Author Topic: PCI device help please?  (Read 17451 times)

eerrrr

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PCI device help please?
« on: 2001-04-09 20:15:00 »
ive had this for ages and ive been meaning to post about it but i always forget. in my system bit in the control panel on the device manger tab in other devices, ive got to PCI devices with crosses next to them. i cant update their drivers cos they dont have any and i dont now if they're important. i want to fix it cos they might be the source of my pc always crashing, can anyone help?

http://www.completeubb.f2s.com/devices.gif" border=0>


The Skillster

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PCI device help please?
« Reply #1 on: 2001-04-09 21:00:00 »
ok, ill need the following infos:
graphics card make,
sound card make
directx (if u want) version
and is the drivers correctly installed for the above two?
looks like there are drivers that are redundent in your system, or windows is detecting a device it doesnt know much about (ie multimedia cards, tv cards etc) also a list of cards on your motherboard?

J*** H*******

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PCI device help please?
« Reply #2 on: 2001-04-10 06:34:00 »
Message.

eerrrr

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PCI device help please?
« Reply #3 on: 2001-04-10 16:26:00 »
ok heres my secs:

Pentium 2 MMX
233 MHZ
32MB RAM
Windows 98 SE
ATI Rage 2 Graphics Card
Yamaha OPL3-SAx Sound driver
Rockwell V.34 Voice, Speakerphone PnP Built-in Modem
DirectX 8

What do you mean by cards on my mother board? All of my system devices drivers were last updated in 1999 and the ones with PCI in their name already have the latest drivers. Need anymore info?


ficedula

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PCI device help please?
« Reply #4 on: 2001-04-10 22:11:00 »
Two things I can think of:

1) Your Rage Pro has video input/output (TV) build on to it. Some cards do; that would explain the extra devices. Even though it's one physical card, it (for ease of use) can appear as two devices.

2) Your motherboard has stuff like sound integrated on to it and you haven't disabled it. That's the extra devices.


eerrrr

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« Reply #5 on: 2001-04-11 14:24:00 »
well i doubt its all that important then. i wont bother touching it if its just for pc sounds, my pc can already make the little bleepy noises anyway. oh well, thanks for the help guys.

oh yeah, how much would 96MB RAM cost cos i want to boost to 128MB RAM, and is it possible to buy MHz? cos ive got 233 at the mo, can you actually shove MHz sticks in like RAM?


ficedula

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PCI device help please?
« Reply #6 on: 2001-04-11 22:28:00 »
Hoo boy...

RAM is cheap at the moment. About £0.50/MB, less in larger quantities. That's about $0.70? per MB in US money.

Speed ... is dependant on your CPU (processor). You can *replace* your processor. You could "upgrade" some 486's and earlier CPU's by adding on extra chips but not anything remotely modern. Your motherboard will support a certain range of CPU speeds; you may be able to take out your current chip and put in a faster one instead. Or if your motherboard doesn't support anything faster you'll need to replace the motherboard too.


Aaron

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« Reply #7 on: 2001-04-11 22:39:00 »
233 sounds like an early Pentium II?  If it's a Pentium II, the most you'll probably be able to upgrade it to is about 400 mhz.  If its a Pentium I (I dunno if they went up to 233) then that's probably about as high as you can go.

You can get a new processor (and motherboard) but replacing the motherboard is a pain.  You have to take just about everything out, take the motherboard out, put the new motherboard in, and then put everything you took off the first one back in.


Threesixty

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PCI device help please?
« Reply #8 on: 2001-04-11 22:40:00 »
Im going to guess it's going to be EDO ram. and that is kinda high compaired to regular Sdram.

And having onboard video and sound on, while having some PCI card installed that do the same thing,  can cause all sorts of crashes.


The Skillster

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« Reply #9 on: 2001-04-12 17:40:00 »
no its the late pmmx233mhz, Socket 7,
no chance upping the CPU speed, unless itll support a cyrix M2 upto 333mhz?
if not then forget it, dump the motherboard CPU and the memory! buying a duron and a via motherboard plus some sdram ram and a new power supply too will be cheaper in the long term, believe me!!! dont go for a p2 or youll be slapped in the face when u need to upgrade!

Aaron

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« Reply #10 on: 2001-04-12 19:15:00 »
P4 1500 mhz and 1024 meg RDRAM would be cool

....but expensive.


eerrrr

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« Reply #11 on: 2001-04-12 20:01:00 »
hhmmm, i saw the new pentium 4 advert too. when you guys say stuff like p3 and stuff do you mean pentium 3? maybe i should try buying a new pc, those athlon ones with the GeForce 2 pc's sound good. maybe i could persuade my dad to get one.

The SaiNt

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« Reply #12 on: 2001-04-12 20:40:00 »
Do not buy the Pentium 4!
I've read an article about it.
I can't remember the details but is has something to do with the P4 having a new architecture that makes it only faster than current processors only if the program code is optimised for it. If it uses the same normal optimizations in the code, the P4 performs with horrible performance. I could be wrong though. Now where did I last read that document?

ficedula

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« Reply #13 on: 2001-04-12 22:09:00 »
It could have been almost anywhere. That's basically what most people are saying about the P4: it's fast on code optimised for the P4, but that's about *all* it shows the full speed at. Not surprising, really.

