identifying my motherboard...

[fortheloveofdog]

hi there. I've been searching through this site for tools that will give me a definite answer as to the make of my motherboard, as I want to overclock it. the computer was being thrown out by a programming company years ago, so i have no details or documentation for it.

I have downloaded belarc and was wondering if anyone could help me identify the mobo by using the information it provides:

Processor Main Circuit Board b
200 megahertz Intel Pentium w/MMX

System Model

Dell Zermatt [i actually think this may be wrong; it says Optiplex GXi on the case...]

Main Circuit Board
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies 05/01/01
[is this it? i haven't been able to find any information on this.]


Display
S3 Trio64V+ PCI (765) [Display adapter]
Belinea 10 70 20 [Monitor]

It's running windows 98 SE and has 176

I've also noticed on this board that people have said that the p200 mmx's are hard to overclock. I really know very little about this, and could do with some explanations (particularly pictorial) of what I need to look out for inside the computer (switches, which bit the motherboard actually is.......... )

phew, sorry about the overly long post.

basically, i'm a novice. please help!

[Midknyte]

unless you have 75 or 83 mhz fsb, OCing ain't gonna happen. since it was a dell, I would just tell you to quit while you're ahead. OEM computers are rarely OCable.

[fishybawb]

http://support.ap.dell.com/docs/systems/dzer/Specs.htm

Looks like it's 66MHz FSB only. You wouldn't notice any real improvements with an overclock anyway.

[fortheloveofdog]

i see.

on another note, could i stick a new pentium in it, or is the motherboard incompatible?

[MJCfromCT]

define "new pentium"

since its a dell i'm thinking it'll be very unlikely.

[fortheloveofdog]

sorry, i mean anything faster than the 200Mhz one I'm running at the moment. i guess i'd be right in thinking i couldn't put a P4 in it?

[Midknyte]

Originally posted by fortheloveofdog
sorry, i mean anything faster than the 200Mhz one I'm running at the moment. i guess i'd be right in thinking i couldn't put a P4 in it?

I hope you're not serious. They are completely different.

[fortheloveofdog]

i was serious. like i say, i'm a novice. i've googled around but all the information i have found is totally alienating, so please bare with me whilst I ask stupid questions!

so, basically, what everyone is saying is, I may as well just get a new computer...?

[MJCfromCT]

definately.

think of it like this: you have a model T car and you want to put a dodge viper engine in it...what would happen? :)

But don't worry about asking stupid questions, at one time everyone on this forum was asking stupid questions :)

[dragflameson]

fortheloveofdog, welcome to the forums :D :t

so, basically, what everyone is saying is, I may as well just get a new computer...? Everyone here can help you build your own! ;)

1st thing to do is choose if you want AMD or Intel :)

Then decide how much you want to spend. You can build a deicent system for cheap, especially if you dont mind keeping your current monitor.

[fortheloveofdog]

hmmm... what are the benefits of each? I've heard that athlons can cause more compatibility problems...

[dragflameson]

Well, I only use AMD, never built any Intel at all.

Really, its a huge debate between the two that has always been going on, and always will. I guess it really comes down to what you yourself would rather have/feel better about having.

I'm not trying to start another debate here, but basically Intel's clock cycle speeds (X.XGHz) are generally higher than AMD's, which would lead most to believe Intels are faster, but AMD CPUs get more work done per clock cycle than Intel chips, so it pretty much equals out.

I prefer AMD, others prefer Intel - Thats what keeps em both in business ;)

[MJCfromCT]

Also, the athlon 64's really outperform the P4's...another check mark in the AMD column..

[dragflameson]

Yeah, and I've never built an Intel system before, but for some reason it just seems eaiser! :)

But anyways, if you did want to build a new system, just the tower, you could pull it off under 200 and it would still be a huge step up from where you're at now.

[dragflameson]

Well, I take that back... here is one for $240.00

case - 22.00
motherboard - 36.00
cpu - 64.00
ram - 37.00
hdd - 46.00
cdrom - 23.00
floppy - 8.25
ide cable - 2.99
floppy cable - 1.25

Thats with a 52x cd burner, 40gig hard drive, 512MB memory, 300w power supply, 1.67GHz amd w/ heatsink fan, built in video, sound, lan - brand new computer.

K, you would still be able to get that under 200.00 though:

Use the case you got now, that minus 22.00, use the hard drive you got now, thats minus 46.00, use the cables you got now, that minus another 4.00, already got a cd burner you're happy with? that would be minus another 23.00

[fortheloveofdog]

never realised i could get a new comp so cheap. been looking at those £1,000 'deals' that the crummy companies like PC World do for so long, I guess.

