Let be serious, that $500 graphics card will not give you anything more than what you have now. Given your description, you have 1x AGP. These boards can process data at enormous rates. They use DDR SDRAM, 256bit internal buses and have intensive vector engines. They consume data like a V8 consumes gasoline. If your system can't deliver, they sit idle. So you need three things to make that card go as fast as it can: fast RAM, a fast FSB and a fast video bus. What you have has none of those things. Your system will only be as fast as the slowest major component, RAM, bus and CPU.

You should also know that that GF card may REQUIRE AGPPro/UltraAGP/4xAGP and may not work on your system. It's AGP v2.0 and may not be build to be backward compatible. Check this first.

The bits I got will cold boot Windows98 in 10 seconds flat. There is more to system speed than just video rendering. You need a "balanced" system more than a single good component. "Upgrades" have always been a myth. You simply wont be satisfied with upgrading a single component without balancing the rest of the system.

For you, you will need a good MB with 4xAGP ($150) and a good CPU ($200-$300). The RAM you have is fine, PC133 wont buy you much, maybe 10% tops. You will be shocked at the performance difference between what you have now and a 1Ghz Athlon system with the GeForce. Night and Day. With just the GeForce, you may not notice much difference at all. A faster CPU might help too but you need a whole new board once you hit 650Mhz anyways.

cdelena I hope this answers your question too. You require balance in a system design. The parts all must work together so any one dog in the CPU/RAM/BUS trinity will mean that the whole system will bog down. Ideally, you want the CPU/RAM and BUS to run at the same "effective" speed. That is they work together in a way that none have to wait for the others. A slow FSB means the CPU starves. Slow RAM means the bus idles and the CPU starves.

Cheers,

 

SO DID I!

After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that it was probably the best upgrade at this time. You sure picked out the right stuff. I just need to get the graphics card now since I don't think mb will work with the 1x agp card I have now.

That Athlon sure seems like a good value for the dollars spent.

 

AMD has done a remarkable job on the Athlon. The Pentium line is in a bit of flux right now. The P3 is at the end of its useful life. There isn't much further it can go. The P4 looks good but way expensive and I suspect it will be for some time. The nice thing about the Athlon is it has much room to grow yet. It's got a 200Mhz FSB but that can easily go to 400Mhz (The Althon FSB is the same as the Alpha FSB which is 400Mhz). It can probably go to 64bits too when the Iridium becomes more than a pipe dream. I suspect you will see a 64bit Athlon before a 64bit Intel chip, AMD's "A" team is probably working on it now. Meanwhile the Athlon can easily run at 2Ghz but that depends on manufacturing. AMD has a brand new fab for the Athlon, state of the art, and that's why they can so easily deliver fast chips at a good price. Intel's 0.18 micron lab has had problems getting yield hence the higher price.

The Athlon is a great platform and your new rig should carry you a few years before you feel the need for speed again.

 

Having a little problem over here.

I installed all the new stuff, started the system and went into the bios to set it up, everything ok for about 5 minutes and then the pc locked up(!!). I didn't even get a chance to save the bios to the cmos. I turned it off and cleared the cmos, tried to restart it and it won't turn the monitor on. No post beeps either. The fans come on so I know the board is getting power.

I removed everything but the videocard (Elsa Erazorx geforce 256 32mg) and tried again-nope. Reinstalled my old mb,everything works ok so I installed the standard vga driver just in case I had a conflict. Put the new stuff back on -no change.

I tried another video card ( 3d phophet geforce2 32mg)-no change.

A odd thing I noticed, with the power turned off I can hear a faint whine from the fans (eventhough they are not turning). Disconnect the fans and it goes away. Obvious voltage leak methinks. I think I have a bad mother...board.

I bought it at a computer show so hopefully they won't give me any crap about returning it.

hope your luck is better than mine.




[This message has been edited by Roceye (edited December 03, 2000).]

 

Yup that's what it sounds like. I was surprised you got your stuff so quickly. The ink on my order is barely dry! You bought from a reputable shop or from a guy selling them out of his trunk?

 

It seems I'm about to find out.


Carolina PC Express,inc
Charlotte, NC http://www.carolinapcexpress.com


I called them and they said to send it all back. I will have to pay the shipping which I'm not too thrilled about. Seems my purchase price keeps creeping up. They seemed pretty confident that I overheated it. Sorry, I don't think so. If they do try to tell me it was my fault I'm going sic Mastercard on them.

Doh, think positive grasshopper..

p.s. I believe the T-birds do have a heat problem, so a high quality heatsink and
fan(s)is a good investment.