Hello everybody, I'm new here.

I have to upgrade my girlfriend's PC and we've decided to go with RAM and video card.

She has a Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo 600, with an Intel Pentium4 @ 2.4 Ghz, MSI MS-6567 (SiS 645DX chipset, AGP4x slot), 256Mb DDR ram and a Radeon 9000 video card.

Now, I'd like to know if I can install 2Gb of DDR400 memory (2x1Gb modules, assuming that the motherboard has only 2 slots) AND and a generic ATi Radeon X1950 AGP video card. I read that the AGP version is 1.5v compatible, so it should fit in the universal AGP4x slot supported by the motherboard.

Of course I will upgrade the power supply as well, as I happen to have my old 500W Techsolo PSU ready to use.
By the way, I know the X1950 needs an external power connector, what kind of connector is that (6 pin, 8 pin, 4 pin, whatever...)?

Any suggestion? I could also consider buying an HD2600XT, retailing at a lower price, if its perfomance is not too poor, when compared to the X1950.

As a final note, I know the system would be quite limited by the CPU, but my girlfriend was very clear about NOT wanting to upgrade everything. So I thought upgrading RAM and VGA would give us the biggest boost in performance anyways.
Thank you very much for your help.

Take care,
Mike

According to this link:
http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php [...] rod_no=306
Her motherboard has 3 dimm slots and will support up to 3 gig of memory. I am pretty sure that 2 -1 gig modules will work fine.
Also, according the CPU chart the 2.4 Pentium is about the top of the line for that board. There may be a BIOS update that will allow for higher upgrades, but I didn't look that far. Anyway, good link for you with all technical details about the motherboard.

On a Pentium 2.4, I doubt that you would be able to reap the full benefit of the 1950pro, and probably not be able to tell much difference between the 2. There are no benchmarks around the net available for the newer cards with older processors, but I really think you would you be throwing money away for no good reason on a 1950pro. I'd say get the HD2600, and be happy until she is ready for a complete upgrade to a modern motherboard.

Thanks for the link, I don't know why, but I wasn't able to find it myself... looks like this board will accept 2Gb... I'll definitely give it a try.

That was exactly my concern. I think the HD2600XT should perform a hell of a lot better than the old 9000, right? This upgrade should be able to let that PC run some games like Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Half Life 2, Gothic 2 (G3 is way too bugged even for MY system, so I would not even try playin' it...), F.E.A.R., Bioshock and the likes, of course scaling the graphics details a bit down and deactivating any kind of antialiasing. Do you think it will be possible with 2 gigs of ram and a video card like that?

Yeah it will definitely be possible. I used to have a system similar to the one your are talking about. It was an Athlon XP 2500+ Barton, with 1gb of ram, and a 6800XT video card. It was able to play BF2 on all high, Call of Juarez demo on all high with no AA and no AF, Oblivion on all high with HDR, no self shadows, and COD2 with everything up as far as it can go at 1280x1024.

She will be very happy with the upgrade.

tom's had a couple of articles last year with benchmarks.

AGP Platform Analysis, Part 1: New Cards, Old System
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] -analysis/

&

AGP Platform Analysis, Part 2: New Cards, Single-Core System
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] -analysis/

Thanks, I needed that!
I have to say that the X1950s are really impressive, their performance with Oblivion and Prey is simply astonishing! Even with an old Athlon 2500+ (roughly equal to our P4 2.4, I think) and a single Gb of RAM, the X1950 is capable of very respectable framerates... I wonder if the HD2600XT can deliver the same level of performance. If not, I'll definitely go with the X1950.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=297

The 1950 is the way to go unless you are planning on watching more hi-def video then playing games, in which case the 2600 video processing capabilities will come into play. I have a Sapphire 1950 pro 512mb AGP that I use in my old P4 3ghzHT, the connectors on the 1950 are two 4 pin.