Processor, Vid Card, Hard Drive Questions

I've just been souping up my old computer to get another couple of years out of it and wondering whether its worth putting a little more into it. My specs are now as follows:

AMD Athlon(TM) XP 2100+
1.31 GHz, 1.25 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
2x's 80 GB Drive = 160 GB (internal)
An additional 160 GB (external)

I had tried to put and NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 in that I had here but it seems that the processor or something struggled with it because it made things like Flash run really choppy.

So, I'm thinking of upgrading the processor to an Intel Pentium IV and then perhaps looking at a better video card but wondering if that's just a stupid thing to do. I do a lot of photoshop, video editing and am creating a flash site and would love for it all to be a little snappyer. My Flash site loads much much faster and crisper on my husband's computer which has a Pentium IV which is what's making me consider it.

Also, I was wondring what the limiting factor is for the number of internal hard drive's you can mount. I now have my two internal drives with your help but there is more physical space for drives. There are no more plugs though on the wide grey cable and I'm not sure there are any more power plugs either, that's a bit hard to tell.

What do you think. Should I upgrade my processor?

O

 

Well, for just web surfing and stuff your computer should be ok like it is. You have an AMD motherboard, so to go to an Intell CPU, you would need pretty much be getting a new computer. I would just upgrade the CPU to an AMD 2500 XP if you can find one. I did a quick look at NewEgg, and it seems they no longer carry the socket A CPU's but I am sure you can find one for around $50 or so somewhere.

I am assuming your motherboard is compatible with with the faster CPU. Generally, you can have up to 4 IDE devices. I do not know if you have SATA or not. IDE devices are hard drives and CD/DVD drives generally. You can usually find a good deal on 320GB drives http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144392.

E

 

With the correct bios, I would imaging that you could probably run an XP3000. This would give a reasonable boost to performance.

In respect of graphics card, I would not bother with the GFX series but rather would advise going to a GF6 card and a 6800 series. The n/u version with 128mb of ram should be fine.

In respect of adding more IDE devices well you could buy an ATA addin card which should allow for another 2-4 devices. However, you could also consider getting bigger HDD and imaging your current drives. Though remember that your bios would need 48bit LBA to accept drive >137Gb.

For the XP and 6800 try ebay, excercise care but about £45/$90 for the vga and I would say £25/$50.

Good Luck

 

7Thanks for all of this. If I'm reading it all correctly this is what I interpret.

1. Assuming my motherboard/bios can support it, and upgrade to AMD 2500 or 3000 XP would be advisable.

2. Don't bother adding more IDE devices, just get a bigger one to replace one of the ones I have if I run out of room (Assuming my motherboard can support it.)

3. Graphics card would be better to go with GF 6 6800 as opposed to the GFX which I already have.

My motherboard is an Asus A7V333 Socket A Motherboard VIA KT333 Chipset, DDR SDRAM. The book says it supports Athlon XP processors with QuantiSpeed data processing, large data cashes, 3d enhancements and 266MHz bus speeds.

Does that support the above mentioned processors? I'm not sure where to find out if I have the correct bios.

O

 

Hi there Ophie

Before you think of larger hard drives look at this thread, particularly the BIOS comments by Adrynyline

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=119358

No time for more comments till later tonight

Studio T

 

If your mobo only supports 266fsb then the XP3000 is out as its a 333fsb. The best you are going to do is an XP2600 Thoroughbred.

I am pretty sure that you mobo supports 48bit LBA so HDD>137Gb will be supported but why not fire off an email to Asus support and ask them to confirm this. Also if using XP as an o/s you will need at SP1 for the o/s to detect the larger hard disk.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=99245

The bios version will be visible on the post page during boot. If you still cannot see it download the manual from the Asus site and it will tell you exactly where to look. The Asus site will also give you processor support associated with the bios you have. If you need to flash your bios in order for it to support an XP2600 and you have never flashed a bios before then have an overall rethink about what you want to do.

The 6800 n/u should work fine with the KT333 via chipset.

Before you do anything from a purchase point of view make sure that you have all the answers, especially from Asus.

Good Luck

 

Other geeks have clearly looked into the specifications for your kit and provided some sound advice so I will leave this side to them.

However there is also the general philosophy of upgrade to consider. It is instructive to review the query thread of another upgrader.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=118811

In particular going for a supercharged graphics card without the screen to display it is like buying a Porsche in a country with a general 60mph limit.

Studio T

 

Thanks for all this info. I think it may take me a bit to grasp it all but I did grasp that Everest is a useful tool which I might have posted up sooner!

Since I'm pretty good for space now that I've cleaned everything up and added the second hard drive, I won't worry about upgrading that. By the time I'm out of space, I'll be ready for a new computer I suspect.

As for the CPU, I will drop Asus an email before I buy anything. I am wondering whether the upgrade would be significant enough to make it worth spending the money and time on. Would I really notice that much of a difference with that small of an upgrade? I'll give it some though.

Thanks again,

Ophie

 

I have a 2500+ mobile that is unlocked and awaiting someone to buy it....

 

Well Video editing would be improved but at the end of the day it is all about trade off ie $130 upgrade versus buying a new pc.

If you want something that will run through photoshop then a Dell $400 special is certainly not going to be any better than your current set up.

I do photo editing with elements2 and on my newer build that prog certainly does move a lot faster but there are still delays.

Good Luck

 

I could prolly slap together something in the $300 range that would be okay... much better then what he has...

 

I am sure that you probably could...........

 

I'm a "she".

 

Yeah, that's just it. Unless I come across a great deal, I think I would just wait and invest it into the next computer which would not be $400 Dell special.

I use Photoshop CS2 and Bridge and Illustrator. Also use the Macromedia Suite and I want something that can run those FAST. I'll pick something with good gaming specs...that seems to do well by us. Plus, you never know when the next great MMORPG needs to be tried out...