[MonkeyBusiness]

I have an old p4 prebuilt and it is running so slow that even doing casual surfing is difficult. The system comes with:

intel p4 1.8ghz
256mb pc2100 ddr 266
Asus P4S-LA motherboard sis 650 chipset
onboard shared 32mb vram
40gb hdd ide 7200rpm > just upgraded to 80gb hdd
200W matx power supply
windows xp home edition

HP Customer Care local language selection* ct=75904


I have a few questions to clarify prior to upgrading. At the same times also wanted to check compatibilty before purchasing the parts for upgrade.

1. On the specifications link, it shows that the Asus P4S-LA supports PC2100 ram which is what the BIOS is showing too. But why does the sticker label on the ram shows PC2100 133 instead of 266? I am confused whether could it using the PC 133 instead?

2. The motherboard has 2 dimm memory sockets up to max 2gb. Is it advisable to buy all the way straight 1gb or 256mb or 512mb to see a noticable performance gain?

3. Would the Asus P4S-LA supports the Sapphire 9550 AGP graphic card? It is 4x and the card is 8x?http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/produ...?gpid=56&grp=2
What is the Ultra AGP 2 that is stated under HP Customer Care local language selection* ct=75904
Is it the same as AGP?

4. How does the Sapphire 9550 against the nvidia FX5200?

5. Is there a neccesity to upgrade the power supply too? Can the power supply take the load?

Lastly, are there any bottlenecks?

Appreciate.
MonkeyBusiness.

[Redmo0n]

1. Someone else can answer in case i am wrong

2. Get 2x1 gig sticks, you will notice quit a bit performance gain with loading and multiple applications

3. If the board supports 4x and the card is 8x then it will just take it down to 4x. This would be the best card to get for performance and you could play pretty good games on it Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100228L Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Or if you want to save money while having a decent card then this would be alright Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100217L Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

5. If you get one of those cards mentioned then yes you probably would have to. I would recommend my power supply if you can find it (model number in my sig) or if you want a long life power supply that you could use with future upgrades then this Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Power Supplies

Finally if you got the 2gig of ram and say the 3850 then the cpu would possibly bottleneck, you could just go ahead and buy a new cpu or for around $400 we could build you a new pc that would be great for gaming/web surfing/other.



Also because you say your pc is decreasing in performance do a defrag and check for viruses maybe run this tool Download CCleaner 2.07.575 - FileHippo.com which will clean temp files and unnecessary items that clog your system. You could also disable msnconfig startup entries that you don't need.

Start > Run > Msconfig > Startup Tab > Disable everything but your anti virus and anything you really want (Msn or other tools and applications)

[Puddle Jumper]

Even if you upgrade the ram and graphics card your processor will still be the limiting factor on your systems performance. A 1.8ghz p4 is extremely slow and any modern dual core cpu will be several times faster. I think you would be better off building a new pc instead of upgrading your old one.

[MonkeyBusiness]

Hi guys. I have taken some precious time taking the picture in order for better assistance in upgrading this system. This is a uATX form factor.

I have some questions.
1. After viewing the first 5 pictures, is it possible to fit in a Sapphire Ati Radeon 9550SE AGP card which supports 4x and 8x? What is the actual dimension of the AGP card? Any risk of it being a high profile card as I supposed the motherboard supports low profile card?

2. The motherboard supports 4x. Is there any risk of wrong voltage being keyed? Reference from What is 1.5V AGP and .8V AGP? 1.5V AGP and 1.8V AGP Card Guides-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

3. From the third picture, will the ram lock blocks the agp graphic card after it is being installed?

4. From the power supply shown in the picture, is it a matx power supply? Can I simply buy the power supply of a microatx case meant for system builders?

5. How do you find the cable magement?

Thanks all.

[MonkeyBusiness]

[Trotter]

Originally Posted by MB

1. After viewing the first 5 pictures, is it possible to fit in a Sapphire Ati Radeon 9550SE AGP card which supports 4x and 8x? What is the actual dimension of the AGP card? Any risk of it being a high profile card as I supposed the motherboard supports low profile card?

The card will fit. I don't know the actual dimensions, but you won't have a problem. Your case will take a standard height card. There is no performance difference between half-height and full size cards.

Originally Posted by MB

2. The motherboard supports 4x. Is there any risk of wrong voltage being keyed?

No. Your computer is not old enough to use the old standard, and the x8 is backwards compatible with the x4 slot.

Originally Posted by MB

3. From the third picture, will the ram lock blocks the agp graphic card after it is being installed?

No, the RAM stays between the clips, so it will not get in the way.

Originally Posted by MB

4. From the power supply shown in the picture, is it a matx power supply? Can I simply buy the power supply of a microatx case meant for system builders?

It is a standard ATX PSU, not a mATX. Compare your physical dimensions with those listed on Newegg and you will see this is true.

Originally Posted by MB

5. How do you find the cable magement?

Cable management is simply how you route your cables. You should try to keep them out of the way of the flow of air to help keep your computer and its components cooler.

[MonkeyBusiness]

Originally Posted by Trotter

The card will fit. I don't know the actual dimensions, but you won't have a problem. Your case will take a standard height card. There is no performance difference between half-height and full size cards.


No. Your computer is not old enough to use the old standard, and the x8 is backwards compatible with the x4 slot.


No, the RAM stays between the clips, so it will not get in the way.


It is a standard ATX PSU, not a mATX. Compare your physical dimensions with those listed on Newegg and you will see this is true.


Cable management is simply how you route your cables. You should try to keep them out of the way of the flow of air to help keep your computer and its components cooler.

I have tried arranging the optical drive to move out of the front bay slot cover but it is untidy and does not looks nice or neat. Moreover the alignments of the screws is totally screwd up and the optical drive could not be securely mounted to the 5/1/4 drive bay.


Here is what I have a plan in mind and hereby requires your opinion.
I am maybe trying to run the Sapphire Ati Radeon 9550SE AGP 4x 128mb vga card off from the stock 200W so called shortened ATX power supply. I wonder what is the amount of possibility can the vga card be powered up?
Additionally I have remove 2 pci cards which are preinstalled which I do not use: 1X modem pci card + 1X firewire card.
Was actually expecting that the 2 pci cards will take off some load from the power supply. What is your take on it?

[Trotter]

It should work, especially with the additional PCI cards.

[MonkeyBusiness]

Originally Posted by Trotter

It should work, especially with the additional PCI cards.

Certainly would be expecting that it is true for a 200W power supply to power up a 9550SE.
Just to confirm further, on a power supply calculator worked out to a total of 142W.
eXtreme Outer Vision - eXtreme tools for computer enthusiasts

This is the 200W power supply rating(click on the third image to view in larger thumbnail) of 200W max output, +5V-23A, +3.3V-10A, +12V-12A, +5VSB-2A, -12V-0.8A.
CensusPC Images Viewer

Preferably I am not overloading the power supply. Just a reminder that 2 pci slots are removing from thge load and the 9550SE on full load up to 15W.

Edit: +5V & +12V-163W max, +3.3V & +5V-150W max. Both can be seen on the second link itself.

[Trotter]

Looks good. You should be OK with it, but that's about all you will get out of it.