It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
avatar
JudasIscariot: SANDRA Lite is also an excellent program to run in order to find out what exact motherboard, and other devices, you have on your system without ripping it open. If you want, you can run SANDRA Lite on your PC and give me the info from it and I'll take a look at finding the right BIOS for your motherboard.
SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Workgroup : MSHOME
Host Name : bigandbad
User : Devin

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+
Speed : 2GHz
L1D (1st Level) Data Cache : 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 (2nd Level) Cache : 1MB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size

Computer
Mainboard : K8T800-8237
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 09/13/2003
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus AGP PCI IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 1GB DDR

Chipset
Model : Albatron Apollo K8T800 CPU to PCI Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 800MHz (1.6GHz)

Chipset
Model : AMD Athlon 64/Opteron HT Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 800MHz (1.6GHz)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR
Channels : 1
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 166MHz (332MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Corsair CMX512-2700C2 512MB DDR PC1-2700U DDR1-334 (2.5-3-3-7 2-10-0-0)
Memory Module : Corsair CMX512-2700C2 512MB DDR PC1-2700U DDR1-334 (2.5-3-3-7 2-10-0-0)

Video System
Video Adapter : ATI Radeon HD 2600 Series AGP (120 SP 800MHz, 512MB DDR3 1.4GHz 128-bit, AGP 3.00)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
WDC WD1600AAJB-00J3A0 (160GB, ATA133, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache) : 149GB (C:)
WDC WD1600AAJB-00J3A0 (1TB, USB2/ATA133, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache) : 932GB (E:)
LITE-ON DVDRW SHW-1635S (4GB, ATA66, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 4GB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 149GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1600AAJB-00J3A0 (160GB, ATA133, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache)
MED2TW_1 (D:) : 4GB (UDF) @ LITE-ON DVDRW SHW-1635S (4GB, ATA66, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
Floppy Disk (A:) : N/A
My Book (E:) : 931GB (FAT32) @ WDC WD1600AAJB-00J3A0 (1TB, USB2/ATA133, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Albatron VT8237 PCI to ISA Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : Winbond W83697HF/F/HG
Audio Device : Albatron VT1720/4 Envy24PT PCI Multi-Channel Audio Controller
Audio Device : Visiontek HD Audio Codec
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : VIA VIA SATA RAID Controller
Disk Controller : Albatron VT82xxxx EIDE Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
USB Controller 1 : Albatron VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
USB Controller 2 : Albatron VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
USB Controller 3 : Albatron VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
USB Controller 4 : Albatron VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
USB Controller 5 : Albatron VIA VT8237/A/R USB EHCI Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : VIA VT6306 VIA Fire II IEEE-1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : VIA VT823x SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Dell Laser Printer P1500 PS3 (600x600, USB)
Printer : Dell Laser Printer P1500 (600x600, USB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Compact Wireless-G USB Adapter #2 - Teefer2 Miniport (Ethernet, 54Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Home 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 3)
Platform Compliance : x86

Performance Enhancing Tips
Warning 100 : Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.
avatar
Barnell: ...
Getting an extra 1GB RAM in there would be your best bet for an affordable and significant performance boost. You can get up to 3GB in there so replacing those two 512MB sticks with three 1GB sticks is certainly an option if you think it's worth the expense (what with you getting a new system anyway).
Wasn't Athlon 64 launched in 2005? How could this have 8 years?

I don't think it is the case to be nostalgic about it. If you need it use it as it is, otherwise sell or donate it.

This topic made me remember about my old computers stored in the attic. For one of them I had special plans of making it a DOS & Win98se machine for running old games. Unfortunately for him the appearance of virtualization kind of changed my plans... what a shame to let a Voodo2 SLI be food for the spiders. But maybe some day... :)
avatar
iuliand: Wasn't Athlon 64 launched in 2005? How could this have 8 years?

I don't think it is the case to be nostalgic about it. If you need it use it as it is, otherwise sell or donate it.

This topic made me remember about my old computers stored in the attic. For one of them I had special plans of making it a DOS & Win98se machine for running old games. Unfortunately for him the appearance of virtualization kind of changed my plans... what a shame to let a Voodo2 SLI be food for the spiders. But maybe some day... :)
I'm sure I got it in 2003. it was the year before I when to collage.
avatar
Barnell: ...
avatar
Navagon: Getting an extra 1GB RAM in there would be your best bet for an affordable and significant performance boost. You can get up to 3GB in there so replacing those two 512MB sticks with three 1GB sticks is certainly an option if you think it's worth the expense (what with you getting a new system anyway).
I been looking at ebay and found a few parts for cheap. I was looking at upgrading the processor and the RAM. I’m doing this more for shit and giggles then practicality.

