What kind of video card should I buy?

[Tingkai]

Thanks Cruddy. I couldn't make heads or tails of Faded Glory's post. Far to technical for me.

I think I'll try to do a complete upgrade.

The way some of you talk, building your own computer sounds easy. Is it?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Thanks Cruddy. I couldn't make heads or tails of Faded Glory's post. Far to technical for me.

His post wasn't so much technical as it was filled with buzzwords.

I think I'll try to do a complete upgrade.

The way some of you talk, building your own computer sounds easy. Is it?

It is easy, for those of us who do it.

But it's also probably a bit complex for most users.

Again, I urge you to look for a local company similar to www.memoryexpress.com

I haven't found anyone who can consistently beat their prices, plus they also build systems or partial systems. They'll install your CPU to your motherboard for free, a full hardware install (all your components hooked up) is $30CDN, and a full hardware+OS install is $60.

I'd recommend purchasing a new computer from a shop like that. You'll get good quality parts, for cheap, and won't need the hassle of learning how to build a computer.

[tinyp3nis]

Ok, I still have the k7s5a myself so I'll tell you something about it, even something new maybe

+cheap
+OK performance, not the fastest but worth the money, if you want cheap.
+supports sdr and ddr memory (but dont use them simultaniously!)
+reliable, even reviews confirm this. However, when I had SDR ram on this, I had to allways reboot once when I started my comp for the first time. Ugraded my bios, no help. Only thing I found on net was from other users: "use ddr ram". When I finally switched to ddr, the switch was not cause of the coldboot problem thought, my comp started booting normally.

-Like overclocking? Stay away from this board! With unofficial bios you have the setting of going from the default 100/133 fsb up to 200 fsb. What I read about this on the net, was that nobody has ever reported getting even 166 fsb to work on this board.
-Are you going to upgrade later? I haven't got any idea how long the newest boards on the market at the moment will be reasonably upgradable. I do know, that this board will not be compatible with the newest processors next year, because it's not even now. The fastest you ever get to work with ecs k7s5a is 2400+ or 2600+, these are fast enough now. And around that speed you should be getting, atleast I would. But lets say somebody gives you free duron i.e 800mhz. Use it in this board if you are soon planning to buy 2400+..

Some info: supports AGP 1/2/4
100/133 official fsb (athlon xp uses 133 fsb up to 2400+, from 2500+ on it has barton core and uses 166 fsb. i think there are 133 and 166 versions of 2600+)
integrated sound and 56k modem, there is also a lan version of k7s5a. I have non lan, and I can't comment about the sound since I use separate card for it.

[tinyp3nis]

Ah sorry, in case you don't know what is fsb: The overall prosessor speed is fsb multiplied with some constant. Example: With my CPU it is 133 FSB x 11.5.
That makes my cpu 1533 Mhz, and that is Athlon XP 1800+. If you want to compare it to pentium 4's, use the pr rating to compare to pentiums Mhz. XP 1800+ is about as fast as 1800mhz northwood pentium 4. I hope you checked the link they gave you.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Originally posted by Asher
Don't buy a GeForce 4 MX -- it's a DirectX 7 card.

A Radeon 9000 is a DirectX 8 card.

Radeon 9500/9700/9800 and GeForce FX cards are all DirectX 9 cards.

DirectX 9 are by far the most powerful, and flexible, and support DirectX 9 features in hardware that you otherwise do without or are emulated with great performance loss on older cards.

Most games these days are DX8, but tomorrow's (and DOOMIII's) will be DX9-level games...

WHAT! So you're saying I won't be able to play Doom III on the GF4 Ti 4200 8xAGP I want to get....?

That instead I must get a GeForce FX? (Don't even talk to me about Radeons )

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Thanks Cruddy. I couldn't make heads or tails of Faded Glory's post. Far to technical for me.

I think I'll try to do a complete upgrade.

The way some of you talk, building your own computer sounds easy. Is it?

Well, faded glory was bang on - you did say you had a K7 but I thought it wise to show you how to check. Also, I've had years of experience in translating jargon - many people get annoyed at me for this (the point of jargon is shorthand to avoid long explanations) but if you have no entry into the jargon, it's impossible to start talking about it!

Anyway, easy... For myself, the TRICKY bit is fitting CPU and memory to a motherboard. First, ground yourself (grab hold of a cold water tap if nothing else) and avoid working on carpet or other static material.

