Ideas to boost up a P3 800Mhz?

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18114

Member
Feb 27, 2005
27
0
0
Hi,

In my previous thread someone mentioned I should get rid of my 5400 rpm HDD and go for 7200 RPM for starters. So, temporarily I thought I'd bare with my present system for a while ... make a slightly higher budget and then finally get quality stuff.

So I'd appreciate your comments/suggestions on what I can improve on my existing computer Hardware/Software wise. Any windows tweaks or something along the line that gives a speed boost to the computer?

Also, I've got 4 slots for RAM in my mobo. However, I am able to only insert 2 double sided rams (256 *2) PC133 SD RAM. When I insert a third RAM either in the 2nd or 3rd slot ... I get the system beeps. I shut down and remove them. Is it not possible to insert any more double sided 256 MB RAM?

Specifications :

Gigabyte GA- something motherboard
P III 800 Mhz, Coppermine
512 MB PC133 SD Ram [256 *2]
Riva TNT 2 Ultra 32 MB
10 GB Seagate 5400 RPM HDD
Panasonic Floppy Drive
External USB Modem
Samsung CD-Rewriter/DVD-Rom Drive
Old ATX case with 300w PSU
Some IDE Cables
Running Windows XP Home


Thanks.
 
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mwmorph

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2004
8,877
1
81
meh, for your build, 512mb is more than enough.
as for gpu, a geforce 2 would work nicely.
check you mb model with cpu-z and then update the bios and then try ocing ti. you probably csan hit about 1-1.1 easy on air.
 
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18114

Member
Feb 27, 2005
27
0
0
Well,

I'm no Xtreme overclocker. However, I read a few guides and tried to o/c it slightly ... unfortunately Windows crashed and I had to lower down its speed. Will just updating the BIOS do any good?
I won't be playing any high end games ... so I don't think a GPU would be on my list for now.


Thanks!

 
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bluemax

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2000
7,182
0
0
What are you using the system for?

Word processing and internet, this system is fine as-is. Just check for spyware regularly!

Games? Forget it... this system can't be upgraded much more than it already is... you *could* get the converter and Tualatin CPU and get as high as a Pentium3 1.4GHz and overclock it a tiny bit further but it's just not worth the money.

Those upgrade items would cost as much as a cheap AMD motherboard and Sempron CPU. hmm.... I didn't factor in new RAM cost in that equasion, but 512MB DDR is pretty cheap too. Much better to spend $120 on new stuff than $80-100 upgrading the old. You'd wind up with over double the speed and a better upgrade path.

Better yet, scour the forsale forums here for a used AMD SocketA combo. ;)
 
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CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
5
0
Originally posted by: forcesho
if that mobo is i815, max is 512mb anyway unless its via chipset..
Click to expand...

I was just going to say this.

sucky thing about the 815 chipset, but 512meg is the cap.... crappy :(
 
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cockeyed

Senior member
Dec 8, 2000
777
0
0
If it were mine, I would do this:

1.) Replace the HDD with a Seagate 7200 RPM drive. (80gb ~$50)

2.) Replace the Video card with a 9600 pro (128mb), GeForce4 Ti4200 or ATI 9250, depending on how much you can spend. Personally I would get the 9600pro for ~$100.

For ~$150, you would have a faster and more capable system.
 
1

18114

Member
Feb 27, 2005
27
0
0
Hi,

I finally looked up the model number on the Motherboard. Its a Gigabyte GA-60XM7E, I don't know if that may tell you what chipset it is.

Do you know what's the mazimum processor I can fit onto the motherboard. If I can go upto 1.4 Ghz ... that would be really great, as that's about double of what it is right now.
 
1

18114

Member
Feb 27, 2005
27
0
0
Hmmm, I did some searching around and found out that it is a i815e chipset and also the maximum it can take is a 1gh P3?

Err... this may sound noobish, but does it support AMD processors?

I just found a newer version of the EasyTune program. Lost my CD previously. Here : http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/EasyTune/1020786662/1 .... I guess I'll give it a try.

Hmm, Ironically the software doesn't work. I installed it. Now when I try to run it. It opens and closes by itself ... so there goes my overclicking option ...

bluemax

Could you go into a bit more detail about the convertor? You mean, I can put a proc which is not socket 370? That would be pretty good. Do you know where I might get a new one from?

