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upgrading my cpu and motherboard

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just seconding darko here; if you've never built a computer, you'll definately want someone around that has done it before. Its not terribly hard, but silly mistakes can cost you dearly (for instance, I think many of us here have made the classical mistake at least once mistake of putting your mb on the case, and turning it on, giving you a nice short circuit :) I know I pulled this stunt twice, and was just lucky nothing got killed.

Properly mounting the HSF and applying thermal grease is also one of those things where its nice to have someone explaining you what to do, and on many HD's or motherboards its STILL possible to reverse the IDE cable, resulting in a system that won't even power on. Silly mistakes, but if there is no one around to explain it to you, it can get frustrating.

BTW, that is one cool looking case you have there. Yes, you can keep it, and the PSU should be quite sufficient, there should be no need to upgrade it if its the 400W model. Even the 300W will probably work just fine. All you need is the MB, the RAM and the CPU (+cooler). And you *might* want a new harddisk, depending what you have now.

also, good to see you have an Audigy. The MB I suggested has about any feature you could wish, except firewire as I recall, but since your soundcard has one, its not a problem. It might not even be an issue at all, if you don't need firewire.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
 
What.... His P4 motherboard wont run his A64 3000+...He need a new motherboard that support AMD Athlon64 CPU...not a Intel Pentium4. I think you need help too!!!

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 
Listen..you ask so much questions that I dont advise you to build a computer alone. It took you almost 2 weeks just to get an idea about what to buy, I guess that your new computer will be outdated by the time you finish to assemble it.

First you need to know that AMD is AMD and Intel is Intel. You cannot put an Intel CPU in an AMD motherboard and vice versa! AMD64 3000+ is socket 754. So, your motherboard MUST be socket 754. If it it socket A, socket 462, socket478...it WONT fit in.

Check that, from newegg:
Specification
Model: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Operating Frequency: 2.0GHz
FSB: Integrated into Chip
Cache: L1/64K+64K; L2/512K
Voltage: 1.5V
Process: 0.13Micron
<b>Socket: Socket 754</b>
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNOW!, 3DNOW!+
Packaging: OEM(Processor Only)

Now you see that it is socket 754, so your mobo should support that..next
For the mobo, from newegg..
- Specifications -
AK86-L
<b>Supported CPU: Socket 754 AMD Athlon64 Processors</b>
Chipset: VIA K8T800 + VT8237
FSB: 800MHz
RAM: 3x DIMM support DDR400 Max 3GB
IDE: 2x ATA 133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2xPS2,1xCOM,1xLPT,8xUSB2.0(Rear 4),1xLAN,Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: Realtek 5.1-Channel AC97 Codec
Onboard LAN: Realtek Gigabit Ethernet
Onboard SATA/RAID: 2x Serial ATA 150, RAID 0/1
Form Factor: ATX

You see, supported cpu: socket 754 athlon 64. It fits. And ram...You can see it support DDR400. So your RAM should be DDR400. Again, from new egg:

Manufacturer: OCZ
<b>Speed: DDR400(PC3200)</b>
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2-3-3-6
Support Voltage: 2.6V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit
Special Features: Ultra Low Noise shielded PCB
Warranty: Lifetime
Easy? And you can see it has audio, lan and SATA/RAID onboard and USB 2.0. That good! next Form factor ATX...That what your case should support. Next, from your case...

Support Intel 3G CPU (Intel Approved) Pentium P4 ready chassis
Supports up to four 5.25" devices secured with rails, which slide in/out from the front
Supports up to two 3.5" devices secured with rails, which slide in/out from the front
Supports up to four internal 3.5 HDD with handle, secured with thumbscrews which slide in/out from the side
<b>Offers both ATX and Micro ATX motherboard compatibility
Includes seven I/O slots on rear panel, all ATX/BAT interchangeable</b>
Features special vent holes on door and side panel (tool-less) for better thermal performance
Includes 120mm fan at rear
Support 2.0 Version front USB, IEEE 1394 Firewire, audio, and phone jack
Tool-less removable/installation of M/B tray
Key Lock
5 different colors to choose from: Electric Yellow, Venom Green, Storm Blue, Blood Red, Arcane Purple


Easy...I think that if you cannot put some effort to do simple reasearch like this one, you should just buy a complete computer, because you're not likely to be able to put enough effort in order to assemble the whole thing.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 
My friend from icq told me to get corsair or kingston ram. But P4man told me to get this:

1 or 2x 512 MB Mushkin PC3500 Level2 or OCZ PC3500 Platinum L (~$90) each

I'm confused, I dunno what to buy.

