PC Memory question,amount not right?

[legendary]

Ok folks i added a 512 chip to my PC that already had a gig inside. but its only reading it as 1356MB.I went to crucial.com and it scanned it as 1024 and a 512 which is correct.

When i only had the one gig it would show up as 856mb why is it doing this?

[legendary]

am i explaining it right?>???

[FastGame]

Do you have video thats using shared system memory ?

[legendary]

i have a ATI Radeon express 200 video thats integrated if thats what you mean?

[FastGame]

-{ Quote: "i have a ATI Radeon express 200 video thats integrated if thats what you mean?" }-
yep, its using system memory. ATI Radeon Express 200 is designed that way, nothing to worry about.

[legendary]

is that an OK video card?

[FastGame]

Its not for serious games.

Is it doing the job for your needs ?

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_14603_14616%5E14663,00.html

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonxpress200intel/index.html

[legendary]

NOT REALLY! am i able to upgrade it?

[Notok]

If you have a custom built machine I am sure you can buy a new video card and put it in. If you have an OEM machine (a brand name, like Dell/Compaq/whatever) then maybe. You would need to see if the motherboard has an AGP or PCI-Express slot (some OEMs remove this on lower-end systems). What do you have?

[FastGame]

-{ Quote: "NOT REALLY! am i able to upgrade it?" }-
As Notok points out you'll need to see what slots your MB has.

Upgrade and turn off the onboard GFX and it'll free up the dedicated memory.

[legendary]

its an emachine, what kind of slot am i looking for a regular PCI slot? Also how do i turn the onboard GFX off?

[FastGame]

What model eMachine ? so I can look at the spec's.

You would turn the IGP off in the bios prolly under Intergrated peripherals.

[Ice_Czar]

one should also keep in mind that there is typically very little "extra" power capacity in a cheap OEM computer
Its been selected to do its job plus maybe an extra HDD and thats about all for an upgrade path

a serious Vidcard upgrade could "tax" an OEM PSU
likely will run it for awhile but at a greater risk, higher potential for instability and accelerated "wear"

capacity for added RAM is rarely an issue, and its actually pretty low for Drives as well once they are spinning (they drop to about a quarter of their maximum draw once spun up)
but depending on what vidcard is selected....

[Notok]

You wouldn't be looking for a PCI slot, but a PCIe x16 (PCI Express) or AGP slot, which would be above the PCI slots. Here's a couple labeled pics from Google images:

AGP (http://onlineelectronicsinc.com/faq/motherboard.jpg)

PCIe (http://www.viaarena.com/images/articles/pcie%20002.jpg)

[legendary]

-{ Quote: "What model eMachine ? so I can look at the spec's.

You would turn the IGP off in the bios prolly under Intergrated peripherals." }-


I have an E-machine T5082 Desktop.Pentium 4, 3GHZ 800mHZ with 2GB of Ram now.
it has availiable expansion slots :1 PCI,1PCI-E x1,1PCI-E X16

[Texcritter]

-{ Quote: "NOT REALLY! am i able to upgrade it?" }-

Crucial can also scan your graphics card and recommend upgrades

[legendary]

Yes crucial gave me some options so i can upgrade but my question is what do i do with the express 200 thats on the Motherboard?

[ThunderZ]

As was stated by FastGame, you should be able to turn it off from with in the BIOS. However 2 things to keep in mind. 1#) Obviously wait until you have your new video card installed. ;) 2#) As Ice_Czar stated, check into the specs. on the power supply. While it seems from what you have written you have a fairly high-end E machine, they do tend to cut corners on some components. The PS may be one of them. Check the wattage. It should be on a sticker on the outside of the case or on the power supply itself. To little power can be as damaging to a PC as to much can. :(

[legendary]

i was just thinking to upgrade just a bit, there is a Ati thats a level or two above then the express thats in there now,i dont want something for 300 bucks there is on for 95 dollars thats better then what i have now.

[NAMOR]

found this for the E-machine T5082http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5082

-{ Quote: "Video: ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 Integrated Graphics
Up to 128MB of shared video memory
PCI-Express® (PCI-E x16) slot available" }-

[ThunderZ]

-{ Quote: "i was just thinking to upgrade just a bit, there is a Ati thats a level or two above then the express thats in there now,i dont want something for 300 bucks there is on for 95 dollars thats better then what i have now." }-


Just about any add-on card by a name brand manufacturer will be better then an on board card. I am running a SLI pci-e card that only cost $110 and it does all I need. Although will be adding a second one in the near future to take advantage of it`s full potential. :thumb:

[legendary]

Yeah im gonna buy one today. Should i install it first and then when it starts up go to the bios? what do i look for to turn the on board one off???