New processor: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-64-3700-2-4GHz-skt-754-CPU-ADA3700AEP5AR-/110690213599?pt=CPUs&hash=item19c5a69edf

Not really sure how to find the RAM.
avatar
Barnell: ...
The RAM you need is DDR. Not DDR2 or DDR3. But plain old DDR. It should have a speed no higher than 400mhz or your board won't be able to handle it. Something like this.

The CPU seems compatible. I don't know if you'll notice a massive difference. Especially not given the asking price. I'd pass.
avatar
JudasIscariot: SANDRA Lite is also an excellent program to run in order to find out what exact motherboard, and other devices, you have on your system without ripping it open. If you want, you can run SANDRA Lite on your PC and give me the info from it and I'll take a look at finding the right BIOS for your motherboard.
avatar
Barnell: SANDRA stuff
Try this site:http://biosagentplus.com/?ref=752 It's basically a site that scans your BIOS and should recommend the right one for you.
avatar
Barnell: SANDRA stuff
avatar
JudasIscariot: Try this site:http://biosagentplus.com/?ref=752 It's basically a site that scans your BIOS and should recommend the right one for you.
NO! We just had a fellow who got scammed really, really badly by that site. Attempted to sell him a BIOS he could have gotten straight from ASUS and hijacked his browser so that it intercepted searches for BIOS.

Put BIOSAGENTPLUS on your list of NEVER GO HERE, EVER sites. And do the same with the free version of Everest, which drops it on your computer.

Anyway, Albatron is still in business, and you can still get whatever BIOS updates there may be for your board direct from Albatron's site.

Sorry for shouting, but that site is one people need to be warned off of.
avatar
Barnell: I got my computer about 8 years ago and it will soon be having its 9th birthday. After Oblivion kicked my computers ass the computer has been on a slow decline. I had to replace the old power supply, update graphics cards and get a new hard drive. I’m still not ready to give up on the old boy; I find it’s the perfect GOG gaming machine and I have a ton of XP games I still like to play. So what I’m looking for is suggestions on how to improve/keep it alive.

What I’m looking at:
Updating the BIOS on my motherboard, not really sure how I feel about this one.
Updating my Power supply (the current one is 350Watts)
Getting a SSD for a Boot drive
Maybe replacing the motherboard. My biggest concern doing this is I only have the Cyber Power Restore CD.
I think all of those ideas are likely to cost you money and time that you could put to better use.

Never update the BIOS unless you have a specific problem that that exact BIOS update is known to address.

Putting an SSD on an old computer as a boot drive is a waste of money. Now you have an old computer with an expensive disk and an operating system that doesn't know how to use it right. You'll waste most of the performance of the SSD; and if your operating system or disk controller is too old, you'll shorten its life.

You cannot replace the motherboard without a retail copy of Windows (not the Restore CD) or a new OEM copy of Windows, unless you want to run Linux instead.

The power supply update is appropriate only if your current power supply is defective or inadequate for a planned upgrade. Many new power supplies are not compatible with motherboards that are that old. Those motherboards tend to require -5V and -12V, and a lot of power supplies no longer supply one or the other. You would have to select the power supply carefully.

As for your current system, if it already has a Socket 754 Athlon 64 CPU, you are as good as you are going to get without a complete rebuild. At best, you could get a slightly faster one that is just as obsolete, and it would be almost as expensive as a new CPU and motherboard, because they haven't been made for years and are scarce on the surplus market.

That motherboard has an AGP slot only. You can still get a few AGP graphics cards, but they are not good value and not high performance.

Basically, your system is a dead end with no practical upgrade potential. You can throw good money after bad, since it's your money, but I would start saving for a new one instead.
Post edited November 27, 2011 by cjrgreen
avatar
cjrgreen: ...
Well said!
avatar
cjrgreen: Never update the BIOS unless you have a specific problem that that exact BIOS update is known to address.

Putting an SSD on an old computer as a boot drive is a waste of money. Now you have an old computer with an expensive disk and an operating system that doesn't know how to use it right. You'll waste most of the performance of the SSD; and if your operating system or disk controller is too old, you'll shorten its life.

You cannot replace the motherboard without a retail copy of Windows (not the Restore CD) or a new OEM copy of Windows, unless you want to run Linux instead.

The power supply update is appropriate only if your current power supply is defective or inadequate for a planned upgrade. Many new power supplies are not compatible with motherboards that are that old. Those motherboards tend to require -5V and -12V, and a lot of power supplies no longer supply one or the other. You would have to select the power supply carefully.

As for your current system, if it already has a Socket 754 Athlon 64 CPU, you are as good as you are going to get without a complete rebuild. At best, you could get a slightly faster one that is just as obsolete, and it would be almost as expensive as a new CPU and motherboard, because they haven't been made for years and are scarce on the surplus market.

That motherboard has an AGP slot only. You can still get a few AGP graphics cards, but they are not good value and not high performance.

Basically, your system is a dead end with no practical upgrade potential. You can throw good money after bad, since it's your money, but I would start saving for a new one instead.
I when to Albatron site and reviewed the BIOS updates, only one looked like it might help. I have given up on the idea of updating it.

