rec.autos.simulators

A friend has asked me for upgrade advice for GTR 2002.  His current system
is:-

Celeron 1GHz Socket 370
512MB PC133 SDRAM
Aopen AX6BC BX mainboard (Slot 1 with a Socket 370 adapter)
GeForce 2 GTS

It performs much better than I expected it to but he'd like to spend about
US$100 on improving it.  The reason I'm asking here is that there was some
talk about people*** in there with their BX mainboards a little while
ago and I thought maybe someone could shed some light on the subject.  A new
mainboard might be an option, but new RAM would blow the budget.

Any ideas appreciated...

The cool thing about the ECS board is that it has slots for both DDR and
SDRAM, so you can keep using your older RAM until you and your budget are
ready to move up to DDR RAM.

One caveat about the ECS board: I heard a lot of people complain that it
will not run stably without a good power supply (rated 28A or higher at
3.3V).  I have an Antec 350 PSU that seems to work fine.

At any rate, if your friend wants to mainly see improvements in game
performance, he's probably not going to be happy with any motherboard until
he upgrades that video card.

This MB is based on an SiS chipset, right?  How does it's performance
compare to, say, a VIA KT333 or KT400 based system when using DDR-RAM?  What
speed DDR-RAM can it take advantage of?

I guess it would require another case fan going to an Athlon system.  My
Athlon 2000+ runs ridiculously hot compared to my old Pentium systems.

I'm still using my old PC133 SDRAM.  Perhaps someone else can comment.

What

PC2100 and PC2700, I believe.

It does run hot, yes.  About 18 degrees Celcius above the system temp with
the retail heatsink and fan, in my...err...case.

I'm fairly certain you CANNOT use DDR/SDR at the same time.  Wouldn't be a
good idea, PC 2100 is only $125 for 512 MB and the performance is worth the
price.  BTW, RAM prices are insanely volatile.  My 512 Corsair RAM is MORE
expensive NOW (I paid $150 - it dropped to $120 - now it's up to $170).

--
Joe M.

  My case is a mini-mid tower and only has two fans and they are
low-speed Vantec Stealth fans.  If I wanted to get any quieter, I'd
buy a Zalman powersupply.  I could also get a bigger 80mm fan and
heatsink unit that would run slower and draw the same amount of air,
but I'd blow the warranty on the CPU and I don't want to do that just
yet.  CPU temperature is about 114F - 122 F, and the motherboard
(KT400) is about 104.

  The new cooler on the GeForce FX looks very nice.  Not only will it
keep the graphics chip cooler, it will help keep the heat out of the
case.  I only wish my Radeon 9700 had one, that thing is hot.

I have the PCCHIPS M830 matherboard. I read on the net that it is same board
as ECS K7S5A. In manual it says that board supports athlon processors up to
1400MHz, and nothing of XP CPUs. So what did you do to install yours XP2000+

I'm currently running Duron 800 without a problem, but plan to upgrade soon.

Dorjan

I'll let the numbers do the talking first:

My setup:
Asus A7V333 (KT333 chipset)
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
512MB PC2700
MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200
3dMark 2001: 9,500 to 10,700 depending on clocks (stock everything, slow
timings to 141FSB, 280/580 on the video card, and fast timings)

My roommate's setup:
ECS K7S5A (SIS 735 Chipset)
AMD AthlonXP 1700+
512MB PC2100
MSI GeForce 4 Ti4200 (identical to mine)
3dMark 2001: 8,000 to 8,700 depending on clocks (stock to 148FSB; no RAM
timing changes, it's cheapo CAS2.5)

I know, you're saying now that there's a decent spec gap between there...but
even with his clocked up to near mine (the 512MB PC2100 is actually mine...I
upgraded to PC2700 because I got it for about $90 on eBay, hehe) he still
has the better part of a 1000-point deficit.

Does it make a huge difference in games or real-world performance, though?
Not really, but it is there and tangible.  The SIS735 isn't a bad chipset,
but if you're a benchmark ***, you'll see a big difference.

FWIW, I also had a K7S5A as my upgrade from the BX board...I got "this"
(there's very little left of it now, LOL) computer close to two years ago
now, as my dad and I built it originally in '98, with an Abit BH6 and a

unstable at anything over 300...and 300 was a bit of a crapshoot...dropped
in a Celly 900, which toasted itself after 3 months *grr*...and got a K7S5A
/ Duron 1.2 to replace it.  Which I kept for...LOL...four months!  Replaced
the K7S5A with a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP...then the 1.2 with a 2000+...then when I
toasted the 7VRXP (screwdriver kill, first ever), with an A7V333...

I need to cut myself off soon...and yet I'm already eagerly awaiting the
release of the Thoroughbred-B0 steppings of the 1700+ and 1800+.  They
should be instant 333MHz FSB 2000+ chips... *cackle*

Milhouse

Do you know if this board will fit into a Dell box?  I've got a 1Ghz Dimension
4100...

- Dave Cook

Well, let's put it this way.  It'd probably work, if you didn't mind
rewiring the case LED's and switches.  Given you can find a new case for $40
with a 300W (admittedly low-grade) power supply...which my K7S5A existed
quite happily with, at least with a Duron 750...

Milhouse

You can still find boards like the ASUS A7V133C
(http://www.racesimcentral.net/) out there for about 50
dollars or less, spend the rest on the CPU
(http://www.racesimcentral.net/)

Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

"A man is only as old as the woman he feels........"
--Groucho Marx--

Usually a bios update does the trick.  The manual was probably printed
before XP chips existed so it couldn't mention XP2000+.  My ECS board
supported AMD 1800+ (at least - I don't recall exactly) out of the box over
a year ago and now supports 2400+ (at least) with a bios flash.

--
Joe M.