Upgrade or Trash?

[TheTrueBaracuda]

I would like a little feedback on what I should do.

Please don't laugh but ...

I am still using a PII 400 with 256MB of ram.
Asus P2B-S

Current Video card is a Diamond Multimedia Monster 3D VooDoo2.

Would I see any significant increase in 3D gaming performance if I got an inexpensive card such as a GeForce 2 MX400 or something?

Or should I just hold out for the tax return and upgrade the whole darned system? I would like to keep what I have but just make it a little better.

Thank you in advance.

Toddles

 

[labdog]

3D card now have GPU, a 3D processor which processes 3D calculations instead of the cpu but however they are still cpu dependant.

so, i think you can have a performance increase but maybe just around few percents (because of your "little" PII 400 cpu).


if you know you don't know, the way could be more easy.

 

[Guest]

We upgraded our Asus P2B-DS several month back. We went from Dual 450 to dual 750 and added momory. Speed went up by more then 100% in some processes.

I think you can still find CPU's for this things. Might be worth while to explore.
If you can put a PIII 800 on it in very good price it might be nice to upgrade.


Intel / AMD - <A HREF="http://www.llnl.gov/asci/news/white_news.html" target="_new">IBM are still the best</A>

 

[Oracle]

I used to have the very same configuration (except I had a plain P2B without the "-S"). I upgraded the PII-400 to a PIII-600 Katmai a year after the purchase of the system and my Voodoo Banshee to a GF2MX six months later. I've been running on that config ever since and don't have problems.
Upgrading both CPU and Graphics Card would be a good idea, but no need for top notch stuff. GF2MX400 is good stuff. Match that with a decently priced CPU you can fit on your system and you're good to go.

<font color=red>Floppy disk?!? What the heck's a floppy disk?!?</font color=red>

 

[knowan]

Your RAM is fine. The CPU and the vid card are aging though. Upgrading to a 800 mHz CPU and a GF2 will get you another year or possibly two out of your current configuration.

Recently someone posted that they replaced their old Voodoo 3 card with a GF3 and their framerates trippled. They were using an AMD K6 550 CPU. In other words replacing your vid card will give you a better boost than replacing the CPU.

And what's to stop you from getting a butt-kicking GF3 or GF4, then reusing it into a new computer in a year or 2? Why settle for a GF2MX (unless you haven't got an AGP port)?

Oh, and don't laugh but here's my system:

Pentium MMX 200
48 Megs RAM (72 pin SIMM's)
2 meg PCI Cirus Logic 2D vid card.
4 meg PCI Voodoo 2 3D acellerator.

Just to go to show you that there are people out there who are worse off than you. I had just saved up enough to replace it with a butt-kicking AMD XP system when I ran into some unexpected dentist bills. Now I have to start saving up all over again. Sigh. :-(

--------------
Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

 

[TheTrueBaracuda]

Ok so if I go with the upgrade route . . .

Upgrading the Asus P2B-S. 100 MHz Bus.
Have 256 MB of RAM.

Does this sound right?

I need a slot 1 to socket 370 converter adapter with a voltage regulator. A new PIII 800 at 100MHz FSB. And a new video card.

Can I go any faster on the CPU?

What is a good adapter that you would recommend?
Super Slocket-III ?

Would I benefit from a better graphics card than a GeForce 2MX 400? I am concerned with the speed of the AGP port?

The motherboard manual says AGP port for accelerated graphics etc blah blah but does not specify 1x 2x 4x. I believe that it would be a 1x. Which is 66MHz right?

How would I get the best performance?

New motherboard that supports 4x AGP? If so I would need a Ultra2 SCSI adapter for the HD and then that opens a whole new ball of wax.

Oh yeah can a crappy soundcard slow down gaming performance?

Here is the motherboard Manual link
http://cgi.asus.com.tw/cgi-bin/dl.asp?filename=mb/slot1/440bx/p2b-ls/p2bls-106.pdf

Please continue to give feedback I appreciate it.

Thank you,
Todd

 

[Crashman]

Your motherboard MIGHT support a 133MHz FSB. Several people have reported that theirs does. To address that issue, head to the motherboards forum and ask, those who have done this should respond.

If it supports 133MHz FSB, you can use a PIII 1000EB. That's far better than the rare and expensive PIII 1000E, the 100MHz version.

If you find you can only support the PIII 1000E, a better choice would be the Powerleap iP3/T adapter with Celeron 1200 Tualatin combination, with one caveat-it requires special BIOS for your motherboard, you'll have to find out if that special BIOS supports your SCSI controller, and the BIOS cost $10. Check out powerleap website if your interested.

Probably the BEST alternative is the PIII 850E, the fastest normally priced 100MHz FSB PIII.

Now on to the adapter. Earlier versions of the P2B series only supported a minimum core voltage of 1.80v. Most current PIII's are 1.75v, and BIOS will detect the out of range voltage if yours is one of these early boards. The easiest way to get around that is to set your processor to a voltage the motherboard likes, like 1.85v. Obviously this is not a push for the CPU, I've had the earlier 1.65v versions at well over 2 volts withoug damage. To do this you'll either need a converter with voltage controll, such as the Abit Slotket !!! or Iwill Slocket II, or a modified standard slotket. I can walk you through the simple mods if needed on the standard units

If your lucky enough to have a board that supports the lower voltage, and FC-PGA compatable slotket will work.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?