advice on my situation

B

bilbog

New Member
hello all. i was wanting to build a new pc, but i relooked my finances and that's out of the question. so , here's my question to you. i have a 2-3 year old compaq persario, it's a celeron d 3.0, 80 gig HDD 512 ram..it's pretty weak. my question is, would it be possible to buy my ram/graphics card/sound card/all of that good stuff now, and put it on this board, or is this thing just garbage and i'd be better off waiting. i'm about tired of this thing going crazy with lag and the fans howling every time i try to open internet exploder. on the front of the case it says sr1930t. ii'm not sure if that's the model number, but any advice would help

thanks guys
 
Yes. You could put a decent video card on there.
You may need to upgrade your power supply though
if you chose a better graphics card.

Plus you have DDR2 533 and you can get 2Gigs of it
for around $20.00. Any of these will fit your system
perfectly:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...08080 1052408147 1052308477&name=2GB (2 x 1GB)

Here's all the info you will need about your board.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/prodinfoCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=sg&product=3184117&lang=en

I assume you have Windows XP running?

We can try to get it running a little better for you also.
 
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Bodaggit has some great suggestions. I also recommend just upgrading your RAM right now and possibly the video card if you want. Most parts you would want to get now for a future build will not work in your current hardware. The only exception here would be the video card. But, current and future high end video cards will be hampered by your CPU.

If you can only afford the smaller upgrades to your computer now, stick with the RAM and a lower-end video card - which will still be much better than the Xpress 200 chipset you have in there now. Beyond that, save up for the new computer build.

Here are a few inexpensive suggestions for a video card:

ATI 4670 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820

nVidia 9600GT - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127362R


If you don't want to upgrade your PSU either, you can go even lower:

nVidia 9400GT - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162018

ATI 4550 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125250
 
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I am running windows xp, and i was looking over some of the other forums, and i read that you have to have 64 to run the 4 gigs of ram, is there any way to check if i have that version? any suggestions on a good psu? i wouldn't mind getting one a little better than i might really need, for future upgrades. thanks a lot for the help guys, it's making this much easier, and i'm learning a little as i go.

one more thing, i have got a pretty wild stereo, and i've got that reltek HD audio program, but it doesn't allow me to set it up to run true 5/6.1. am i just needing a new sound card, or do i need a program to allow me to do that, because the sound quality is pretty bad, and it only runs 2 channel or mono 6.1
 
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bilbog said:
I am running windows xp, and i was looking over some of the other forums, and i read that you have to have 64 to run the 4 gigs of ram, is there any way to check if i have that version? and about the psu, i have a 300w, i'm guessing that's pretty low, but would it still be enough to run a decent graphics card? or should i look into getting a new psu as well. thanks a lot for the help guys, it's making this much easier, and i'm learning a little as i go.
Click to expand...

Go to the Start Menu, click Run, type winver or msinfo32.
That will tell you what you have.

You don't need 64bit OS to have 4Gigs of RAM in your pc.

You just can't utilize all of it as 1Gig will be reserved for the OS.

It will still be faster though.

As far as a low eng graphics card that will run off your current psu,
this card would work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130394
 
Bodaggit23 said:
...You just can't utilize all of it as 1Gig will be reserved for the OS.

It will still be faster though....
Click to expand...

Clarification: XP can only address 4GB of memory - this includes all system devices like graphics cards and their on-board RAM for instance. That is a limitation of the OS. It is not reserved solely for the OS.

You will see a speed bump by upgrading your RAM even to just 2GB. You will encounter much less page swaps for one.

The 300 watt power supply is not much, but any of the lower powered cards like the one Bodaggit mentioned or the two lower units I mentioned will work fine with it. And, you could reuse them in the new computer if you want in the future. Though, by then you will most likely want to upgrade that.
 
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The 32-bit versions of XP have a 4GB address space.
Some of that address space is used to map to I/O devices,
and the rest is available to address RAM.

The system still uses all 4gigs, it's just not available for you.
 
well, today i went out and got a stick of ram, 2 gigs for 20 bucks, figured that way i can buy another late down the road if i want to and have 4 gigs between two sticks. while i was out i also picked up a geforce 9500 gt graphics card for 50 bucks, it was on clearance. i figured the cards you suggested were about the same price. thing is, it doesn't work. when i put it in, the pc turns on, but no picture comes in, i assumed it was not getting enough power, but i wasn't sure if it would just not show a picture, or run very slowly without the power. thing is though, i also got a free geforce 4000 64 mb of ram card as a hand me down from a friend, and when i installed it the pc also refused to boot up properly. i tried plugging the s-video into both the mobo's s video slot, and the one on the card, both cards. and it refused to boot up, the moment i took out the cards, it booted up perfectly. i don't think that the cards are damaged, but it is possible. and the 9500 is brand new, so i really hope that they aren't damaged. any advice or install tricks that i failed to do would be greatly appreciated. thanks a ton guys
 
Have you tried to skip the RAM and just install the 9500?

