Upgrading my comp tommorow, need insight

eden

Champion
Hey guys, after so much patience, after so much contacting and pilfering of information from here and there, I have finally made a deal with my local shop that is fully-AMD siding, I've gotten the following upgrade comp, the top is new one and bottom is what is replaced, old components:

-AMD Athlon XP 1600+ 1.4 GHz (266FSB) OEM CPU: $212.00
-Thermaltake Volcano 7 CPU Fan: $39.00
-Epox 8KHA+ SocketA Mainboard: $199.00
-OCZ 256 MB PC2400 DDR Performance RED Ram: $115.00
-LG 16x10x40 CDRW: $139.00
-Asus V8200 Geforce 3 T200 64MB Deluxe AGP Video Card: $319.00
-Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! DE 5.1 OEM Sound Card: $55.00
-ATX Mid Tower Case w/300watt Antec Power Supply: $95.00
Subtotal 1173$ CDN.
X 1.15 tax= 1360$ CDN.

Below is the traded-in components for a very nice sum:

-P2 350MMX
-Abit BH6 i440BX chipset.
-128 SD RAM,
-Voodoo 3 2000 16MEG AGP.
-SB AWE 64 16bit ISA.
-36X CDROM
-LG 4*4*32 CDRW.
-Unknown power supply but it should be 200- 250W. and case
Trade-in price is 160$ CDN.
1360-160= 1200. Add assembly and total is 1223$.

Pretty nice though for me, considering that the PC2400 RAM is same price as 256DDR OEM PC2100!! The mobo will simply put it at 2100 speeds.
I am damn excited about this, it's my first and very first Athlon system to even try!!! Believe it or not I have not tried or touched any Athlon or XP system in no place ever!! Except Durons.
I'll finally be back in the high speed lane with blazing graphics, now my new games can be played!

Now for my questions and worries:

-What should I expect as errors popping up? Be honest, I know there will be, no doubt, this is the first transition that has so much change, knowing the fact that my 2 HDDs are still there and the NIC card and modem card, thus the heart of the system is the same. Please tell me how to adapt my new system to these 2 HDDs filled with settings!

- From the old system to the new one, how much is the performance gonna go up?
See, recently you guys have led me to beleive most loading is Hard Drive related, and a small part of loading Windows, and such is not CPU dependent. Well look I want peace of mind and I wanna know if these startups will be faster (we're talking brand new generation, AXPs!) including internet web sites opening and Flash animations finally be smoother. I am sure games will be smooth as a baby's butt, but that's not my case. I wanna know more of loading things. How will this monster drive my programs including Windows load? Will OE, will those games loading at first be faster to load?
Unfortunatly the Master HDD which is 6.4GB is a 5400 RPM, and has the main system files. The Slave being 15GB has my games so to space both from their use, and is 7200 RPM.

Anyway thanks for your inquiries, and I hope to see some positive results... and I ain't spending anymore! I am down to nothing now, and besides the comp will be sent tommorow for upgrade, so there is no stopping it. Had reserved parts for a while to make sure they won't go out on back order.

--
The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...
 
To be really honest here's what I'd do.

But a larger wattage PSU (350 minimum).

Backup all files from both drives.

Set up the 7200rpm one as the primary master for your OS.

Set the CD-RW as your secondary master.

If you have a second CD device set it as primary slave.

Set the other HDD as secondary slave.

This may not be possible for you, but that what I'd do. Always use the fastest drive for booting. With the XP range I'd go for a 400W PSU myself (I've heard of PSU related probs and have had none personally with the 400W supply which was used). Some may say its overkill, but it allows room for expansion, without overloading the PSU, allowing it to have a long life.

I would be cautious about putting HDDs with system stuff onto new systems. They might work though, so give it a go if you want.

<b><font color=blue>~scribble~</font color=blue></b> :wink: <A HREF="http://www.ud.com/home.htm" target="_new">Help cure cancer.</A>
 

eden

Champion
Yes it does, they also have PC 3000 DDR!
All this at the extremly low cost of 149$ WITH heat-spreaders, quite generous for a new DDR. IT's from OCZ.
Their website is www.shoprbc.com
But like I said, they are very AMD-exclusive, and although they recently started selling Intel, they even advised us against it in their comp adds. Currently ABIT KR7As support those new DDRs and possibly the IWILL XP333. Unfortunatly that is up to you Mr.Intel guy if you are to act stubborn or accept the facts and for once be a good poster here.

