Getting new mobo/processor need help.

[WTFpwned]

I've decided to switch from an ECS K7S5A/xp1800+ to a Epox 8rda+/xp2500+ barton. First, is this a good idea..and will I be able to notice a significant difference. I will be using this pc to play dark age of camelot and want to make sure it will be able run the new expansion smoothly. Second I'm not really familiar with changing motherboards/processors. Is this an easy task and what else do I need to buy to do this, thermal paste? If someone could give me detailed info..maybe through an email or just reply to this post it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo

 

[pIII_Man]

probably you would be better off spending the money on a new graphices card...that is what goes under the most load when you are gamming...

However the 8rda+ is a great board and he 2500 i a great cpu...

First unplug all cards connected to your mobo and remove all power and ide...and any other cables conected to your mobo...then unscrew the 6 screws and carefully lift you mobo out...

put your cpu in your new mobo...scrape off the thermal gunk...make sure no redidue is left...you may need to use water or rubbing alcohol to do this...

Once the heatsink is dry...mount the heatsink on the core...make sure you do this carefully...there will be mounting instructions in your cpu manual/user's guide...

Make sure you also apply a thin layer of thermal paste to the cpu core (i don't apply any to the heatsink...i do not notice a performance decrease between applying to the core and applying to both)...

Once the heatsink is mounted...put the board in the case...it may be a tight fit and you may need to slant the board slightly to get it into place...but it should line up correctly and rest flat on the standoffs...all the holes should line up...screw it back down...you do not need to tighten to much...as long as it is secure...

Then reconnect all of your cables...and cards...and that is it...

BTW...before you power up make sure your cpu fan is connected to a power source...

How many bits are in a nibble?

 

[Flinx]

Other things u need to buy:

1) Memory. What do you have now PC2100 or maybe you were using the PC133 SDRAM? The Barton uses PC2700 I believe for the 333Mhz bus.

2) What is your graphics card?
(Tell us so people can help you judge the best value for
your $$$).

If you're boosting your graphics card we should know how much your Power Supply Unit (PSU) is rated at and what model.

------------------------

As PIII was saying, it is often the graphics card that improves the performance of the game significantly.
Do you know whether your game is graphics intensive or CPU intensive?

The loving are the daring!

 

[pat]

And make sure that all the mounting stud for the mobo in the case have a hole corresponding to their position on your new motherboard. If not remove it. because it is not a good idea to have one grounding your new mobo to the case. And you wont see it thru the board...

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[WTFpwned]

I recently upgraded my graphics card to a geforce4 ti4400 so I don't think I'll need to be doing that any time soon, hopefully
I use pc2100 ram in my current system, 512mb. My psu is 300watts I believe. Im on a different computer now, but last time I checked I think it was 300. The most it would be is 350w.

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo

 

[pIII_Man]

you will need new memory..

How many bits are in a nibble?

 

[WTFpwned]

I will have to get new memory? Can't the mobo/cpu support pc2100 as well, or only pc2700? Do you think this is a good idea for the money, around $170 US. Or could my money be better spent elsewhere on my system. This is what I have:
ECS K7S5A
athlon xp1800+
geforce4 ti 4400
512mb pc2100
soundblaster 128
lite on cdrw 24x10x40
toshiba 16x dvd
western digital 60gb 7200rpm
3com network card

Sound card isn't the best and onboard sound isn't very good either. However new sound cards start around $100 us. So I thought, why not do a system upgrade for only a few more dollars, well 70 more...but it seemed like I would get more for my dollar..any suggestions?

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo

 

[pat]

It doesnt make sense to upgrade to a faster cpu/mobe and keeping your 266 memory. That will be the bottleneck, and you wont really notice improvement. What I would do, if you dont have too much to spend nowwould be to wait until you have enough to buy a CPU/mobo/memory that match together. Sure, you can update cpumobo now and buy memory later, but the CPU/mobo price may get lower by the time you're ready than now so you might have more for your money later.

But anyway, yes your memory should work with your new system. I've been using my 2100 memory with my soltek nf2 mobo/AXP2500+ for 2 days waiting for my twinx memory ....Didnt see much improvement over my axp1700+/soyo dragon+ I had before until I put my twinx memory.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[WTFpwned]

Hmm, I guess that would make sense. I've been listening too much to the pchardwareforum boards. Those guys are all about upgrading now..and there all overclocking fiends. Make sense to wait though. Thanks for the help. Any other suggestions on my system?

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo

 

[peartree]

Yeah, I don't think you're going to see a whole lot of difference in day-to-day stuff like checking e-mail, etc. The big difference will come when you dig into a really heavy duty app, like Photoshop or something. When I upgraded the last time (to a system very like yours) the biggest difference there was came in booting XP Pro. It cut boot time by about 1 1/2 minutes.

p.s. Good move on dumping the ECS mobo. I got one and had bad onboard sound. Returned it, got a new one, and- bad onboard sound. Some days ya just can't win. I'm going Gigabyte next time.

=== Never assume ANYTHING ===

 

[WTFpwned]

What about tossing in another 512 stick of pc2100. It's relatively cheap..What I plan on doing is building a computer with my old processor/mobo when I do make the change. So I wouldn't be wasting money on buying more memory for the current one. Would that extra ram boost performance much?

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo

 

[ChipDeath]

probably wouldn't give that much of a boost, but if you're going to get some more ram you may as well get PC2700, in case you do upgrade in the future. It's not that much more expensive. better would be PC3200 of course, but then the price does start to go up more..

You say your sound is awful... you could, if you wanted, simply buy the 8RDA+ mobo and keep all your existing stuff, because it has soundstorm onboard audio, which is better than most soundcards anyway. Then you have the option of sticking faster RAM in and a 2500+ when they've dropped in price even more.. (after launch of A64 probably)

---
The end is nigh.. (For this post at least)

 

[WTFpwned]

I've decided to go with the 8rda+ but hold off on the xp2500. The new bios on tepox rev2.0 officially supports 400mhz ram. Should I go with some pc3200 or just pick up some pc2700? Is the speed increase really worth the extra dollars?

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo

 

[pIII_Man]

unless you are overclocking pc2700 would be the fastest for your cpu...


Proud owner of DOS 3.3

 

[WTFpwned]

If I do eventually upgrade to the xp2500 in the future however will the pc2700 be the bottleneck of my system?

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo

 

[pIII_Man]

no

here's the rundown

200mhz ddr ram (100mhz sdr) = 1600mB/s peak bandwith
266mhz ddr ram (133mhz sdr) = 2128MB/s peak bandwith
333mhz ddr ram (166mhz sdr) = 2666MB/s peak bandiwth
400mhz ddr ram (200mhz sdr) = 3200mb/s peak bandwith


Double each 1 of those because you are running dual channel...

Athlon xp's fsb running

100mhz yeilds 1600MB/s
133mhz yeilds 2128MB/s
166mhz yeilds 2666mb/s
200mhz yeilds 3200mb/s

you do the math...pc2700 has more than enough bandwith in dual channel configuration for a 166mhz (333mhz ddr)

you could even dual channel with slower memory and still theoretically have the same performance but you would get a performance loss do to the add latency of the memory divider...

so again i tell you for the second time pc2700 is just fine...


Proud owner of DOS 3.3

 

[WTFpwned]

Gotcha, pc2700 it is then. Thanks for the help and the figures.

You understand the silverwear...cuckoo cuckoo