motherboard choices

[mike09]

i just found out today that my computer sucks. i have a dell 4400 from last april with a p4 2.0 northwood and 400mx of bus (845d chipset). and have 768 memory of ddr sdram type. i have 250 watt power supply i am wondering what mother board should i upgrade to? also i heard somewhere that with dells if you replace the motherboard you need to replace the power supply. is this true? thanks in advance.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Not sure about the board but it wouldn't hurt to upgrade your power supply. Probably around 350w, minimum 300w......that's if you are going to add a few more goodies.

 

[mike09]

becasue im looking for a board that has 8x agp so if i buy the 9500pro i can go real fast.

 

[Goatman]

It is indeed true, Dell power supplies are wired differently from your standard ATX form factor, so you do need to replace the PSU also... look at the Asus P4P800-DX

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800-d/overview.htm

 

[LeeJend]

Make sure the Dell supplied Windows you have will work with a new non-Dell MB and bios. Dell "customizes" bios and windows version so it may not work. Several friends had problems with this 1-2 years ago.

In general avoid the big names Dell, Compaq, etc. They build proproetary hardware so you have to come back to then for support and upgrades.

Back to your original comment. The P4 with 845 chipset is not a "bad" computer. The MX video sucks for todays games. If the MB has an AGP slot you can still use a new model ATI Video card in the system. The difference between 4x and 8x AGP is not worth changing a motherboard and really makes no difference in gaming.

The 9500 PRO will go real fast with 4x. That's the way I'm using it.

 

[Sazar]

Originally posted by mike09
becasue im looking for a board that has 8x agp so if i buy the 9500pro i can go real fast.

like leejend said... agp 2x/4x/8x basically give you the exact same performance... you will not notice a difference in performance @ all going between them...

4x - 8x will @ most net you perhaps 1-2 fps in a benchmark giving you around 200-300fps... so consider that as well

 

[mike09]

will the weak power supply have enough juice left over from my memory upgrade (256 to 768) to power the 9500 pro?

 

[Sazar]

Originally posted by mike09
will the weak power supply have enough juice left over from my memory upgrade (256 to 768) to power the 9500 pro?

dell has a slightly different rating system than other companies... the psu should be enough

that is the one quality item that they do use..

 

[mike09]

i thought i read somewhere that you need at least 300watt psu for the card?

also i plan to buy this card in the near future Click

ps. just to make sure this card in th link nis the pro right?

 

[qualserve]

Just one problem, the card at the link you gave is NOT a 9500 Pro.
Take another look at it before you buy.

 

[mike09]

ahhh son of a *****. can someone look for a sapphire 9500 pro with a decent price. thanks in advance.

 

[LeeJend]

www.allstarshop.com had good prices on the 9500 pro.

BUT they are selling the OEM and full ATI card for the same price.

Check out the warantees whoever you buy from!!!!!!!!!! For second source and OEM they are limited.

 

[mike09]

thanks LeeJend,

is there a quality difference between the ati built and the sapphire?

 

[qualserve]

Try here: for $188.00
http://www.compuhq.com/radeon9500.html
To answer your question about quality: I personally run a Sapphire 9100 ATI chipset (128mb DDR) with excellent results.

 

[mike09]

thanks will consider that one because its in stock. but im gonna wait and see how this folds out maybe that one if it doesnt get to high. thanks for all the replies guys thank you.