Need some advice on what I can upgrade....

[optinox]

Ok Guys,

I recently bought a computer, I think I got a good deal since I live in Canada pricing will be much different than U.S prices anyways, the guy I bought it from put in many new parts in since he builds computers so this is what I got:

amd 2400+ CPU
new case, not black, off white and grey, usb and sound in front/back
new gigabyte motherboard
30 gig Maxtor HD 7200
new 5.1 digital Creative Labs sound card
40x cd
40x24x40 CDRW
new Geforce T4 video card with TV out, digital output as well 64mb DDR
512 PC3300 DDR RAM
3 fans
keyboard/mouse
17" monitor

$500

Now the motherboard is a Gigabyte DX7...I'm not sure if this is a good board or not, maybe you experts out there would know. I'm interested in knowing what are the best upgrades I can do to this computer when the time comes. I have a few questions that I'd like answered.

1) When it comes to the CPU does Front side bus really matter, in other words the faster the FSB the better the processor...I think my FSB in my CPU is really low, nothing like some of Intels??

2) Also what does PC3300 mean on my RAM, what is the rule of thumb for those numbers, and also besides DDR, can I put DR (direct rambus) RAM in mine?

3) And what kind of ram is the best, between SDRAM, DDR, DR?

Hopefully you experts out there can answer my questions, sorry if it's a bit too much, but it would be much appreciated, thanks!

[elroy]

[1] yes FSB is important. Your board's max FSB is 266. The fastest AMD cpu goes up to 400FSB.

[2] you likely have PC3200 ram. This is fine for your board because it is capable of running faster than your board will allow it to.

[3] your board only uses DDR, nothing else will work on it

According to the info on Gigabyte's website you are already running a faster cpu then that board supports. Not much chance of upgrade of the cpu. While thiis is not the latest and greatest machine in town it is still a nice machine and should perform very well. Personally, my 1st upgrade on this machine would be a larger hard drive. But this decision should be made based on what you use it for.

[Atomic Rooster]

That's a nice system you got there at a nice price. Not much to upgrade unlees you want to go to a larger HDD or maybe a newer video card.

Rambus memory will not work in that system as the motherboard was designed to use only DDR memory.

Here's a simple guide to DDR memory from Crucial

[HeadBand]

yeah a new vid card mabey a 9600 or 9600 pro is a good upgrade also you might want a dvd drive to replace your cd rom
if you intend to upgrade the cpu you will need to upgrade the mobo but as for you current configuration it is a nice board from an excellent company