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New to PC upgrading....few questions
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bmxer4lyf
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19. December 2004 @ 06:43 |
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Hey, I have a Tagar AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 1.53 GHz, 224 MB of RAM. My questions are, first, I want to upgrade my memory(RAM) and Im looking at purchasing a 512MB stick from tigerdirect.ca but Im not sure if this kind of memory will be compatible with my system.
The one im looking at is 512MB DDR but how do i tell if I have DDR or SD Ram without opening the CPU?
Also, I want a new video card. And im looking at this
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1020528&sku=V261-3032
how will i tell if i have a PCI slot or the other? (or just how will I see if this video card is compatible with my computer) thanks for your response in advance and im sorry for the length of this document its just im a newbie at upgrading and need a few questions straightened out. Thanks alot.
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ddp
Moderator
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19. December 2004 @ 07:35 |
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i think you'll want to open computer to confirm visually what ram & pci slots you have. if sdram there would be 2 notches on ram & socket, if ddr ram will be 1 notch off center. in the pci slots you should see 1 notch but your new video card has 2 which if i am right is pci/e which won't work with pci so look at an agp slot version instead
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 07:39 |
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matty8887
Senior Member
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19. December 2004 @ 07:47 |
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Yes if your motherboard supports agp.
Do you know what motherboard you have got?
-Xbox v1.0, X-ecuter2 lite, EVO-X DASHBOARD,
-PS2 V4(gap), PS2 V5, duo2
-BARTON 3200+, wInDoWs XP(sp2),
asus A7V600-X,120GB |
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 07:48 |
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OMG...so nvm about that link i sent you. I didnt realise that there were so many differnt video cards out. lol like i said i am a newbie. so could you please suggest the best agp video card that is out? preferably a ATI or GeForce and 256MB for no more than $150 Canadian? I see ALOT of AGP's 256MB through www.tigerdirect.ca but cant seem to tell which is best
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 07:49 |
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lol sorry no i dont...do u know how i can tell?
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 07:55 |
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O and BTW...the reason I want a 256MB video card is mainly for gaming purposes. So I want a video card that will play any game
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Divinus
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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19. December 2004 @ 07:56 |
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Your board isn't going to have PCI/e so don't worry about that slot.
AGP is smaller and usually the very first bus slot (from the top) on your motherboard. PCI are always white buses and agp are most of the time brown on most motherboards. Albeit I've seen green, red, etc...
It would look like this...
AGP
PCI
PCi
PCI
PCI
Athlon 4200+ X2 @ 2.2 GHz | Asus A8N | 1x250GB SATA WD | 7900GTX | 512x2 Corsair PC3200 3-3-3-8 | NEC3500A 2.18 |
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. December 2004 @ 07:57
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 07:59 |
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ok so ur sayin i should go with an AGP?
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ddp
Moderator
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19. December 2004 @ 07:59 |
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what is model number on motherboard, either check in manual or on motherboard itself. also check in manual which should tell you what speed your agp(if have) is like 4x or 8x
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ddp
Moderator
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19. December 2004 @ 08:00 |
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yes
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matty8887
Senior Member
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19. December 2004 @ 08:02 |
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Having a 128/256 mb memory video card doesnt really effect the games. There is hardly any difference.
I would go for a radeon 9600xt as this will run most games out.
-Xbox v1.0, X-ecuter2 lite, EVO-X DASHBOARD,
-PS2 V4(gap), PS2 V5, duo2
-BARTON 3200+, wInDoWs XP(sp2),
asus A7V600-X,120GB
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Divinus
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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19. December 2004 @ 08:03 |
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Yeah, AGP is a faster bus than PCi and it's made for video cards (AGP= Accelerated Graphics Port).
The only thing is eventually you're going to want to upgrade that processor. I have a Radeon 9700 Pro (128MB) and when I had my old Thoroughbred 1800+, it really held back the 9700. For now though, changing your video card and upgrading ram will help you tremendously.
Athlon 4200+ X2 @ 2.2 GHz | Asus A8N | 1x250GB SATA WD | 7900GTX | 512x2 Corsair PC3200 3-3-3-8 | NEC3500A 2.18 |
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 08:18 |
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ddp
Moderator
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19. December 2004 @ 08:18 |
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pci is 33mhz, agp 1x is 66mhz, 2x 2x66, 4x 4x66 & 8x is 8x66mhz. i think you have onboard video as you are missing 32meg in your desription of your computer with 224meg as ram is 256meg
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. December 2004 @ 08:20
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bmxer4lyf
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19. December 2004 @ 08:22 |
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 08:25 |
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ok im probably just gunna go with the ATI RADEON 9600XT Lite ($215 Canadian)
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 08:28 |
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so i think im clear on the video card part... just now the RAM...
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 08:40 |
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ddp
Moderator
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19. December 2004 @ 08:56 |
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check to see what type of ram you using than start looking, not vice versa as can be disappointing
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bmxer4lyf
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19. December 2004 @ 10:46 |
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ok, I have a 256MB DDR stick of RAM pre-installed so im assuming that the link I posted will do just fine in my CPU...
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 10:52 |
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what do u guyz think is better...
AMD Athlon 64's OR Intel Pentium 4's?
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 10:52 |
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becuase, yes i will need a new processor
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 10:53 |
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lol u no what just forget those last two posts i made.
what is the BEST processor out on the market?
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bmxer4lyf
Member
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19. December 2004 @ 10:55 |
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im looking for a 3.2 or higher
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