PC Chips motherboard?!?

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movingincircles

Banned
Jun 14, 2002
505
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Hi!

I just bought the $100 deal from Fry's which includes a PC Chips motherboard M950 and a Intel P4 2.4 ghz 400 fsb. I haven't installed it and I am still thinking if I should keep this. I just really need something to get out of this OLD P3 550mhz crappy computer! Playing max payne 2 was a bitch!

I'm wondering if any of you think this is a good deal for a person who just wants to play the latest games at just decent speed/quality such as playing UT2K4 at 800x600 medium details at 30 fps average, or HL2 with the same settings. And will this last me for a couple of years?

I also have a geforce 2 mx 200 which im going to use for my new comp. Plus two 5400 rpm HD's. I don't want to spend money, but do you think I should upgrade my video card or is GF2mx200 good enough for that kind of games/settings?


I'm not looking for an xtreme gaming pc, just something to do while I'm bored or something.


Here is the motherboard.
http://www.pcchips.com.tw/PCCWeb/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?DetailID=234&DetailName=Feature


I would appreciate it if someone did a review on this motherboard.


I also do some video editing which I seriously need some type of computer where I can export minidv video from computer to camcorder without dropping some frames. So is this mobo/cpu good enough?Otherwise I would be forced to export to quicktime, then burn on a few CDs in order to bring it to my class...

Here is my supposedly final new computer when I build it up:

P4 2.4 ghz 400 fsb
20gb 5400 rpm hd
40gb 5400 rpm hd
256mb DDR333 ram
GF2mx200 32mb
10/100 LAN
Yamaha sound card
1394 Firewire 3 port card


Tell me if any of these needs serious upgrades to help with the latest games.
Thanx for any help!
 
SneakyStuff

SneakyStuff

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2004
4,294
0
76
You'll need at least 512MB of RAM, and a GeForce Ti 4200 or Radeon 9600 at least. Other than that, doesn't look bad :)

Here are some links to worthy upgrades. Enjoy :)

Video Card- Sapphire
RAM- Crucial

And you may want to think of a faster HD for wherever you will be storing your games on

HD- Seagate (It's a BLAZIN hard drive, I own one, and am very happy :))
 
S

Sid59

Lifer
Sep 2, 2002
11,879
3
81
playing any game with a GF2mx200 regardless of your CPU is gonna suck nuts.

save more and get a better gfx card.
 
S

Sid59

Lifer
Sep 2, 2002
11,879
3
81
Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
It's as good as any other mobo, as long as you aren't a performance enthusiast.
Click to expand...

benchmark whore number .. more aptly named. which the poster prolly isn't since they still have a GF2.
 
mechBgon

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
1
0
Originally posted by: SneakyStuffAnd you may want to think of a faster HD for wherever you will be storing your games on

HD- Seagate (It's a BLAZIN hard drive, I own one, and am very happy :))
Click to expand...
Hehe, I have the same hard drive and I've dubbed it the Snail Drive :D but then again, my 15000rpm Cheetahs are a tough act to follow :evil: I'll admit it's quiet, though! :)

You may want to check into the compatibility of your Yamaha sound card with the version of Windows you intend to use on the new system. If you're not changing OS'es then disregard.

Thumbs up on the Sapphire 9600Pro although if you wait a bit, the 9800 Pro may drop in price as the new high-end cards come into the market. And for HL2, I think a 9800Pro could be worth it, something like twice the performance?

Also ask yourself if your power supply is ready for a new CPU and video card. A high-quality 300W+ seems prudent. More wattage wouldn't hurt, but quality first. If in doubt, consider spending ~$50 to pick up a good-quality new PSU like an Enermax 365-series, Fortron 350W, or Antec SL350. Good luck with the new rig :)
 
R

RobCur

Banned
Oct 4, 2002
3,076
0
0
i would suggest you just upgrade the cpu as well, its 48$ for celeron 1.1ghz fcpga 128k level 2 cache, should work with your ancient mobo and will at least boost your speed by 2x vs your p3 550. btw pcchips mobo are very slow coupled with slow hd access and may have stability issue as well.
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=33
1ghz cost even less lol, only 35.90
1ghz
 
R

RobCur

Banned
Oct 4, 2002
3,076
0
0
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
PC chips are about the same level as ECS, which is crap
Click to expand...

thanks for that comment, the funniest i have heard once in a while. hehehe..
 