I don't like searching, takes to long. I want my stuff now.

Nevermind I'll just buy what P4man said, too confusing

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Zemuron on 04/04/04 06:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
Corsair and kingston are generally good brands as well, however, I recommended other brands for the simple reason Anand had succesfully tested those specific DIMMs in combination with the motherboard you are going to buy. Chances are good Corsair or Kingston DIMMs will work just as well, but chances are *extremely* good the tested DIMMS I recommended will not cause you any headaches. Since there s basically no price difference, might as well play safe.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
 
I decided to buy this case instead because it's made of aluminum:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=541440&Tab=2&NoMapp=0

But it says:

Compatible Motherboards
ATX
Micro ATX
AT
Baby AT

That's the coolest case I found so far made of aluminium but it's not compatible with the mb PB Man told me to buy.

Can someone give me a sugggestion of a motherboard to buy that is compatible with this case?

Or I'm problebly going to have to choose another case, I dunno. I don't want this to take another week to decide.

And where in Canada can I buy the parts you told me?



<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Zemuron on 04/05/04 01:42 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
LOL, what makes you think the board I suggested would not fit in ? Of course it does, its a standard ATX board, it will work

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
 
Do you know a place in Canada where I can order at the same time the memory, cpu and MB you told me to buy?

I can't find a place where I can order them at the same time.


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Zemuron on 04/05/04 03:54 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
Nope can't help you with that, I live at the other side of the ocean.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
 
sales@greytech.com said: "Aopen does not sell the AK86 in Canada."

So what motherboard do you guys suggest me to buy?

Should I order the AK86 from the US? It's going to cost more and take longer for me to receive it.
 
I think newwegg ships to Canada (Don't they) I see www.atop.ca has the asus k8t800 I said earlier but It's more money and if you don't need the features why buy it.

If I glanced at a spilt box of tooth picks on the floor, could I tell you how many are in the pile. Not a chance, But then again I don't have to buy my underware at Kmart.
 
What will 64 bit do to games like farcry and Splinter Cell PT?

With my specs I have now the framerate in farcry was slowing down when I set the rezolution to max and everything else to max. Why was it sowing down? I have a 9700 pro and AA/AF set at the lowest setting for open GL and direct 3D. Is it because my motherboard has a 4Xbus?

My motherboard I have now only has 4X bus I think for my graphic card. What does it do when I use a 8X bus? With 8x bus should I be able to set rez to max and everything else set to max without lowering framerate?
 
Sure your current motherboard/cpu/ram is killing your framerates, but it isn't because of the 4X/8X AGP. There is very little difference between 4X/8X.

I think we did already mention that no system will play all games at full detail/ max resolution. Farcry is as demanding as it gets right now. While an A64 is going to be so much faster than than what you have now, don't expect to play farcry at max res/max detail. It ain't gonna happen. 1024x768x32 with medium and high settings is going to be about it for smooth gameplay. High/higher settings if you don't mind occasional lag from low fps drops. 1GB of ram also helps in farcry, helps eliminate some of the HDD swap and lag.

I think if you buy the mobo P4Man mentioned, you better follow his advice and buy memory known to work on that mobo.

Also, people have a point that it doesn't seem like you will have an easy time with this build. Pleases don't take offense, as everyone who builds systems has to start with a first build at sometime. But if you want to GAME right away and not troubleshoot your first build, I think buying a gaming rig might better suit you. Does <A HREF="http://www.falcon-nw.com/" target="_new">http://www.falcon-nw.com/</A> ship to Canada. They aren't cheap, but are known to make one of the fastest gaming rigs available at any given time. Too bad you have such a nice video card already. If you had a GF2MX, I'd say just buy a gaming rig. But if they ship you a computer with a slower card and you swap in your card, you'll kiss your support goodby.

