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BTOG46

Settlers Moderator
Picture of BTOG46

Posted

USB 2.0 is way faster than USB 1.1 USB 1.1 could only manage a maximum of 12mbps, USB 2.0 has a maximum of 480mbps.

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Posts: 6096 | Location: Near the cold North Sea | Registered: Mon March 06 2006

Ignored post by BTOG46 posted

Silent Hunter Moderator
Picture of Realjambo

Posted

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Thanks BTOG! That's all I needed, someone else to quote the figures I will be quoting to Mrs. Jambo when justifying the outlay - when she counters that we already have a big box with blinky lights on it that we plug things into and they then come up on the screen.

....'Well, BTOG (He's a Moderator now) said that USB 2.0 is faster by....and therefore.... I have no choice....'

Cheers BTOG!

Posts: 5736 | Location: In more places than you might think | Registered: Tue August 23 2005

Ignored post by Realjambo posted

BTOG46

Settlers Moderator
Picture of BTOG46

Posted

I don't know how urgent your need is to upgrade, but USB 3.0 is on the horizon, and it's up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0, with a maximum transfer rate of around 4.8Gbps.
I doubt if there will be any products on the market till next year at the soonest though.

Posts: 6096 | Location: Near the cold North Sea | Registered: Mon March 06 2006

Ignored post by BTOG46 posted

WabbitHuntn

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by BTOG46:
I don't know how urgent your need is to upgrade, but USB 3.0 is on the horizon, and it's up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0, with a maximum transfer rate of around 4.8Gbps.
I doubt if there will be any products on the market till next year at the soonest though.

A USB 3.0 flash drive would be a great option to use as a Readyboost device in Vista.

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Posts: 27 | Registered: Wed March 12 2008

Ignored post by WabbitHuntn posted

alieneddiexxx

Posted

I have a question I think I may be able to get answered here. What is the best proceesor and video card my system can handle? Here is some info on my stuff:

Operating System System Model
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600) MSI MS-6712 1.0
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
1.10 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: MSI MS-6712 1.0
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. Version 07.00T 04/02/01
Drives Memory Modules c,d
82.34 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
38.40 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8525B [CD-ROM drive]
HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B [CD-ROM drive]

HDS722580VLAT20 [Hard drive] (82.35 GB) -- drive 0, s/n VNR8GEC2T5Z5PR, rev V32OA60A, SMART Status: Healthy 1536 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot '0' has 512 MB
Slot '1' has 512 MB
Slot '2' has 512 MB

Posts: 395 | Location: New Jersey, USA | Registered: Fri December 07 2007

Ignored post by alieneddiexxx posted

BTOG46

Settlers Moderator
Picture of BTOG46

Posted

To be honest, it might be better to consider more than just a CPU or video card upgrade, as far as I know, that motherboard only supports as high as an Athlon XP 2800, and has an AGP video slot.
While you can Get Radeon cards As high as the HD 3850 512mb for the AGP slot, if you want a Geforce card, the choice is limited to the older lower performance cards.
However, with a new motherboard, you could go as high as quad core CPU's and also have a much better choice of video cards for the PCI-Express video slot.
Of course, if you go for a new motherboard, you'll probably need a new power supply, new memory, etc. etc. so it comes down to how much you can afford.

Posts: 6096 | Location: Near the cold North Sea | Registered: Mon March 06 2006

Ignored post by BTOG46 posted

alieneddiexxx

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by BTOG46:
To be honest, it might be better to consider more than just a CPU or video card upgrade, as far as I know, that motherboard only supports as high as an Athlon XP 2800, and has an AGP video slot.
While you can Get Radeon cards As high as the HD 3850 512mb for the AGP slot, if you want a Geforce card, the choice is limited to the older lower performance cards.
However, with a new motherboard, you could go as high as quad core CPU's and also have a much better choice of video cards for the PCI-Express video slot.
Of course, if you go for a new motherboard, you'll probably need a new power supply, new memory, etc. etc. so it comes down to how much you can afford.

I know my motherboard is OLD. Just not to familiar with the whole compatibility thingy. If I can significantly improve the processor without replacing the board now, great. If not, oh well, time to spend, I guess. Thanks for that!

Posts: 395 | Location: New Jersey, USA | Registered: Fri December 07 2007

Ignored post by alieneddiexxx posted

DRAGONFIRE_Sr

Posted

I think it is time to bite the bullet as the top line CPU for that board are getting hard to come by as well. I couldnt find any socket "A" CPU's at tiger direct.

