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I have recently inherited one of my older brother's old PC's. He was a big time computer builder and overclocker [a former member here] and I have just recently begun to get the bug myself. The PC he gave me is over three years old however, he says it is still capable of doing almost anything I could ask of it. First, its specs:
Athlon XP-M*
1GB pc3200
GeForce 4 Ti 4200
60GB 7200rpm HD
DVD
CD-R
Antec TruPower 550 [24A on the 12v] My bro said you guys would need this
etc., etc. I think the above is all the major stuff
He also gave me a 17" 4:3 LCD native resolution is 1280x1024
The main area I'd be looking to upgrade is of course that video card, I have secondary concerns with the memory.
*Regarding this cpu. It is an XP-M it is a mobile Barton with 512kb L2 cache. My brother said he could run it as high as 2.65Ghz[205x13] on 1.95v for benchmarking. The cooler is a Thermalright SLK-800 with a Tornado 80mm fan. [Yes this sucker is pretty loud.] He also said that for everyday operating it could be run at 2.5Ghz[200x12.5] on 1.8v. My brother said that while this cpu is not going to match up against 2006's latest and greatest cpu's. He did think it should be enough cpu horsepower to play 2006's pc games.
So again I am coming back to the video card issue. Now my first thought was to just go out an get a 7800GS. However, I am unsure if my cpu and a 400Mhz FSB would be bottlenecking that card. The other issue I have is budget. It was great that he gave me this old rig of his because I certainly am not in financial position to build a decent system with LCD monitor from scratch. Anyway, I do have as much as $300 to spend upgrading it; hence the 7800GS question. Before he left though my brother wanted me to get your guys' expert opinion on whether or not the 7800GS would be the best route to go. Or if I should not maybe get something like a 6600GT and add another GB of ram? The system currently has 2 512 sticks of Kingston Hyper-X pc3200. The motherboard is a Epox 8K3A+. There are a total of 3 slots for memory i.e. there is a free slot. Which brings me to a question I have. Any problems using 2 512's with a 1GB? Its not a Dual-Channel motherboard.
So really I can either get a 7800GS if you think a Barton running at 2.5Ghz is enough to power it and play 2006 caliber games [mostly f.p.s.' like quake4,fear,serious sam2, ut2004 or maybe even UT2007 when its out?, bf2 though he says 1GB of ram is sub-optimal, etc] at 1280x1024. Or Should I get a 6600GT and another GB of ram?
Finally I have to add that the motherboard in this system does not play with with ATI cards. In 2005 my bro tried both a 9600xt and a x800 with no luck. He said there were always issues that he put down to the Epox's instability with ATI cards on the overclocked agp bus. So while a x850xt might seem like a decent fit for this system I am not going to be going the ATI route.
Thanks, GP
Athlon XP-M*
1GB pc3200
GeForce 4 Ti 4200
60GB 7200rpm HD
DVD
CD-R
Antec TruPower 550 [24A on the 12v] My bro said you guys would need this
etc., etc. I think the above is all the major stuff
He also gave me a 17" 4:3 LCD native resolution is 1280x1024
The main area I'd be looking to upgrade is of course that video card, I have secondary concerns with the memory.
*Regarding this cpu. It is an XP-M it is a mobile Barton with 512kb L2 cache. My brother said he could run it as high as 2.65Ghz[205x13] on 1.95v for benchmarking. The cooler is a Thermalright SLK-800 with a Tornado 80mm fan. [Yes this sucker is pretty loud.] He also said that for everyday operating it could be run at 2.5Ghz[200x12.5] on 1.8v. My brother said that while this cpu is not going to match up against 2006's latest and greatest cpu's. He did think it should be enough cpu horsepower to play 2006's pc games.
So again I am coming back to the video card issue. Now my first thought was to just go out an get a 7800GS. However, I am unsure if my cpu and a 400Mhz FSB would be bottlenecking that card. The other issue I have is budget. It was great that he gave me this old rig of his because I certainly am not in financial position to build a decent system with LCD monitor from scratch. Anyway, I do have as much as $300 to spend upgrading it; hence the 7800GS question. Before he left though my brother wanted me to get your guys' expert opinion on whether or not the 7800GS would be the best route to go. Or if I should not maybe get something like a 6600GT and add another GB of ram? The system currently has 2 512 sticks of Kingston Hyper-X pc3200. The motherboard is a Epox 8K3A+. There are a total of 3 slots for memory i.e. there is a free slot. Which brings me to a question I have. Any problems using 2 512's with a 1GB? Its not a Dual-Channel motherboard.
So really I can either get a 7800GS if you think a Barton running at 2.5Ghz is enough to power it and play 2006 caliber games [mostly f.p.s.' like quake4,fear,serious sam2, ut2004 or maybe even UT2007 when its out?, bf2 though he says 1GB of ram is sub-optimal, etc] at 1280x1024. Or Should I get a 6600GT and another GB of ram?
Finally I have to add that the motherboard in this system does not play with with ATI cards. In 2005 my bro tried both a 9600xt and a x800 with no luck. He said there were always issues that he put down to the Epox's instability with ATI cards on the overclocked agp bus. So while a x850xt might seem like a decent fit for this system I am not going to be going the ATI route.
Thanks, GP
