Upgrade advice

Hi all,
I'm looking for some help/advice/information on upgrading my PC. First,
let me state that I have not kept up on the computer hardware scene
since I installed and overclocked my AMD XP2500+ @ XP3000+ (Barton). So
I don't fully understand the hardware that has come along since then.
Feel free to correct anything that, to you, don't make any sense.

I don't mind being a few steps behind the newest and greatest. I was
thinking of a Phenom x4 9650, a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H motherboard, a
Gforce 9400 GT videocard and OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 4GB DDR2-800 RAM.

I already have a 500W power supply with the 12v connector. If I'm
reading the description correctly, I can use my IDE Seagate HDD and DVD
burner.

Is there anything that I'm missing or that won't work together?

Thanks.


/Tazz

"Tazz" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
I'm looking for some help/advice/information on upgrading my PC. First,
let me state that I have not kept up on the computer hardware scene since
I installed and overclocked my AMD XP2500+ @ XP3000+ (Barton). So I don't
fully understand the hardware that has come along since then. Feel free to
correct anything that, to you, don't make any sense.

I don't mind being a few steps behind the newest and greatest. I was
thinking of a Phenom x4 9650, a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H motherboard, a
Gforce 9400 GT videocard and OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 4GB DDR2-800 RAM.

I already have a 500W power supply with the 12v connector. If I'm reading
the description correctly, I can use my IDE Seagate HDD and DVD burner.

Is there anything that I'm missing or that won't work together?

Thanks.


/Tazz

Whether your 500W PSU will do the job is an open question. Look at the
rating(s) for the 12V rail(s). If it's 18 or better (or 16 for each of
multiple rails) you have a shot. Also, is your video card PCI-E or AGP? As
you mentioned an XP CPU, and many XP motherboards had AGP video card slots,
if your current video card is AGP, it will not work in a PCI-E slot. Other
than those potential issues, you're in a safe zone staying with DDR2 and
AM2+ (instead of going to AM3/DDR3), IMHO. You should really enjoy the
performance boost, once you have it all set up :-)

snip

Whether your 500W PSU will do the job is an open question. Look at the
rating(s) for the 12V rail(s). If it's 18 or better (or 16 for each of
multiple rails) you have a shot. Also, is your video card PCI-E or AGP?
As you mentioned an XP CPU, and many XP motherboards had AGP video card
slots, if your current video card is AGP, it will not work in a PCI-E
slot. Other than those potential issues, you're in a safe zone staying
with DDR2 and AM2+ (instead of going to AM3/DDR3), IMHO. You should
really enjoy the performance boost, once you have it all set up :-)



I'm thinking of a Gforce 9400 GT videocard. What does PCI-E16 and -E1
mean? Also what is the recomended PSU?


/Tazz

I'm thinking of a Gforce 9400 GT videocard. What does PCI-E16 and -E1
mean? Also what is the recomended PSU?

A 9400GT is a poor choice for gaming any modern 3D title. For things like
WOW it would be fine. Strictly a budget card with pretensions of 3D
performance. A 9600GT is a far better performance value card and will run
any modern DX10 title with eye candy at moderate (1280x1024 or 1440x900)
framerates. If you are thinking of running modern 3D games on large screen
real estate, the level of 3D ability needed by the card has to go up. Think
9800GTX+ or HD4870 level and above. To give you an idea how craptacular a
9400GT is, on a Core2Extreme Quad core QX9770 it got less than 5fps in
Crysis at 1280x1024 and got 14 fps in Bioshock at 1280x1024 on that same
system. Default 3DMark06 run came in at 3100. A worthless card for gaming.
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/...e/1824_10.html

Augustus wrote:
I'm thinking of a Gforce 9400 GT videocard. What does PCI-E16 and -E1
mean? Also what is the recomended PSU?

A 9400GT is a poor choice for gaming any modern 3D title. For things
like WOW it would be fine. Strictly a budget card with pretensions of 3D
performance. A 9600GT is a far better performance value card and will
run any modern DX10 title with eye candy at moderate (1280x1024 or
1440x900) framerates. If you are thinking of running modern 3D games on
large screen real estate, the level of 3D ability needed by the card has
to go up. Think 9800GTX+ or HD4870 level and above. To give you an idea
how craptacular a 9400GT is, on a Core2Extreme Quad core QX9770 it got
less than 5fps in Crysis at 1280x1024 and got 14 fps in Bioshock at
1280x1024 on that same system. Default 3DMark06 run came in at 3100. A
worthless card for gaming.
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/...e/1824_10.html


Thanks for that. I will look into the 9600GT.


/Tazz

Tazz wrote:
Hi all,
I'm looking for some help/advice/information on upgrading my PC. First,
let me state that I have not kept up on the computer hardware scene
since I installed and overclocked my AMD XP2500+ @ XP3000+ (Barton). So
I don't fully understand the hardware that has come along since then.
Feel free to correct anything that, to you, don't make any sense.

I don't mind being a few steps behind the newest and greatest. I was
thinking of a Phenom x4 9650, a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H motherboard, a
Gforce 9400 GT videocard and OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 4GB DDR2-800 RAM.

I already have a 500W power supply with the 12v connector. If I'm
reading the description correctly, I can use my IDE Seagate HDD and DVD
burner.

Is there anything that I'm missing or that won't work together?

Thanks.


/Tazz


OK, I've changed motherboards. Instead of a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H,
I'm going to try a ASUS M3N78-VM SLI. I read a lot of bad reviews of the
Gigabyte board.

The Asus comes with GeForce 8200 on-board. If I get a GeForce 9600 GT
will it mess the drivers up? The board has a 8200 chipset and the video
card is in the GeForce 9 series. I'm guessing that the driver installer
will only install what is needed.

Also, what is the PhysX System Software and do I need it?

Sorry for all the questions, but up to now I've been an ATI guy.


--
/Tazz

either the a79a-s foxconn mobo
he
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/produc...D=en-us0000401

or

MSI
here

http://us.msi.com/product/p_spec.asp...-GD70&class=mb

both are gamers boards support 940 phenom II

and ddr3 memory (I think the foxconn is ddr2 but supports phenom II

Pokeyman
"Tazz" wrote in message
...
Tazz wrote:
Hi all,
I'm looking for some help/advice/information on upgrading my PC. First,
let me state that I have not kept up on the computer hardware scene
since I installed and overclocked my AMD XP2500+ @ XP3000+ (Barton). So
I don't fully understand the hardware that has come along since then.
Feel free to correct anything that, to you, don't make any sense.

I don't mind being a few steps behind the newest and greatest. I was
thinking of a Phenom x4 9650, a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H motherboard, a
Gforce 9400 GT videocard and OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 4GB DDR2-800 RAM.

I already have a 500W power supply with the 12v connector. If I'm
reading the description correctly, I can use my IDE Seagate HDD and DVD
burner.

Is there anything that I'm missing or that won't work together?

Thanks.


/Tazz


OK, I've changed motherboards. Instead of a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-UD2H,
I'm going to try a ASUS M3N78-VM SLI. I read a lot of bad reviews of the
Gigabyte board.

The Asus comes with GeForce 8200 on-board. If I get a GeForce 9600 GT
will it mess the drivers up? The board has a 8200 chipset and the video
card is in the GeForce 9 series. I'm guessing that the driver installer
will only install what is needed.

Also, what is the PhysX System Software and do I need it?

Sorry for all the questions, but up to now I've been an ATI guy.


--
/Tazz