Posts: 239 | Registered: Thu November 22 2007

Ignored post by DRAGONFIRE_Sr posted

PWH

Posted

I've just upgraded my graphics card from GeForce 7900 GTX

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5

This baby is sweet a vast vast improvement & the price is right!

Posts: 636 | Location: Nottingham, UK. | Registered: Sun December 07 2003

Ignored post by PWH posted

tambor198

Silent Hunter Moderator
Picture of tambor198

Posted

Hey, PWH.

Keep us informed on how that baby works for you. I've heard nothing but good things about the 4870 cards.

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Posts: 3172 | Location: In Harm's Way...... | Registered: Mon August 07 2006

Ignored post by tambor198 posted

Silent Hunter Moderator
Picture of Realjambo

Posted

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OK Guys, I have a question on behalf of an old colleague who called me today, knowing that I built our boss at the time a PC (which, I'm pleased to say still works!)

He doesn't know his spec, only that it's a Packard Bell and some years old. I wondered what your opinions are?

Turns on the PC, blank screen. Can hear things in the case spinning (Fans I assume) but also a rhythmic clicking noise. The 'HDD Busy' LED on the case is blinking constantly. Won't POST. Won't even get to 'enter BIOS' option. He's asked Packard Bell for a rescue disk which they say they'll send him, for what good that will do I don't know.

I say it's a dead HDD. Solution - a new HDD and put an XP disk in the DVD Drive, change BIOS to boot from the DVD Drive and format and install XP. Then put the old HDD in as a slave and see if he can save his music and photo's etc. What say you?

Oh, and I rather suspect he'll arrive at Jambo Towers one day - PC Case under an arm and the promise of a pint if I fix it!

Posts: 5736 | Location: In more places than you might think | Registered: Tue August 23 2005

Ignored post by Realjambo posted

andy3536

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by Realjambo:
OK Guys, I have a question on behalf of an old colleague who called me today, knowing that I built our boss at the time a PC (which, I'm pleased to say still works!)

He doesn't know his spec, only that it's a Packard Bell and some years old. I wondered what your opinions are?

Turns on the PC, blank screen. Can hear things in the case spinning (Fans I assume) but also a rhythmic clicking noise. The 'HDD Busy' LED on the case is blinking constantly. Won't POST. Won't even get to 'enter BIOS' option. He's asked Packard Bell for a rescue disk which they say they'll send him, for what good that will do I don't know.

I say it's a dead HDD. Solution - a new HDD and put an XP disk in the DVD Drive, change BIOS to boot from the DVD Drive and format and install XP. Then put the old HDD in as a slave and see if he can save his music and photo's etc. What say you?

Oh, and I rather suspect he'll arrive at Jambo Towers one day - PC Case under an arm and the promise of a pint if I fix it!

You should be able to get to the bios if the HDD is duff.
Try unplugging the HDD then see if it goes anywhere.
Also try clearing the bios....

Posts: 605 | Registered: Wed February 07 2007

Ignored post by andy3536 posted

Silent Hunter Moderator
Picture of Realjambo

Posted

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Thanks Andy3536, I'll ask him to try that first

Posts: 5736 | Location: In more places than you might think | Registered: Tue August 23 2005

Ignored post by Realjambo posted

andy3536

Posted

Well, i've gone for one of these, so far it's performing well in games but not so much in benchmarks.
Not too worried in that though as the current driver is only the first one made to support the card.

And crysis does look good on high

Posts: 605 | Registered: Wed February 07 2007

Ignored post by andy3536 posted

Silent Hunter Moderator
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Posted

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The cooler reminds me of mine on my 8800GTS 640mb, a very similar design. Good luck with the card!

Posts: 5736 | Location: In more places than you might think | Registered: Tue August 23 2005

Ignored post by Realjambo posted

PWH

Posted

quote:
Originally posted by andy3536:

Well, i've gone for one of these, so far it's performing well in games but not so much in benchmarks.
Not too worried in that though as the current driver is only the first one made to support the card.

And crysis does look good on high

Is this the same one you have andy?

ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series Hotfix

Posts: 636 | Location: Nottingham, UK. | Registered: Sun December 07 2003

Ignored post by PWH posted

PWH

Posted