Plan for upgrading my PC

[Grendel]

I'm thinking of upgrading my current PC. I play a couple games
basically other than that basic stuff.

Asus A7v 800 MHZ
geforce gts2 64 meg
256 Meg PC133 memory
Antec 300 Watt power supply
2 case fans

I currently do NOT overclock. I never want to overclock either. I have
already ordered a new powercolor 9700 video card and have a 430W Power
supply from Antec coming.

Here are my next plans:

Get an Intel (real Intel) 865PERL motherboard with 2.4 800 FSB Pentium
4. Get 512 Meg (2 256 meg DIMMS) of DDR400 memory.

The main reason to get all this is to go back to a stabil platform.
I've spend way too much time over the last 2 years trying to get my
setup stabil. It is stabil now when I have a big fan aimed at the side
of it but now I think it's time to go to the old trusty Intel stuff.

 

[grendel]

I have done this. I have also read where Intel has warned Asus and Abit not
to enable PAT like they are doing. These mtoehrboard manufacturers try to
enalbe stuff that eventually leads to problems and compatibility problems.

After I am done I will sell the currnet mobo, video card, memory, etc on
eBay or something.

 

[kony]

I'm thinking of upgrading my current PC. I play a couple games
basically other than that basic stuff.

Asus A7v 800 MHZ
geforce gts2 64 meg
256 Meg PC133 memory
Antec 300 Watt power supply
2 case fans

I currently do NOT overclock. I never want to overclock either. I have
already ordered a new powercolor 9700 video card and have a 430W Power
supply from Antec coming.

Here are my next plans:

Get an Intel (real Intel) 865PERL motherboard with 2.4 800 FSB Pentium
4. Get 512 Meg (2 256 meg DIMMS) of DDR400 memory.

The main reason to get all this is to go back to a stabil platform.
I've spend way too much time over the last 2 years trying to get my
setup stabil. It is stabil now when I have a big fan aimed at the side
of it but now I think it's time to go to the old trusty Intel stuff.

So to combat instability caused by overheating, you're going to buy a
system that produces MORE heat? Uhhhhhhh, OK!

Your system needs more cooling. Don't bother to upgrade anything till
the chassis cooling can accomodate what you already have. The idea
that Intel systems run cooler is largely nonsense, they only IDLE
cooler, and only in some instances, not always. Once that intel plus
Radeon 9700 is running near full, it'll probably produce twice as
much heat.

I wrote, TWICE AS MUCH.
You'd better get the cooling straighted out, figure out why it's
running hot... it's a PITA to start out with a new build not even
knowing if the hardware is faulty or not because it's overheating.

If your present system has been overheating long-term, it may have
long-term heat stress, which prematurely aged it, resulting in it
always being less-than-stable. New system components might then be
more stable simply because they aren't damaged from heat YET, but if
you don't do a better job of cooling them, they too will be
heat-stressed.


Dave

 

[Grendel]

So to combat instability caused by overheating, you're going to buy a
system that produces MORE heat? Uhhhhhhh, OK!

Your system needs more cooling. Don't bother to upgrade anything till
the chassis cooling can accomodate what you already have. The idea
that Intel systems run cooler is largely nonsense, they only IDLE
cooler, and only in some instances, not always. Once that intel plus
Radeon 9700 is running near full, it'll probably produce twice as
much heat.

I wrote, TWICE AS MUCH.
You'd better get the cooling straighted out, figure out why it's
running hot... it's a PITA to start out with a new build not even
knowing if the hardware is faulty or not because it's overheating.

If your present system has been overheating long-term, it may have
long-term heat stress, which prematurely aged it, resulting in it
always being less-than-stable. New system components might then be
more stable simply because they aren't damaged from heat YET, but if
you don't do a better job of cooling them, they too will be
heat-stressed.


Dave

This is why I already have purchased a new video card. My video card
fan on my GF2 GTS died awhile ago. Not sure how long it ran like this
but even after getting a new fan for it I still get lockups in games
because of heat.

All my other fans, 1 inlet, 1 exhaust, 1 cpu, power supply, all work
fine. The CPU never gets above 55 C and that's in summer time under
load. The motheboard in summertime under load gets a max of 35 C. I
don't have those special rounded cables but I don't think that needed
because I have a biger size tower that only has 1 floppy and 2 ide
cables in it. Plus I have routed them to interfere the least amount
with airflow. Plus I have both covers off. Still I need a fan aimed
directly at the thing to prevent the lockups.

On my current Athlon based PC133 motherboard I can go as high as 1.4G
CPU. The thing is why should I bother when for $400 total I can get a
good reliable (key word for me) real Intel board with an 800 FSB 2.3 G
CPU and 512 Meg of DDR400 RAM?

Is it worth it for me to upgrade what I have? I'm not a heavy duty
gamer. I play half-life, ground control, unreal tournament (1st one)
and GTA3.

 

[Grendel]

So to combat instability caused by overheating, you're going to buy a
system that produces MORE heat? Uhhhhhhh, OK!

Your system needs more cooling. Don't bother to upgrade anything till
the chassis cooling can accomodate what you already have. The idea
that Intel systems run cooler is largely nonsense, they only IDLE
cooler, and only in some instances, not always. Once that intel plus
Radeon 9700 is running near full, it'll probably produce twice as
much heat.

I wrote, TWICE AS MUCH.
You'd better get the cooling straighted out, figure out why it's
running hot... it's a PITA to start out with a new build not even
knowing if the hardware is faulty or not because it's overheating.

If your present system has been overheating long-term, it may have
long-term heat stress, which prematurely aged it, resulting in it
always being less-than-stable. New system components might then be
more stable simply because they aren't damaged from heat YET, but if
you don't do a better job of cooling them, they too will be
heat-stressed.


Dave

Can someone recommend a cheap upgrade for me? Something I can get for
$100-$200 for the whole thing. Mobo, CPU and memory? Something maybe
DDR266 or DDR333 based? Reliability is the key objective. I'd also
like some RAID capability.

 

[Coyote]

Plus I have both covers off.

Put them on. You can't force air to flow through the case if they're
off.

-C

 

[grendel]

I tryed that at one point too. Still locks up. Too much heat cause the mobo
and CPU temp goes up.