LifeNRA Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 My brother gave me a tower, which I am planning on doing a little upgrading on it. I have the two video cards to put in, problem is I don't know which is better! LOL! Geforce4 TI 4400 or Radeon ATI 9250??? Which one??? My PC now runs Win98se! Stone age!!! Going to upgrade the new tower hard drives to 80 gigs each and install Windows XP Pro. Getting two 1 gig sticks of RAM plus the 512 that is already in it. Also adding a new DVD burner. New flat screen will come later!Anything else I missed? :confused: Thanks in advanced from the PC guru's here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 John I would go with the Radeon ATI 9250 it's a more stable card for the bang .. and the 3D resolutions are to die for .. Here's the Specs. page on this card .. http://ati.amd.com/products/radeon9200/radeon9200/specs.html You say you are running Windows 98se at this time .. be sure you can add more memory to that motherboard and that the board itself supports Windows XP .. If that is a go.. the only other thing I would suggest is to upgrade the power supply ,, you will need more power for all that hardware .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted January 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 He already has a 400 or 500 watt supply in it. My old PC is running 98, this one has XP on it. But I will be getting a new disk for myself. I already ordered two sticks each 1024mb of memory, plus the 512 thats in it now. 2560 of RAM memory, is that enough? Sure sounds like it! LOL! The processor is a 2.4gig Pentium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowJoe Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'm not sure you can run 512 with the 1 Gb. I think you need to have one or the other but not a blend of both. You also might want to check the specs of the MoBo to make sure you can run a 1Gb stick. You may only be able to add one or more sticks at 512 Mb a stick but only in that same amount. The good news is that you'd have either a full 1Gb or maybe 2Gb depending on how many slots your MoBo has on it. My Asus A8nsli can run up to 4 Gb at 1Gb stick per slot. Either way, it's good to have that much RAM on any computer. It's a big help when it comes time to run a program. I only have 2 Gb in mine but I'm happy with it. I'm getting ready to upgrade as soon as my video card gets here. I'm going from a Nvidia GeForce 6800GS to a GeForce 8600 GT. I can't wait. Sounds like you would be better off with the ATI card but you could also upgrade your hard drive for less than $100 and get some good sizes. Usually faster read times and bigger capacity can help in running programs. Good luck. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014+4027&name=%2475+-+%24100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000147+1052307857&Description=184+pin&name=512MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=9250&x=0&y=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'm not sure you can run 512 with the 1 Gb. I think you need to have one or the other but not a blend of both. We mix them at work all the time. Most of our base units come with 512 Mb and we add up to 3 Gbs to them with no problems. Also, John, why add 80 GB hard drives when you can get 500 Gb hard drives for around $100 each. Wouldn't it be nice to have a terabyte of hard drivre space? Yes is the only correct answer. Even though you'll likely never fill them, you can tell people you have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'm not sure you can run 512 with the 1 Gb. I think you need to have one or the other but not a blend of both. You also might want to check the specs of the MoBo to make sure you can run a 1Gb stick. You may only be able to add one or more sticks at 512 Mb a stick but only in that same amount. Think Joe is right here to suggest checking with the pc manufacturer. I am pretty certain that Dell recommended matching memory for the computer to run at its best. Really wish when I had my pc built I had went with the 1024mb sticks in each port rather than the 512, as the 1 gig is not enough really when working with video files and large numbers of pic files. We mix them at work all the time. Most of our base units come with 512 Mb and we add up to 3 Gbs to them with no problems. Also, John, why add 80 GB hard drives when you can get 500 Gb hard drives for around $100 each. Wouldn't it be nice to have a terabyte of hard drivre space? Yes is the only correct answer. Even though you'll likely never fill them, you can tell people you have it. Also would agree with Steven on the large hard drives, you cannot have too much really. Even though you may never use it all, having the extra space is nice. Only have a 160 gb drive in this machine, planning on