I think I got screwed

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I have a dell dimension 3000 which had an intel pentium 4 2.74 GHz dual core processor which came with 512MB of RAM but I had upgraded it to just over 1G of RAM. I also upgraded the vid card to a Radeon 9000+. There was a storm and my computer wouldnt power up. A tech said he had to replace the motherboard and that he would put in something compatable/comparable with what I had. It now says I have an AMD Athelon(tm)XP 1800+ 1.54GHz, 992MB of RAM. Is that even dual core like I had before? Why is the RAM less now? Also the games I used to play on it I cannot run smoothly, where as before, even before my upgrade to 1G of RAM and the Radeon 9000 Vid Card I could run these games smoother then now. Did he downgrade me instead of matching what I had? Also he said he couldnt get my new vid card to work so he removed it and gave it to me seperately. Is what he gave me crap or what? What should I do?
 
Hi Marlenejojo,
that processor trade is not equal, for the time frame many of the amd cpu's were faster than the P4's ,even at a lower clock speed, however replacing that dual core with the 1800 xp is not comparable imo. i would be interested to know what ram (type, speed brand) he gave you as well. sounds like you got what he had laying around.
 
It sounds like the AMD you have now may be a 64bit processor, (unless I've been steered in the wrong direction) if so 1.54GHz would be comparable to 3.08GHz. That being said, Your games may only be 32bit so in reality, you're only using 1/2 of your computer. You need to check if there is settings to change it around...
 
It sounds like the AMD you have now may be a 64bit processor, (unless I've been steered in the wrong direction) if so 1.54GHz would be comparable to 3.08GHz. That being said, Your games may only be 32bit so in reality, you're only using 1/2 of your computer. You need to check if there is settings to change it around...

what?:confused:
 
I thought processing 32bit/64bit applications was up to the Operating System?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm interested to know
 
It sounds like the AMD you have now may be a 64bit processor, (unless I've been steered in the wrong direction) if so 1.54GHz would be comparable to 3.08GHz. That being said, Your games may only be 32bit so in reality, you're only using 1/2 of your computer. You need to check if there is settings to change it around...

First off an athlon XP is 32 bit, seccondly If it's a 32 bit OS and programs it doesn't matter anyway, also most pentium Ds (dual core pent 4 i assume this is what marlenejojo1 ment since there was never a cpu labled as a pentium 4 dual core) do support 64 bit and even if it was 32 bit and it was replaced with a 64 bit (and the computer had a 64 bit os) a 1.54 GHZ athlon 64 would still be slower than a 2.74 GHZ pentium D.

and yes marlenejojo1 if the tech gave you this you did get screwed since it is not even remotely comperable.
 
Hi Marlenejojo,
that processor trade is not equal, for the time frame many of the amd cpu's were faster than the P4's ,even at a lower clock speed, however replacing that dual core with the 1800 xp is not comparable imo. i would be interested to know what ram (type, speed brand) he gave you as well. sounds like you got what he had laying around.
you are right it is only 32 bit, before I had 64, I am not sure if that was with or without the radeon 9000+ in it. I am not savy with technical terms so I may not say it exactly right but I know I had a dual core processor, and before it said intel pentium 4 2.74, 2.74 again and something about cpu then it said I had like 1.16G of RAM. Now it says I have AMD Sthelon(tm)XP 1800+ .1.54 GHz, 992MB of RAM. My games one cant run at all and the other is very slow moving. Even before the radeon card they worked fine, laggy but they were doable, now not so much...and he couldnt get the radeon card to work. I am noticing he didnt give me my memory card back that I had just added about 2 weeks prior, and I had a dvd cdr which was replaced with a reg cdr and he kept that as well. My system before had soundmax digital audio, now it says its using realtek...which also isnt working I have no sound, and I still have all the drivers from the intel stuff I had before which this system does not seem to use now. Things are not working properly at all. I am going to call him tomorrow but I dont know how to explain this and I am afraid he is going to try and wheel and deal me about this....can you help me with what to say to him?
 
It sounds like the AMD you have now may be a 64bit processor, (unless I've been steered in the wrong direction) if so 1.54GHz would be comparable to 3.08GHz. That being said, Your games may only be 32bit so in reality, you're only using 1/2 of your computer. You need to check if there is settings to change it around...
I dont think so because it only gives me the option os 16 bit or 32 bit, before I had 64bit...before he changed the motherboard.
 
Hi Marlenejojo,
that processor trade is not equal, for the time frame many of the amd cpu's were faster than the P4's ,even at a lower clock speed, however replacing that dual core with the 1800 xp is not comparable imo. i would be interested to know what ram (type, speed brand) he gave you as well. sounds like you got what he had laying around.
oh and how do I find out which type of ram he gave me, all it says under my computer is 992MB of RAM, would I have to open it up to see?
 
I also upgraded the vid card to a Radeon 9000+.... Why is the RAM less now?.... 992MB of RAM.... he couldnt get my new vid card to work so he removed it and gave it to me
He gave you a system board with integrated graphics. Integrated video is terrible for gaming and will always be worse than a *real* video card. Your Radeon 9000 is way outdated, but far superior to any IGPs (integrated graphics chips) from that time period. So yes, this was a big downgrade for any games.

