Recent content by cdipierr

I have an old Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 motherboard running an equally old X2 6400+. I've been out of the CPU game for a while, but on Gigabyte's site, there's a note that reads "If you install AMD AM3/AM2+ CPU on AM2 motherbord, the system bus speed will downgrade from HT3.0(5200MHz) to...

Thanks for the suggestions on power supply amperage and video card. I'll need to reconsider there. The memory is $75 and then there's a $20 MIR after that. I consider $75 for 2 GB CAS 4 cheap compared to what memory goes for for my old systems of DDR. I'd like to reiterate that I don't want...

As per the guidelines, here's a build I'm looking at putting together. I've been out of the hardware biz for a while, but think I've done a decent job of research. Let me know if anything sounds out of line. All parts are priced from Newegg. I intend to use the system as a combo gaming &...

There was a day when I was up on all things CPU & motherboard, etc. But now I don't care as much excepting that I still want to put together my own decent performance PC. I'm looking to upgrade from an old Socket-754 Athlon, and aside from hard drives, don't really care about reusing components...

And as an FYI, both sticks of memory read: PC3200 (200 MHz), Corsair VGS1GB400C3 Perfectly matched, so no issues there.

CPU-Z reports: Name: AMD Athlon 3200+ Code Name: NewCastle Brand ID: 4 Package: Socket 754 Technology: 0.13um Core Voltage: 1.5V (ish) Specification: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+ Family: F Model: C Stepping: 0 Ext. Family: F Ext. Model: C Revision: DH7-CG Its memory tab...

I appreciate the idea, but the heatsync/fan are majorly gooped on, I doubt the numbers are readable by this point. No quick software ID utility?

I don't know what a Venice core is...or how to tell. It's a 2.2GHz 3200+ if that matters.

I have the K8N-E Deluxe (NVidia chipset). Anyway, doing some digging ... I have the latest BIOS already. In the Chipset section, it shows my memory running at 166MHz in BIOS. I have the option of setting it to "Manual" in which case I can pick 200, 300, or 400. If I pick 400 or Auto, it...

Yes, you *should* be able to change the memory timings in BIOS, but in my experience, setting it manually or setting it to auto doesn't seem to have any different effect. The issue as I recall has to do with something about addressing 3 banks? Here's what I discovered using a memory testing...

Thanks for all the tips guys. I figured it was a dead end, but worth a shot. It is a a nice Asus board, so overclocking is an option, so maybe I'll experiment with that. The other killer is the memory speed limitation. I upgraded from 1GB to 2GB recently, but memory speed plummeted. As I...

I have an old socket 754 Asus board running an Athlon-3200+ @ 2.2GHz. Cache is 128k/512k. I'd like to upgrade the processor if at all possible. Doing some research I know the board can take up to A64-3700+ chips, but realistically, anything over 3200+ is tough to find even on Ebay for a...

I'm a bit out of date in the video card world. My gf's system is running an Athlon XP 1800+ /w a GeForce MX440 card. For the most part, it's fine. However, in some newer games like Sims 2 (we're not talking FPS stuff here), it bogs a bit. The GeForce 6200 cards seem to have hit the...

You're absolutely right, that was checked. I'll see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the quick reply and info.

I've built a system on this board a few weeks ago that has been for the most part rock solid. The machine is on 24/7 and has never crashed. However if I stop using the board overnight and let Windows XP Pro lock the system up (though not logged off), it sometimes disconnects itself from the...