Hurting computer, and Ti 4200...

[Brackus]

Hey,

My computer has basically sucked ever since i bought it 18 months ago, and
it is just stupid...

I have an AK 73 Pro mobo with 256 ram pc 133
30gig hd and 404 gig hd, but 7200 rpm...
52x cdrom, 24x10x40 cdrw,
amd athlon 1.2 at 1117 Mhz...
geforce 4 Ti 4200 at stock...

The problem is that my computer always freezes, and mostly when im doing
graphical things, or playing games... But this is just crap, and I know now
that it is my processor overheating and causing it to freeze, so I underclocked
that, and now, it hasnt frozen yet (2 hrs and countin) and I even got to run
3dMark2003 for the first time just now (I got like 1127) and wow... I am
hurting according to that...

Anyway, just wanted to hear some thoughts, and maybe, how to fix my computer
or if I should just go get a new mobo, ram, processor...

Thanks for reading,

Dustin

 

[PliotronX]

It sounds like your machine is hurting for a dusting

The video card is slightly bottlenecked by the CPU, but if you upgrade to anything decent, the video card would be a culprit so in order to have a relatively long lasting machine you will need to have an overhaul.

 

[ScrewFace]

You were just unlucky. Your CPU isn't very overclockable. Have you thought about upgrading? I just ordered an ABIT-NF7 V1.2 (nVidia nForce2 chipset), a AMD ATHLON XP 2400+ (2.0GHz, 266MHz fsb) and 512MB of Apacer DDR400 (PC3200) SDRAM for $682.50 Canadian ($449.99 U.S.). As you can see the ATHLON solution is very inexpensive and with your GeForce4-Ti4200 card still being quite powerful you would see a 50% increase from your Ti4200 alone.

Also, you should be able to get a reasonable price for your 'old' stuff. Good luck in your computer endeavours.

 

[Hazer]

OR:

ABIT NF7-S $125
AMD XP2100+ Tbird B $92
Crucial 512MB PC2700 $75

All @ newegg.com

 

[Brackus]

This all sounds great, but a sad fact is I am a canadian, and I need to order somewhere other than newegg.com

But, I was wondering about www.canadacomputers.com I can even go to the store they have, I like some of their system options, but I dont know about certain things, I just want a cheap case and psu (Maybe 350 or 400 watts) for amd cpu, okay motherboard and cheap lan card option, I dont need a hd but I'll take one in a package, I would like the best cpu deal that would work well with my videocard but also be fairly cheap (I am a student). So... all that in mind, oh yeah, the ram i was thinking of ddr, but maybe not hte fastest, like maybe just like pc2100 or 2700...? So, with all that in mind, anyone one have any suggestions for a site or that site?

I would like 256-512mb ram for sure...

 

[Detselom]

try these ppl if you live close to cow town

http://www.dangeo.com/index.php

 

[Budmantom]

Wow that's a bad score, you might wanna consider buying a pre built computer and swapping the video card, that might be the cheapest way to upgrade.

 

[PliotronX]

Case is entirely up to you to choose, to fit your budget, style, feature requirement, etc.. Important thing about PSU is that quality is more crucial than wattage ratings. For example, a 500W generic PSU could equal the same full load capability as a 350W quality PSU.

Stick to brands such as Antec and Sparkle and you won't have any probs. Check out the lowend Antec units, they don't have thermally controlled fans such as the TruePower ones (more noise), but they are solid and cheaper. The Sparkle units may be a little louder than the lowend Antecs, but they are cheaper still and if you need more juice you can open one up and tweak the pots (not recommended though). A PSU from these companies rated for 300-400 will run just about any single CPU system so you will have room to expand. If you find an ideal case that only comes with a PSU that you can't confirm its maker, it is a gamble but should suffice until you can get the funds for a replacement.

My favorite budget/solid combo for now would be an Athlon XP 1800+ (~$87CAD?) or 2100+ (~$134?) and ECS K7S5A(~$81?) because these are good middle of the road CPUs and this mobo is speedy, has built-in LAN, and it is one of the few boards that sports both SDR and DDR slots so you can keep your current memory and add DDR later for a nice improvement (they don't work together though). Pick up the Cheepoman overclocker BIOS from here (it's in the forum, they require registration now so I can't quickly get the linky to the specific thread, but you'll find it) and you can do some FSB overclocking as well as unlock a few other goodies in the BIOS for tweaking pleasure.

Get yourself a good cheap heatsink such as Thermalright's SK7 with a nice 30-40CFM 80mm fan and some Arctic Silver or Arctic Alumina compound if you don't have it already.