--
The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Eden on 01/16/02 08:05 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

eden

Champion
Well if you read, I said I am upgrading tommorow so I cannot stop this. I am leaving the assembly to the shop itself as I am no expert on this, and they said they will have their own testing to perform to make sure the upgrade is stable... Most likly not everything will be.
I can't set anything now anymore so I simply want insight on what risks and what good stuff will come out of this after picking it up on Saturday...

--
The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...
 

AMD_Man

Splendid
Jul 3, 2001
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Eden, where exactly are you getting this PC2400 (actually I want to look at PC2700)? Please tell me this shop is in the Greater Toronto Area.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
 

AMD_Man

Splendid
Jul 3, 2001
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Eden, where exactly are you getting this PC2400 (actually I want to look at PC2700)? Please tell me this shop is in the Greater Toronto Area.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
 

FatBurger

Illustrious
Your PSU will probably be fine, I have a friend who's running a similar setup on a 250w Antec.

<font color=orange>Quarter</font color=orange> <font color=blue>Pounder</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Inside</font color=orange>
 

Smilin

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Oct 3, 2001
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A quick note on that PC2400. Your mobo will run it at PC2100 speeds, BUT you can set the CAS settings to 2-2-2 and get a pretty good performance boost...thereby getting some benifit from your above spec memory.

Don't try putting this altogether without reloading your operating system. You'll hate life.
 

eden

Champion
Reloading? What do you mean?
About the PC2400, I bought it cuz it cost same as DDR 2100 OEM, which is a very good deal from OCZ. I am aware it will run at PC2100 which is reassuring so I save money by getting brand name and CAS2!

--
The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...
 

eden

Champion
Unfortunatly like I said, it is in Ottawa, but it ships in Canada and USA. They have 2100, 2400,2700 and 3000 DDR. Visit their site if you want! They ship in usual 24-48hours however currently their 2700 and 3000 are on back order, already gone! But very generously priced compared to Crucial's similar 2100 DDR price like 2700 OCZ (139$). But then again Crucial gives life warranty...
Please don't go off the subjects people, I need to know how this system might hold! Just remember I got technicians building it and testing it for full working. I am hoping to god it will work and I will be able to enjoy back life into fullest...
And yeah 300W is enough for an average user like me! I don't do OC, nor system tweaking, just use the comp to surf play and work!

--
The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...
 

lhgpoobaa

Illustrious
Dec 31, 2007
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how long can u wait mr eden?

im waiting till feburary-march, when the DDR333 mobo's come out in force!
(sis 745, via kt333)

then u can use PC2700 ram.. at 2700 speeds :)

also run your cpu at 333fsb too if its unlocked. ;)

The lack of thermal protection on Athlon's is cunning way to stop morons from using AMD. :)
 

AMD_Man

Splendid
Jul 3, 2001
7,376
2
25,780
how long can u wait mr eden?

im waiting till feburary-march, when the DDR333 mobo's come out in force!
(sis 745, via kt333)

then u can use PC2700 ram.. at 2700 speeds :)

also run your cpu at 333fsb too if its unlocked. ;)
Bahh! The IWill XP333 will still outperform them all at a 400MHz FSB!

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor
 

eden

Champion
Please stick with the subject for now, I really need to know what you guys think my chances are of passing this upgrade??
I am aware again of the RAM, and no I won't overclock it to PC2400 as I am not experienced with it.

On other note, the VIA KT333, we should wait for the A one if it ain't good in memory bandwidth like the KT266A!

--
The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...
 
G

Guest

Guest
I'm sure you'll be fine if the technicians are doing it. I do computer service for a living. If I was in their shoes I would do one of two things 1) get your permission to reformat after backing up your data and get your 15G drive as C: <i>or</i> 2) if for whatever reason reformatting wasn't an option, I'd remove everything from your system properties (EVERYTHING), then have Windows redetect all your hardware.