Your board only supports 2Gigs max, One Gig in each slot.
Single 2Gig stick may not work.
 
the 2 gig card works ok, i checked and it found the ram, i currently have 1.93 gigs according to my computer, not sure where the rest went, but i'm sure it's ok to not have it all. the problem is the graphics card doesn't work. i'm not sure if you mean that the ram is using too much power/overloading the mobo or not, but as for the ram it's all peachy. sorry if i wasn't too clear on that, my bad.
 
Strange. Did you leave the 512 stick in also or.

What exactly do you have in the pc right now.

Stupid question but I have to ask:
When you installed the graphics card, you plugged
your monitor into the graphics card and not back
into the onboard input right?
 
as of right now i have both cards in. no graphics card, and everything else is exactly how the pc came when i got it from compaq. and i am assuming that's not a hot idea, if i need to i can remove the 512. as for the graphics cards, yes. i plugged the s-video cable into the input on the cards, both of them. i tried both cards to no avail, so i said why not, and even tried plugging s-video into the mobo's input, and needless to say, that diddn't work either. is the 9500 just eating up the power, or would it still at least boot up and just run sluggish. while i was out i got halo 1 and it LAGS bad if i fire my gun/throw a grenade, so i am hoping to get one of the cards working. thanks again guys
 
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bilbog said:
the 2 gig card works ok, i checked and it found the ram, i currently have 1.93 gigs according to my computer, not sure where the rest went, but i'm sure it's ok to not have it all. the problem is the graphics card doesn't work. i'm not sure if you mean that the ram is using too much power/overloading the mobo or not, but as for the ram it's all peachy. sorry if i wasn't too clear on that, my bad.
Click to expand...

You are right. That small amount of RAM not showing up is nothing to worry about. That is due to the way Windows allocates memory space to your peripherals.


bilbog said:
as of right now i have both cards in. no graphics card, and everything else is exactly how the pc came when i got it from compaq. and i am assuming that's not a hot idea, if i need to i can remove the 512. as for the graphics cards, yes. i plugged the s-video cable into the input on the cards, both of them. i tried both cards to no avail, so i said why not, and even tried plugging s-video into the mobo's input, and needless to say, that diddn't work either. is the 9500 just eating up the power, or would it still at least boot up and just run sluggish. while i was out i got halo 1 and it LAGS bad if i fire my gun/throw a grenade, so i am hoping to get one of the cards working. thanks again guys
Click to expand...

S-video? Are you connecting this to a TV? Or are you referring to the 15-pin trapezoidal VGA connector to your computer monitor?

Technically the 9500gt requires a 350W PSU. Have a look over here under the specifications tab. You might be pushing it to try and run it under the 300W unit you currently have.

When you have the graphics card in (either one), does your system power up and sound like it is booting into Windows? Or, does it not turn on?
 
i am running it into my television. when i have either of the cards in, the lights on my comp come on, it sounds almost identical to when it is going to start up normally, only difference is the flash on my screen comes later, and then my screen goes black. normally it flashes, and a second or two later the starting windows screen comes up...one other note to add in i forgot to mention. when i first tried to insall my 9500gt and it diddn't work, i took it back out with the normal ram and i got an error message saying something about the power supply failing/a laundry list of other possible reasons. i had a friend over and he said it was nothing to worry about. so i disregarded that. but, that very well could be the problem come to think of it.
 
OK. In that case, you should boot with a monitor attached first. Some video cards do not initialize the TV out upon boot. You may have to boot into the OS first to enable it (and install the proper drivers). Consult the manual that came with your new card on how to do this properly.

It is likely that your PSU is having troubles with that 9500GT. As I mentioned, nVidia lists a 350W PSU as a minimum requirement.
 
well, i tinkered with the cards some more, and i got the geforce 4000 to work. and wow, it's honestly worse than when i diddn't have a card. granted it's a old lower end card, but still. i got the drivers and everything for it, but at least i got one of the cards to work. now for the 9500gt. i tinkered with it as well, and i managed to get windows to start up...i think. i had my coax/s video plugged in before i turned on the pc. when it started up, no flash on screen, nothing. pure darkness. but, i heard the little windows starting noise, and i heard diffrent programs running, and if i hit the windows button, the fans started howling again. i am fairly certian that it was functioning, just no picture. and i tried the drivers. as soon as i put the cd in and tried to install them, it said that my computer wasn't capable of downloading them, and i coulnd't figure out a reason. that was all i could get out of the cd. i'm honestly not sure what it is. i mean, if it is the psu, would it still start up and function normally, just with no picture? or would the pc bog down and run dirt slow, but still run to begin with? sorry to sound so helpless, but i'm not sure what to do. if it comes down to it, i can go without the card for another week and on pay day get another psu, but it'd be good to know if there is another way that i can go about this.
 
i finnaly got it to work...i just woke up and gave it 1 more shot, and it decided to work perfect. i did nothing diffrently, but thanks for the help guys
 
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