More RAM???

[lalo90e]

Currently, my Gateway 310 has 256MB of RAM, DDR 333 MHZ (runs at 266), a Celeron 2.6 GHZ Northwood 400MHZ FSB 128kb Cache, Barracuda 5400 RPM 2MB cache 40GB drive, ATI RADEON 7200MB PCI 32MB. I play games like Soldier of fortune II , GTA Vice city, Need for Speed, Porsche unleashed , Return to castle wolfentein, and other old games.
But in Vice City and SOFII, i want faster performance. I plan to upgrade the RAM to 768MB; Will that improve the gaming performance? More FPS?
Another thing, I don´t know if my Radeon 7200 32MB SDR PCI is better that my Intel 82845GV integrated graphics with 64MB of shared Ram. The Intel card has a 200 MHZ graphics clock, and the Radeon has 155 MHz. I thought that installing the PCI Radeon with less memory and clock was worse that the Intel Card. But i saw a performance increase with the radeon.
The main question is..........
With 768MB DDR 333MHZ PC3200, Celeron 2.6GHZ.... will the intel graphics card beat the Radeon???? I thought that the performance upgrade I saw with the radeon was because the system had 64MB more of memory, not available with the intel consuming that memory, and only leaving the system 192Mb.
Another bad thing is that this crappy Intel d845vgsr mobo doesn´t have a single AGP slot.
Well, I hope you can tell me the best choice.

 

[Blakhart]

Hi
I highly doubt that any onboard video will beat your ati. Well, unless you had an nforce mobo with onboard vid. The additional ram may make a diff in sof2, and other more recent games. Games typicaly ask for more than 512m anymore. Additional ram will help with map loading times, and could make your games run smoother.
It won't increase frame rate any with your vid card tho, hafta replace the card with something faster. Simple as that, really.

 

[sllewe]

First off, get the RAM. For todays games, 512 is a minium IMO. But i hate to say it,with that celeron and gfx card, i really dont think that new games are going to run smooth. Its just how it is. BUt to answer your question. Keep that Gfx card in there. Onboard is deathly slow, espically the version you have.

 

[lalo90e]

Thanks for your suggestions, now i´m planning to buy another mobo, with an AGP 8X slot. Can you help me find one good with socket478 for Celeron 2.6GHZ, microATX form, support for ddr 333 pc3200 ram, and ata 100 support, for less than 100 dls??
Hope you can help me, i found some nice intel mobos, like D865PCK.
Thanks for your help.

 

[zephead]

replace the mobo, psu, and case with standard parts first, as you'll need to. i'd reccomend a full size atx board, btw.

 

[Blakhart]

Hi
If you're intent on saving money and reusing some of your present components, any 865pe motherboard will do nicely. They offer good performance for the price. I know someone who went from the 865 to the 875 chipset and saw no noticeable diff in performance. So, the 865 is a viable solution in this case.

Now, if you want to avoid this problem in the future, keep that system as it is and build an entirely new system, maybe with a dual-core cpu, pci-e mobo, and requisite parts. I would go Intel as I have seen far too many driver related AMD system posts for my liking. Not that AMD's are bad performers, or that Intel's can't irq not less or equal blue screen.

 

[lalo90e]

Thanks for your suggestions.
What about this one:
http://www.soyousa.com/products/proddesc.php?id=295
I haven´t heard from Soyo in my 15 years of life, but I guess it´s a good one. And it´s only 59 bucks!
Is Soyo a good brand?

 

[Blakhart]

I like soyo, no probs with their stuff in my experience.

 

[zephead]

i'd reccomend an asus or gigabyte i865pe board, plus a name brand power supply. the money you might save with a soyo wouldn't be worth the loss of quality/performance.

 

[lalo90e]

What about this one?
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=661FM2-LSR&class=mb

I think MSI is a very good brand.

 

[Blakhart]

I would stick to Intel chipsets for an Intel cpu. The 865pe as suggested is an outstanding performer for older Intel agp/pci systems.

 

[zephead]

like i said, the i865 is the best chipset out there socket 478 platforms. also is the i875 chipset. the msi board you linked has a sis chipset of lesser perofrmance.

 

[lalo90e]

Upgrading my CPU to a P4 2.8GHZ 512kb l2 cache, and a Radeon 9600PRO AGP8X, 768DDR400 RAM and a 7200RPM 8MB cache hdd, should boost my system a lot. I think i´ll be using that MSI board. I can fit on it a 800MHZ FSB processor on it. It´s good enough for me.
Just a question:
I have found a 2 P4 2.8 GHZ processors. One has HT tech with a FSB of 800MHZ. The other has no HT and 533 MHZ FSB. Is it an incredible difference between the two, since i don´t care about multi-threading???

 

[zephead]

i advise you to NOT get the msi board you linked and continue talking about. just because it supports what you want doesn't mean it'll run fast/stably. anyone will tell you to get an i865/i875 board, and your refusal to do so will cost you.

and you want the HT-enabled cpu.

 

[Blakhart]

Hi
Yeah you want the HT cpu of the two.
Here's why you want HT in any p4:
http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=18
A long read but a good one for the interested.

 

[sllewe]

Yes please stay away from that SiS chipset. Get a board with an 875 chipset. Unless that is you like terrible relibailty.

And that was a good read about HT. altough long

 

[lalo90e]

What is so bad about SIS chipsets? I have an uncle who uses the 661FX and his machine is working very fast in 3d games, and the stability is PERFECT.
Anyway, I don´t care anymore about those mobos.
I´ve got more money and plan to build a HIGH END system. I bought a new full size ATX case and a 600W PSU.
Can you please help me find a good high end mobo?
I don´t want a dual core machine, just a very fast single core one.
Thanks.

 

[Tedster]

an FX-57 on an MSI motherboard ranks pretty good.

 

[zephead]

you've got two threads going here about the same thing - your alleged new system, the more complete one titled 'best processor' perhaps you should decide to concentrate this discussion into a single thread.

 

[lalo90e]

Ok, i´ll concentrate on this thread. How do I close the other thread named "More RAM???"?

 

[zephead]

only TS forum administrators can close threads. simply state there that the conversation will carry on only in this thread.

 

[lalo90e]

Please delete this damn old thread if you´re a mod.