Arrgh, the dissapouintment of new DOA parts!

[repo man11]

I'm doing an upgrade for a friend,starting his Celeron 366 Gateway, and bought an MSI KT3 Ultra, an XP 1800, 40 Gig Samsung, Asus CDRW, a Gainward GF2 Ti 450, and a 300 watt PSU.
It went pretty well, but the vid card is dead! It won't post in any of my computers. I'm sure Newegg will RMA it, but I really wanted to get it together for my friend this weekend, and it has a Trident PCI vid card with one meg of memory in it. No games period.
I don't blame Newegg, it wasn't their fault the card was dead, more of a quality control issue with Gainward. But it is still so disappointing!
Heavy sigh.

[jman999]

Yeah, that sounds like a real bust. If you really wanted to finish his comp for him by this weekend, you could consider returning the card to new egg for a refund, and buying him video card at a local computer store. Just a thought.

[repo man11]

He allready has it, but it is mostly an email box until I get the exchange card from Newegg later this week. They've allready approved the RMA, I'll ship it back tomorrow.
No local comp store can touch the price,Gainward GF2 Ti450 for $77.00. For the difference in what it would cost, he's willing to be patient.
The Trident 1 meg PCI card can be upgraded though, it has two sockets where you can plug in an additional 2 megs of memory!:p

[Demont]

Originally posted by repo man11
The Trident 1 meg PCI card can be upgraded though, it has two sockets where you can plug in an additional 2 megs of memory!:p

on old macs that ive taken apart they have slots on the motherboard for extra video memory for the built in video... :eek: :eek: :eek:

[repo man11]

A friend had a Packard Bell that did as well, one meg of video memory, and two sockets where you could add more. I finally got him a little bit better system than that.
Packard Bell (involuntary shudder!)

[Demont]

Originally posted by repo man11
A friend had a Packard Bell that did as well, one meg of video memory, and two sockets where you could add more. I finally got him a little bit better system than that.
Packard Bell (involuntary shudder!)

the one decent experience i had with a major computer retailer was the first computer i bought myself.. compaq 500mhz k6-2. it was good because i figured out that the mobo was just a gigabyte 5smm so i just got the gigabyte bios, flashed over the compaq, and basicly i just had a good k6-2 system with no gay compaq splash screen etc =) that is rare though to actually get a good deal out of those type of companies, it was pure luck...

[Tismedt]

My first 486dx2 had upgradeable onboard video also. Went all the way to 512k. It was a packard bell and the shudddddderrrs havent sttttopppedd yyyett.

[JeffnNetti]

i just bought a new MB from Newegg, i was soooo excited when it arrived and i dived right into the package hehe.
i went to put the CPU in and OMG the lever that locks the CPU in place is missing hahaha i was so disapointed :(

Newegg was very good about getting me new one and they even did it fast :)

[repo man11]

They just got it back on Friday, so I guess I'll see it here sometime next week. My firend is going nuts. He loves it, can't stop being amazed at how much faster it is than his Celeron 366, but he wants to PLAY HIS GAMES! I'm just glad it is him waiting, not me.

[Nugent]

Hey, Demont, I'm putting together a box with a 5SMM and an AMD K-6 3 and am having problems getting over 250 MHz out of it. I've done ALL the BIOS flashes and am tweaking up the voltages a point at a time, but don't want to cook anything. Any suggestions?

[repo man11]

Have you tried running it at default speed and voltage? If it will run at 250, it ought to be able to run at its default speed.

[Nugent]

It's up to 333 now, but it almost seems as though one of my dip switches isn't making. The cpu is 450 MHz.

[repo man11]

I have been playing with an GA-5AA and a K6-2+. It has settings for up to 140 MHz FSB, but I haven't been able to get it to work above 130. I've found that anything above 100 MHz, you have to disable the external memory cache. This is the level 2 cache that is located on the motherboard. It isn't necessary with a K6-2+ or a K6-3, because these CPU's have on die L2 cache.
Your board has settings of up 133 for the FSB. I would try to lower the multiplier until you can get the highest FSB possible, and then increase the multiplier until you hit the limit. I would expect a 100 MHz overclock with a standard K6-3 at best.
Just for fun I OC'd my K6-2+ 450 to 585 (4.5x130) and stuck my GF2 Ti in it. I got a little over 1600 in 3D Mark at stock settings.
I sometimes think it is a shame that AMD didn't make a better socket 7 CPU. I think they may have had plans to, but bailed out when they realized the 321 pin interface would limit the ultimate performance of the chip. The last of the Super 7 boards seemed to have been designed with something better than the K6 in mind.
But after a brief foray into Slot A, they wisely chose Socket A, which has lasted a very long time.
Not like Intel, where they have to come out with a new socket everytime they improve their CPU

[Nugent]

66.82 is the only FSB I've been able to get on this board. The board was given to me so I can't really complain except I've got everything I need for a hot socket 7 box except for an appropriate motherboard. My other box is a PC Chips M571 and I was really hoping this Gigabyte board would perform. I only found out it was a dog after it was given to me. Back to the Computer Parts Store!

[Demont]

no suggestions sorry, i basicly switched it over to an official 5smm right before i gave it to my parents. so like i changed it to cas 2 and that was about it as far as i remember. it was a k6-2 500 @ 100x5 so there really wasnt that much more room for improvement so i didnt bother.

i've heard it is a good board though, so i dont know why you have problems.

good luck with your quest.


keep in mind though k6-2/+/3's are pretty crappy. especially for seti. (http://www.ocsetiteam.com)

[amazon10x]

1 meg??? how does that thing even run windows?

[Demont]

Yes it will.