And going through the used section is not of any use as I'm not in the US. And international shipping would cost a lot.
 
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Amaroque

Platinum Member
Jan 2, 2005
2,178
0
0
Originally posted by: cockeyed
If it were mine, I would do this:

1.) Replace the HDD with a Seagate 7200 RPM drive. (80gb ~$50)

2.) Replace the Video card with a 9600 pro (128mb), GeForce4 Ti4200 or ATI 9250, depending on how much you can spend. Personally I would get the 9600pro for ~$100.

For ~$150, you would have a faster and more capable system.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

The most noticeable upgrade you can do is put a new HDD in. For general windows usage, you'll be somewhat hard pressed to see a difference between that computer (with a fast HDD) and a much newer one. 99% of the time the CPU is waiting on you.

Unless you game a lot, I wouldn't bother with upgrading the video card. 2D won't be any faster with a new card.
 
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carloboy

Senior member
Feb 11, 2005
731
0
0
first of all, what are you going to do with this rig?

putting in even a 9600 there would just be wasting gpu cycles.

if your not so much of a gamer, yes i would say
*get a 7200 rpm drive, you will feel the difference
*if your motherboard can accept higher frequency, i would be putting in a faster proc for below $100 rather than spend on a simmilarly priced vid card.

Your Riva TNT 32mb can still play low res Counter-Strike (just for references), i know because i have a old 900mhz athlon in the next room with a 8mb TNT Riva which i used to play on.

 
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mwmorph

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2004
8,877
1
81
9600 would kill the cpu. too much choke at the gpu. hell, a geforce3 will waste most of it's cycles. but it is shown a good geforce 2 is a fair match for a 800mhz-1ghz pIII.
 
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carloboy

Senior member
Feb 11, 2005
731
0
0
yes exactly what i was just going to post, if you really want to "upgrade" your vid card, you can go for a gf2, you could find a deal in the FS/T section for below $30
 
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halfadder

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2004
1,190
0
0
You already have enough ram. Any game that requires more than what you have will kill your CPU anyway...

A modern hard drive is a MUST! Any parallel ATA 7200 RPM drive with 8 MB will really speed up your I/O.

Your graphics card is a little oldschool for that system, I used to use TNT2 Ultra on 400mhz P2. Definitely get a 64mb GeForce2 GTS (NOT MX!!!), which as the others have pointed out, you can get used for $20 - $40.

This is also a good time to reinstall windows and follow one of those optimizing/tweaking XP guides.

800mhz of P3 power is enough to run just about all of the fairly recent games. You could probably even play WoW with some of the quality settings turned down.
 
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halfadder

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2004
1,190
0
0
I've used an upgraded system with a 1.4ghz P3 Tualatin once. The raw CPU performance was amazing, better than a 2.0ghz P4. But the problem is the rest of the system was oldschool. For the same amount of money it would take to upgrade an old rid to Tualatin plus all of the other modern levels, you could just build a new A64 rig.

Keep your 800mhz cpu unless you can find a faster cpu for free or for a few dollars.
 
1

18114

Member
Feb 27, 2005
27
0
0
halfadder,

The XP installation is very recent. 1 month. I've run Norton yesterday ... and not much spyware. But , I'll go through some of the tweaking guides.


Thanks.
 
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bluemax

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2000
7,182
0
0
If you can afford it, the best balance between price/performance is:

Athlon64 socket 939 3000+ (lowest available until Semprons arrive)
ATI RS480 motherboard (MSI has one) with onboard "free" almost-Radeon x300 graphics.

Both great values... $150 for processor, $100 for board - and no more upgrading for a good long time!
 
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Arcanedeath

Platinum Member
Jan 29, 2000
2,822
1
76
As long as your not gaming that system is just fine if you upgrade to a 7200rpm 8mb cache HDD, my cousin is still using a 733 Coppermine P3 system and it's more than good enough for web surfing, email, playing DVDs, ect.. pretty much anything except Encoding or Gaming (he's got a Rage 128 Pro w/ 64meg in there too) altho he can Play the orginal CS at 1024x768 w/out to many issues. But get a newer faster HDD, I upgraded his old 5400rpm 10GB wd to a 1200JB and it was like a New PC :)
 
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