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ok, computer geeks, jamie finally needs computer geek help

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ok, computer geeks, jamie finally needs computer geek help

Postby JamieW on Fri Sep 03, 2004 8:38 pm

I'm about to upgrade an older computer that I built several years ago.

Asus A7M266
Duron 700
256MB PC2700
12x Lite-On DVD-ROM
Kyro II Video Card
SB Live
20GB IBM 7200 RPM 8MB cache

I will get much more RAM as soon as I get in touch with a friend that works at Micron. I also don't care about the HD. I don't store that much at all. 20GB with the 40GB on the other computer on the home network is plenty for me. That stuff is done. Finito. Good to go. Five by five. I am also probably going to pick up an ATI Radeon 9600.

Important to note I'm not performance buff. I game some, but I care not too much. I just want to be able to at least RUN current games with a modicum of playability.

Issue:

Asus website says this can support up to an Athlon XP Palomino 2100+. Only one I've found is like $83. Yet an Athlon XP Palomino 2000+ is like $53 OEM.

Questions:

1) Am I right here to go with the 2000+ in this situation?
2) Is there a better price out there I've simply not found?
3) Do I really need $20 cooling if I am doing no overclocking and how badly do I need the paste?
4) Based on what is said here, what would you REALLY do different for roughly the same price range?

Help me Obi-Geek Kenobi, you are my only hope.
A man has been charged after allegedly punching a 73-year-old woman in the face, breaking her nose and stabbing her in the arm with a corkscrew before hitting a second woman with a bottle at a wedding reception in the Whitsunday Islands.
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Re: ok, computer geeks, jamie finally needs computer geek he

Postby ClayBuster on Fri Sep 03, 2004 10:22 pm

Why not just get a new motherboard too? That would open up more chip options. If you must keep the old one for whatever reason you really should use some sort of thermal paste or tape (it's cheap) and a decent fan. I think those older chips were pretty hot. Check eBay for cheaper Palomino prices maybe.
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Postby burninfool on Sat Sep 04, 2004 12:33 am

Does your current mobo support 8x AGP and Fast Write?If it doesn't the 9600 won't be stable...personal experience. :x
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Re: ok, computer geeks, jamie finally needs computer geek he

Postby dodecahedron on Sat Sep 04, 2004 6:06 am

JamieW wrote:Asus A7M266

i had that motherboard! :D :D :D
apparently it was about to die some 3 months ago when the computer was serviced, so they replaced it...
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Postby Spazmogen on Sat Sep 04, 2004 8:45 am

What kind of budget are you working with?

For $158.99 (After MIR, yeah I know about them...) AMD 2800+ and motherboard.
CPU FAN $25
ATI 9600 $100

You want to play current games (a bit). Your old 20gb HDD may be a bottle neck. A new SATA or ATA133 drive will provide faster through put...but up goes the cost of the computer. Your current 20gb drive is probably ATA66, if not ATA33.

Thermal Paste: yes! Better safe than sorry.

Of course, you have to install the OS again with this set up.

For less hassle, you could just update the processor in your set up like you thought/
e6400 Core 2 Duo @ 2.13ghz
GeForce 7600GT 256mb PCI-e
2gb DDR2 667mhz Patriot ram 1.8v in d/c
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 F10 BIOS
WD Caviar SE16 250GB SATA300 7200RPM 16MB Buffer
Samsung SATA2 80gb 7200rpm
Samsung SH-S182D 18x DVD burner
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Postby JamieW on Sat Sep 04, 2004 12:31 pm

Spaz,

The 20GB if I recall is at least an ATA-100, possibly ATA-133. Definitely not ATA-66 or below. My budget is poorly defined: bang for the buck. If $100 will get me $100 worth of performance I will use, then I will spend it. If it won't, then I won't. I'm trying to keep the parts from $50-$100 because this is mostly a whim upgrade and that is pocket money and easier to part with. Once I start going over that, I then have to put it into my overall budget and I don't want to do that.
A man has been charged after allegedly punching a 73-year-old woman in the face, breaking her nose and stabbing her in the arm with a corkscrew before hitting a second woman with a bottle at a wedding reception in the Whitsunday Islands.
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Postby Spazmogen on Sat Sep 04, 2004 1:07 pm

My old (year 2000) IBM (34GXP) 20GB drive is ATA66. I had to buy an IDE card to get full speed out of it. My 1999 motherboard was only ATA33.

It's slow and noisy in my case compared to my WD 160gb & WD60gb.

Most bang for the buck would be motherboard/ram/cpu & video card.
You can always upgrade the HDD later when needed.
e6400 Core 2 Duo @ 2.13ghz
GeForce 7600GT 256mb PCI-e
2gb DDR2 667mhz Patriot ram 1.8v in d/c
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 F10 BIOS
WD Caviar SE16 250GB SATA300 7200RPM 16MB Buffer
Samsung SATA2 80gb 7200rpm
Samsung SH-S182D 18x DVD burner
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Postby CignaXI on Sat Sep 04, 2004 2:24 pm

I have a palomino 2100XP getting dust as I bought a thoroughbred and didn't had an extra mobo to put the palomini into. Just email me and I might sale it to you.
Still burning with my LTR-16101B.
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Postby JamieW on Sat Sep 04, 2004 6:58 pm

Cigna, I appreciate the offer, but with some digging I got an Athlon XP 2200+ Thoroughbred and a 512 MB (768MB total now) stick of PC2100 for $75.00. Now the issue:

I can't the FSB frequency to do much over 103MHZ. Doubled this is 205 right? When I set it to 133, just nothing happens either in jumper mode or jumper free mode. What's going on here?
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Postby ClayBuster on Sat Sep 04, 2004 7:05 pm

The board doesn't support the Thoroughbred chip so that maybe the problem. Have you tried updating to the latest BIOS for the MoBo? 1007 I think it was.

There is also a beta BIOS A7M266 Beta BIOS 1008.02b 9/13/02 it might help.

http://www.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/sock ... a2662b.zip

EDIT I guess it can support it using BIOS 1007.
http://www.asus.com.tw/inside/Techref/thoroughbred.htm
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Postby JamieW on Sat Sep 04, 2004 9:40 pm

:E

I just checked CPU temp and it was like 232 degrees farenheit. I need to increase my cooling like...umm...now?
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