|
|
Upgrading your system. Is it worth it?Dec 18 '00 (Updated Jan 09 '01) Write an essay on this topic.For quite some time now, I’ve been looking to purchase a new computer. I don’t quite have enough extra money to spare to buy a whole new system so I decided to take on the task of upgrading mine. Since installing my DSL I had been having problems with running out of memory and after an hour of use I found it necessary to reboot the system. As you can probably imagine this can be quite bothersome. I came to the conclusion that I just needed to upgrade my video card. Since the mouse was sticking (when scrolling across the screen) and I got horrid response from any type of flash or streaming video I decided the upgrade was necessary. The video card I was using had 4 MB shared memory (meaning it took memory from the system’s resources and used it for the video) I went to eBay, checked out what they had to offer and came across a deal I couldn’t pass up. I found a Creative Labs Savage 4 (3D) with 32 megs of on board memory. Since the bids were closing on it I got it at $39.99 plus shipping (7 dollars for UPS ground) This is a great deal for a card with this much memory. You don’t necessarily need 32 megs, 16 will suffice but I’m a firm believer in too much of something is a good thing. The card, ordered on Thursday, arrived on Monday and I was ready to install. Here is where it snowballed and turned into a mission. I had a Pentium 166 (yes archaic and slow) with 64 megs of pc-100 memory and a 3.2 gig hard drive. The video card I ordered is an AGP slot-based card. Since my motherboard and processor were so old, I did not have any AGP slots on board. Now I need to upgrade my motherboard. While I’m at it I’ll get myself a new processor as well (Since the old chipset will probably not work with the new motherboard) So I start to search for a new motherboard and CPU combo package. I found a few good deals and was about to make an order. <Ding Dong> My doorbell rings, I go downstairs and answer the door, it’s the FedEx lady with a package for my roommate. Since we were watching TV in my room, I brought it up and gave it to him, he handed it back to me and said merry early Christmas. Ok cool, a gift. Presents are always a good thing. So I tear off that stupid “you’ll never get me off the box” tape and open the box. “What the………” I start to say. I pull out a brand spanking new Soyo SY-7VCA motherboard. Complete with the AGP slot I needed!! (This motherboard has the following specifications) VIA 694X/686A chipset based ATX motherboard Supports 66/100/133 MHz FSB socket 370 CPU’s 1 x AMR/1 x AGP/5 x PCI/1 x ISA slots 3 x DIMM sockets for PC-100/PC-133 SDRAM Audio Subsystem on board AGP 4x mode and universal AGP connector Supports suspend to RAM or suspend to disk (allows user to save to memory or h/d while shutting down) It also comes with Norton AntiVirus, Norton Ghost and Norton Virtual Drive on CD free! So I’m like “Awesome man, now all I need is a CPU and I’m set” My roommate says to me, “keep digging” Low and behold, there was a 800 MHz Pentium 3 processor in there! Compatible with the motherboard and all. So I call a friend from work over, to help me install all of these new components. (I’d be too afraid to do it without supervision so I don’t kill everything. It was quite easy actually, Everything on the board is plainly marked. The processor slipped right in. I had a little trouble attaching the fan, it was a really snug fit but I eventually got it on ok. So I get the memory from my old computer in there, the new video card installed, and I go to put it in the case. Guess who needs an ATX case (I had an AT case on the p-166) with that comes a new power supply. I go to the local computer store, get a Supercase brand midi tower with 250 watt power supply for $34.99 (also a pretty good deal) Finally I can get my computer running. I get home, take the case out of the box, secure the motherboard to the case. Get the power supply hooked up to the motherboard, remove the CD Rom, floppy and hard drive from the old case, install them into the new case, get the wires hooked up and I’m almost ready to go. Pop in the video card, the internal DSL modem, plug in all the wires and try to fire her up. Nothing. No power. I rack my brain for 2 days to try to figure it out. I get fed up, I think maybe I have a dead power supply, so I bring it to work and have the tech’s take a look at it. Well it turns out that those little bronze colored spacer screws were there for a reason. I didn’t attach them to the screws when I screwed the motherboard in, so I had a short in the system. I’m very lucky I didn’t fry my motherboard. We get it fired up and for