Possible upgrades for an older system

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Kirbstomp

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 3, 2009
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Here's the main components of my current setup:

- P4 2.4c OC'd @ 3 gHz
- Asus P4P800SE (IC7 died on me in late 05, made me really sad)
- Sapphire 3850 AGP 512MB (recently replaced a BFG 6800 OC)
- 1G Mushkin Performance Level 2 PC3200 2-2-2-6 (2x512)
- Acer H233H (recently replaced my 1702FP)
- XP Pro SP3.

I recently upgraded to the Sapphire 3850 due to the fact that my BFG 6800 OC would probably be hurting if I tried to game at 1920 x 1080 on my new Acer. I'm not playing anything current, but I have always wanted to run Oblivion at decent settings with a decent framerate. Would spending the $55 (AMIR) @ Newegg for Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2PT make much of a performance difference for my system? Also, would getting two packs of the Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2PT and selling my Mushkin to avoid memory issues be a better decision?

Any feedback or comments would be appreciated. I do not really have any budget constraints, but I am not looking to spend a bunch of money either.

-Thanks in advance
 
2GB of RAM, regardless of the timings or clock speed, will provide a significant boost.

But that Corsair RAM is not a good choice. You would honestly not be able to tell the difference between that $79 Corsair RAM and this $60 set of G.Skill RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231039

Just loosen the timings in your system and you should be able to use the Mushkin RAM and Kingston RAM together without any troubles.
 
Could you perhaps clarify why you think I should go with the G Skill? The Corsair is $55 after rebate (making it $5 cheaper) and has better timings. While I have heard of G Skill before, I have no personal experience using them.

The other thing I have been pondering is the possibility of finding a used SL7CH (P4 3.4EE), for a few bucks either on EBay or the FS/T forums. My 2.4c has been comfortably running at 3.0 ghz since I got it (Zalman's CNPS7000-cu). I don't remember which week or fab it is offhand, but I believe it is one of the nicer ones for OC'ing. Comparing the two, mine has a 200 mhz higher FSB, but not quite the same L2 or nonexistent L3 cache and a 400 mhz slower core speed. Without using 3DMark or another program to compare them, anyone have any input on which is better and would it be a viable/cost effective option?
 
The G.Skill set would perform just as well as the Corsair TwinX kit yet cost less before MIR. Danny and I both ignore MIR amounts because they aren't 100% guaranteed nor will they provide you any instant savings upon checkout.

You should also reread Danny's earlier comments about relaxing the RAM timings. Done successfully, that could save you the trouble of having to purchase anything.

Regarding the potential purchase of the P4 EE processor, how much do you think you'll pay for it? I personally don't believe it's worth the pursuit, since you would benefit more from a platform overhaul than you would by dropping any more money on this build.

In fact, if you don't see any significant performance increase after upgrading the RAM (whichever way you do so is up to you), I recommend that you stop trying to upgrade the machine and start saving up for a new one.
 
It should be a somewhat decent upgrade assuming that you get it for around $25.
 
Since posting this thread, I have upgraded the following:
- BFG 6800 OC AGP ---> Sapphire ATI HD3850 AGP
- Antec TruePower430 ---> Rosewill RP500-2 500W

Since mail-in-rebates are not something I usually mind waiting for, I went with the Corsair x 2 with the plan to sell my Mushkin. However, one set arrived with one module DOA and the other set was malfunctioning/defective. At first the defective set appeared normal, registering the correct amount of memory just fine in the BIOS and on post. After about 30 minutes of use, my computer froze, so I decided to run Memtest86. By the 8th test, it had already found like 1500+ errors and it actually froze up Memtest86 into a continuous error count. After that, the system would only recognize 898MB of memory in the BIOS and on post. It would still let me into the BIOS and modify settings, but I was unable to boot to windows at this point no matter what I relaxed the RAM to. As soon as I popped my Mushkin back in, I ran Memtest86 for a few cycles, no errors. Everything was 100%.

So, long story short, I talked to Newegg and they were kind enough to put the items in for a refund rather than a replacement and refund me the shipping for sending the modules back to them. I bought pretty much anything and everything I was going to get from Newegg before (if they offered what I was looking for), but this experience really sold me on continuing to use them in the future.

After 2 bad batches of Corsair and doing some additional research, I think I want to keep my Mushkin and maybe just add another 2GB kit (2 x 1GB) of some similar low timing memory such as the OCZ here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227210

I read a fair amount of stuff about people having issues with both WindowsXP and my particular motherboard, in relation to it recognizing all 4GB of installed RAM. In the users' manual for my motherboard it states something along the lines of 4GB is supported, but if it does not appear that way in the BIOS, it is due to the fact that the south-bridge/other system resources are using some of it. But that alone should not account for the 1GB missing in most cases. I am not planning any more upgrades after this, this is the extent of this system's life I think. The 3.4EE's are going for $100+ on Ebay, and if this OCZ turns out to be decent memory I might try taking my 2.4c and pushing it above 3.0ghz.

Anyways, would be awesome if I could get some feedback to let me know that I am on the right track. Thanks for reading.
 
32-bit versions of Windows can only recognize a total of 4GB of system memory. They subtract the amount of "usable" RAM you have by all of the memory used by other components (including, but not limited to, the video card).

For overclocking, find a good aftermarket CPU cooler that works with the motherboard socket. (It's been a while, so I've forgotten which ones work.)
 
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When I first got my 2.4c I popped on a Thermalright SLK900u with a Vantec Tornado. That setup worked great, but it was just too loud. I ended up switching to a much quieter Zalman CNPS7000cu. Have had my 2.4c running at 3ghz since 2003 with it. The only hardware issue I have ever really had was my ABIT IC7 just dying one day. My machine just died while I was using it and would not power back on, after testing everything I finally figured it had to be my motherboard. I think I recall looking up my chip# when I got it and it was one of the lucky ones that people were reporting ridiculous OC's with.
 
You can get a used P35 for $50 shipped, a used E2xxx or E5xxx chip for $50 shipped, 4GB of DDR2-800 for $30 shipped... sell your current machine as a whole for like $40 and you're looking at $90 for a whole new box that will /destory/ the old one in every possible way.

EDIT: But I didn't keep up and you already bought an AGP card. Damn.
 
Not really on the right track. Check out this review of that Rosewill PSU:
http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=...50aHVzaWFzdA==
Click to expand...

That's actually quite disturbing, I wish I had found that before I bought the unit. I think I might have enough stuff running in my unit that I might have problems under load.

What PSU could you recommend in the 550w area for about $50-$75, give or take a bit on any on those numbers?
 
Ended up going with the VX550 after doing a bunch of reading, sounds like it should be fine for my needs.
 
Kirbstomp said:
Was possibly considering a BFG LS-550, but would like some other options.
Click to expand...

LS-550 would be my recommendation You can get it for $70 from Buy.com. But the Corsair 550VX is a good choice, despite being expensive for the money IMO.
 
If you can find one, a asrock 4core vsta or similar with an agp socket, and an e2200 would give a decent boost, I went from a p4 northwood 3.2 @3.4 to an asrock with an e2140 in it and it was a hell of a lot quicker, the chip would only get to 2.1gig though in the asrock, its at 3.0 in a gigabyte after I bought a pci video cars and went ddr2.
 
I think I've gone a bit overboard with what I've already done, I've spent more than I probably should have on upgrading this system when I probably could have just parted it and bought a new rig. I think I will eventually end up doing that in another year or two though. Thanks for all the help.
 
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