Upgrade questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rich
  • Start date Start date
R

Rich

I have a (Time) AMD XP1700 pc, with home edition and 512MB of DDR RAM.
It has a GeForce2 MX400 64MB DDR graphics card.
It's a couple of years old.

The cpu is actually 1500MHz, and I know the motherboard is 4xAGP.
(512MB is max installable memory, PC2100 I think)

I was thinking of changing the cpu to a faster one (I've been told it
will take upto around 2.2GHz depending upon the make of motherboard).

Will this force me to re-install XP? Or will windows just boot as
normal?
Will I have to fiddle with the registry/bios?
XP came pre-installed so I don't have a cd.

Is a fan/heatsink upgrade necessary for the new CPU too?

If I do have to re-install XP, will this format my hard disk? Could I
get around this by adding another (faster!) disk and doing the new
install onto that?

Also, if I upgrade my graphics card, do I have to get one that's 4xAGP
or will an 8xAGP card be able to use the 4xAGP? (Presumably at 1/2
data rate?)

Sorry for all the questions, but it's getting a bit slow by todays
standards and it could do with a few upgrades!

Thanks.
 
" Will this force me to re-install XP? Or will windows just boot as normal?
"


Upgrading the CPU or RAM won't affect your installation of XP. You need to
check what motherboard you have, so you can find out what it will take. I
expect you'll need a new fan that is suitable for the higher-rated CPU, and
you may need to update the BIOS. The motherboard manufacturer's website
will tell you all of these details.

You can use any AGP8x card, and you won't see any noticeable difference from
only having an AGP4x slot. However, not having the ability to do a
re-installation of XP could cause you problems. You might be able to get
away with not having to do a re-installation, but only if Driver Cleaner
doesn't cause any problems.

http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/

It's best to speak to TIME and tell them what you're planning to do. They
may supply you with CDs so you can re-install XP without all the old drivers
on the system, but most of their installations do already have the original
drivers on the back-up disk image.
 
Cuzman said:
"Rich" <snip> wrote in message

" Will this force me to re-install XP? Or will windows just boot as normal?
"


Upgrading the CPU or RAM won't affect your installation of XP. You need to
check what motherboard you have, so you can find out what it will take. I
expect you'll need a new fan that is suitable for the higher-rated CPU, and
you may need to update the BIOS. The motherboard manufacturer's website
will tell you all of these details.

You can use any AGP8x card, and you won't see any noticeable difference from
only having an AGP4x slot. However, not having the ability to do a
re-installation of XP could cause you problems. You might be able to get
away with not having to do a re-installation, but only if Driver Cleaner
doesn't cause any problems.

http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/

It's best to speak to TIME and tell them what you're planning to do. They
may supply you with CDs so you can re-install XP without all the old drivers
on the system, but most of their installations do already have the original
drivers on the back-up disk image.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't I just be able to roll back the graphics card driver to the
original M$ XP driver then switch graphics cards? (and then install
new drivers as required?)

Do you think my GeForce2 MX400 with fit in my little bros pc, it only
has PCI slots no AGP?

Thanks.
 
" Shouldn't I just be able to roll back the graphics card driver to the
original M$ XP driver then switch graphics cards? (and then install new
drivers as required?) "

You don't need to *roll-back* the drivers. Just uninstall the drivers from
Control Panel first, but with graphics drivers that doesn't always get rid
of everything. Hence the reason for the follow-up use of Driver Cleaner.
Most people get by OK after using Driver Cleaner, and it's only very-few
that need to re-install XP.


" Do you think my GeForce2 MX400 with fit in my little bros pc, it only has
PCI slots no AGP? "

Will a square peg fit in a round hole?
 
Cuzman said:
" Do you think my GeForce2 MX400 with fit in my little bros pc, it only has
PCI slots no AGP? "

Will a square peg fit in a round hole?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the stupid question, fairly new to tinkering INSIDE the pc!

A square peg will fit in a round hole if you hit it with a big enough hammer.
Ha!

R.
 
Sorry for the stupid question, fairly new to tinkering INSIDE the pc!

A square peg will fit in a round hole if you hit it with a big enough hammer.
Ha!

R.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't need a hammer for the video card. Just position the
card so that it fits to the end of the case. Then take a pair of
sheet metal cutters and cut off the excess on the bottom of the
card...so that it fits snuggly into the slot. Depending on the card,
you may need to cut a slot into the bottom of the card.

That should pretty much do it! lol


Have a nice week...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!
 
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