Right. I've decided upon Athlon, for no good reason other than my girlfriend has one and it seems fine. What I really need the computer for is recording live music, and maybe a bit of gaming, but I have a ps2 for that part... :) So I guess I want one of those athlon 64s that was mentioned above, the decent sound card can come later when I have more money...!

I already have a cd-burner, floppy drive... I need a hard drive (my err.. 3gb one struggles a bit...) One problem though is my monitor which seems a bit dark; could this be because it's old?

Could I still use my old floppy drive? There's nothing wrong with it, as far as I know.

I've also got an old 3com network card that works just fine for the LAN (internet sharing only) that my housemates and I have set up. Could I keep this or would this pose problems?

I have around £300 to spend.

Just realised, is this mainly an American-based site?

phew... thanks for all your help btw! :)

[ryan855]

yes you could use your old floppy drive. they havent changed ever as far as i know. lol. great choice on going with a new hard drive because not only would that one probably fail eventually, because i am willing to bet it is perty old to be only three gigs. just a note if u go with the amd athlon 64 the motherboards will be more expenisive and their insnt a lot of them with onboard video.

[dragflameson]

That little "price-out" I did was socket A - forgot to meantion that... if you want A64 go for it, but with cheaper socket A boards and processor running ~1.6-2GHz with even only 256MB ram would be a huge step up from what you got now.

[fortheloveofdog]

Originally posted by dragflameson
That little "price-out" I did was socket A - forgot to meantion that... if you want A64 go for it, but with cheaper socket A boards and processor running ~1.6-2GHz with even only 256MB ram would be a huge step up from what you got now.


what are socket A boards?
Would I maybe be better off going with pentium due to cost?

:confused:

[ryan855]

socket a is the the platform on the motherboards that athlons, durons, athlon xp, athlon xp mobile, and some semprons now use. it would not be cheaper for you to go intel any way you look at it. amd gives you the bang for ur doller.

[ryan855]

that old 3com card i would say would probably work. i bet it is plug n play in windows xp, or their is drivers somewhere. :)

[fortheloveofdog]

cool.

i think i'll go athlon then, for the sake of my wallet.

Now for the dreaded mobo question... Where do i even start??! :rolleyes:

[dajogejr]

The Asus Deluxe line has everything but the kitchen sink on it...but, a few more dollars.

Abit and MSI are both fine offerings, as well.

Figure out what features you want, like total memory banks, onboard or AGP video card, chipset (SIS, Nvidia, VIA...)

The biggie now a days is Native SATA support. SATA hard drives are becomming the new standard in hard drives....for a few reasons.

Most good boards have 'em....

Asus A7N8X Deluxe, Abit NF7-S or MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum look good 'bout now.

[ryan855]

i have the normal abit nf7 and it is awesome. it has a ton of awesome features like onboard lan, surround sound, usb 2.0. the cpu setup was automatic too which it sounds like you will want. most motherboards now have that though. it is also one of the best overclocking motherboards, but it doesnt sound like you will be doing that. This board is stable though and after you set it up, it will run very stable.

[dajogejr]

I think the Nvidia Chipset is the best out in my opinion for the AMD line.

It's 5.1 channel sound can rival all but the best (read...pricey) sound cards out there....

[dragflameson]

You guys need to remember how much he wants to spend... Those are all great motherboards, but some of those (NF7-S) are around 120.00 US and dont even come with built in graphics.

fortheloveofdog - Find a motherboard with built in sound and graphics for now - they're all great motherboards. You will always be able to upgrade to a nice AGP graphics card and better sound card later on, because thats all extra components that you dont *need* on a budget build that really drive the price up quickly... built in graphics and sound are still going to be better than what you got now.

[ryan855]

that is why i said the normal nf7. that is about 80 ir somewhere around that on newegg.

[dragflameson]

Originally posted by ryan855
that is why i said the normal nf7. that is about 80 ir somewhere around that on newegg. I know :) but..

Originally posted by dajogejr
Asus A7N8X Deluxe, Abit NF7-S or MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum look good 'bout now. is why i said it.

[fortheloveofdog]

found this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=63401&_LOC=UK

"The NF7 series models, based on nForce2 chipset, supports the latest AMD Athlon XP processors with 200/266/333 FSB, and features new dual 400MHz DDR memory controllers that deliver up to a 50% increase in bandwidth. Three DDR DIMM slots support up to 3GB of DDR memory, and optimized 128-bit architecture reduces memory latency. The advanced memory architecture means that the latest 3D games and multimedia applications are able to run smoother and faster than ever before, giving you unparalleled system performance. With the nForce2 MCP2-T, the APU (Audio Processing Unit) delivers Dolby Digital 5.1 cinematic-quality sound and 3D positional audio to your home PC. By SoundstormTM technology, the NF7-S supports Real-time audio encoding delivering up to 256 simultaneous audio streams makes games and applications come to life. "


Sounds pretty good to me....?