Is that even dual core like I had before?
No, but your system before was no dual core either. The Pentium 4 gives the illusion of dual core by using 'hyperthreading'. This will make little difference. Hyperthreading will actual hurt your gaming performance, usually.. But it is a small deal.. not necessarily a downgrade.

had an intel pentium 4 2.74 GHz.... upgraded it to just over 1G of RAM..... It now says I have an AMD Athelon(tm)XP 1800+ 1.54GHz, 992MB of RAM
You now have a much slower CPU. You are missing RAM because there is an integrated graphic card using 64MB of your memory. The 'missing' RAM is a small downgrade.

A tech said he had to replace the motherboard and that he would put in something compatable/comparable with what I had
"Comparable" is completely relative. The stuff he gave you could be considered comparable based on time period, but performance wise, he gave you a slower system. You were downgraded substantially, in my opinion.
 
"Comparable" is completely relative. The stuff he gave you could be considered comparable based on time period, but performance wise, he gave you a slower system. You were downgraded substantially, in my opinion.


I agree, this sucks it happened. I'd go back to him and have him explain himself.
 
I just got it back from him yesterday. I want to call him tomorrow...can you suggest what exactly I should tell him to get this corrected? I paid him 150bucks to do this and its worse then what I had even before the upgrades....I dont want to be stuck with it as is what are my options and what should I tell him?
 
well, you got components that were 3.5 years old, that's the first problem.

The biggest issue is that he put in a motherboard with onbard video, this is significantly weaker than a stand alone card, in which you bought one and cannot use now. Also ask him how much is he charging you for labor.
 
That athlon chip is going on ebay for 15 dollars brand new and a mobo to put it in could be had for not much more. I'm wondering if he just put things in from around the shop.
 
well it was done on the weekend so probably....the amd chip is what he put in it, what I had was an intel pentium 4 prior to that, but he said it would be hard to get exactly what I had...I dont know maybe he just wanted to make a quick but rather then order one or look for one
 
Also, your GFX card has disappeared, he had only announced that he had removed your mobo. If your using an IGP than your graphics card is missing. So not only did he downgrade you, he also robbed you.

There is an answer... SUE HIS ***!!! :D
 
it would help if you could find more specific info on what you have there to deal with this person, Motherboard,ram, what processor you had before etc. you said that you had a pentium dual core in your first post, and there is such an animal the allendale,wolfdale, but they were released in 07. im guessing not, but did you have one of these? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core ,is this what you had? and here is the cpu you got: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Athlon XP 1800+ - AX1800DMT3C.html the more specific info you have to compare what you have with what he replaced, the better you will be, otherwise he will try to talk you in circles, because as Rick said, comparable is relative. and I think its subjective, but it sounds like you got downgraded. again, i think your best bet is to arm yourself with as much specific info to make your argument.
 
The Pentium 4 is miles ahead of the Athlon XP performance-wise.

Have you tried putting your video card in though? Performance will likely improve, but still not be at the same level as before.

And I also believe you were overcharged. $150 would have gotten you a dual-core CPU, a new motherboard, more & faster RAM and maybe a new video card, all of which would have blown your original system out of the water.
 
Ok I went to dell.com and entered the original product number, this is what it says I had exactly Processor, 80546, 2.8, 1M, Pentium4 Prescott Dt, 533, E0. I called another tech and he told me that this guy should never have downgraded only upgraded if not the same. He said he should have went with the intel pentium 3.0 if he could not replace what I had. I called the tech back and told him this and he said that Intell is not as reliable a motherboard as AMD is yada yada. I told him regardless the CPU rate is to slow now and he said well if you say its not working right then we can go with the AMD 2.0 and that should function like I am used to before...is this true or is this guy stuck on AMD products or something?
 
Well like I just posted it came with Processor, 80546, 2.8, 1M, Pentium4 Prescott Dt, 533, E0. IT originally had 512MB of RAM, Hard Drive, 80GB, I, 7.2K, 2MB WD-XL80SD-2, Dual Inline Memory Module 256, 400M, 32X64 8K, 184. The tech is set on AMD over Intell, and the other tech I called suggested I go back with Intell over AMD, I am so confused. Oh He did not keep my radeon 9000+ card, he just took it out cause he couldnt get it to install, system couldnt find the driver or install the vga something like that but I have the card...its just not in the computer. He also took my DVD CDR. When I asked him why he didnt put that back into the new tower he gave me he said that I did not have a DVD CDR. That is BS....he said hes still got the one he took out if I want it back and that he can look at it again and I said um yeah...because it was so a DVD CDR built into one CD drive.
 
I kind of thought you might get that response( or some form of it) what does he mean by AMD 2.0? if its another XP...NOT! LOL. if he is offering you an AMD athlon 64, thats different. the athlon 64's are a different architecture with hyper-transport , that would be a marginally better cpu than the P4, but by a wider margin for gaming.
 
He said he should have went with the intel pentium 3.0 if he could not replace what I had. I called the tech back and told him this and he said that Intell is not as reliable a motherboard as AMD is yada yada. I told him regardless the CPU rate is to slow now and he said well if you say its not working right then we can go with the AMD 2.0 and that should function like I am used to before...is this true or is this guy stuck on AMD products or something?

This is awful if he has actually said these things. He clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

Sadly, this is the case with many computer techs out there.
 
I am not entirely sure what he meant by AMD 2.0, he said something about going up by 2 points and how sometimes even a small adjustment like that can make all the difference.
 
Arghh!,
it sounds very much like he is trying to pawn off whatever old stock he has lying around on you. i bet he is also trying to pawn off another athlon XP on you. as howie mandel might say...no deal. my advice is if he wants to set you up with a 2ghz athlon 64 (say a 3200+ or better setup) that would be acceptable. here is some supporting information for that point if your interested:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2249&p=9
 
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