So I was given an old computer, it has an Athlon 64 3000+ CPU, Asus K8N8XLA mobo, 512mb of ddr ram, and a Geforce FX 5200 AGP graphics card. I did a little digging around and I guess the 5200 is pretty much straight garbage. Could I turn this into a decent XP gaming rig? 2 gb of DDR is 5 bucks on ebay, but what is the most cost effective AGP card? I guess I could root around for a CPU upgrade too, is there a marked difference between a 3000+ and a 3400+? Looks Like I could get a 3400+ for abour $30.
I understand those are the "best AGP cards" but what would make a cost effective upgrade for the FX 5200 dumpster fire (not necessarily top of the heap)?
Here's most likely your best performing cheap AGP card: 7600GS for $32.99 shipped. It's a good bit faster than a 6600GT. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Dell-N...xBNckkjB:sc:ShippingMethodExpress!78154!US!-1
Is it? I saw the HD 3850 s going for pretty crazy money, but couldn't really find much on how the 3650 stacks up against the legendary 3850.
What games are you wanting to play on this ancient rig? I probably would have stuck with the Nvidia 7800 or 7900 series or the higher 6800 series. AMD's (ATI) drivers sucked monkey dick back in those days.
I have a Windows XP gamer computer, but what I did was use a Dell Optiplex 755 which although came out with Windows Vista, it DID support XP, and a Windows XP disc for Dell loaded just fine. Since it's got a PCIE slot, you can use just about any single slot PCIE card you want. I use a GT 730 1gb DDR3 variant. I think I spent $30 on that card still in the box.. Doom 3, Postal 2, Nascar Racing 2003, Farcry. All are games I play on it. 60 frames per second locked. I still have an old FX5200. I bought it long ago to be able to play Doom3 and it has enough hp to play but not great
It's a good deal considering the price of any other half decent AGP video card. Its also quite a bit faster than a 6800GT, which is night and day compared to a an FX5200.
That's the same cpu specs as one of my systems that I use today. Depending on what your budget is, 4gb the ram, add the fastest video card the hardware can handle (remember the power supply!), ssd and that's about as maxed out as it can get. Then play, play, play.
Hmm, from the auction "Built using MLC Flash chips, with read speeds up to 108MB/sec and write speeds up to 59MB/sec" hardly seems worth it. This says IDE caps out at 133MB/secaccording to this https://www.diffen.com/difference/IDE_vs_SATA I probably won't swap unless this hdd tanks.
A hard drive still has a 5-20ms access time where an SSD would have something like a 0.1ms access time. That's where the majority of the experienced improvement comes from.
I'd get this ide-sata converter as it's good both way and will come in handy as a tool later if the system dies: https://www.startech.com/HDD/Adapters/Bi-Directional-SATA-IDE-Adapter-Converter~PATA2SATA3 I've got 2 of them and they work great both ways. Then you can use a modern hard drive or an ssd without dealing with speed limits or crap-quality ssds.
On systems this old ime, it's not really that much of a speed improvement. I can barely tell the load time differences in the 2 systems that I have with ssds and those with just regular hard drives.
I have one that I use for cloning drives from old computers, but I just use it on my bench PC. Did you install one inside your case?
I have, but you do have to make sure there is enough clearance as it plugs directly into the ide connector on the motherboard. Otherwise, you'll have to use a small ide extension cable like this one: https://www.microsatacables.com/40pin-male-to-female-ide-extension-cable-ide-40p-m-f
I bought one of these Kingspec drives years ago with a Laptop that had a decent AMD Turion X2 but was massively helf back by the ancient potato of a hard drive. The difference was night and day even using the PATA interface on the older laptop.
It depends on what you're loading on the system. If it's swapping all night and day because windows 7/10, then it will make a huge difference.
Steam doesn't work on XP anymore, so you have to get a patched install that has updates disabled, otherwise Steam will crash as soon as you start it. {} {} {} this is what I have in my retro XP machine, {} {}
I won't be using steam on this PC, I have most of the games I want to play on disk, and this thing has two DR-ROM drives...
So, due to a misleading or mislabeled Ebay ad and my own malfeasance (it said AGP, but the pics clearly showed PCI-E) the HD 3650 is a bust. (anybody want a PCIE HD 3650?) I thought not. I did get a 7600GS, an Athlon 64 3700+ (fastes socket 754 CPU EVAAAARRRR!!!!) and a GB of RAM. I'm about to load Serious Sam and see what happens.
Serious Sam was smooth as butter at 1280x960... on to Far Cry! and maybe even... dare I say it? CRYSIS!!!!!!!
I figure since it's running a no-longer-supported OS and it's CPU is at least 2 complete families of CPU old (not counting all the Zambezi and Vishera and Kaveri and Bristol Ridge madness inside the Buldozer family) it qualifies.
Ok, so the 3700 is the fastest desktop CPU with an IHS, the 4000 is a moblie processor with no IHS. I didn't want to mess with getting a CPU cooler to make good contact with the die. Does your motherboard boot to the correct target frequency or do you have to use crystalcpu to get the correct frequency?
A distinction without much a difference. The Mobile 4000+ works in desktop boards as long as the BIOS supports it, and an IHS can be put on it if your cooler needs it.
It detects the correct frequency. Not the best overclocking board as the options are limited. Good s754 boards like the DFI are very difficult to find these days.
Nooo not that baddd. Probaly almost though. About as bad as they wanted to just say f it and spend less on Athlon stuff. what the world in hell you want that for?