a couple of questions to help upgrade my comp

tsuntsun
edited April 2005 in Hardware
ok so my computer is pretty old and im going/wanting to upgrade some stuff so i can get ready for universityl.

right now my computer is
athlon xp 1700+
asus A7V600 mobo
256 ddr
gefore fx 5200
WD 40 gigs

ive been reading stuff on single channel and dual channel memory and i have a couple of questions.
first im not sure wht channel my mobo is .... and if its single channel does it mean that i can only get like max 333 out of it since my cpu only has 333 fsb, even tho my mobo supports 400????? so is there any reason for me to buy new like a new stick of 512 ddr 400 ram??
also i want to get a new graphics card ive been reading good stuff about the geforce 6600 gt? is it actually good ??
lastly is my computer even worth upgrading?? or is it doomed cuz its socket A and it sucks ? lol i really dont know wht im doing so plz help out haha :confused::confused::confused:

Comments

  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    I'll start:

    First off, for your ram problem, Dual Channel processing is really of no use on the AMD platform unless its an A64 if I'm not mistaken. The XP line really doesn't make any use of the dual channel option.

    Second, the speed of the memory will be rated at whatever the front side bus of the processor is multiplied by two. 200FSBx2=400 To achieve this you'll have to do some overclocking, which you may very well be able to do with that 1700+ you've got there.

    Depending on the games you play, that 6600GT is going to kick the ass of your current card, you'll notice a DRAMATIC increase in the quality of gaming. However, you'll notice it a lot more if you upgrade to at least 512 megs of RAM, I might even recommend a gig to cut down on loading times.

    If you decide to upgrade the graphics card, you're going to get it in an AGP format, which is slowly being phased out by PCI Express versions of the same card. So in the long run, you're loosing, but that's technology in a nutshell, and you'll be able to game happily for the next 2-3 years I'd imagine anyway with an AGP card inhand.

    So, in a nutshell, you may want to upgrade multiple items at once. Check out the deal depot, there's some awesome deals going on with NF7-S boards and 9800Pro cards, you'll save some money and have a quite capable gaming setup.
  • tsuntsun
    edited April 2005
    ahh ic ... thanks alot ... i just went out and got myself a stick of 512 ddr 400 (kingmax).

    now about that overclocking thing .. is it like real dangerous ?

    i know that my xp 1700+ has 333 FSB so that means i wont be using the full 400 on my stick of 512 right ? ... so by overclocking the fsb on my cpu i will be able to accomplish this right ?

    haha i seriously know nothing haha
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited April 2005
    No it isn't dangerous. What makes you think its dangerous?

    Just make sure your processor has decent cooling if you want to overclock it by 5% or more
  • tsuntsun
    edited April 2005
    hmmm hahaha this was funny ... i tried to overclock my cpu ... so i did it from the bios ... on its own it said 1467 hz or someting like that .. so i left that .. than i saw the external frequency option so i changed it to 400 ( i think that my fsb ) .. and than it i restarted my comp .. and it just kept on giving me a low beep so i took the battery thingy on my mobo out and changed it back to whtever it was before and came here....

    lol this is hard anyone help me out by telling me the steps ?

    also that 512 stick of ddr 400 make a big difference .. i feel like everything is somewhat faster .. however when i used pcmark04 to check the difference between my old 256 pc2100 ddr ram and my ddr 400 i got almost the same scores !

    256 pc2100 ddr ram - score 1643
    512 pc3200 ddr ram - score 1677

    confusion haha :confused: so yea how to overclock to fsb 400
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited April 2005
    You have to increase your CPU and RAM voltage anytime you overclock your CPU and change the FSB.

    Start by playing with the frequency divider first, see where you are stable at, then if you are daring, change the FSB and lower the divider so that the total frequency is what your CPU is rated at and then go up some more. Make sure you add a small amount of voltage anytime you increase speed. (No more than .75-.50 volts over stock, I think most boards step at .0125 volts)

    Another thing, make sure that if you are running your CPU at 333FSB, your ram needs to be at 333FSB to get the best speed. Running your CPU at 333FSB and RAM at 400FSB is actually slower than running both at 333FSB. Likewise, you can run both your CPU and RAM at 400FSB and it'll be faster.
  • tsuntsun
    edited April 2005
    well it finally worked .. but i only got to 1540 MHz haha ... my FSB is 140 MHz and my multiplier is 11

    and so its giving me 140*11 = 1540 MHz right ??

    i changed my mulitplier in my bios to 13 however when i run CPU-Z or wcpuid it only shows 11 which is the stock number... is this beucase i cant change it for my xp1700+ ?

    also whts the best best temperature to run the cpu at .. mine is at 54C right now.
  • tsuntsun
    edited April 2005
    hmm so yea i got it up to erm 146 system clock and still cant change the multiplier so its still at 11 (sigh)

    so now its 146*11 = 1606 MHz (a whole 200Mhz u dont know how proud i am of myslef right now lol)

    also im at cpu voltage 1.85v .. bios wont go anyhigher than that and my ramm is at 2.85 (i don know wht changing my dram voltage does but danball1976 said to change it so i am :p )

    also does this mean that my my cpu FSB is running at 146 so it will only run my new 512 ddr 400 at (146*2= 292) so basically my cpu wont use up all the 400 there is right ?

    thanks for ur help .. i got a tiny bit faster computer as of now .. until i learn how to keep going to 200 FSB making it possible to use my ddr 400 and learning how to change my mulitplier so that it doenst stay at 11
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited April 2005
    ypu need to unlock the chip to change the multiplyer

    http://www.vr-zone.com/guides/AMD/AthlonXPUnlock/
  • tsuntsun
    edited April 2005
    dang it ... lol so much work .. baaaaaaa

    btw just wanted to ask wht all this stuff from my bio means .. im getting the idea that there are like 4 names for 1 thing and im getting confused ..

    in my bios it says

    CPU Frequency Multiplier 11.0 X
    CPU External Frequency (MHz) 146/37
    Memory Frequency (MHz) 444

    so which one of em is my FSB .. isnt my FSB 146*2 = 292Mhz ???
    if so .. than wht is that 444 ???

    because in stock mode at 1467MHz i could change the ''Memory Frequency" it let me choose between 266 , 333 and 400 ... so i figured that was my FSB ?? but than i asked myslef whts the 146*2 ??

    also will my change from 1.75 to 1.85 v hurt all the other componets of my computer ?? cuz i dont wanna screw up all my other perfectly good stuff for 200mhz lol ( just need some courage to pull my cpu out and draw all over it)
    :bawling:
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited April 2005
    No, setting CPU voltage won't affect anything else as that voltage is only created for the CPU, all other components use 3.3v and 12v.

    Change the Memory Frequency to 333 (It'll be around 380 or so). You had your memory at 400, so the increase of 13MHz on your CPU increases your memory x2 or x3 around there. Anyway, there are people who know more about this than I do, so they'll chime in too.
  • tsuntsun
    edited April 2005
    does anyone have a chart or something telling you how far and how stable a xp1700 has gone with overclock ... i thought my 133 to 146 was stable .. but it wasnt .. it shut off when i was sleeping ... now im at 140 .. so 11*140 = only 1540Mhz ... ive been hearing ppl going all the way up to 200 .. ??????

    and also can someone tell me the difference bewtween

    CPU External Frequency (MHz) 146/37
    Memory Frequency (MHz) 444

    ???? which one is my FSB?
Sign In or Register to comment.