Hi, I’ve got an oldish scratch built computer system that I want to upgrade for my son to use for the internet, digital photography and games.

I really need to upgrade the RAM to 2GB for the games. As for a graphics card, something compatible with today’s games, but not with a high price tag.

I believe that you’re restricted to the amount of RAM you can put in, by the motherboard and that’s where I need some help please. Anyone know from these specs whether I can replace the two 512s with two 1GBs

ATHLON 2600xp
2 x 512 DDR 333 memory
ASROCK K7S8X motherboard
MSI GF 4 T14800SE

Cheers, Dave

You can stick up to 1GB in each slot, so you can have up to 3GB with that board.

The AGP slot is 8X, so you can take your pick of the current lot of AGP cards, rather than having to look out for an older 4X one (the older ones run at 3v, the newer ones 1.5v)

:) him8,you can put 2 stix of 1gb ram in or 1 gig + 1 of yer 500mb stix,grafix card nvidea 7600 gs 256 mb is a nice card for around £80, dont go lower than a 6600gt for gaming.we prefer nvidea cos the drivers are easier to install & match to the cards [my humble opinion after fu**in around with an ati 9800 pro fer a week]. also if u get 1 o these newer cards do'nt forget they have a molex power connector on them [independant power]hope this helps,willo.

Memory– supports 3 x DDR DIMMs, Max. 3GB
supports 1 DDR400 DIMM, Max. 1GB
supports 2 DDR333 DIMM, Max. 2GB
supports 3 DDR266 DIMM, Max. 3GB

Apparently. What you'd probably need to do to go to 2Gig would be to throw away the existing ones and buy 2 new DDR333 1Gig sticks. I guess you may be able to leave one of the 512s in as well, for a total of 2.5Gig.

The graphics card for that motherboard would be AGP. You could get a BFG GeForce 7800 GS OC for about 160 quid, or at the cheaper end at 6800 GS for around 100. Anything much older than that probably won't be that great for games being released now. The limiting factor with today's games though would be your 2600 processor.

Well thanks a million everyone, I never thought I would get answers that quick.

I don't understand this bit willo: -

...also if u get 1 of these newer cards do'nt forget they have a molex power connector on them [independant power] hope this helps,willo.

Does this involve getting something else?

I've had a look around and got these prices: -

1GB DDR333 so-DIMM Rendition RAM - £52.01 - Custom PC Warehouse

BFG GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail - £165.66 - advancetec

...so the whole lot for £270.

Well thanks a million everyone, I never thought I would get answers that quick.

I don't understand this bit willo: -

...also if u get 1 of these newer cards do'nt forget they have a molex power connector on them [independant power] hope this helps,willo.

Does this involve getting something else?

He means that some of the newer graphics cards need to be connected to the power supply unit with one of the plastic power connectors that are plugged into your disk drives and stuff. Otherwise they either won't work, or be completely unreliable.

Thanks mrmist

:) good choice grafix card[get me 1 too awwww plze-lol]as regards memory [as far as i know it goes pc 2100-pc2700- pc3200/ the pc 3200 is ddr 400 [cofusin innit] all of em will work, but i recomend gettin the pc 3200,as [i'm guessin yours is a newer pc] it will work in yours without slowin it down if u ever need to borrow a stick,its all about the same pce as well.hope this helps,willo.

:) sorry-pce should read price

:) good choice grafix card[get me 1 too awwww plze-lol]as regards memory [as far as i know it goes pc 2100-pc2700- pc3200/ the pc 3200 is ddr 400 [cofusin innit] all of em will work, but i recomend gettin the pc 3200,as [i'm guessin yours is a newer pc] it will work in yours without slowin it down if u ever need to borrow a stick,its all about the same pce as well.hope this helps,willo.

You can't use DDR 400 in that board as you'd be limited to 1Gig.

1GB DDR333 so-DIMM Rendition RAM - £52.01 - Custom PC Warehouse

I think you may have the wrong memory there dude, so-DIMMs are different...

This (http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/66405) is the kinda thing you're after, Corsair are a very good brand, never had a single stick go wrong & I've bought a lot of it.

That's the 400Mhz stuff though, if you're going to put 2GB that motherboard will only do it at 333Mhz apparently (or 266Mhz if you go silly & get 3). There's probably only a coupla quid difference, but bear it in mind...

Nice graphics card though :thumbsup:

:( ddr is sposed 2 b backwards compatable,so if u put 1 stick of 3200 in a system with 1 stick of 2700 it will run at 2700 speed automatically.u can also change the bios 2 run the memory slower [under clocking]u can on my boards which are made by asus,the same company that makes asrock.

I've had a look around and got these prices: -

1GB DDR333 so-DIMM Rendition RAM - ?52.01 - Custom PC Warehouse

BFG GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail - ?165.66 - advancetec

...so the whole lot for ?270.

eBay new BTW

2gb DDR 400 1 stick ?52 + ?6 P&P
1gb DDR 400 1 stick ?26 + ?6 P&P

or do what i did for me sister

buy a ?15 Skt 754 Sempron 2600+ XP
& a ?18 Skt 754 Motherboard , cheaper than chips and all OEM brand new from eBay from a shop/seller.

buy now 100's in stock

:thumbsup:
________
HERBALAIRE (http://www.vaporshop.com/herbalaire-vaporizer.html)

:( ddr is sposed 2 b backwards compatable,so if u put 1 stick of 3200 in a system with 1 stick of 2700 it will run at 2700 speed automatically.u can also change the bios 2 run the memory slower [under clocking]u can on my boards which are made by asus,the same company that makes asrock.


Because the asrock is a budget board there are no controls over the ram timings. I'm going on the specs that I read and quoted in my first post - they suggested if you stick 400 in you can use a max of 1 gig total. Of course he might be lucky and it might all work, but I'm not sure it's worth it when he could just get 333 in the first place, everything would match and it would all be within spec.

:) yep fair enough mrmist,agreed better 2 b safe than sorry.

Can I confirm that I need 2 of Corsair 1GB PC2700 DDR333 DIMM Memory
and the
BFG GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP)

If you put 2x 400Mhz 1GB in - it would automatically run at 333mhz, - mine has done that now I have 3GB in, it runs at 333mhz (auto) - but my board has much more control, over the timings etc, so i have manually set it at 400mhz and its fine

Can I confirm that I need 2 of Corsair 1GB PC2700 DDR333 DIMM Memory
and the
BFG GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP)


That should be fine.

Many thanks to everyone, that's cheered me up no end.
Dave