Time for some upgrades

R

Russ

New Member
Hi,
I came here about 3 or so years ago and got some fantastic advice on building my current PC. I figure now that I'm back in the US I might as well do some upgrades so why not go where I got all that great advice the first time.

I plan to do lots of small purchases every other paycheck or so until I get a much nicer machine than I have now but with advice I can buy in the proper order. I DLd and ran a hardware identifier and this is what it tells me I have.

<<< System Summary >>>
> Mainboard : Asus P5KPL-VM
> Chipset : Intel G31/G33/G35
> Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 @ 2333MHz
> Physical Memory : 4096MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
> Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
> Hard Disk : Western Digital WD1600JB-00DUA3 (160GB)
> Hard Disk : Western Digital WD2500KS-00MJB0 (250GB)
> Hard Disk : Western Digital WD800JB-00FSA0 (80GB)
> Monitor Type : LG Electronics W1942 - 19 inches
> Network Card : Attansic (Now owned by Atheros) L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller
> Network Card : Ralink Technology Ralink RT2500 802.11 CardBus Reference Card
> Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3 (32-bit)

I have my CD rom disconnected right now because the Asus only has one IDE port and the 80gb HD I got for free and was testing to see if it worked which took my second IDE port. I would love to replace and upgrade stuff but I don't really know where the best place to start is.

In the end a few things I really want is
-More ram, currently windows only shows 2gig's which I find weird when the identifier shows 4gigs. Bad MoBo?
-Change over to SATA
-Replace my old Linksys wireless router (it's like 6 years old now)
-Get a better processor
-A new Motherboard if needed.
-Get a better video card.
 
BTW, thanks for any advice, I spend most of my time in the software and 3d world than the hardware world.
 
The reason you are not seeing the 4gb of RAM most likely has to do with your OS being 32bit not 64bit. To upgrade you might just wanna start over, everything looks pretty dead end.
 
JaredC. said:
The reason you are not seeing the 4gb of RAM most likely has to do with your OS being 32bit not 64bit. To upgrade you might just wanna start over, everything looks pretty dead end.
Click to expand...

incorrect. If you got 32bit OS, if everything run correctly, it should show 3.25GB. not 2 gb
 
OK, all righty then. As for a budget.. honestly, IMO, I can go pretty high just not all at once. I could drop up to $150 per month on parts without my wife noticing ;-). Or just save up for 4-6 months and throw down all at once. But anything that's even temporarily salvageable and I slowly build up is fine with me.
My case is a Q-Xpack2 and I love it for the size.

Thanks
Russ
 
also there are new parts coming out soon and all the compatibility issues when you coulda gotten one of them for about the same but had more speed, so saving is the way to go.
 
You need a different PSU if you want to upgrade to anything decent, if that's what you're looking to spend. Your budget is still kind of hazy, so first decide if you wanna wait, or slowly build up. The problem with that is you'll need a new motherboard before anything, and that means a new CPU since the sockets won't work together, and then new RAM because new boards support DDR3, not 2. So you might as well wait until you have some money saved up. You could also sell this computer for a decent price, too.
Try running Memtest to see if one of your sticks is bad. Or just take one of the stick out and see if it boots up, and then try with the other stick.
 
claptonman

Thanks for the advice, When I do a new build it I will probably put 1300 to 1500 into it. I spend most of my at home time in Unity, 3D max, and Motion Builder.
I will look up the memtest right now. I don't do that heavy of work at home, maybe if I can get my ram figured out this machine will last for a few more years.

Thanks for the advice guys, I knew stuff goes out of date, I just didn't think that i was that far out of date I went obsolete :).
 
I ran the MemTest and I also simply opened my case to look at the ram. I have no clue what the hardware identifier I DL'd was thinking but I have 2 gigs of ram. Two sticks of this Gskill ram http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=52
So I think that would explain why Windows only says I have 2gigs, because I only have 2 gigs.

I don't have any problems with my machine, I think it's just being I work on such fancy machines during the day I'd like something awesome at home. Until this becomes even more obsolete though I think I'm just going to order two 2gig ddr2 sticks and double my ram, then upgrade my video card and call it a day with parts.

Thanks for the help guys, when I do build my next machine I'll be coming here because I always get great advice.
 
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