Yet Another Graphics Card post

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but seems the Socket A is rather limiting as it suports only AMD?

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And socket 478 is rather limiting as it only supports Intel (and possibly Cyrix, if they are still around?) :D

Intel = Celeron and Pentium (Socket 478)
AMD = Duron and Athlon (Socket A)

OK they make others, but those are what we are comparing here.

I would go for the Gigabyte deal. I have used their boards for some time with no problems. I must admit that I prefer their boards with dual BIOS and RAID array support, but that is for small business and professional type deployments. The documentation is pretty good as well.

OK, you can stick with the existing hard drive from a speed viewpoint.
Intel v's AMD.................I will use either.
AGP 8X is all you will need, as I said...............for the next machine........

Yes, do check the power, you should be looking for 350W on a machine of your age. With a newer box I would want 400W, but the old ones seem to be better made (damn shame that does not apply to me?) :D

nebulus200 suggested that you do some reading over at www.tomshardware.com and I must say I agree. I'm still suggesting AMD socket 939 as it has the longest upgrade curve and will give you the most bang for your buck. I'll also caution you against the refurb route if possible. Pricewatch (I linked it in my other post) is FULL of great bargains and I'm sure you'll find something there that fits your needs.

If you go the 939 Socket route, may I suggest the Asus A8N-E:
http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/sock...e/overview.htm

I bought the A8V-E a few months ago with the KT800 chipset and was mostly happy with it; however, this one has the Nvidia Nforce 4 chipset and would be what I would buy in a heartbeat...It also supports Pci-e and has built in SATA controllers that can support either straight SATA or in a RAID configuration. I wasn't happy with the builtin sound with that A8V-E and wound up buying a Creative Audigy 2 ZSGamer sound card to replace it (since I was having pauses when playing games with the KT800) to get around this; however, if I hadn't already bought the soundcard, I would be ordered the A8N-E as I type :)

If you go the AMD 64 route (which I recommend), I would recommend the 4000. It has come down in price about 250 US since I bought it, but the key is its the first chip (non-FX) that has a 1M L2 Cache and is currently selling for about 450 US, not a bad deal at all. You will also be able to run PC3200 DDR, which as far as memory goes, is relatively cheap. When I built my system, I used the Antec NEOPower 480 (http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=24480) as my power supply and am pretty happy with it. I rounded it out with the ATI X800 XT Pro graphics card because it had the right balance of graphics pipelines, memory/cpu speed, and price (still expensive though). Also agree with the previous poster, if you can afford a newer HD, its well worth it (I got a 10000 RPM SATA drive for my Windows partition and anything else I wanted to run fast)....


Last but not least, you have to do your homework. You have to decide how much you have to spend and what kind of performance you want. If you go the el cheapo route, you'll have a working computer that may not be adequate in a few months. If you go the uber expensive route, you'll have a machine that will last a while but will also break the bank. There is a happy balance in there somewhere and with the right reading, you'll find it...and get a PC that will last a while and not break the bank.

I would like to extend my thanks to everyone for opening my eyes and bringing back into the future. I was stuck in a time warp and now I am in the process of doing alot of research so that I get what I need and something that will last me a while. I have been reading tomshardware and various other sites to get me up to speed with the current technologies.

So far I have learned about memory, currently being DDR preferably dual chanel. FSB which was complete news to me, Serial ATA and the new PCIe technologies. I will have much more homerwork to do before I make my purchase but this is a great start. Many thanks.


Considering this computer was a gift, it has done me well but my interests and needs have changed.

If you're doing 3D rendering and any type of graphical work, ATI's FireGL cards should do the trick. They're workstation graphics cards. As far as gaming goes, they're not much of a gaming card :) but what games are you planning on runnin on this thing anyways? ATI will be comeing with their CrossFire cards soon, and they're currently talking it over with MOBO mfg to figure out an OEM deal. I think either Gigabyte or MSI have agreed to some deal but i'm not positive. Crossfire btw is their SLI version. All X800 and X850 cards are supposed to be compatible with it and the benefit is that you only need 1 crossfire card and one of their x800 or x850 cards (x800XL pciX - $299).

From what i've seen, spending some extra money on your MOBO and Processor now will save you more money down the road because they'll be more upgradeable...I.E. Value mobos and CPUs are not always the best idea. A socket 939 or socket 775 Mobo should be more in the lines of what you should be looking for. ABIT has some very reliable/stable MOBOs, and if you're planning on going with a socket 478 board, look into their IC-7G Mobo.

Consider going into MOBOs which allow a significant RAM upgrade because RAM is the cheapest/ most effective way to upgrade your computer. Doubling your RAM usually gives you a noticable performance increase.

If you're tight on cash, consider picking up a fully built machine which sometimes can cost less but doesn't give you the flexibility you want as far as upgrades go.

Good Luck

That mobo is pretty good, normally I'd say try for 800mhz fsb... But that would mean more money...