Next, eyeball the motherboard connection and the part. See how the connection works. These days just about all connectors are keyed - they will only fit one way. Once you are sure you know which way it has to go, try fitting it. It should snap into place, and it's hard to get the pressure right - a certain amount of force is needed, but not too much - so build up slowly until you feel it slide into place. If there's no "give", stop trying and eyeball it again. Eventually you'll suss it - the trick is not to get angry and flustered.

Next, drives. Most non-floppy drives are IDE type, and the cable can usually fit in either way. The CORRECT way is to match the side with the red (or dappled) stripe into the side which is marked "Pin 1". If you get it wrong, no damage happens but the drive won't work until it's plugged in the right way.

Do a complete build in stages. Once the CPU, memory and drives are plugged in right, you can start up the machine and see how it goes. Before attempting to load Windows for the first time, you will need to change the BIOS settings so that the machine will boot from the Windows CD. (Hold down the DEL key when the machine is switched on. Select "standard CMOS settings" and use the PGUP/PGDWN keys to change 1st boot device to CD-ROM).

You could stick with Windows 98 - I do. However, it won't support memory over 512Mb, so if you want more memory than that, go for either Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro. Avoid XP Home or Windows ME - I've never seen a good word written about either of them.

This is the slow, boring bit. Installing Windows. You would think the machine just has to read the CD once, but instead it takes a few resets to jiggle all the drivers into place. After the first reset, you should change the BIOS setting back so that the machine boots from the hard disk. Right at the very end (and it will take an hour or two) you have to type in the key code that came with Windows.

Once Windows is installed and you can go to the desktop and shut down the machine from the start bar, you can start adding things like graphics and sound. Do these expansions one at a time, because the machine has to reset in between adding cards.

Those are the pitfalls - actually bolting the bits together takes maybe an hour or less, it's the software install (Windows etc) that takes the time.

Personally, if I was in your shoes, I would go for a new K7 slot processor (say a 1Gig Athlon) and a new graphics card. That should keep you up to date for a couple of years. If you can change the CPU and add a graphics card, you will be up to the frustrations of building a machine from scratch.

Tinyp3nis, you guessed what mobo I'm building on. I'm impressed!

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by MrWhereItsAt


WHAT! So you're saying I won't be able to play Doom III on the GF4 Ti 4200 8xAGP I want to get....?

That instead I must get a GeForce FX? (Don't even talk to me about Radeons )

That's not what he wrote. DirectX9 will support older gfx cards, but it has to emulate some of the features that are built into FX chips using the CPU and memory (emulation).

So you will be able to run Doom3 - just not as fast as those with FX cards. As if you couldn't have guessed!

[MrWhereItsAt]

Well, that's what he was implying anyway.

I thought it was just the new vertex lighting (or whatever) that Doom III wanted - and it was being specifically designed for the GF4. Did id do what everyone does and suddenly look up to see how much the top end has advanced and said "Only the best will do for us! Yessiree, everyone will have FXs when Doom III comes out! GF4? I don't even think anyone will have them!"

Games companies. I hate them so much!

[Asher]

Technology-wise, DOOM III is only using DX8 at its core to get full effects.

However, there are specific things for DX9 cards that make it render so much faster but look the same.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
It is easy, for those of us who do it.
But it's also probably a bit complex for most users.

Yeah, I figure guys like you can do this blind-folded and in your sleep. I look at my computer and see all the wires and I'm thinking this is too complex for me.

But then I thought: I'm sounding my parents when they're faced with new technology. I'm going to take on this challenge and if I blow up my computer so be it. But I got to try to understand this stuff.

And I've got help. The stuff Cruddy posted is understandable and I should be able to follow it.

But the first thing I'll buy is a fire extinguisher just in case.

[Asher]

Good luck, if you have any questions at all, post here. There's a bunch of us here who have (or have had) jobs revolving around building computers.

And fire risk is extremely low, all of the current equipment has logic to turn itself off if it detects it's overheating.

[Cruddy]

Thing most likely to overheat is your temper Tingkai.

Go steady and cool.

Oh yeah, you may find you need extra push power to get the power leads into/out of hard drives and CD drives, but rest of it should be push and click.

[tinyp3nis]

But isn't doomIII Opengl, not directx?

[faded glory]

actually cruddy

This is a socket A, what you have pictured is Slot A



I said unsure support, cause your socket a built in the 1ghz thunderbird era theoretically have a threshold up to a barton 3000+ but in reality dont


again,

[faded glory]

everything will be moving to OpenGL. DirectX is finished

red x's eh. oh well heres a pic

www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/mobo/ amd/kt400/75frv/socket.jpg