Noobs quest on upgrading his gateway motherboard.

[reddem0n]

Well these past few weeks I've been really thinking about getting a whole new gaming rig, since my current one which is a gateway can't handle sh*t anymore especially with some of the new games. I've been doing a little research and from what I hear from most people, building your own computer is the best way to go especially if your on a budget.

Right now, I'm just working on paying off a few bills and saving up, so I figured I'd get my computer sometime by early next year. In the meantime while I'm stuck with this gateway computer I'd upgrade my motherboard so it can support some of the newer hardware I have put into it. Such as my audigy 2zs sound card and the nvidia geforce fx5600 ultra 256mb.

Since I have no clue about what to look for to see what kind of motherboards are compatible with my system, I talked to a gateway upgrade consultant about this issue and they referred me a link to a list of motherboards that is compatible with my system.

http://accessories.gateway.com...6814/Default?orderby=3

I'm looking at the 203.95 one, and I found the exact one in newegg for 24 bucks less.
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=13-131-464&depa=0

Anyways my question is what do you guys think I should get, will it be worth the money? Will I get the max performance out of it?

Here is my current system specs:
Operating System
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600)

Processor
Code Name: Northwood
Brand ID: 9
Technology: 0.13
Instructions: MMX, SSE, SSE 2
2.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache


Main Circuit Board
Board: Intel Corporation D845GRG AAA81583-302C
Serial Number: ABRG24707235
FSB: 133.3MHZ
Bus Speed: 533.3MHZ
Core Speed: 2399.9MHZ
Multiplier: x 18.0
BIOS: Intel Corp. RG84510A.15A.0057.P19.0308210949 08/21/2003

Cache
L1 Data: 8 Kbytes
Level 2: 512 Kbytes
L1 Trace: 12

Memory Modules
768 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'J6G1' has 256 MB
Slot 'J6G2' has 512 MB

Drives
80.02 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
38.85 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

_NEC NR-7900A [CD-ROM drive]
Generic DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive]
HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8160B [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

WDC WD800BB-53CAA1 [Hard drive] (80.03 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMA8E6442876, rev 17.07W17, SMART Status: Healthy

Controllers
Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(R) 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]

Display
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 [Display adapter]
IBM 15.7 [Monitor] (15.7"vis, August 1996)

Multimedia
Creative Game Port
Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)

 

[Concillian]

If it's a regular Asus P4C800-E Deluxe, then your computer should be able to take just about any board you want.

Save yourself another chunk of change and get this instead:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=13-131-492&depa=0

There is really VERY little difference between the i865PE chipset and the i875 chipset. You can use that as the basis for upgrading everything else. I mean you can put any modern P4 into that board, and better memory and any AGP video card.

Realistically though, there shouldn't be much that will be TOO limited by your system, what games are you having troubles with? I'd look at video card before spending too much on processor upgrades. A 5600U should at least be decent, though far from optimal.

 

[SimsFreak]

I was talking to reddem0n, and told him to come here since me and him are friends. My only concern is his FSB, it's set to 133Mhz. I would have thought a P4 2.4Ghz had atleast 400FSB. But his BUS is 533. I mainly do AMD but my Intel board shows FSB and Bus at the same thing, maybe I could be wrong? Also why is the multiplier so high? Or is that just Intel?

 

[Concillian]

Intel will advertise an FSB of 133 MHz as 533MHz. The FSB is "quad pumped"

FSBs for intel are:
100 MHz a.k.a. 400 "marketing" MHz
133 MHz a.k.a. 533 "marketing" MHz
200 MHz a.k.a. 800 "marketing" MHz
and soon to be 266 MHz a.k.a. 1066 "marketing" MHz

18 x 133 = 2.4GHz

He has a standard "533 MHz FSB" P4 2.4 GHz. His memory is running at PC2100 speed.

An "800 MHZ FSB" P4 2.4 GHZ would have a multiplier of 12 (200 x 12 = 2400)

The speed quoted pertains to the speed between the processor and chipset. I believe it means that it is DDR (2x) and then you get 2x throughput by being capable of full duplex (full speed up and down at the same time) so they consider that 4x whatever the Real speed is.

 

[reddem0n]

This new motherboard you recommended to me specifications look almost exactly like the one I found on newegg, but whatever kind of features I'm missing out from the one you recommended to me will it really make that much of a difference on system performance?

I mean it is like 70-80 bucks short, surely there is something really beneficial on the one I found on newegg.

About the gaming issue, well I run a game called America's Army which is very cpu/graphics intensive. I'd probably do a WHOLE lot better with an ati card possibly a 9800xt but for now I will stick with the 5600 ultra I have now and possibly sell this one and buy a x800 for my new system early next year.

Anyways, with all the specifications etc, the motherboard you recommended to me should be compatible with my system right?

 

[Concillian]

No, the real difference is the i865PE chipset instead of the i875 chipset.

The i865PE chipset is far cheaper from Intel, so the motherboard is cheaper too. Also, i865PE chipset boards tend to use a less complex power conversion circuit which means it may be a little less efficient from a power standpoint. Also the i875 chipset supports ECC RAM while the i865PE does not, but VERY few end users use ECC RAM.

For the most part, performance will be indistinguishible between the two. You may see a very slight difference with benchmarks, but for all intents and purposes, these two boards will perform the same and you will save a ton of money by using the i865PE based board.

IF (and this is a big if) the ASUS board they are recommending you on the Gateway site is a NORMAL ASUS board, then that means you can use pretty much any motherboard you want. If it isn't then even the P4c800-E you linked to on newegg wouldn't work and you'd HAVE to buy the one from Gateway.

It is possible that Gateway has ASUS do some proprietary modifications for them and those are implemented on their board, though I think that case is quite unlikely. If that is the case, the worst case is you try it, it doesn't work and you return the board and are out the 15% restocking fee.

In all likelihood you can go out and buy any P4 motherboard you want, transfer your stuff over, and you'll be just fine. Of course going this route you will probably lose any support you have left from Gateway. But if your support term is done anyway, might as well save yourself some bucks.

 

[reddem0n]

Alright I'm probably going to buy this mobo
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=13-131-492&depa=0
within the next week or two...I've never done this before, but do I have to format my whole computer before installing the new motherboard?

 

[o1die]

Newegg and soyo have combined to offer another board free after rebate. It has an ati chipset, which may not overclock as well, but it's free after 2 rebates. Listed at the top of the Intel motherboards page.

 

[reddem0n]

Do I really have to format my computer before upgrading to a newer motherboard?