some reason Windows refuses to load. This is where it becomes a real pain in the keister. Turns out my CPU, at 800 MHz does not support pc-100 memory. I can underclock my processor to 600 MHz and change the BIOS settings to support the pc-100 memory, so I do that. Now I have a system capable of running at 800 MHz running at 600. Somewhere along the line, all of the data on my H/D got freaked out and I wound up having to format. Which I was thinking of doing anyway but I wasn’t sure since I have been planning on getting a new drive anyway. I didn’t want to do it right then but it turns out I had to. Drive now formatted, I try to install Windows 98. About ½ way through the installation, it failed. We tried this 10 times, each time with the same outcome. Turns out, Windows will not support the Bios settings for the processor. Luckily we have a huge network at my job, and we have a few gigs of extra memory laying around that my boss was kind enough to loan me a new chip. 128 megs pc-133 MHz RAM. Now I can run my processor at the 800 MHz it was designed for. I get all the settings done, start to install Windows 98 and decide to just go ahead and install Windows 2000. I get it installed. I prefer it to Windows 98 (it runs smoother, has a nice look to it and has more useful tools then Win98) however, since Win2k was initially made for Pentium 4 systems it’s not too compatible with pIII systems (unless you get a few critical updates and re-worked drivers) I had to go through a whole mess of trouble to get the proper drivers for my DSL modem. Bellsouth doesn’t support Win2k or WinME so their drivers are in beta mode and they won’t offer any tech support right now. All in all it took me 9 days to get everything installed properly and working. I did learn a lot from this and when I need to do it again, I’ll know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it. It can be an arduous and intimidating task but if you have patience you can learn it and save yourself some money in the end! All components used in this upgrade Soyo motherboard Pentium III 800 MHz processor (with the motherboard and upgraded fan as a package $259.99) 128 megs pc-133 memory (free for now, until I get my 256 meg chip available for $113.00) Creative Labs Savage 4 (3D) Video card 32 MB RAM ($46) New ATX Midi Tower Case w/ 250watt power supply ($45) Logitech iTouch Keyboard and Logitech MouseMan Wheel ($40 for both) Speed Stream 3060 Internal ADSL Modem (Free with Service) All prices include any tax/shipping charges. Motherboard/CPU/Fan purchased from googlegear.com Video Card from eBay.com Case/power supply from a local store Memory will be purchased from either googlegear.com or pricewatch.com (be careful on pricewatch, they warn you that you may get dead gear or jacked up shipping fees) Keyboard and Mouse on sale at Office Max I also ran my processor through a stress test. I overclocked it to 850 MHz, ran SETI@home and a few other things to test the performance. I let it run for 24 hours (Seti and the other files I ran used up 85 % of the system resources to really stress it out and see how well it performed under heavy use) and not a single flaw. It ran absolutely perfect. I’d recommend to everyone upgrading on their own. The system I pieced together could easily go for over 1,000 dollars where as (if you include the price for my Christmas present) I won’t spend more then $600 for that. Granted I was without computer for a little while, but in the long run, I wind up with a blazing fast system that has excellent audio (the sound drivers onboard are great, for onboard sound) I’d still recommend an upgraded card for better 3D imaging and gaming effects. Be careful when installing anything in your computer. Components are extremely sensitive and the slightest knock or even charge of static electricity can ruin the device instantly. If you aren’t sure about how to go about it, Call someone and ask some questions. Better to be safe then sorry. Link to Review on My Pentium III 800 MHZ processor http://cpbr.epinions.com/cmd-review-371F-4924C42F-3A554CED-prod3 Link to Review on My Creative Labs Savage 4 Video Card http://cpbr.epinions.com/cmd-review-4156-2FECAF37-3A53D9AB-prod2 Link to Review on My Speed Stream 3060 Internal ADSL Modem http://cpbr.epinions.com/cmd-review-5155-489E3A2D-3A53F483-prod3 Link to Review on My Motherboard - Soyo Coming Soon Link to Review on My Mouse - Logitech MouseMan Wheel http://cpbr.epinions.com/cmd-review-5B4-1CE51EEF-3A075DC8-prod5 Link to Review on My Keyboard - Logitech iTouch Internet keyboard http://cpbr.epinions.com/cmd-review-483C-1CE6ADD2-3A0761C5-prod5  |
| Read all comments (4)|Write your own comment |
|
Ads by Google
|
