Help! motherboard advice needed

[Stan Sted]

Can anyone advise me on an upgrade for an ASUS TXP4-X ATX motherboard?

I am still trying to work out the cheapest way of making my system run FS Flightsim 2000 at a decent frames rate and one option appears to be bunging in a faster processor on my existing motherboard and connecting it to a 16MB PCI graphics card.

The ASUS TXP4-X motherboard currently supports an AMD K6 200MHz processor, but what is the fastest replacement processor I can fit in?

I can't get any sense out of the computer makers because their tech support unit is pathetic, hopelessly slow at answering queries and charges 50p a minute even when you are waiting 15 mins or so to talk to the bugge*s.

ASUS has a tech support number in Germany, but has a crazy e-mail query form which is all in German and can't be sent until all the sections are filled in. I dunno what the questions are, so can't possibly give any answers.

One solution is to change the motherboard, processor, RAM, and graphics card but that is around £500 - just to run a £50 sim.

A replacement processor, perhaps an AMD K6-2 350MHz and a 16MB graphics card would be around £130, but that might not solve the problem.

I am desperately trying to avoid spending £1,000 or so for a 700Mhz, 256MB, 32MB graphics card system that seems to be the ideal set-up to work the sim.

Any ideas which solve the problem as cheaply as possible will be rewarded with copious amounts of Greene King IPA at the mega PPRuNe conference at The Ash public house, Burton End, near Stansted airport, Essex UK on May 20 from 11am to midnight.

Cheers

SS

[Ironguts]

Sorry Stan, But an AMD K6-350 won't work in that motherboard. The fastest CPU's you can run are Intel Pentium 233 or AMD K6-266.

check out the specs on your motherboard here: http://www.asus.com/products/motherboard/pentium/txp4-x/txp4x-spec.html

[Stan Sted]

Thanks Ironguts

I feared that might have been the answer. Looks like its a new motherboard, new processor, faster RAM and a faster graphics cards.

Better start saving...might even have to give up beer, at least until the Ash bash.

cheers SS

[Stan Sted]

Ironguts


I might be clutching at straws here, but the page of Asus motherboard info that you found has a copyright dated 1996, which was when the board was first manufactured.

The report gives the fastest processor speed at 266Mhz, but that would have been the fastest at the time of publication.

I am still wondering if I could bung a 350 or 400Mhz processor on the board.

Cheers SS

[Ironguts]

Sorry Stan, still no go. The AMD 350 etc require the motherboard to have a FSB ( front side bus) speed of 100Mhz Your motherboard ( and mine, I run an AMD K6-233 CPU ) only have a FSB of 66Mhz. To change the FSB req's a major redesign, new chipset etc, etc:

I'd be interested to know the FULL specs of your system - ie: not just 4Mb video card, but made by who? likewise all other bits in your Box. Some manufacturers make decent gear with good software drivers, some are mediocre and some are ***** !. The performance of any PC is based on the sum of it's individual components. A Morrie Minor is not going to go too far if you put a Ferrari V12 in it and still use the Morrie's gearbox!

[Stan Sted]

Thanks Ironguts


Have made an executive decision and will buy a new box of tricks but keep my IIyama Visionmaster Pro monitor.

NEC have offered a good price on a 600MHz PIII with 20Gig, 256RAM, Guillemot Prophet 32MB vid card, DVD, etc for about £1,300.
Quantex doing the same spec for around £1,400. Still waiting for quotes from other firms.


Cheers SS