I need a little help...

[FreshFish]

Ok, so I am pretty new to this whole "upgrading computers" thing. My system right now is a Sony Vaio PCV-RX560 with the following specs:

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4B-LX Revision 1004
1.70 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
256 Megabytes Installed Memory
80 Gigabyte Hard Drive
NVIDIA (32MB I think...) video card

Basically what I want to do is upgrade to a "pretty good" system, not an awesome system. I am pretty sure that the best upgrade I could do with my current mobo is a P4 2.4GHz 400FSB without having to flash the BIOS which I don't really want to do. So I want to get that processor. I have actually never opened up my system since I bought it so I am not sure what all is in there. Do I need to buy some sort of cooling/ heat-sink device??
I also am going to max out the RAM with another 256MB stick. Are any memory brands particularly better than others or does it not matter too much??
Lastly, I am going to upgrade the video card. I am looking at the ATI AIW RADEON 9600 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit. Has anyone had any experience with this?? Is it worth the 179 i plan to pay for it?

If anyone can answer any of these questions or warn me about any compatibility issues it would be much appreciated! Thanks!!

 

[Cannabis]

1. If you buy a retail box CPU it will include a heatsink/fan sufficent for stock speeds(and a small OC usually) if you buy a oem cpu you will have to purchase heatsink/fanseperatly.

2. Kingston, Geil, OCz, and Corsair all make good ram. Since you going to be on 400mhz FSb you prob wont need anything higher than 3200(i think 2700 would be sufficent)

3. At 179 or just a little more you could get a 9800 pro which would be much better unless you just really need the video in function of the AIW.

 

[FreshFish]

Is this the video card to which you are referring: ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit?

I found it at newegg for ~220 which I suppose isnt too much more if I will get a lot higher performance...

Also, with the processor, the only one I have been able to locate for a good price is a OEM from newegg:
Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4GHz Northwood 512K Socket 478 Processor 400MHz Processor Bus OEM. So what I have in my comp right now wont work for cooling? How do I know which fan/heatsink to buy?? any recomendations?? Thanks for the post btw

 

[ScrapSilicon]

that system uses pc133x2 sdram..http://usa.asus.com/mb/socket478/p4b-lx/specification.htm ..also the vid card is a TNT2 32mb sdram M64..def needs upgrading ..560 Sony

 

[Gerardjg]

Googlegear I mean ZipZoomFly Has the p4 retail for 180LINK

 

[mechBgon]

I'm a little squeamish at the thought of saddling a Sony VAIO with the added power consumption and heat production of the Radeon 9800 Pro. Considering what ScrapSilicon dredged up about it being an SDRAM-equipped board (nice catch!), the P4 2.4 is going to be rather choked by the lack of memory bandwidth too.

This could be a good excuse to build yourself a new rig around the Radeon 9800 Pro. We're full of ideas if you need help The photo guide in my signature was made for people who've never built a computer before but who understand that they're made of parts, so if you want to recon the procedure before making up your mind, have a look

 

[Cannabis]

This 9800pro is $204 at newegg. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-268&depa=1.
Sorry about the ram recommendation. I just assumed it was DDR.
As for the fan/heat sink, do you plan to overclock?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

thanks, Mech ..I was looking already for a friend at upping his Vaio ..so was already researching..these things..the LX boards..only support up to 2.0ghz and ..worse..only 2x256mb..max.

 

[FreshFish]

No overclock...and man i would love to just start from scratch on a new system but I don't have the $$ Maybe if I can sell this old thing off for some $ though haha

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: FreshFish
No overclock...and man i would love to just start from scratch on a new system but I don't have the $$ Maybe if I can sell this old thing off for some $ though haha

the main holdup is you are running 256mb of ram..XP likes more ram..also upon startup..EndTask unneeded processes..taking note of which shuts comp down and which are needed XP processes and which are just hogging resources..

 

[FreshFish]

Ok...so just bulding from new would be the best way. I can't right now though...just not enough money. But supposing I bought the following:

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit ($204)
Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4GHz Northwood 512K Socket 478 Processor 400MHz Processor Bus OEM ($129)
ALL Components 168 Pin 256MB SDRAM PC-133 ($49)
+ some fan to go with the processor ( I don't know which kind yet)

should the system atleast run pretty good? Or would I be better off downgrading to a 9600 video card based on my feeble memory situation? this is about the best I can do costwise....thanks again for the help!

 

[Cannabis]

I would say keep the cpu you have now just get a new motherboard and ram. Then when you have the money go for a faster processor.

 

[VTEC01EX]

Don't dump anymore money than you need to in that box, it's a dead end. I'd just throw in the RAM, it'll be good performance increase, and then just leave it till you can buy a new machine. Throwing money away on this one isn't going to get you there any faster.

 

[FreshFish]

Ok, so a new motherboard...im not 100% sure as to what that entails...like is that I really major thing to do? So i can get a new mobo, some good RAM...then should I still buy the video card now? Is the video card dependent on your processor at all or is it all the RAM? Thanks again

 

[TwoBills]

bump

 

[spazo]

Hey, I have the same exact pc...word of warning: Don't try playing Far Cry on anything less than an Nvidia Ti4800se because even on a Ti4800Se, it won't run smoothly...