Radeon Questions

[TheNewGuy]

Folks...

Basically what I'm doing is building a computer piece by piece, and I'm
basically going to have to replace the entire computer. Right now, I have a
pII 400 mhz, 96 mb ram, voodoo 3 2000, Win 98 (first edition) NEC computer.
I've been having a difficult time determining the type of motherboard I
have, as there's nothing on NEC's site, and I'm not paying whatever the fee
is to spend time on the phone with those idiots. That said, I am
considering to upgrade to a Radeon 64 mb video card. In theory, should
there be any problems running a 4x video card in 1x mb (assuming worst case
scenario). Secondly, I see that the Radeon is not supported under win98
(first edition)...any problems with running it with the first edition??

Another important point is that a mb/cpu combo is not an option at this time....

thanks in advance...

Dave

 

[arod324]

Well, running a 4X card in 1X will be perfectly fine. I am running first edition, and my radeon is working perfectly fine. ( probably should upgrade soon). However, I don't think it is worth yourmoney right now to upgrade to a Radeon DDR LE. You would be heavily bottlenecked by your cpu at the moment. A cpu upgrade may be a better choice for you right now.

 

[TheNewGuy]

Yeah...I agree about upgrading except the only problem is that I have to upgrade Mb, cpu, ram, hd, case, etc. Living in Canada, the prices, while dropping, are still quite high...that's why I'm trying to purchase components basically one at a time...

Dave

 

[TheNewGuy]

No other opinions??

Dave

 

[piercedan]

What type of case do you have? If it is an ATX, can you reuse it? If not, I would start with a case. The prices of those stay pretty constant. The MB and CPU will come down in price. The CPU would be among the last things to buy. Is your memory PC100?

 

[TheNewGuy]

NEC tells me it's an ATX case, but I don't know anything about the power supply. My plans are to go with an athlon system eventually. As for the Ram, I was told it is pc66, but is there any way I can verify this myself, either though my computer, or physically checking the ram??

Thanks in advance....

Dave

 

[TheNewGuy]

Another thing....with Ram being so cheap, what about purchasing some pc 133 ram now, and shoving it in this computer. Will it run even if the the existing is on pc66??

Thanks in advance...

Dave

 

[oldfart]

Couple of thigs...You have a PII 400? That is a 4 x 100 FSB setup. You should have PC 100 ram. If you have a BX chipset mobo, it should be AGP 2X. That V3 2000 is AGP, not PCI right? You have an actual AGP slot? If that mobo is decent, you *may* be able to upgrade it later on to a PIII 850 or so. You would have to do some research to find out what exactly it is.

 

[TheNewGuy]

It is a pII 400, although I'm not sure how to check the MB type, and there's no settings in the bios. Yes, the v3 2000 is agp....NEC's website is absolutely useless as my computer type isn't even listed on the site...I've emailed them numerous times, to very little response...

Thanks in advance...

Dave

 

[oldfart]

Try SiSoft Sandra. You may be able to find out the motherboard type and chipset used. Get it here.

 

[Tominator]

The ONLY thing that is included in the SE version that cannot be downloaded is ICS or Internet Connection Sharing. If you have updated via Windows Update, you effectively ARE running Win98SE. You should not have a problem running the radeon.

BTW, why? With those specs the V3 2000 is just fine...IMHO upgrading to the Radeon is a waste.

 

[TheNewGuy]

Thanks for the info oldfart....

under system chipset, it states Intel corporation 82443bx/zx 440bx/zx cpu to pci Bridge (agp implemented, and the front side bus speed is 100 mhz. Looking at the memory bus speed, it says it's also 100 mhz, so the NEC guy was incorrect. It also states that the AGP is 2x (134 mhz)...

Tominator...the reason for the upgrade is that its a start towards upgrading to a new system, and I'd rather start with items that I can use now, rather than having them sit in the closet until I can get all the components...

Dave

 

[hans007]

the bus speed of your motherboard is 100mhz. thus 4x100 for your 400mhz cpu. the agp speed, is 2x the pci bus speed which is 1/3 of your main bus speed. thus 100/3=33x2 = 66. zx supports 2x agp, your radeon will be fine

 

[Tominator]

Dave, using your own logic, I'll suggest just saving the cash. The Radeon card you buy today will only go down in price. That's going to be true for anything. Your not going to see much difference between the Radeon and V3 on that syatem. By the time you buy the parts, CPU, motherboard, etc, to do a proper upgrade, the Radeon will be as outdated as the V3 2000 is now.

Again, I suggest saving the cash. I'd be getting up to 192 mb of memory before any other upgrade.

 

[flenn]

My thoughts exactly Tominator. The vid card and CPU should be the very LAST thing you buy IMO. The technology in both change quicker than any other device in your PC. My advice would be to wait until the end of your construction to buy those two pieces.