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which motherboard?
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Posted by: heyzeus
i know they are both crap, but i found the opportunity to upgrade my :
via p4pb400fl to a:
MSI PM8M3-V Via Socket 775 MicroATX
and get a slightly better cpu for not much money.
think its an actual upgrade?
thanks...
i'll be getting a celeron d 3.2 to replace my celeron 478pin 2.8 gig
all this for very little money because i am going to be able to give my current mobo and cpu to my kids, instead of finding them something used.
all said, is any of this an actual uprage?
heres the site i would buy from - the rason i consider it is because of all the extras.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...u=M452-2630%20C
Posted by: VmanBeBop
Any upgrade is good, but do you really want to go through all the trouble of reinstalling Windows just for 400MHz of Celeron power? You do know you have to reinstall Windows, right? However, the good thing about this motherboard is that you can upgrade to a full fleged Pentium 4 down the road and add a decent graphics card as well. However, the DDR memory might hold you back a bit since Intel is soon going to be upgrading from its DDR2 interface to DDR3. But its all up to what you do on the computer. If you plan to upgrade individual components later, this is an excellent purchase. Otherwise, its not really worth it.
Posted by: VmanBeBop
Forgot to add, it doesn't look like it comes with a hard drive. But if you were to use your old one, you could always upgrade to a SATA drive in the future.
Posted by: heyzeus
reinstall windows?
i didnt have to do that last time i bought a mobo+cpu.
i just plunked the old drive in the new puter and it ran fine.
yeah, if i dont do this particular upgrade i wont be upgrading anything at all this year. i was just wondering since this new mobo is so CHEAP what is wrong with it. i noticed it has only 2 pci slots compared to my 6, and no cnr slot. but i figured i could get around that since i only use one pci card and it has onboard lan.
i really got ripped when i bought my via board cause it says it supports 400 speed ram, which is an outright lie in my book. sure, it supports it...after it clocks it down to the 333 speed of the board.
also its a cel d...not sure but i think thats better..plus a larger cache and fsb. i'm just wondering if ill see any real difference.
overall, ill only be paying like $50 more...since i could now give my old puter away to my kids instead of buying them a used unit i was looking at.
Posted by: goranpaa
I agree with Vman. Getting a more powerful Celeron, is a pretty useless upgrade. Even if you swap motherboard. The best upgrade for the moment, if you aren't in for a total upgrade to PCI Express. Is to try to find a suitable P4 for your motherboard and maybe as said before, get a better videocard and maybe some faster or more RAM? Those DDR RAM, will lower the cost, if you decide to upgrade your rig to PCI E later on. As many PCI E motherboards use DDR PC 3200.
You will notice more improvement with a 2.8GHz or 3.0 P4, than getting that Celeron.
Posted by: VmanBeBop
Any time you switch out a motherboard, you should reinstall Windows. Even if it works fine, you might run across problems down the road. The only time you don't have to reinstall is if the motherboard is the exact same model as before.
Even though its a Celeron D, you won't notice much of a performance gain, especially with the same speed RAM and exact same hard drive. I'd only recommend buying this setup if you plan to upgrade the components such as the graphics card, CPU, RAM, and hard drive in the future. That's the only way you'll notice more speed.
And don't be discourage by not having upgraded your computer. I haven't upgraded my computer at all since I bought it two years ago (aside from my power supply, because it was overheating with all the hardware I was running). The reason for this is because my computer suits my needs. It runs the games I play well, it allows me to write programs while compiling them fast, and any word processing/e-mail is a breeze. If I only checked my e-mail, your current computer (the VIA board) would suit me fine.
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
Reinstalling is not necessary if you don't want to go through the trouble. Boot from the XP CD and choose the repair option if the upgade gives you trouble. I assume you have one as it doesn't sound like you have a brand name PC.
Posted by: heyzeus
yeah...actually i have a geforce 6600gt 8x agp overclocked right now, seems good enough for this years games. as for ram my computer is maxed out with pc2700. i 've got pc3200 in there and cant realize the full potential or overclock it correctly. i want to buy a p4 with ht and just throw it in mine, but again, my current mobo wont be able to utilize it much. i'm maxed out at a 400hmz fsb right now.
what i notice when i benchmark games, is the memory doesnt get fully used but the cpu gets stressed to near or at 100%
i dont really NEED to upgrade it. but i do need to get my kids a computer.
Posted by: goranpaa
Ok. It seems your resent mobo is quite limited. But as you do have a nice videocard and some 3200 RAM. This, I know is a nice motherboard for s.478. As I have used the same one myself before, under a couple of years. And with a P4 or Celeron, depending on your budget? It will work beautyfully.
Also have lots of overclocking options all from auto o.c. to manual settings inside BIOS.
ASUS P4P800SE Socket 478 Intel 865PE ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813131484
But make sure it will fit the case first?
Form Factor ATX
Dimensions 12.0" x 9.6"
Posted by: heyzeus
yeah...its the price of a cpu thats holding me back.
thats why i thought maybe the tigerdirect deal. only $150 for mobo+cpu case psu ram keyboard and mouse...
Posted by: goranpaa
Can you link me to that tiger direct deal? It would be interesting to see what they offer for that price?
On the other hand, If you get that ASUS mobo and a decent case. You can overclock that Celeron you got, if you feel the need? Celerons is quite overclock friendly and wont heat up much if you o.c. it to the speed you wanted.
Here is a decent case with a good PSU and some nice fans.
ASPIRE X-Dreamer ATXB3KLW-BK/420W Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX 420W power supply for AMD/Intel Power Supply - Retail $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16811144001
Posted by: heyzeus
sure - a link. its a very good deal i think
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...u=M452-2630%20C
my mobo is friendly to overclocking but my celeron never has been. it crashes in no time even with the careful stepping up . if i put the multiplier from 100 to 101 it doesnt last long. i havent messed with the cpu voltage though.
do you think i would notice a difference stepping down from my current dual channel 333mhz ram to single channel 400? i mean how much better is dual channel.
Posted by: goranpaa
That seems to be a pretty o.k. rig for that price.
MSI makes pretty good mobos for Intel CPU:s. The RAM is an unknown brand to me though.
Well, you have the double bandwith with dual channel. But it wont be any mayor difference.
Not as long as you dont do a memory benchmark test at least.
I have 2 PCI Express SLI rigs. The one in my sig and a socket 754 AMD 64 single channel. And I can't see much difference in day to day use.
Posted by: heyzeus
ack! my head is going to explode! the more i read about dual channel ram the less i know, i cant even figure out if i am using it now, and i cant find where i read the msi board doesnt have it.
how can you tell if its dual channel? is that when you have 2 banks per slot?
i would put in there the ram i am using now which is a kit 2x512 of corsair pc3200u
all the spare parts i have left over is what i'll build my kids a computer with (they wont care if the ram is generic :-) )
Posted by: VmanBeBop
You can tell if you have Dual Channel RAM if the RAM slots have a significant amount of space in between two sets. Like if you have four slots total, there will be two groups of two.
The mobo below has dual channel:
http://www.endpcnoise.com/e/images/items/p5p800.jpg
Whereas this one doesn't:
http://www.hardtecs4u.com/reviews/2001/a7v133/01.jpg
But don't let these pictures fool you. There are setups of Dual Channel RAM with three slots as well. There is one group of two, and another group of one.
Posted by: heyzeus
apparently im told my p4pb400 doesnt have it...
so, i'll just buy the barebones kit. my kids will thank me for it.
thanks!
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