Silly old PCI port

[johntaylor]

Hi everyone-I'm new. I have a question regarding my g card. I wish to buy a new one to play the lates games like UT2002 and MOH. But I only have PCI ports. Which is the best PCI cars out there and will they play these games ?
Thanks

[Staz]

UMMM

I hate to tell you this but PCI cards are not good for gaming and are much more expensive than their AGP counterparts. It is often a much better upgrade to get a new mobo and agp card.

Tell us about your system and we will do our best to help you make the right decision. If you have a coockie cutter computer let us know the Make and Model #. If you have a micro system then this will make it more difficult but not impossible. I myself have a mATX system that has an AGP slot.

If you are bent on not getting a new MoBo that is cool too. Just let us know and we will help you pick out a PCI vid card. Prob something like a GF4mx or a Radeon 9000. They will play the games you want (MOH:AA is sooo coooool) but at lower resolutions with the eye candy shut off.

I will go look at the current offerings and let you know what i think is best.

[funnyperson1]

i agree with Staz it would be a VERY good idea to get a new mobo with AGP pci just really doesnt cut it anymore.....i would get a 9000 is you MUST have pci

[Staz]

I just did a quick check thru the current offerings and if you must have PCI then a Radeon 9000 PCI clocked at 250/400 DDR is going to be the best you can get for about $100

[johntaylor]

Thanks for the help guys-I really appreciate it. I'm not sure what you need to know, I'm not great with computers. But if you tell me, I'll do my best to find it out and post it here.
I'm not against buying a new mobo as such but I am unsure how much it would cost and what I would need to do to use it. Also, has anyone seen that PCI card on sale from an English site ? Because I could not find it.
Thanks again

[piccoLEW]

this is what i have in my al440lx:

http://uk.europe.creative.com/estore...ory.asp?cate=4

a bit pricy, dont know if it will do the job for u or not :/: im talking about the 3dblaster 4 mx420 pci. might be worth phoning them to see if they are making anything better for the pci.

[Staz]

Ok

Go here and download SiSoft Sandra. Install then run it and it will give you all sorts of usefule info about your system. Basically if you can give use the name of the manufacturer of your mobo and the modle # we could go to that website and check out what it is and what it supports. If you could also give us what type and speed of CPU that you have. We need to know what core your cpu is (ie: TBird, Palimino, Northwood, Willamette, tulatain) (and don't bust me on the spelling either.)

Also tell us what type of RAM you have (ie: PC100, PC133, PC800, PC1066, PC 1600, PC2100, PC2700). Another thing that would be helpful is to know what size case you have and what size PSU. For the case just count the slots on the back. If there are 4 then it is a mATX, if there are 7 then it is an ATX. For the PSU look at the lable on it and tell us what the total watt output is rated at.

[johntaylor]

Thanks everyone. I did that test and put it in a zip. You will need to right click and save it. I hope it includes everything you need. Also, I'm not sure what a PSU is
Report (Right click save)

[The Spyder]

Ok~ a PSU is a powersupply, it runs your computer.
You have a celeron 898 so a 900mhz~ 256mgs RAM~ Built in INTEL video, is this a self made computer? I take it no, but it looks like to play UT 2003 you need a PIII 733 or greater (a celeron might work. looks like your processor might hold you back.)
You have 256mgs ram, which is recommended, so your good there.
Do you have 3gig extra harddrive space? Thats what it needs.
NOW! for video, a GF4  mx 420 would work GREAT for this~ only because thats what your system will support and still play the game pretty solidly~
Spyder

[Staz]

YUCK! An Emachine!

You have:
Intel Celeron 900 (coppermine) socket 370 100MHz FSB
128MB PC133 and 128MB PC100
mATX form factor

How much you want to upgrade depends entirely on your budget.

There are sever MoBo out there that will fit in your system.
Here are some.


Intel D815EPFVL
AOpen MX3SP
Chaintech CT-6OIA3T
DFI CS32-TL

Anyway Epox, Giga-Byte, and FIC all have offerings as well.
They are boards based on an Intel 815EP chipset and are no longer offered for sale.

It would be a stork of luck if you found one. I think your best bet would be to either just get a PCI Radeon 9000 or start saving for a new to build a whole new system.

[piccoLEW]

Originally posted by Staz
YUCK! An Emachine!

You have:
Intel Celeron 900 (coppermine) socket 370 100MHz FSB
128MB PC133 and 128MB PC100


How

maybe you could invest in a pc133 ram? if im correct, the ram is clocked down to the lowest speed setting available?

if u have a pc100 and a pc133 then logically they are both running at pc100? or will it not matter?. if you only have a 100fsb then having 2 * pc133 ram wont make much difference unless yo start OCing it. you will be able to bump it up to 133fsb without damaging the ram

[johntaylor]

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. The PC was not custom built no.
I looked at those mobos but none of them had a price. What kind of range are they and how easy are they to use ? Also, have you seen either of those cards for sale on a UK site because try as I might I can't
PS piccoLEW- I did not understand a thing you said. I'm sorry.
Thanks everyone

[Staz]

www.microdirect.co.uk has a Sparkle GeForce 4 64MB PCI MX440 for 52.88 inc VAT

Or here is an ATi Radeon 9000 PCI for 104.52 inc VAT

Good luck

[johntaylor]

Now were getting somewhere team ! Thanks. So, is there any real difference between these two cards and are you 100 % sure they will run UT2002 etc ?
THANKS EVERYONE

[Staz]

Nobody sells those boards anymore. When they were sold they went for between $55 and $70 USD. You would have to find one second hand. Not something I would recomend if you have never built a computer before.

[The Spyder]

FYI theres NO chance a EMACHINEs powersupply will run a new board and a new video card, so just get a new video card, In the future, i will warn you if you stick around long enough~ these guys will have ya upgrading to a 2000mhz AMD system, 512mgs DDR 3200 ram and a 120gig harddrive with a Nvidia GF4 4600 graphics card~ HAHAHAHAH~ good luck man

[johntaylor]

OK, looks like I'm getting the ATI. But I wonderd, should I remove the cyrrent card when I am ready to install the new one ? Will that conserve power ?

[Staz]

You don't have a graphics card in that system I don't think. I'd have to look again. It has onboard graphics. You will have to disable them. You may have a mobo jumper, but I very much doubt it. Or you may have a setting in the BIOS to disable it. If you don't have either of those options you will have to disable it in device manager.

[johntaylor]

OK, I'll just leave what is there. Thank you all very much. Some final question Re:my system report thing :
1 : It says max memory is 512 mb yet I only have 2 slots ?
2: CPU FSB speed higher than rated FSB! Reduce FSB speed.
Warning W222: CPU speed higher than rated

what does that mean ??
thanks

[Staz]

Max module size is 256mb and you only have 2 slots. So if you want 512mb you would have to replace both modules and go with 256mb modules.

As for the CPU speed Sandra thinks that you have a 600MHz CPU that should run on a 66MHz FSB. Where as you have a Celly 900MHz operating on a 100MHz FSB. So Sandra thinks you are overclocking and is telling you not to.

Either that or you really have a 600MHz Celly 66MHz FSB that either you or an unscupulous reseller has OCed to 100MHz FSB and 900MHz. To find out for sure go to AOAFILES.com and download wcpuid. It will tell you much about your cpu and it will read the name string off of the CPU itself to tell you what you actually have and what speed it is running at.

As long as your system is stable don't worry about it.