Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hi All, It's sometime since I needed to visit for advice, but have been most grateful for help previously. I have an old system by todays standards but my FS9 setup runs pretty well and I have far better frame rates than many people posting here report on their machines. 'Frame rates' however are not everything and on occasion there is some jerkyness.I have a K7N2 motherboard with the nVidia nForce 2 chipset. It has an Athlon XP2700+ CPU (Socket A). With 1 Gig Ram (2 X 512Mg) The Graphics card is Asus Geforce 6800 LE. The monitor is CRT 19" Flatron - 1280X1024X32 resolution.I would like to change the CPU for the XP3200 (Socket A) and increase the RAM to 2Gig. to extend the life of my setup. My question is: Will my mother board chipset be compatible with the XP3200 CPU? The Motherboard user guide seems to suggest it will stating, "Supports Socket A (Socket - 462) for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP / Duron processors @ FSB 266/333/400 " & "Supports 600 MHz up to Athlon 3000+ processor or higher". I am no computer buff however and although I'm interestd in the subject and attempt to understand how my system works, I also appreciate that "a little knowledge is dangerous". In light of this,I'd appreciate some advice on my proposed alterations. The purpose of which is mainly for Flight Sim. (I don't use the machine for other gaming.)My thanks for reading this far at least.Regards, Blue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest wayupthere

Safe answers below ;).. if you want to enter the "danger-zone" and want more indept info just ask :(>Will my mother board chipset be compatible with the XP3200 CPU? It will without any issues accept a 3200 socket A. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi P. Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply to my query, and so quickly too. I'm most grateful.If I might impose with one more question, do I need to look for an "XP3200 CPU" with any particular description, (other than of course type A to fit my motherboard)? There are such an array of descriptive numbers and names and I would like to get the most appropriate one. It would be a waste of time and effort if I ended up with one too "fast" or indeed too "slow" for the motherboard - if that's possible of course.I would probably need to buy from the web as I think the XP3200 etc. are obsolete now. Hence the extra question.My thanks again.Regards Blue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest wayupthere

hehe no, just an AMD XP3200 socket A will do. The only thing you might want to look for, and that is get one with a Barton core, NOT a Thoroughbred, since the Barton's carry a larger L2 with them, they give you a small edge over a Thoroughbred.oh.. ps: good luck searching :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi again, I am once more indebted to you for sharing your knowledge, I shall start searching immediately. Again my sincere thanks.Regards, Blue

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi once again, I'm sorry to be a bother once more however, would it be possible for you to give me a little advice on the memory sticks I require. As stated in my original post, I have 2X 512Meg RAM I intend replacing them with 2X 1Gig. I do not know the name of my current sticks but they are 184 pin and will in anycase be replaced.I'd like to get fast RAM but compatible with the motherboard. Again sorting through the array of numbers in the memory descriptions on the web I find myself a little confused. Do you have any advice on those to choose, or indeed those to avoid?Thanks once more.Regards, Blue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest wayupthere

No problems :)Well your mobo supports memory upto DDR400 (PC3200) 184 pins.You could have a look at PC3200 OCZ modules, perhaps G-Skill,PQI or Mushkin. Those are some of the leading brands, and have always worked well for me. What you do need to keep in mind is, that when you buy the sticks, get two matching sticks. Meaning they are identical, in speed, latency etc..Usualy when you buy matching pairs, they do already come boxed 2 in 1. However if you don't (unlikely) find any, you can buy two sticks separately, as long as you check they are identical.As far as the fast dimms you want, get dimms which are rated with the tightest timings.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Davis, Your advice is much appreciated and gratefully received - I sometimes feel I'm getting a little too old to keep up with all these terms; please bear with me. I understood your reply, except for the very last bit, "....get DIMMS which are rated with the tightest timings". Now I know DIMMS are; "Dual Inline Memory Modules", - they are the 184 Pin memory sticks right? But, "tightest timings?? .... I'm afraid I might not know a "Tight Timing" if it leapt up and bit me, sorry;-) Is it possible you could explain please? Most grateful.Thanks again for your time and knowledge. I do hope I'm not "over staying" my welcome with all these questions.Regards, Blue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest wayupthere

Hey,Glad to be of help. Well without going into too much detail, don't want to make you confused ;). The tighter the timing's the faster speeds the RAM (is, or can reach, although not that noticeable for the day to day user),its more important when overclocking.. So in your case when buying the DIMMS, just look for the ones that say CL2. For example these: http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memo..._platinum_rev_2If you look under specifications, you see that it says,CL 2-2-2-5I have those exact ones running in a few other systems here in the house, and they've been running nicely for over 2y now.Just look for something like that. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Davis, Makes perfect sense;-) I think.I think I've sourced the DIMMS - must just check back now I have this info. There's an online shop that had a bewildering array of 184 pin DIMMs..... now I know what to look for I can buy with confidence :-) Many thanks. Regards, Blue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest wayupthere

Your welcome :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Again Davis, I took your advice and am now operating with PC3200 "OCZ" DDR RAM 400. Platinum. (2 Gig matched CL2-2 etc.) having installed the modules this evening ;-)Now, I was wondering if you could advise me further. The Motherboard instructions tell me, (under the "Memory" chapter) that; "....the system supports 128-bit dual channel DDR when you install DDR modules on DIMM1 (purple slot) and DIMM3 (green slot), or DIMM2 (purple slot) and DIMM3 (green slot)".The slots are illustrated in the handbook. I have installed my new memory in slots 1 and 2 because they are the slots that housed the memory modules I removed. (Clearly these are NOT the slots to take advantage of "128-bit") Could you tell me please, is my memory installed to give best Flight Sim. performance or should I change the slots to take advantage of "128-bit". (I confess I don't really know what '128-bit' means, I suspect it's something to do with the speed data moves)Regards Blue.PS. I have a XP3200 CPU - new motherboard and fan. Thanks for your help in choosing the right components.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest wayupthere

Hey Blue,Good choice on the memory ;) hehe.Well the colored slots are for Dual-Channel mode (128bit dual channel vs. 64bits single channel). Now to be really honest,"dual-channel" is an industry over-hyped thing, whats more important are the CL3, CL2 things.. that said running dual-channel does increase memory bandwidth and speed to some extent,not by much but all the little bits help. Just set them up, as your manual tells you in dual-mode :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Davis, many thanks for your reply, as you say every little helps so I'll do that.Just a thought; as said they are in '64bit' mode at present - (the way the old set were) could that be why I'm getting a system re-set after using the flight Sim. program (FS9) for maybe 5 mins? By system re-set I mean the screen goes black and then the computer starts to reboot itself.... it then works fine for a few minutes and happens again. This doesn't seem to happen when NOT using a 'game' program. (FS9 or my son's SubSim ....just to check out it's not happening with just one program). I check my e-mails - and this site of course - no crashes (well not yet anyway). Everything seems fine until I run FS etc. I've got "PCAlert4" monitoring all sorts of stuff but nothing seems overheated or anything? A real puzzle to the amateur like me.I appreciate I'm probably monopolising your valuable time but any advice would be appreciated if you have any observations.Kind regards,Blue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest wayupthere

No worries Blue :)Hmm,. Well it shouldn't be giving you restarts. Strange that you only have them with FS, see i would think it be shotty dimms, but since other games work fine. usually there is more than one settting for Dual. Try using the other two colors for setting them up as dual. If those work fine then the motherboard is just finicky. Try that, also dont forget to shut down the unnecessary services running in the background. If that doesnt work let me know, ill explain how to test the DIMMS.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...