[ThunderZ]

-{ Quote: "found this for the E-machine" }-


Good info. No reference to the PS unfortunately. :(

[legendary]

-{ Quote: "Good info. No reference to the PS unfortunately. :(" }-

ThunderZ,
What info are you looking for i can open my PC up quick and look?

[ThunderZ]

-{ Quote: "ThunderZ,
What info are you looking for i can open my PC up quick and look?" }-


There will probably be a sticker either on the outside of the case or on the PS itself that should say the watts of the powersupply. I am guessing what you have is fine. But I believe you have upgraded the memory and now maybe the graphics card, a little more wattage will not hurt.

[ThunderZ]

-{ Quote: "Yeah im gonna buy one today. Should i install it first and then when it starts up go to the bios? what do i look for to turn the on board one off???" }-


Yes, I would install it first. Then when you restart your PC go straight in to BIOS to disable "onboard video". It should be called something like that and you may have to hunt through several screens to find it.

[FastGame]

So what video card are you looking at ? we all can help you get the best for your $ ;D

[Ice_Czar]

-{ Quote: "ThunderZ,
What info are you looking for i can open my PC up quick and look?" }-

ignore the total wattage
what you want is the model number\manufacturer (if given)
the amount of amps on the +3.3V +5V and the +12V rails (which will be listed, ignore the other rails)
(and any combined ratings for instance +3.3V and +5V combined as watts)

also check the motherboard and count the number of wires\pins on the main connector (it will be either 20 pin or 24 pin, counting one side 10 or 12)
determine if there is another auxiliary connector to the motherboard typically a yellow and black wire 4 pin connector (auxiliary +12V)

meanwhile I'll work up some probable figures for you ;)

please list the number and size of fans in that cxae
and the number and type of drives as well ;)

[ThunderZ]

-{ Quote: "ignore the total wattage
what you want is the model number\manufacturer (if given)
the amount of amps on the +3.3V +5V and the +12V rails (which will be listed, ignore the other rails)
(and any combined ratings for instance +3.3V and +5V combined as watts)

also check the motherboard and count the number of wires\pins on the main connector (it will be either 20 pin or 24 pin, counting one side 10 or 12)
determine if there is another auxiliary connector to the motherboard typically a yellow and black wire 4 pin connector (auxiliary +12V)

meanwhile I'll work up some probable figures for you ;)

please list the number and size of fans in that cxae
and the number and type of drives as well ;)" }-



Now you had to go and make it hard.....>:( ;)

[Ice_Czar]

its what I do (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=844691) :P
(errr.....did)




Intel Pentium D Presler? 631 (http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:4PX0s9Jh3hwJ:www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx%3Fi%3D2445+pentium+4+631&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us) = 84 > 95 Watts thermal design power (http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm)
(Prescott 630 series at 84 but the Presler Core described at 95 watts)

CPU = 7>8 Amps +12V
mobo = 0.5A +12V
HDD = 1A +12V (per post spinup during a write)
80mm Fan = 0.25A +12V (per post spinup)

or somewhere around 10A +12V as a worse case CPU pegged w\ a lone fan and HDD during a write

and some power consumption figures for graphics cards

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-powercons.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-vs-nv-power.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7800-gt_5.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce-6800gs_3.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-x1900xtx_7.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7800gtx512_5.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/fsp-vga-power_6.html



for instance a Radeon X1900XTX comes in at 44Watts PCI+e and 72 watts auxillary
to convert watts to amps divide the watts by the volts or in this example
3.6A PCI+e and 6A external connector to the card (+12V)

which if we add to the computer above as a worse case comes to 19.6A +12V
then comes the fun part of what the manufacturer was doing when they rated the supply since there are no real standards established in testing specifically regarding derating curves (capacity drops as temperature increases, and they often test artificially low)
to be safe deduct one third of the rated amps off the +12V rail

so an OEM supply rated at 30A +12V would be inline for that given card and computer
but as mentioned they dont sell "commodity" computers with an extremely narrow profit margin with anything but the barest minimum of extra capacity

based on what the computer is described as, if its built to spec it will have an ATX 2.0 PSU with both a 24 pin main connector as well as a 4 pin auxiliary +12V mobo connector, but OEMs do weird things, so verify

[legendary]

ICE !!!!