Anyway, think about buying a gaming box if you want to game now and price isn't all that important. But At least you are asking ?'s here. Much better than from a cheasy online parts dealer. I'd hate to see what you might buy if you asked all these questions to a TigerDirect or such.

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt
 
What does 64 bit do to FarCry and Splinter Cell PT? What will I notice?

I'm having second thoughts now. Because I thought with the new comp I'm going to buy I could max AA/AF and rezolution, everything else very high and get high framerate, no drops.

I'm playing farcry at 1024x768x32, AA/AF to lowest settings in Direct 3d and open GL. AA set to low in graphic options in farcry. Everything else set to very high. I get drops in framerate outdoors, sometimes it's hard to kill ennemies. When I set the rezolution a little higher the framerate starts to drop alot.

In FarCry there's a option to set the amount of time corpse stay on the ground. It doesn't seem to work, my cpu maybe.

What will I notice in performance increase with the comp, I'm going to buy, not much right?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Zemuron on 04/06/04 00:26 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
What does 64 bit do to FarCry and Splinter Cell PT? What will I notice?
___________________________________________________________

Nothing, unless you happen to be running a 64 bit O/S. I don't think you will see 64 bit games for a year or so. If you want an A64 I would definitely wait for the new Nforce chipset. With the right video card you will have the fastest game rig currently available.

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!
 
I think paul made a resonable call on buying a complete system. If you have a friend who has put together a computer or 2 then no worries, so long as it's not an online friend.

If you buy a complete computer online it might save you some grief. Problem is you have a great sound card and video card so why pay for that stuff...?

I don't have all the answers on what is best for you but maybe that is the way to go.

If I glanced at a spilt box of tooth picks on the floor, could I tell you how many are in the pile. Not a chance, But then again I don't have to buy my underware at Kmart.
 
Re: Sure your current motherboard/cpu/ram is killing your framerates, but it isn't because of the 4X/8X AGP. There is very little difference between 4X/8X.

This is very true. But gamming is huge to this guy as a computer function anyway. He has a 9700pro in a dog of a computer now so he will benifit if he upgrades the video card later on to say a r420, 8 x agp would matter some what then.


If I glanced at a spilt box of tooth picks on the floor, could I tell you how many are in the pile. Not a chance, But then again I don't have to buy my underware at Kmart.
 
What do you mean "nothing" there's going to be a big difference, I just found out. Farcry is going to be releasing a 64 bit version soon. I signed up to get news about it.

Will I experiense the difference 64 bit does with a Nforce chipset?

When the 64 bit is going to be realesed will I also need a 64 bit OS to experiense the differense?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Zemuron on 04/06/04 01:36 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
When the 64 bit is going to be realesed will I also need a 64 bit OS to experiense the differense?
___________________________________________________________



Yup!

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!
 
Hey darko, what I meant was that running a R9700 Pro at 4X agp or 8X agp makes little difference. But upgrading His mobo/cpu/ram to a newer one would make a difference. If he were to build an A64 system, his speed increase wouldn't be because he can now use 8X AGP, but because he is replacing his real bottlenecks with much faster hardware. Even setting that system to AGp4X wouldn't hurt much performance at all.

Example:
I'm getting 15,6xx 3dmarks on a 4X Ti4200. I don't have an 8X Ti4200 that can score near that high. My speed came from high OC's and none of my 8X ones OC that high (320/640).

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt
 
But I see what your saying that r420 NV40 8X mode may very well offer more performance than in 4X mode.

And yes, I kow that I really didn't have to explain that again for you. It was more to explain my point again for Zemuron than you.



ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt
 
>Nothing, unless you happen to be running a 64 bit O/S. I

Indeed. And even then, not likely much until you have a 64 bit OS *and* a 64 bit game.

>don't think you will see 64 bit games for a year or so.

I disagree. There won't be a wide choice yet this year, but at least both 64 bit Far Cry and UT2004 are slated for this year, and should be ready the day 64 bit windows ships (also this year). OF course, every 32 bit game should work just fine under either a 32 bit or 64 bit OS.

>If you want an A64 I would definitely wait for the new
>Nforce chipset

Oh no please.. 😀 we sort of discussed that already.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =
 
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