Aaron

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« Reply #14 on: 2001-04-12 22:30:00 »
Well, its plenty fast, even if the code isn't optomized for it (well fast compared to my P2).  My friend has one and I ran Snes9X and ePSXe with FF9 on it (they both ran awesome) and normal games run very well also - ...

Can someone point me to an article explaining the optomized code stuff?  Is Athlon a better processor choice?


Aaron

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« Reply #15 on: 2001-04-12 22:32:00 »
I'm thinking a P4 and a GeForce3 for my new comp...  GeForce3 comes out April 15 or something I think.

eerrrr

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« Reply #16 on: 2001-04-12 22:47:00 »
wow, ge force 3, that would be nice. 3 days, maybe i could talk my dad into get at top of the range pc. but the chances are 1 in 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999.

ficedula

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« Reply #17 on: 2001-04-13 01:27:00 »
Aaron: Sure, the P4 is damn fast - any processor with a clock speed that fast is! The point is, at code *not* optimised for the P4 (ie. all existing programs) a 1.2Ghz Athlon outperforms a 1.2Ghz P4. In fact, a 1.0Ghz Athlon can outperform the P4 sometimes. The result is, for running all the *current* programs an Athlon is a way more cost effective processor. May change in the future of course.

I don't know the exact details of the optimisations but I think it's something along the lines of even more multiple instruction execution ie. execute more than one instruction at the same time. (I could be wrong, can't remember exactly)


Anonymous

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PCI device help please?
« Reply #18 on: 2001-04-13 03:28:00 »
As everyone is saying, DON'T buy P4. If you're skilled at overclocking you can push a Duron 700 to 1200MHz anyway.

Threesixty

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« Reply #19 on: 2001-04-13 08:03:00 »
Hmm lets do the math....

USA rough, pricewatch estimates:

P4 1.5Gig chip = 525
256 Rdram = 425
Motherboard = 190

total is around 1100 dollars

1.3 Athlon-C (266fsb) = 250
256 DDR = 130
(or) 256 Sdram = 110 (50 dollars if you choose the gamble-quality, generic stuff)
Motherboard = about 140

total is around 550

Then you have to add your extras....but there would be no difference in price for those.

I just put together an 1.2 Athlon C
MSI K7T-Turbo R (has built in sound)
256megs of Corsair Case 2, Sdram,
2 7200 IBM ultra 100, 30gigs Harddrives (running on Raid 0)
Antex SX1030b, Case
Alpha Pal 6035 heatsink
Geforce 2 PRO 64meg

for roughly 1400 dollars. If I had gotten the P4 it would probably have been in the 2000 dollar range.

Already had a Sb live card, monitor, CDRW, and a 3-1/4 floppy drive.

:D Had to do a little bragging

...my other computer is a 200mmx.


The P4 is like one of those "Lamborghini" cars.
The Athlon is like buying an old beat up car, slapping on a 800HP engine (can you say, HEMI?), and modifying the chassie.
(Same results...just less flash, and a whole lot of less money)

Besides, the P4 is having a lot of Hardware Compatiblility problems, a lot more than the Athlon VIA Chipset motherboards. (VIA seems to be ironing out their problems. I don't know what's going on the P4 side of things. I quit my PC research after I built this here, computer.)


Aaron

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« Reply #20 on: 2001-04-13 09:18:00 »
Well yeah you can overclock a 700 mhz duron to 1200, but couldn't you overclock a 1500 mhz P4 to like 2000+?

I see what youre saying about the price and stuff.  I'm not getting a new comp anytime soon (i don't think) but I'm looking at hardware and stuff, and I'll have time to see if people start writing software to take advantage of the P4 (which they probably will).  If they don't, I'll go athlon.


Anonymous

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« Reply #21 on: 2001-04-13 15:06:00 »
Sure you could O/C a P4, but you'd get the same bad performance with unoptimized code. Most people aren't very comfortable with risking their $500 CPU anyway, Durons are only like $50 a pop so it's much safer to mess with them.

Joey

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« Reply #22 on: 2001-04-13 15:13:00 »
OVERCLOCKING your Processor is not recomended at all. Don't DO IT!!!! It will cause a lot of problems.

eerrrr

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« Reply #23 on: 2001-04-13 17:17:00 »
yeah my sister paid one of her mates to build her machine out of pieces and she got it really cheap. is it easy to build a machine like that? theres some pc shops with all the pieces ill need where i live and i know how to install new cd-roms and stuff, or should i pay an expert to do it? maybe an Athlon with 128RAM and around 1GHz would be cool for me. im guessing around £600-£700?

PCI device help please?
« Reply #24 on: 2001-04-14 02:26:00 »
Joey's position is overkill, but he brings up a good point. *If* you decide to overclock, you need to know exactly what you're doing. There are a lot of potential side effects (such as heat and controller issues), and overclocking *will* void your warranty. Still, for someone who knows what they are doing it's usually worth it. Now Joey, are you speaking from personal experience?  :wink: Bought a new motherboard and tried to overclock that 486 of yours to 800MHz by any chance?  :wink: (I just couldn't resist...)