Avian Gamers Network

I'm looking at getting teh following off Pricewatch:

Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB -$250
Pentium IV 1.7 GHz - $125

Questions:
What is a Socket 478 and how do I know if I have that?
Some Radeon cards list as Sapphire Technology Limited. What is the difference?
I have a new power supply but do I need to buy anything else when upgrading my CPU, like a new fan or heat sink, if so which do I know to get?

Thanks,

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Moge

Well if you're sure you want a Radeon, then ya go for it.


Whats wattage on your " new " power supply?



you CAN get cooling for your graphics card but not nessecery.



You DO need a Heatsink and Fan approved for your CPU. Try going to www.newegg.com good prices/brands I buy all my stuff from them.


Only three things i see wrong with this upgrade.

1. It's not above 2ghz. (which is almost the standard nowadays)
2. It's Pentium(I'm loyal to Athlon after seeing how my dads P4 2.8ghz w/ HT compared to my Athlon XP 2800+ )
3. You're getting a Radeon ( nothing nvidia has done has ever made me ever consider changing to ATI )

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Concord of Agriculturalists Initiative


Founder of Lucasism

my powersupply is 450W
I have a 1.7 Motherboard and no cash to upgrade.
I like ATI just fine

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Moge

Sapphire is just a third party board maker. They both use the same GPU so the specs are usually so close as to not matter.

Sometimes the third party makers will make minor adjustments.

_________________
Dr. Golga Bolg
SWTOR - Golga
Rift - Gnarlwood: Golgar Golgantua Golgate - Retired
WoW - Dalaran: Bolg Golga Virrok All Retired
SWG - Golga Bolg - Doctor (Resident) Retired
Eve - Edge Finn - Limbo
Section 2 - (Former) Director
What am I playing now?: The waiting game

It is how many pins the processor has. The mobo has to be designed to accept that processor. The 478 little pins fit in a roughly square pattern on the mother board. If you don't know, it should be on the mobo itself or in documentation that came with it. What kind of board do you have now, and what kind of processor. If it didn't come with a P4, then you probably don't have a Socket 478 slot, and that processor won't work. You'll need a new motherboard if that is the case. If you end up needing a new motherboard, get a better processor too.

You can get a much nicer processor for not a lot more.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

currently I have a computer I bought at MicroCenter its called a PowerSpec. It is a Celeron 1.7Ghz.

I figured since it was a 1.7 I could buy a 1.7 P4 chip and slip it in. So I now have no idea if I can/should be able to put a 1.7 P4 chip in there.

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Moge

I've found a much, much better processor for $1 cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 178&depa=1

P4 2.4 w/ 1mb L2 cache, Socket 478, 533MHz FSB, includes fan and heatsink.

If you need a motherboard to go with it, http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 186&depa=1

It has 5 PCI slots (I wouldn't get one with fewer, you can get 6 if you spend more) and an 8x AGP. It does need DDR RAM, though. If you don't have any, you need to get some. Having a P4 with regular SDRAM is a complete waste, and limits the processor. If that's the case, you may as well stick with a P3.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

wow thanks Cetera! Yeah I have DDR, about 786 or whatever that 700 one is

I may just pick this up, the MoBo and CPU. It seems it would be a much better buy for not that much more.

cool!

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Moge

I highly recommend www.newegg.com, it's a fantastic site! I've had countless friends and family members order from there. I've ordered many cpu's, video cards, soundcards, speakers, etc from there! Great ratings, good site!

1.7 with a 9800 Pro sounds a bit...well...strange to me

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Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.

I bought an Athlon XP 2.5 gigahertz chip off of newegg.com this past December/Jannuary for 90$. I overclocked it to a 2.8 gigahertz, and it's been running smoothly ever since with no problems. It was probably a special super sale, but anyway...newegg is really nice.

I am looking at getting this exact setup, this and a Radeon 9800 pro 256mb for $260.
My total is about $480 which is perfect as I want to stay under 500.
Thanks Cetera for the tips. Any last notes before I buy?

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Moge

I'm checking out different mobos right now, Moge, seeing if I can get something a bit cheaper. I think you are OK, though.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

I have a
P4 w/ 2.4 GHz
nVidia G-Force 4200 w/ 8x agp and 256Mb I think
256 Mb of DDR
17.2 Gb harddrive
SoundBlaster Audigy I w/ 5.1 capability.
DVD

Currently looking for a laptop with same specs or better if cheap enough.

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1st Feb 2008

Items ordered today!

Anyonen know if I need anything special to install the MoBo or CPU? Never have done it before.

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Moge

Well, when putting down the CPU and the CPU cooler, make sure that you have thermal paste on the CPU, and apply it properly:

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/coo ... mal_paste/

_________________
Leno WeEda - Miner
Locin WeEda - Hauler/Trader

does anyone actually use an anti-static bracelet? or do you guys do what I do...just touch some metal nearby...like the case.

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The Cord
Occasional Caretaker of the Horde Maelstrom Guild
Ex-Section 3 Director

I'm not an expert, and in fact I used themal paste when I put together my PC, but not every CPU/Heatsink combo needs thermal paste. Particulatly if you are using the stock heatsink (retail I think they are attached anyways)

Just a word of caution.

_________________
Dr. Golga Bolg
SWTOR - Golga
Rift - Gnarlwood: Golgar Golgantua Golgate - Retired
WoW - Dalaran: Bolg Golga Virrok All Retired
SWG - Golga Bolg - Doctor (Resident) Retired
Eve - Edge Finn - Limbo
Section 2 - (Former) Director
What am I playing now?: The waiting game

I touch metal to discharge the static, usualy the tower frame. Those bracelets suck

The last one I bought wasn't attached, but it had a premade thermal "pad" for lack of a better word, already on the heatsink. It was like a solid version of the thermal paste, already sized to the processor and applied to the heatsink. All I had to do was put on the heatsink, and I was good to go.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

Some heatsinks come with a thermal pad already on it, but they aren't great for performance. I always take them off and use Artic Silver 3 (as thin a layer as you can have with still covering the whole of the die).

But you need to be very careful when doing this. Since the compound is highly conductive, if it touches the exposed contacts on the cpu you can ruin the chip. Also if you do not have a proper layer it will greatly reduce heat transfer and affect performance (and perhaps harm the chip).

I'll try and find the link I had that had a pretty straight forward guide to doing this.

EDIT: it was in an obvious place
http://articsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

Wow, didn't know about all of that, Obo. Thanks for the info.

Do you know what the A, B, or C behind P4 processors denotes? I've been looking for something on that, and have not found anything.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

The internal frequency is different. P4A is 100MHz, P4B is 133MHz and P4C is 200MHz.

_________________
Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.

Does that affect much? Does a P4 2.6C outperform a P4 2.6A?

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

Indeed

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Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.