Bottleneck on system?

[rustang351c]

Hello,
I'm new to this. I'm trying to update my gaming system. It's a couple of year old. Here's what I have:
Asus P4PE-X: socket478 Intel845PE DDRAM AGP4x 2.6Gig 800FSB ATA100
2 strips of 512mb PC3200 "35416581 w24159" Infineon "HYB250256809CE-5" 0502 9EE12180 (I note all this because I had trouble adding memory that wouldn't make it crash)
Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT 128mb 6681 driver
Soundblaster Live!
Samsung 710N LCD

Does having a AGP8x card plugged into a 4x slot limit performance? Do I need to upgrade motherboards. Can you get one that accepts my older chipset that has AGP8x? or, can I use all this stuff on a AMD Athlon 64 board & chip. Thanks for any info / help.

 

[o1die]

You can usually find a newegg refurb board with the Intel 865pe chipset for about $40-60. I would try overclocking your 2.6c by 25% (250 fsb). The abit is7 is highly recommended for p4 socket 478. The rest of your setup is very good, and you can use it with the new board.

 

[endyen]

Strange.
The 854pe chipset is actually designed for a 533 fsb, Asus OCs it to allow 800 mhz fsb. It is single channel.
The chipset came out after AGP 8X was released, but doesn't support it. You bought an agp card, after pci-express was released. I'm seeing a trend here. You only buy slightly outdated tech.
Staying with that theme, you could get an Abit NF8 <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-190&depa=0" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-190&depa=0</A> and an A64- 3400 <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-484&depa=0" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-484&depa=0</A>
It could use your ram, graphics card etc. and give a nice boost for just over $300.

 

[rustang351c]

Awesome! Thanks for the replies.
Yeah, the Pc is about 2 years old. I specificly asked for a 800fsb because I thought it'd be a help...Guess they just upgraded the soup de jour. (Mall Builder) I bought the AGP 8x card recently. My motherboard didn't have a PCI slot. Should have upgraded motherboard first. Does a PCI card run better than a AGP 8x? I may still be able to swap it.
I didn't realize you could get a slower AMD 64bit for $200+/-. One thing I left out of my first post was the power supply. It's a 250watt that I imagen came in the case. (plain white & boring) Do you need the brand & specs? Would you recommend a new case/power supply combo? I have a fan on my chip now & one in back of power supply. Does the AMD chip come with a fan? Do I need more than just the one in the power supply? The 2x ATA on the new board means it'll accept 2 hard drives right?
I have really only swapped cards & software. I have never done anything like disassemble the whole PC. My co-worker said when he swapped motherboards he didn't have to re-install windows or anything, just plugged it all up, installed motherboard driver and was good to go. Is it that easy? No setting up the Bios n stuff?
Thanks again for the help. This is exciting!


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Rustang351c on 04/20/05 09:40 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Flinx]

250 Watt PSU is way to little. Around 400W of generic for todays average systems.

The loving are the daring!

 

[endyen]

First off, Pci-express is not Pci. A Pci graphics card is not so good.
Pci-express is the new format for graphics cards. A Pci-express card wont fit in your mobo.
The Pci-express does not work any better than Agp does, except for some 2 way functions, esp TV-in.
2X ATA will support up to 4 optical drives, and or hard drives.
The A64 chips come with a very good heatsink fan (in the retail version, not oem)
Better ventilation is always a good idea. Amd has recommended a psu with a dual fan setup, for a long time.
Going from one chipset to another, it is advisable to do a clean OS install. You can do a repair install, or you may get lucky by uninstalling all mobo drivers, before you shut down the old board, for the last time.
Anyone who sets up a new rig, without going into bios, is loosing a fair bit of options/ performance.

 

[rustang351c]

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811162027#DetailSpecs

...so if it says 3 fans, 2 will be in psu? Would this case work?

Will the MO booklet be enough info to learn how to setup the Bios? If not, where should I look /or what should I pick up to learn? So just use the XP sp2 disc to do a repair system. My CD-rom driver will stil be there? Have had a situition in past (Win9X) where I wound up with no CD rom driver install. I was stuck.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Rustang351c on 04/21/05 03:46 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[endyen]

Case fans dont usually include psu fans. I dont know about that case or psu. The case seems to have good ventilation.
The best way to learn about bios setup is to try it out. You should learn how to reset first. Reading the manual does help.
Windows cds have been bootable since 98SE. Your mobo has to support it. All new mobos do.
Doing a clean OS install is always best (it gets rid of a lot of crap, esp xp) but doing a repair install will work, usually. Note if you are changing graphics chip maker, Ati > nvdia or vice versa, driver cleaner, available free @ driver heaven is minimal requirement. A clean OS install is best.