Infomation Needed To Add Ram, Gpu, Etc?

[toby 0]

I have little ram (Windows says 384mb, CPUZ says 512 in two parts) and I want to add at least a 1gb stick. I've been told my computer is so old I might need DDR ram, and I should be able to see somewhere in the computer a label of what I need.

My currect GPU is integrated, I want to add another one to what must be an empty slot, but agian I don't know compatability.

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png

Bunch of pictures I took, I couldn't see any writing, is there anywhere I'm not looking?

[faulty.lee 0]

You don't have much choice to work with here. You definately need DDR ram to start with. But it's twice as expensive as DDR2 which is much much more common nowadays. You motherboard chipset is nForce2, most likely you have an built-in Geforce4 MX graphic chip that's taking up 128MB of your ram. Which is why you're left with only 384MB for your windows. You also only have 1 slot left for your ram. Btw, you ram is running at dual channel at the moment. But plugging in another piece will make it single channel, cause you slot is not balanced. To maintain dual-channeled, you need to throw away your 2 pieces of 256MB and replace with at least 2 pieces of 512MB. Not a very smart move though. If you're planning to play some games, my advice is save enough to get a new rig. If your intention was to improve your daily computing performance, then you can throw in another piece of 512MB, forget about the dual-channel, reduce your graphic chip's share of ram and don't even think about getting an AGP graphic card, cause your cpu is not up to the job. NOTE: you might want to "de-dust" your pc. I think it deserve some cleaning as it has served you for more than 5 years

[toby 0]

12 years actually, with some modifications (I assume ram, I don't think 512mb was even high end in 1996).

Two 1gb ddr rams, http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Components/cat/Memory---PC/subcat/DDR-PC-Memory, could I put those two in and give a bit more, say 256, to gpu? Or can I have something other than an AGP card, like if the blue thing was something older.

I dusted a bit between pictures, but there are so many wires, more than all the case pictures of friends. Can I take a Dyson hoover to the fans? I'll look for compressed air but I've only ever heard of it for sale in US.

edit: My gpu asks for Nvidia drivers, that bit is part of the ram?

Edited July 4, 2008 by toby (see edit history)

[faulty.lee 0]

12 years actually, with some modifications (I assume ram, I don't think 512mb was even high end in 1996).

Wow !!!

 

Two 1gb ddr rams, http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Components/cat/Memory---PC/subcat/DDR-PC-Memory, could I put those two in and give a bit more, say 256, to gpu? Or can I have something other than an AGP card, like if the blue thing was something older.

That would be a waste too, 1gb(total) is more than enough, and you want use them when you upgrade later. Anyway, it's your choice. The blue thing is AGP slot. But because your cpu is slow, upgrading to the latest card won't worth the hassle + money. Also, you can use it when you upgrade later too. Nowadays PCIe (PCI express) is a norm, and cheaper too. Well, unless you're looking for cheap 2nd hard AGP card.

 

I dusted a bit between pictures, but there are so many wires, more than all the case pictures of friends. Can I take a Dyson hoover to the fans? I'll look for compressed air but I've only ever heard of it for sale in US.

If you think you're confident enough, you can unplug those wire then use a soft brush to brush it while vacuuming. I'm not sure where you're from, if not tropical country, beware of static discharge.

 

edit: My gpu asks for Nvidia drivers, that bit is part of the ram?

Yes, GeForce4 is NVidia. nForce2 is also NVidia's. You motherboard is using nForce2 chipset and having a built-in GeForce4 graphic chip.

[toby 0]

On Ebuyer the cheapest agp video cards are 18 quid, cheapest 1gb ram is 22. What hassle would there be, trying to fit it in without knocking something else?I'm uk, I'll try to find something slimmer to get into the nooks and stuff for dusting.

[faulty.lee 0]

On Ebuyer the cheapest agp video cards are 18 quid, cheapest 1gb ram is 22. What hassle would there be, trying to fit it in without knocking something else?
I'm uk, I'll try to find something slimmer to get into the nooks and stuff for dusting.

Nah, you don't have to knock anything. I meant hassle in getting it, downloading the right driver and get it work properly without having to reinstall your window. for 40quid, it's quite worth it.

[toby 0]

I'll go ahead with those two, thanks for all the detail and quick replies!

[faulty.lee 0]

You're most welcome. Enjoy your upgrade

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Wait, 12 years old? No current technologies can can integrated to a board 12 years old.xboxrulz

[faulty.lee 0]

Wait, 12 years old? No current technologies can can integrated to a board 12 years old.
xboxrulz

I think what toby meant was that the oldest stuffs in the pc is 12 years old. The board has to be newer than that. nForce2 is released in 2002, 6 years from now. Probably the ram and the cpu is as new as the board. He might have kept the hard disk, optical drive, casing, floppy, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

True true. Still, man, Toby, you NEED a new system. A system 6 years old isn't worth upgrading, you can most likely build a much better system with $400 which would be cheaper than trying to retrofit an old machine so it runs fast.xboxrulz

[toby 0]

I'm getting a £600 or so laptop in September, so I'm fine with spending £50 now to make the last few months nice.When this was upgraded to XP, a lot was added, I'm not entirely sure how much (I had original 98 on D, same case, etc).

[pyost 0]

Once you get the laptop, you could consider installing a Linux distribution instead of Windows on the desktop machine (if you haven't done so already). From my own experience, most of them tend to run faster than Windows XP, and on a configuration like yours that is surely desired.

[toby 0]

I took out both ram sticks and put in the new one, the moniter shows nothing, even when I put it in the other slot. What can I do?

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

You could have inserted wrong type or faulty RAM. Make sure that the RAM type matches the motherboard. It is ok to insert faster RAM on a slower board.xboxrulz