AMD: Join the rebellion!
 

eden

Champion
Actually you raise a good point on the remove all drivers thing, although I highly disagree on the Drive thing. This comp has been alive for a long time and a format is not my option for a long time.
But your secong point makes sense due to the fact I have a current 3dfx, and I hope they are aware that they should remove all traces of it under the registry or it can cause probs. Same applies for Sound Card. Anyway thanks for the second tip, it reassures me more than first one though!
Again I will ask them to let me try the comp there first, to see how it goes, and if nothing pops up! It's better to avert crisis from the place before at home.

--
The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...
 

eden

Champion
Ok guys here is what happened:
Turns out Saturday that such upgrade would cause probs. They told me that it would be useless to try to run Win98 like it is now and that reinstalling it is best, due to chipset change. I was quite pissed, but then I thought why not just do a new world of experience. So I decided to buy WinXP OEM Full, and will call tommorow (the salesman guy who arranged the comp with me does not work in weekends so tommorow I'll have it arranged) to tell him to simply format it all, after having copied a few files I need to a CD or whatever way they back up. Then install WinXP full install on the 15G HDD. But that means that even with the 6.4G at 5400rpm , the 15Gig won't have to run at that speed if it is the Master, right?
Also what about drivers, I mean can I use the stock drivers included in the new components or WinXP has ones for its version? Look at my new components list and tell me whether or not WinXP is compatible with the stock CD drivers!
Lastly what are your experience with WinXP? I am worried some stuff may not work, including a DOS Super Nintendo emulator. Has that "Run in Compatibility" option really worked for you? My friend says it doesn't work and is only a way to advertise!

-Only worry I have here is that they will charge again for OS install and format even if I have paid for assembly?

-BTW does anyone know how to export or save my address book contacts in OE6 to WinXP's OE6? How do you do so and what about the E-mails and folders ?

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The other day I heard an explosion from the other side of town.... It was a 486 booting up...
 

IIB

Distinguished
Dec 2, 2001
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I would not recomend using Windows Stock drivers! or at list not for the big things - Video card, Sound Card etc... not sure if you need VIA 4in1 for windows XP... but i'll recomend installing them since they do bost systme preformance rather then just fix isues...
 
Well I found <A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q270670" target="_new">this</A>, but it doesn't mention use in XP.

Look at the W9x and W2K version and then check out your version in XP. One of them will probably work.

<b><font color=blue>~scribble~</font color=blue></b> :wink: <A HREF="http://www.ud.com/home.htm" target="_new">Help cure cancer.</A>
 

HolyGrenade

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Feb 8, 2001
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<b>insight...</b>

um, lets see...

<font color=purple>Do not go where the path may lead;
go instead where there is no path and leave a trail</font color=purple>

I'm not sure what it means, it maight mean buy cyrix or something like that.

<font color=red><i>I refugee from Guatanamo Bay,
dance around the border like I'm Cassius Clay
</i></font color=red>
 

lhgpoobaa

Illustrious
Dec 31, 2007
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i thought the post meant that you should leave the heatsink off the athlon when it first boots up...

then it will leave a trail... smoketrail that is :)


The lack of thermal protection on Athlon's is cunning way to stop morons from using AMD. :)
 
G

Guest

Guest
In response to your worries. I have been using winXP since it's beta and it is very user friendly and hard to crash. Previously there were alot of incompatibilities with winxp and other software and peripherals, but since it has been out for a while it is becoming less and less. Printers work automatically (especially if usb) winxp has built in drivers for most things, but some do require updates from mfg. As far as transfering your address book, that is actually quite easy. If you search for *.wab you should find if on your hard drive and then save it to disk. Then go into oe and go to file and import just walk thru the prompts and you should have it fairly simply. As far as losing all of your info, you may be best to buy a 2nd hard drive and leave all the info on your old one. Install the old drive as a slave and then once up and running in xp you will have the opportunity to retrieve all the files necessary including your address book. Once you have all files off of old hard drive you can format right from within windows. and even partition it if you decide to do so. Also here is a link that will help you get familiar with winxp once you get up and running.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/howto/default.asp

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