[ryan855]

ok lets get back to basics so we know what to recommend to you. exactly how much $ are you willing to spend on a motherboard.

[dragflameson]

His whole budget is £300

[fortheloveofdog]

Yes, it's £300.

I'm going to be keeping the monitor, mouse, keyboard, disk drive(!), cd-burner and maybe the 3com network card, but I suspect the motherboard will have something similar built in, and it may be an oldie that won't work. I was planning on getting a tower, as they look cooler. ;)

I was meaning to ask about operating systems, but I guess you've covered that somewhere else already.

(I've just tried '**** Small Linux' to compare it and it works a trillion times faster than Windows 98, even on my computer.)

[fortheloveofdog]

er... sorry, does that count as profanity? :D

[ryan855]

just keep the astericks in there and let us figure out what u said. lol it is better that way. this forum is clean language only, and i would have it no other way. what is 300 of those (Euros?) worth in US?

[fortheloveofdog]

We still have the pound. Ireland uses the Euro, though.

According to the first exchange web page I found ( http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html ) £300 works out as:

$542.27 approx.

Then again, we're charged a bit more tax on things over here (to the best of my knowledge) so it's probably not so accurate.

[ryan855]

ok i got ya. i didnt know where you were from cause you dont have a location listed. :D you can still build i decent computer for that price.

[dragflameson]

Originally posted by fortheloveofdog
Yes, it's £300.

I'm going to be keeping the monitor, mouse, keyboard, disk drive(!), cd-burner and maybe the 3com network card Okay, pick out what motherboard you want, then pick out a CPU after that, with what ever money you have left get the best RAM you can get with it.

Just pick out a motherboard. Look and read about all the socket A motherboards. Most will have built in LAN and sound, a lot also have built in graphics, pick one out, then I'll help you with the rest :)

[ryan855]

yeah but be careful if u get a nf7. good name brand ram and u should be set. mine owrks good with kingston. if u get very low priced no name ram it might not work. also dont skimp on powersupplies.

[missiveusa]

I'll add my 2 cents worth...If you've got $US 500+ to spend, and you're decided on an Athlon XP CPU on an nForce2 board (Abit NF7-S NOT the NF7-S2 or Asus A7N8X-E), get the 400 MHz Athlon XP 3200 or 3000; the retail comes with a heatsink/fan and gets you a 3 year warranty, instead of the oem 30 days. The 333 MHz Barton CPU's are cheaper, and will work fine too. Add a 512 MB stick of Kingston Value RAM PC 3200 (DDR 400) with the lowest latency timings you can afford (CAS. 2.0 is better than 2.5), and you'll have a nice, economical system that's fast and reliable.

I'm sure someone can recommend a mid-range AGP graphics card that will fit your needs with the roughly $US 200 you'll have left over. Maybe a nice DVD-RW drive too?

Just read the DIY tutorials and take your time putting it all together...and triple check all your work.

[fortheloveofdog]

OK, I'll report back when I've decided upon some things.

Mmmmm... DVD Writer....

Thanks for your help everyone! :)

[fortheloveofdog]

http://www.planetmicro.co.uk/product_info.asp?stockcode=M002214&source=kelkoo

ASUS A7N-8XE DELUXE 8XAGP+FW+SATA+USB2+LAN+SND

This one looks good to me, if I've learnt anything by now!

Cost is about £60.

[dragflameson]

Okay that's a good one :D

Now, what CPU?? This one is looking good to me, or if you want a retail CPU that one will do. Weather you go for the 2.2GHz OEM XP3200 or the 2.08GHz retail XP2800 is up to you... I personally have no problem buying OEM anything, but some people do.

The difference between 2.2 and 2.08GHz is nothing you'll notice without running benchmarks and you would always be able to upgrade if you got the XP2800... Now that I think about it if I were you I would go with the retail 2800 which also comes with the stock heatsink, so you wouldnt have to get one of those either. (the heat sink is what you mount to the top of the CPU to keep it from overheating, every CPU needs to have one no matter what!)

You'll also need a video card with that board.

After you pick CPU and vid. card out you need to put the rest of the money towards the best RAM you could get with it... but 1st... are you getting a new case and power supply?

