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11-02-2003, 02:29 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: SW, OHIO
Posts: 4,219
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what's the bottleneck and what should be upgraded
Ok, my brother has been bugging me for the last week or so about his computer on what to upgrade. He askes questions and I try to give "constructive criticism" but he keeps asking "what if this, what if I do that".... anyway, here is his system specs. The problem he is having is gaming. Choppy, slow, not consistant. Benchmarking with 3DMark 2k1 gives him a score of 3500. He has all the latest drivers for motherboard, etc etc.
DFI AK75-EC Rev. A
AMD Duron 1.3GHz .18 micron (board does not support .13 CPU's)
GF FX5200 128MB
768MB PC133 SDRAM
Western Digital 13GB ATA66 5200RPM HD
300w PSU
Sound Blaster Live Value
10/100 NIC
Win. XP
I told him his best bet would be to pick up a new Motherboard and some DDRam then upgrade the rest as he gets more cash. Considering he cannot upgrade the CPU past what he has and the SDRAM is IMO a bottleneck. I told him I would sell him a 20 GB Maxter ATA100 7200RPM cheap, if he got the motherboard and RAM. Now is this the best route to go, or am I off base here.
I found the following which I think he would see a dramatic difference: (for his price range)
MSI KT2Combo KT266A ATX, LAN (use his 1.3 Duron) 4-now
256 MB DDR2100
Maxtor 20GB ATA100 7200RPM HD
All for around: $130.00 + Tax
What do U guys think?
Last edited by Sweeper; 11-02-2003 at 02:49 AM.
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11-02-2003, 02:57 AM
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#2 (permalink)
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Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: The Promised Land
Posts: 516
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IMO, the biggest bottleneck is the Vid Card. Depending on what his budget is, I would replace that first.
for a budget card, look at a minimum of T1 4200 to 4600, if you want to stay with Nvidia. They are good all around gaming cards.
A good cheap mobo upgrade is the ECS Ks5a pro. It has combo DIMM slots so he can use his sdram for now, and upgrade (replace) it with DDR later. Omar can probably hook you up for 40 bucks or so on that one.
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11-02-2003, 03:26 AM
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#3 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: SW, OHIO
Posts: 4,219
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He just purchased the video card. So I doubt he will want to replace it. The motherboard mentioned MSI KT266A has slots for both DDR and SDRAM, but isn't SDRAM a bottleneck?
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11-02-2003, 03:40 AM
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#4 (permalink)
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Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: The Promised Land
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I bought the same card for a friend, before doing enough research. Even a Ti 4200 beats the pants off that card for games.
The maximum FPS with that card in BF 1942 was 50, with an avg of 30. That was with a Barton 2500 and 512 MB Corsair DDR.
Last edited by DallasDon; 11-03-2003 at 01:34 AM.
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11-02-2003, 05:57 AM
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#5 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: SW, OHIO
Posts: 4,219
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Well I talked to him about the Ti-4200 and he still went with the FX-5200. I know he will not return the card. So, on with the story of what else may be the bottleneck and or the problem.
Sweeper
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11-02-2003, 06:00 AM
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#6 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 6,533
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So his old motherboard wont support an Athlon??
He needs an athlon motherboard so he can get rid of that duron I suppose.
Have you checked anand's for sale forum...lots of stuff over there usually.
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"Even a fool is thought to be wise if he is silent"
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11-02-2003, 06:03 AM
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#7 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: SW, OHIO
Posts: 4,219
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John, no it won't support the new .13 Athlons. At least the manual shows the board a "Rev. A+" and on DFI's site under the latest BIOS flash it shows Quote: |
Support AMD Athlon XP 2600+ CPU for DE0 & EH0. (A+ does not support Thoroughbred with 0.13 technology. Please refer to CPU support list)
| haven't been over there in awhile... maybe should check.. although he is one to buy from stores rather than on line. "WARRANTY" concious....  on everything.....
Last edited by Sweeper; 11-02-2003 at 06:10 AM.
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11-02-2003, 06:06 AM
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#8 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 6,533
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hmmm, actually DFI's website says his board will run up to a 2600 thoroughbred...depending on the revision number of the board....or at least up to a 2100 polamino. http://www.dfi.com.tw/Support/mb_cpu...&INDEX_TYPE=MB
getting even a nice used athlon in there would be a good boost for cheap
older review of the board http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/AK75/
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"Even a fool is thought to be wise if he is silent"
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11-02-2003, 06:14 AM
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#9 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: SW, OHIO
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A+ board supports AthlonXP (Palomino) 2100+
Haven't been able to find one either. He wants to get up around 2GHz or the XP2400 Athlon area...
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11-02-2003, 10:53 AM
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#10 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: SW, OHIO
Posts: 4,219
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I can't find anything on older Athlons..... anyone know or have one for sale???????
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