eventually adding an additional larger external drive for handling video and picture files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 DDR Ram needs to be ran in pairs .. so if you want 2Gigs of DDR Ram you need to have 2 sticks of 1 Gig. of equal size and speed to work .. Dells and most of the newer machines require this pairing method.. The easiest way to determine you rame sizes and speeds is to go to crucial.com and they have a step by step help guide .. It even will scan your system and tell you what will be best.. Of course I only use this as a guide and look fro the best deals on ram .. http://crucial.com/ As for Hard Drives .. With the Newer and bigger External drives that are available I avoid RAID Arrays they can be a bear to deal with,,, even with the new Serial Sata drives .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted January 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'm not sure you can run 512 with the 1 Gb. I think you need to have one or the other but not a blend of both. You also might want to check the specs of the MoBo to make sure you can run a 1Gb stick. You may only be able to add one or more sticks at 512 Mb a stick but only in that same amount. The good news is that you'd have either a full 1Gb or maybe 2Gb depending on how many slots your MoBo has on it. My Asus A8nsli can run up to 4 Gb at 1Gb stick per slot. Either way, it's good to have that much RAM on any computer. It's a big help when it comes time to run a program. I only have 2 Gb in mine but I'm happy with it. I'm getting ready to upgrade as soon as my video card gets here. I'm going from a Nvidia GeForce 6800GS to a GeForce 8600 GT. I can't wait. Sounds like you would be better off with the ATI card but you could also upgrade your hard drive for less than $100 and get some good sizes. Usually faster read times and bigger capacity can help in running programs. Good luck. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014+4027&name=%2475+-+%24100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000147+1052307857&Description=184+pin&name=512MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=9250&x=0&y=0 I checked Gigabyte's web site last night on the MB specs. I can run up to 4 gig's of ram. But thanks for the links! We mix them at work all the time. Most of our base units come with 512 Mb and we add up to 3 Gbs to them with no problems. Also, John, why add 80 GB hard drives when you can get 500 Gb hard drives for around $100 each. Wouldn't it be nice to have a terabyte of hard drivre space? Yes is the only correct answer. Even though you'll likely never fill them, you can tell people you have it. LOL! Yeah but I never fill an 80 gig drive either! Both the 80 and 60 gig drives run at 7200 RPM's. This will be plenty! But I know they are getting bigger drives for less money now, I haven't shopped for a new one since last year. If this doesn't pan out, Ill just get one 160 gig drive and be done. Besides, they just take longer to defrag too! LOL! If you don't see me on, you will know why! LMBO!!! I never re-build a PC before! Added some things though. I should have all my stuff here by Wednesday, so I might be out for a day or two. After that, it will be in little pieces! LMBO!!! :eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowJoe Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 I would just go with a 320 Gb HD. Dump the raid system and you'll get a much smoother running bang for the Ram that you can use. Sounds like you have a fairly late model Mobo with the ability to upgrade to 4Gb. That's some serious speed. My system is like this: Asus A8n-sli mobo with 4 slots of ram for a max 4Gb and PCI Express AMD Athlon X2 3800 Apevia X Infinity case with 420 watt PSU Western Digital 320 Gb HD SATA at 7200 Rpm. Lite-On Combo Dvd Drive Sony DVD-rom burner GeForce 6800 256MB 256-bit DDR PCI express X16 Windows XP Pro OS system 19" V7 Flatpanel monitor at 1440 x 900 Res. I think it's tweaked pretty good until I get my new video card. Then I will be able to max out on some online gaming. I should be able to keep up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowJoe Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Here's a pic of my set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Custom case? My brother has about $3500 invested in his! Guess I am getting the hand-me-downs! LOL! I dont care! He plays the real high end games. Cyrsis is absolutely a mind blowing game when it come to the graphics! Then again, I believe he spent about $500 for the vid card he has now! Me! I just want to get a few games that I could never play with this machine! LOL! CODD 4, America's Army, and even a few hunting games! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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