Most cases come with a generic PSU which you will be able to get away with for a little, but no1 where will recommend it. I mean it will be enough to start out with, but if you do, you'll have to plan on upgrading it (the power supply (PSU))... they **** out on me & others all the time and sometimes only after only a few months They're all just pretty much cheap inhouse brands that just wont last... thats if you decide to get a new case. Your PSU you got now probably wouldnt work with a new case... the old PSUs hook up to the switches on the front of the case and motherboard totally different.

[fortheloveofdog]

not sure that i'll be able to spend that much on a video/graphics card as well. would i be better off getting a motherboard with it all intergrated?

edit: cpu - probably go for the 2800

[MJCfromCT]

Keep the asus board and get ANYTHING besides integrated video...you'll thank yourself in the long run.

[dragflameson]

Originally posted by MJCfromCT
Keep the asus board and get ANYTHING besides integrated video...you'll thank yourself in the long run. He isnt going to have the extra money to pull it off, and if he does he'll have to skimp on the RAM which would be even worse.

Like I said before, integrated video isnt going to be the best, but it'll still be slightly better than what you got now, so does it really make that big of a difference?? And you'll always be able to upgrade to a AGP vid. card later on down the road :)

[MJCfromCT]

True, anything will be better than the s3, just try not to get a mobo that gives you integrated video but skimps on other things...

[dragflameson]

Originally posted by MJCfromCT
True, anything will be better than the s3, just try not to get a mobo that gives you integrated video but skimps on other things... The point I'm trying to make is this... If he spends extra on a video card that he can do without he is going to have less to spend on RAM which is more important when integrated vid isnt even that bad and he would be able to upgrade to a vid card at a later time.

[ryan855]

also unless he is goin to have to put money aside for an os unless he is going to take his os off the other computer and use it on this new one, cause that still complies with the eula.

[fortheloveofdog]

i've got win98 but i heard that it has problems recognizing big hard drives. is this true?

[fortheloveofdog]

also, i was wondering how to tell which motherboards require graphics cards.

[dragflameson]

It should say if it's got onboard video or not. If you cant find it google the board and find a review for that board, which should be easy, there are reviews for like every board out there. The review should tell you most of what you need to know.

And Windows 2000 Pro is a great OS unless you want to afford XP Home or Pro.

[ryan855]

windows 98 has no problems recognizing the existance of large hard drives. it has problems recognizing large partitions of those hard drives. worst that is probably going to happen is you are going to have to partition out your drive.

[fortheloveofdog]

ok, here's a draft spending plan(!):

mobo £30-60
cpu £90
hd £50?
video card £25 - 50
RAM £50 ??


£245 - £300

+ Case and power supply £??

I'll probably stick with win98 unless I can get it cheap.
Got any suggestions over how I balance out the cash?

I'm hoping I won't have to go too much further over the budget, as I'll have to wait before buying the extras.

[dragflameson]

Well like I already said.. get a board with onboard video and use that 25-50 you would have used on a vid card and add it to RAM and the case.

A video card that cheap is not going to do anything more than onboard video, just save up and get a GOOD video card later on down the road when you got the extra money.

With that extra 25-50 put some to RAM and some to the case. Most case's will come with a power supply. The power supply it will come with will do for a short period of time, but it will go. Some go faster than others, so soon after you build this computer (no more than 3 months later) plan on upgrading the PSU.

And thats it. *I* think it will work out to your best interest if you do it this way... but it's not my money ;)

[cheeseman]

yep it is a 66bus bus the MMX is the key the 66 bus, i thought i was the only one aroungd that had a 200mhz still around

[Fluffy_624]

Heres a quick list of all the parts u need.(i think).
Ebuyer quickfind codes.
063166
072522
052591
061722
052159
063967
043171
040758

This comes to a total of £290 inc. vat and delivery and will build u a system with reasonable performance in all areas (especially compared to what u have) and is easy to upgrade further down the road as money becomes available.
The parts are Abit nf7 v2.0 mobo, sempron 2300+,coolermaster hsf rated to xp3000+, 512MB samsung pc2700, PNY Gf5700le, seagate barracuda 120MB 8MB cache, casecom case w/out psu and an antec 300w psu.
Hope it helps :D

[elsarius]

Just a word in your ear ...

I've always found it nearly impossible in England to source components that come out cheaper than buying a complete computer. Before you buy the bits, I would suggest double checking that you're actually saving money over a base unit from www.meshcomputers.co.uk. Their systems are well built and include a three year warranty as standard.

£300 inc vat for a full system based on a ASUS A7N8X-VM, Sempron 2400+, 256Mb pc2700, 80Gb HDD, and it includes XP Home - and please, believe me, you don't want to stick with Win 98. You really, really don't.