I found one new processor at $90.00 but that was too much but I’m going to keep my eye on ebay and see if one pops up for less, a lot less.

I’m thinking of upgrading the RAM like Navagon suggested.
Post edited November 28, 2011 by Barnell
I'm gonna check newegg for you OP.....I think I can find you some good ram. And dammit Navagon beat me to it. I was gonna suggest a RAM upgrade for a speed increase(XP uses 128+ MB of ram alone to load plus if it loads a bunch of stuff at startup that takes even more away from games/etc that need it.)

BTW since your ram is single channel you can upgrade one single stick without impacting performance. I'm gonna find you a cheap 2GB DDR stick, and if you get it you could replace one of the two stick you have now with it and keep one(i.e. the new 2GB stick in one slot and keep the one 512 MB stick in another slot for 2.5 GB ram total)
avatar
GameRager: I'm gonna check newegg for you OP.....I think I can find you some good ram. And dammit Navagon beat me to it. I was gonna suggest a RAM upgrade for a speed increase(XP uses 128+ MB of ram alone to load plus if it loads a bunch of stuff at startup that takes even more away from games/etc that need it.)

BTW since your ram is single channel you can upgrade one single stick without impacting performance. I'm gonna find you a cheap 2GB DDR stick, and if you get it you could replace one of the two stick you have now with it and keep one(i.e. the new 2GB stick in one slot and keep the one 512 MB stick in another slot for 2.5 GB ram total)
Question, I have 3 slots for RAM on my mother board. Instead of replacing could I just add the 2GB stick and have 3GB witch is the max for my motherboard?
2 GB ram ddr 400 ecc

One of the links on that page has it for 10 bucks from an eBay seller. Pop one of your current sticks out for this one and let er' fly.
avatar
GameRager: I'm gonna check newegg for you OP.....I think I can find you some good ram. And dammit Navagon beat me to it. I was gonna suggest a RAM upgrade for a speed increase(XP uses 128+ MB of ram alone to load plus if it loads a bunch of stuff at startup that takes even more away from games/etc that need it.)

BTW since your ram is single channel you can upgrade one single stick without impacting performance. I'm gonna find you a cheap 2GB DDR stick, and if you get it you could replace one of the two stick you have now with it and keep one(i.e. the new 2GB stick in one slot and keep the one 512 MB stick in another slot for 2.5 GB ram total)
avatar
Barnell: Question, I have 3 slots for RAM on my mother board. Instead of replacing could I just add the 2GB stick and have 3GB witch is the max for my motherboard?
Yep. I'd put the biggest one in the first slot(slot 0 I think) though, and move the one 512 mb one down to the last slot.

EDIT: The ten dollar 2GB ram stick direct link on eBay: Here

great price and he has great ratings so i'd snatch it up if I were you. It's also ECC and registered which your sandra printout earlier says your ram needs to be for your system.
Post edited November 28, 2011 by GameRager
avatar
GameRager: 2 GB ram ddr 400 ecc

One of the links on that page has it for 10 bucks from an eBay seller. Pop one of your current sticks out for this one and let er' fly.
avatar
Barnell: Question, I have 3 slots for RAM on my mother board. Instead of replacing could I just add the 2GB stick and have 3GB witch is the max for my motherboard?
avatar
GameRager: Yep. I'd put the biggest one in the first slot(slot 0 I think) though, and move the one 512 mb one down to the last slot.

EDIT: The ten dollar 2GB ram stick direct link on eBay: Here

great price and he has great ratings so i'd snatch it up if I were you. It's also ECC and registered which your sandra printout earlier says your ram needs to be for your system.
Thanks I'm buying it right now
Post edited November 28, 2011 by Barnell
avatar
GameRager: 2 GB ram ddr 400 ecc

One of the links on that page has it for 10 bucks from an eBay seller. Pop one of your current sticks out for this one and let er' fly.
avatar
Barnell: Question, I have 3 slots for RAM on my mother board. Instead of replacing could I just add the 2GB stick and have 3GB witch is the max for my motherboard?
avatar
GameRager: Yep. I'd put the biggest one in the first slot(slot 0 I think) though, and move the one 512 mb one down to the last slot.

EDIT: The ten dollar 2GB ram stick direct link on eBay: Here

great price and he has great ratings so i'd snatch it up if I were you. It's also ECC and registered which your sandra printout earlier says your ram needs to be for your system.
NO, that system does NOT want registered ECC RAM. That stuff is only for servers. You misread the printout. Nothing in that printout remotely suggests that registered or ECC RAM is in any way suitable for that motherboard.

You can have no more than 2GB as 2x1GB sticks on that board.

Navagon gave you a link to suitable RAM. Use that one and not the other.

Do better research before posting "advice" on what other people should do with their money.
Post edited November 28, 2011 by cjrgreen