upgrading motherboard

  • Thread starter Thread starter roxbury
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roxbury

I have a dilemmna i was hoping some of you might be able to help me
with. Im no computer genious, so please bare with me on this. I have
a p4 2.8ghz computer, runs pretty fast but im running into problems
because i need a vid card, and the motherboard im using only has pci
slots- which i heard would be a waste of money to buy a vid card for.
So I have a few questions for ya-

1. how can i tell which motherboard will be compatible with my
processor, intel p4 2.8ghz?

2. i was told i would need either a agp or pci-express slot on the
board. which one should i be looking for?

3. i already have 512mb ddr266 working with my computer now, can i
salvage this for the new motherboard or do i need to upgrade this as
well.

4. could some of you suggest a good video card to run. I guess i
should should mention that my purpose for needing a vid card is to run
a seperate TV for movies etc, and for video games.
thanx in advance for any help :)
 
|I have a dilemmna i was hoping some of you might be able to help me
| with. Im no computer genious, so please bare with me on this. I have
| a p4 2.8ghz computer, runs pretty fast but im running into problems
| because i need a vid card, and the motherboard im using only has pci
| slots- which i heard would be a waste of money to buy a vid card for.

No AGP slot? I've never seen a modern mobo without an AGP slot. What video
card are you running now and why is it unworthy?

| 1. how can i tell which motherboard will be compatible with my
| processor, intel p4 2.8ghz?

What mobo do you have now and why is it not worthy of continued use? If it
runs a P4 2.8 it must be fairly modern, so why are you upgrading?

| 2. i was told i would need either a agp or pci-express slot on the
| board. which one should i be looking for?

AGP bus runs at 66 mhz vs. 33 for PCI. Go AGP, as PCI is mostly used for
multi-monitor arrangements, AFAIK.

| 3. i already have 512mb ddr266 working with my computer now, can i
| salvage this for the new motherboard or do i need to upgrade this as
| well.

Depends on specs of new mobo, but most should support the 266's. Memory is
cheap, so you may want to upgrade to DDR400, and be aware of dual-channel
options. DC requires modules installed in pairs. What mobo are you looking
at as an upgrade?

| 4. could some of you suggest a good video card to run. I guess i
| should should mention that my purpose for needing a vid card is to run
| a seperate TV for movies etc, and for video games.

I don't do games or TV and run a Matrox 450 Dual-head for my photo-editing
needs, but you'll probably want something more 3D savy. I'm sorely ignorant
of 3D matters, so can't help with that. Some mobos can't run less than 4x
and have specific specs on video-card voltage requirements, so do your
homework.
 
Bob Davis said:
|I have a dilemmna i was hoping some of you might be able to help me
| with. Im no computer genious, so please bare with me on this. I
| have a p4 2.8ghz computer, runs pretty fast but im running into
| problems because i need a vid card, and the motherboard im using only
| has pci slots- which i heard would be a waste of money to buy a vid
| card for.

No AGP slot? I've never seen a modern mobo without an AGP slot. What
video card are you running now and why is it unworthy?
Click to expand...

Some boards, particularly in name brand PCs, with onboard graphics don't
have an AGP slot. It saves money to build them that way.
| 1. how can i tell which motherboard will be compatible with my
| processor, intel p4 2.8ghz?

What mobo do you have now and why is it not worthy of continued use?
If it runs a P4 2.8 it must be fairly modern, so why are you
upgrading?
Click to expand...

Obviously because his board lacks an AGP slot.
 
roxbury said:
I have a dilemmna i was hoping some of you might be able to help me
with. Im no computer genious, so please bare with me on this. I have
a p4 2.8ghz computer, runs pretty fast but im running into problems
because i need a vid card, and the motherboard im using only has pci
slots- which i heard would be a waste of money to buy a vid card for.
So I have a few questions for ya-

1. how can i tell which motherboard will be compatible with my
processor, intel p4 2.8ghz?
Click to expand...

If your P4 supports hyper-threading, you'll need a socket 775 board.
Otherwise, a socket 478 board.
A quick way of telling would be to Google your existing board and look
it up.
2. i was told i would need either a agp or pci-express slot on the
board. which one should i be looking for?
Click to expand...

AGP. PCI-E is a new technology and therefore more expensive. PCI-E
graphics cards are few on the gorund and expensive too. Also, the
current AGP cards are more than capable of running anything that's
likely to hit the streets in the foreseeable future.
3. i already have 512mb ddr266 working with my computer now, can i
salvage this for the new motherboard or do i need to upgrade this as
well.
Click to expand...

It'll probably keep on working, most boards support a range of memory
speeds. Although if you've got the cash, it would be worth replacing it
with the fastest your new board will support (probably DR400).
4. could some of you suggest a good video card to run. I guess i
should should mention that my purpose for needing a vid card is to run
a seperate TV for movies etc, and for video games.
thanx in advance for any help :)
Click to expand...

What's your budget? Now you know what spec you need (socket 775/478,
AGPx8 graphics slot you can probably have a look yourself on the
various on-line shops and then review sites.
TY-Out capability is a feature of the graphics card, as is two monitor
sockets. Usually one of these is a DVI socket, and other a traditional
analogue one, but there's usually a convertor in the box. Although, if
you're talking about watching DVDs on a monitor (not a normal TV) then
you won't need TV-Out.
 
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