1
Instruction Set x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2
Original Clock 1800 MHz
Min / Max CPU Multiplier 18x / 18x
Engineering Sample No
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache 8 KB
L2 Cache 128 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

CPU Physical Info
Package Type 478 Pin uPGA
Package Size 3.50 cm x 3.50 cm
Transistors 55 million
Process Technology 6M, 0.13 um, CMOS, Cu, Low-K
Die Size 131 mm2
Core Voltage 1.525 V
I/O Voltage 1.525 V
Typical Power 52.8 - 68.4 W (depending on clock speed)
Maximum Power 67 - 87 W (depending on clock speed)

CPU Manufacturer
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/browse/processor.htm

CPU Utilization
CPU #1 0 %





ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE MajorGeeks :major

 

Yes.

Yes, but AGP is the better choice. So, go with AGP for your primary video card. If you need an additional card for a multiple monitor setup, then you could add a PCI video card, although that may not be necessary since many cards nowadays will support two monitors.

Most likely, you'll never need that slot. So you could have 3 PCI cards installed. Here's a little info: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/46/2

Don't count on your current cooler being adequate for a pentium4 3.0 ghz processor. Take a look at coolers, i.e. heatsink/fan assemblies, and you should see the supported processors stated by the manufacturer.

 

WOW MAN thanks for all the detailed help...

and... i have 1 more question:
would my agp slot support practicly any agp video card that is ddr or ddr2?

 

usafveteran pretty much answered everything perfectly, but I'd like to add a few things:

As stated above, yes you can. Again, AGP is a MUCH better choice. NOTE- you CANNOT use PCIx (PCI Express) cards. They are completely different from PCI cards and won't fit in the same slot.

The AMR slot is for a modem. Many motherboards made about 3-5 years ago had these small slots for modem 'risers' as they were called. Why did they feel the need to create a seperate small slot for these mini modem risers? Who knows. But that's what it's for.

This CPU is much too weak for any except the older games. Anything that has been released in that past 2-3 years will have a hard time playing on this CPU. Upgrade to a Pentium 4 socket 478 CPU if possible. The price on these has come down and you can get a 3.0ghz for around $50. You'll probably need to get a new heat sink and fan for the faster chip.

Yes. Be sure your power supply is good and strong. Many of the higher end AGP cards have minimum power supply requirements of 350w or higher. Personally, I think anything under a 430w is too weak for anything but the low end cards or on boards video.

 

One caveat on the video card. Pages 8 and 9 of http://download.asrock.com/manual/P4i45GV R5.0.pdf contain a list of compatible video cards. Page 6 contains this caution: "The AGI [ASRock Graphics Interface] slot is a special design that only
supports compatible AGP VGA cards. For the information of the compatible
AGP VGA cards, please refer to the “Supported AGP VGA Cards List” on
page 8."

I believe this is unusual but I have to take it at face value and assume you should heed the statement of caution there. Since that list would include video cards on the market at that time, I have to wonder whether some newer cards may be compatible. But, I would want to get confirmation from ASRock before taking a chance on buying a card with a newer graphics chip that's not listed in that manual. Sorry, but I don't know whether it's possible to contact ASRock and expect a reply on an out-of-warranty product.

 

i found the new support list all i needed to do is take the index.htm part of the support link and i ended up in asrock.com/support and i clicked agp/vga cards and i found my motherboard right there the list of supported cards is quite big i think i should have no problem now THANKS A LOT
oh and i wanted to ask... whats a heat sink?

and... what does DH mean? i mean i found some good agp cards and all... and then i saw a few at my local vendor that said like Matrox P650 DDR 64mb,DH,AGP

and those cost like... double ... what are those things?

 

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink

My guess is DH means Dual Head. Matrox specializes in video cards for multiple monitors; they have single cards that will support 3 or even 4 monitors. Unless you really need them, I would avoid them, since they are more costly, as you've noticed.

Beside, if you're thinking about possibly using two monitors, many video cards with nVidia and ATI graphics chips will support two monitors. If you want such a card, it must have two ports/connectors for monitors; this will either two VGA ports, one VGA and one DVI ports, or two DVI ports; one VGA and one DVI port is what you're most likely to find. And, make sure the type ports on the card match the type ports your monitor requires. Note that a DVI port can often be used with a VGA monitor by using a DVI-to-VGA adapter. Some monitors can connect to either VGA or DVI, without using any adapter.

 

wow THANKS AGAIN
... but somehow... the newbish questions just keep coming and coming because right now i have my list of supported cards ... and i know that many cards are "unknown" the only ones to be known that are not supported are listed in the end of the list... heres the list:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/vga.asp?Model=P4i45GV R5.0

and now ... um... this may be a big thing to ask... but could someone point out a few nice agp cards that are (or just might) be compatible with my motherboard, that have :
Video HW Transform & Lighting

and also pixel shader and vertex shader 2.0 or newer would really be nice
and atleast 128mb

thx :major:major:major

 

I looked thru the list... those are all pretty old cards, and most of 'em are fairly low end by todays standards. But, here's my recommendations in order of preference, with #1 being the best (of course )
1. Geforce 6800 (by LeadTek- this is actually a really great AGP card; even these days. 256bit, 16pipes in the 6800gt)
2. Radeon 9800/9700 (also a pretty good card at 256bit)
3. Geforce 6600 (try to get a GT model)
4. Any Geforce FX card; the higher the number, the better. The 5900 Ultra is the best FX on your list (I had a 5700 256mb and I loved it!)
5. Any Radeon 9000 series that isn't the 9800; again, the higher numbers are better.
6. Any Geforce 4 (listed as Gf4 in your list)
If you can find the GeForce6800, JUMP ON IT PRONTO!!! It really is a great AGP card, but really hard to find. There are other brands available on EBay, and they usually sell for $80-$100 for a used one...

 

1.Hm i really could'nt find one..... BUT i found a fx6800 one and its also at a nice price... what do you think are the chances that my motherboard could run that?
And i also found a couple that are made by galaxy
2.Could'nt find :/
3.found one only by expertvision instead of albatron or gigabyte
4.i found a few 5700 but made by different companies than the supported asus and gigabyte. At first i glanced at the fx5500... but after reading this review that was done with these rather old games ... and the card barely breaks more fps than my current integrated 64mb extreme graphics card i changed my mind:
http://guru3d.com/article/content/124/2/

5.nothing good :/

any suggestions? should i dig through e-bay? (i live in Lithuania though... i'm afraid of like a 40$ shipping cost ) or maybe i should try buying a card that i am not completely sure if it's supported



any suggestions?