You get that, some more sticks of ram and a PSU like this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...544429&CatId=0

And your looking at spending no more then $250 on this upgrade... Not bad and i'm positive you'll be happy with the increase performance performance. I don't think you'll need a new vid card, but if you do then there are alot of good vid cards for under 200 bucks now, like the 9800 pro and nvidia 6600gt. I got the 6600gt and have been very happy with it. If I were you I would go with nvidia over ATI at this point, I'v heard some whacky things about ATI's drivers...

Everyone is saying look towards the future and buy PCIe etc... If you have the money I agree with them, but you say you do not so I say this is a cheaper alternative, it won't last you as long, but it will do you good for now...

All and all you should be happy with that board :D

The latest update:

I have been doing some reading, well ok alot of reading and have a prity clear what board im gona buy. Firstly I had made quite a mistake by looking at US dolars and not realizeing it, turns out tigerdirect.ca gives me the canadian prices, oh well live and learn. Ive been reading over at tomshardware, pricewatch and other sites as well.

First id like to mention I found a site that compared my video card with others on the Mark3D scores and ive been getting a score of 512 :| while others with the same card are getting 3000 so your right definately my card was not ment for my system.

For the socket I like to get a more upgradable one like 939 or the 755 as sugested but the budget dont fit. Socket 478 seems to fit my budget more and some of the Socket A amd boards, so I think this is what im gona buy.

Since with pcie it seems I would need to buy a new vid card, and more money, ill stick with the pci 2.x and agp 8x. The boards I am looking at have the new sata so this should alow me to get one of the faster hard drives when I decide to, ive decided the board I choose will have at least two sata connectors. Ive been looking at FSB of either 400MHz or 800MHz and RAM of either DDR 333 or 400, a few boards seem to have dual channel. Looking at either AMD XP Athelon or the Celeron D 2.8, I think this will give me a system that will suit my needs and my budget.

After calucations of Mobo/RAM/CPU it seems im looking at 280 CDN after taxes aprox. Ive saved so far 139 so I have a little ways to go. When I have the cash and make my final purchase Ill let everyone know how it all works. It has been educational.

P.S. anyone have a CPU with the Intel Hyperthreading and what do you think of this tech? Also is AMD'S 3D Now something worth considering in my final choice?

These are weary times for investing in video cards/ boards/sockets/CPU's.... the latest games will be making the jump to light speed in a few here.

I bought my final s-478 board and it is robust for the money. Abit IC7-G i875P Though I was a little disappointed in some minute things, (timings etc... that only a OC'er would care about. I had beef with the EE's on staff). This is a good board for a gamer, look where its chipset rates. http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/index.htm Chipset Intel 875P that's not in the value desktop market. It's halfway up the main list. Rule of thumb get dual-channel.

For the money here's a good little card. (like I said above this card will not play good for long, these are weary times) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102286

I greatly apreciate that link, untill now ive only been searching google for the chipset and reading about it individualy, but this gives me a chance to look at all chipsets and particulary what category the fall, thanks.

What types of games are you refering to? Fortunately I am not a hard core gamer, im an ocasional gamer. The types of games ive been playing are games like

ChessMaster 10th ED
Delta Force BHD Team Sabre
Sim City 4
Need For Speed
CSI
Myst Games.

I dont have any need for games like Doom3, Quake or FarCry.

CSI Miami runs rather slow out of the package but after a few tweaks in particulary game settings set low for everything solved the problem. Need For Speed UG 2 runs very slow on my computer but NFS UG 1 is just fine for my needs. I dont buy games often, because of my budget and because I do alot of other things that ocupy my time.

My main concern is that the system will run my current games without any choppyness, and any games I might buy. Also the 3D Modleing and rendering is very big for me right now as I am learning I might actualy have a hidden skill thats been waiting to be let out into the open.

I think the boards ive been looking at and the sugestions of others will suit my needs for at least a few years. Of cource I am still saveing.

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Originally posted here by sposes
I greatly apreciate that link, untill now ive only been searching google for the chipset and reading about it individualy, but this gives me a chance to look at all chipsets and particulary what category the fall, thanks.

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Anyone with basic computer knowledge and common sense should use these resources before shopping.

Processor Spec Finder
http://processorfinder.intel.com/scr....asp?CHRID=483

This is critical for finding a chips stepping. Most vendors don't post this info because they need to sell out the old first.

Example: Prescott

• C0
• D0
• E0

Of course you would want the E0 because they've worked a lot of the kinks out.

Intel® Pentium® 4 3EGHz E = Prescott

• E = Prescott
• C= Northwood
• =Celeron

( I don't buy Celeron, so you'll see it when the numbers are in the search field.)

I wait until every fiscal quarter to make my decisions. Intel drops prices every quarter or every three months. Let the cores mature and the prices drop, this is the smartest thing to do. Patience isv a virtue.

Ebay will have great deals on older chips. Email the seller and get them to give the laser cut code on the internal heat sink (IHS). So that you can verify it etc, etc... You can find CPUs there for cheap.