M

movingincircles

Banned
Jun 14, 2002
505
0
0
Wow thx for the replies!


Originally posted by: RobCur
i would suggest you just upgrade the cpu as well, its 48$ for celeron 1.1ghz fcpga 128k level 2 cache, should work with your ancient mobo and will at least boost your speed by 2x vs your p3 550. btw pcchips mobo are very slow coupled with slow hd access and may have stability issue as well.
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=33
1ghz cost even less lol, only 35.90
1ghz
Click to expand...

Well I thought about that, but if it is just twice the performance, then in Max Payne 2, 10 fps -> 20 fps? I also had some very bad experiences with celeron (P1 beat my old Celeron 300mhz floating point wise). Thx for your help!

Yamaha sound cards:
Yeah, Yamaha updates their drivers from time to time (even for old sound cards! amazing!)



I also need a new case. Any cheap local place where I can pickup a generic one (best buy, circuit city, fry's, etc?)? No fancy stuff....


Thx all
 
J

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,095
1
81
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
PC chips are about the same level as ECS, which is crap
Click to expand...

I disagree PC Chips is worse. So far one I gave my parents the Mouse PS2 port has died and all 3 internal fan headers as well as the 2 DDR ram slots ( the motherboard has 2 SD and 2 DDR ram slots) the SD's are still working.

So far I have had no luck with it though it is still working 3 years later just with these problems. It works for thier needs. I would never knowingly buy one of those again.
 
C

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
5
0
video card... that is nothing better than a glorified 2d card.. 3d is brutal on that thing. (I had one for a few days a while back)
 
R

RobCur

Banned
Oct 4, 2002
3,076
0
0
a faster vga card will be a world of differences! let me tell you even with 1.3ghz processor and onboard vga, my 3d gaming was much, much slower then a P300 equipped with some kickass video card. your mx200 arent that fast at all, its quite slow and you would need something like 2ghz to hit 40fsb lol.
video card is the bottleneck on 3d gaming. Hell I ran a crappy sis6326 on 2ghz AMD processor and it was still just as slow as it was on my 1.1ghz AMD cpu. same fps, very sad.
my friend has a 733mhz machine equipped with some radeon card and he said he got like 180-200 FPS on ET: enemy territory while my geforce MX200 on my 2ghz machine only got like 20-30FPS on low detail.
faster cpu speeds up 2d performance, faster video speed up both 2d and 3d tremendously but more so on 3d regardless of processor speed.
just check this review out http://www.rivastation.com/max_payne_e.htm
geforce GTS 3 times faster at only 35 http://www.shentech.com/vigegt64ddra.html
so if you upgrade cpu to 1ghz coupled with faster vga above, I'm guessing 50-60 fps. not too shabby.
 
B

buckmasterson

Senior member
Oct 12, 2002
482
0
0
Like ECS, PC Chips is just a low end board. I've owned several of both with very few problems. The one thing that seems to hamper these boards is the driver disk. Sometimes it works fine, other times the CD doesn't read correctly with your CD ROM. At first I thought it was an unstable board, then I downloaded the drivers and they worked fine.
 
J

jjyiz28

Platinum Member
Jan 11, 2003
2,901
0
0
ecs and pcchips are same company, but pcchips is made specially for the ultra low end users. which is funny since ecs is pretty low as you can get, pcchips is even lower.
 
S

Sideswipe001

Golden Member
May 23, 2003
1,116
0
0
I agree. I NEVER buy Pc Chips anymore. Talk about impossible to work on, find info for, update....*shudders*
 
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