Opinions on Upgrading

[darkrats]

Currently:
P4 2.8 with 512MB RAM and 185watt PS
Nvidia GeForce MX 440 PCI with 64MB RAM

Going for:
ATI Radeon 9250 PCI with 256MB RAM

Given it's a PCI slot, will I notice a big difference playing games?
Would it help if I increase system RAM to 1GB?
Any issues with power or heating? Thanks.

darkrats

 

[NightSky 421]

Currently:
P4 2.8 with 512MB RAM and 185watt PS
Nvidia GeForce MX 440 PCI with 64MB RAM

Going for:
ATI Radeon 9250 PCI with 256MB RAM

Given it's a PCI slot, will I notice a big difference playing games?
Would it help if I increase system RAM to 1GB?
Any issues with power or heating? Thanks.

darkrats

I shouldn't think that getting a 9250 should cause any power problems if the
MX440 works well, but that's a marginal upgrade especially considering it is
going to be a PCI card. You will gain DirectX 8 support, but I wouldn't
want to be stuck with a PCI video card playing games these days.

If you wanted to go the budget route, I'd look at buying an inexpensive
motherboard that supports your processor and RAM, and make sure it has an
AGP slot. If what you have is a Socket 478 Pentium 4, you should be able to
get a decent brand-name motherboard cheap since they are considered to be
last-gen stuff. Of course, you'll need to look at upgrading your power
supply too.

I hate to say it, but you're simply not going to get a decent gaming
experience with a PCI video card unless you're playing Scrabble or something
like that. And I wouldn't sink a dime into getting more memory without a
change of motherboard.

I'd recommend getting a motherboard with PCI-E support, but it depends on
what Socket your CPU is.

 

[Augustus]

Currently:
P4 2.8 with 512MB RAM and 185watt PS
Nvidia GeForce MX 440 PCI with 64MB RAM

Going for:
ATI Radeon 9250 PCI with 256MB RAM

Given it's a PCI slot, will I notice a big difference playing games?
Would it help if I increase system RAM to 1GB?
Any issues with power or heating? Thanks.

That's a bad choice given the options available. The 9250 PCI card is DX8.1
only, and is typically a 240Mhz core with really poor quality 190 or 200Mhz
memory. The core does not overclock well at all, and the memory is even
worse. You won't be noticing much speed difference from your MX440. The
256Mb of video memory is immaterial in terms of speed.
You can pick up a 5700LE PCI card, which is a true DX9 one, that is a far
better choice. It's core is 250Mhz, but is easily pushed to 310-325Mhz. The
memory, rated at 200Mhz, is also better than on the ATI card and I've seen
it pushed to 270+ without artifacting. Also has way more FSAA/AF options.
I'm not a big Nvidia fan, but when it comes to PCI solutions they're much
better.

 

[darkrats]

Thanks for both replies.
I'll go back and take a look at the other choices.

Not ready to rebuild my whole system,
but starting to come across some games that just won't play.

 

[Ken Marsh]

Hi,

#I'd recommend getting a motherboard with PCI-E support, but it depends on
#what Socket your CPU is.

There is ONE MB available now for PCI-E with Socket 478:

Albatron PX915P4C Pro Socket 478 Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard

Currently $99 bucks at Newegg.com. Takes 4 DDR400's as well, not DDR2. A
LOT of people with high-end Socket 478's are going to be very happy to
find this motherboard (assuming it works OK).

Ken.

 

[NightSky 421]

Hi,


Howdy...


There is ONE MB available now for PCI-E with Socket 478:

Albatron PX915P4C Pro Socket 478 Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard

Currently $99 bucks at Newegg.com. Takes 4 DDR400's as well, not DDR2. A
LOT of people with high-end Socket 478's are going to be very happy to
find this motherboard (assuming it works OK).

Personally, I'm going to "stay on the sinking ship" as it were and just
build a whole new computer from the ground up next year since PC technology
has changed a fair bit since my last major build. My video card will be two
years old next month, and my CPU/mobo/RAM will be two years old in
September. I've already started putting money aside specifically for
building something new. Still, I was not aware before now that there was a
PCI-E motherboard for Socket 478! I'm sure that will spike the interest of
some users and that they will appreciate such info. The good thing about
PC3200 RAM is that it's as cheap as borscht right now, even for a lot of the
brand name stuff. It's gone down in price quite a bit (more than 50%) since
I bought mine.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Personally, I'm going to "stay on the sinking ship" as it were and just
build a whole new computer from the ground up next year since PC technology
has changed a fair bit since my last major build. My video card will be two
years old next month, and my CPU/mobo/RAM will be two years old in
September. I've already started putting money aside specifically for
building something new. Still, I was not aware before now that there was a
PCI-E motherboard for Socket 478! I'm sure that will spike the interest of
some users and that they will appreciate such info. The good thing about
PC3200 RAM is that it's as cheap as borscht right now, even for a lot of the
brand name stuff. It's gone down in price quite a bit (more than 50%) since
I bought mine.

I went a slightly different route and got an ASUS P5P800 which has a
LGA775 socket for the new Prescotts and still uses an AGP video card and
DDR memory. I have a 9700 Pro I bought when they first came out and
didn't feel like spending another $400 for a new video card that "might"
be better. The motherboard, 1 GB of memory, and a 3.4 GHz CPU only set
me back $500 so it was worth it. My previous computer used RDRAM memory
so it couldn't be transferred and the CPU was an old 400 MHz FSB one.

 

[Victor Ng]

If you want, there is an article that teaches you how to overclock ATI chips.

http://gadgetdope.com/archives/000040_how_to_overclock_ati_mobility_radeon_gpu.html

Hope this helps!