Are you trying to have smoke come out my ears!!!!!!!!

Just refer me to a card that is just a tad better then the on board one i have now please!@
Also my Pc has 2 big fans inside it.

[Ice_Czar]

Im not the best person to give vidcard advise unless your looking to make games rather than play them :P

but when a card has caught your fancy that you can afford, I'll try to find its power requirements for you. But suggest we run down the power supply's capacity and reliability first since if you do need to upgrade thats going to effect your budget.

The PSU is the one component that can turn all the rest of your computer into just so many interesting wall decorations. CPUs have been following Moore's Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law) but GPUs were for awhile outstripping them coming near 300% increase. Short of fancy architectural tricks (asynchronous processing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_circuit) multiple cores, ect) there is a fairly tight correlation between speed in cycles (MHz\GHz), power required and heat you have to dump. The example I posted came pretty close to doubling your power requirements.

I'll leave the Vidcard recommendations to others but help with the PSU ;)

[legendary]

ok i'll just post everything the powersupply has written on it for ya. Thanks

[legendary]

How about this card?


VisionTek RADEON X1050 256MB DDR PCI Express Graphics Card

Model: X1050 256MB PCI
Powered by the ATI RADEON X1050 graphics processing unit (GPU)
256MB DDR memory
PCI Express interface
Warranty Terms - Parts 1 year limited
Type of Video Card Graphics

Video Memory 256MB DDR

Interface Slot Type PCI Express
Type of Processor ATI RADEON X1050 PRO

Number of Processors 1
Clock Speed of Video Memory (RAMDAC) Dual RAMDACs (2 at 400MHz each)
Maximum 2D Resolution (at 32-bit color) Up to 2048 x 1536Maximum 3D Resolution (at 32-bit color) Up to 2048 x 1536
Supports MPEG-1, 2 Yes
VD Decoding Yes
TV-Out Yes
S-Video Output Yes
Video Format MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-3, MPEG-4, WMV, AVI
Software Included ATI Catalyst drivers, 3D demos, utilities
System Requirements Intel® Pentium® 4, Celeron®, AMD Duron™, Athlon™ XP, Athlon™ K8 processor; Windows 2000, XP Media Center Edition, Vista; 512MB system memory; CD-ROM drive; 300-watt power supply

[lucas1985]

It´s no better than your current integrated VGA.
Decent yet "cheap enough" VGAs: 7600 GT (NVIDIA), X1650 XT (AMD/ATI)

[legendary]

Thanks Lucas!

How about:

ATI Radeon® 9550 Video Card (100-437105)
ATE 100437105CCS
• 256MB AGP
• Great 3D game play • Amazing video playback
• Dual-monitor support

[lucas1985]

That card is 3 generations old.
You need PCI-E 16x cards, this is AGP 8x.

[Notok]

I'd say to go for an nVidia 7600 GT. I have one and am quite happy with it, while another machine runs an ATI X1600 Pro and has a lot more problems.

[FastGame]

I would also say the 7600 GT, the ATI X1650 XT looks good but I have no experience with them.

I do agree with those who say get a good card, if you game or going to, otherwise keep your onboard video and save $$ for the C2D CPU...

[DVD+R]

Windows reads MB as bytes for instance click on a 160GB Hard disk will read as 149GB in size in Windows explorer, yet if you click on the Drives properties, you wil see the size reads as 160,031,014,912 bytes = 160GB

Hope this clarifies things 8)

[Ice_Czar]

-{ Quote: "Windows reads MB as bytes for instance click on a 160GB Hard disk will read as 149GB in size in Windows explorer, yet if you click on the Drives properties, you wil see the size reads as 160,031,014,912 bytes = 160GB

Hope this clarifies things 8)" }-


that sort of came out of left field :P

actually it reads MiB and GiB but lies and reports them as MB and GB
http://www.pcguide.com/intro/fun/bindec.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mebibyte
http://www.iec.ch/zone/si/si_bytes.htm

[DVD+R]

Well you know what I meant anyway, Windows is a tricky Devil :P and fools the heck out of some people :shifty:

By the way, Wish I had a yottabyte brain power, I'd be quite smart :dry:

[Ice_Czar]

-{ Quote: "Well you know what I meant anyway," }-

yep, but was wondering if you were answering a question from a different thread :P