[Liberator]

Okay, I had all but given up on getting my first DIY project to work without replacing the Mobo.  I comunicated with MSI twice and they said to first, try a bigger PSU, which I did and got myself a bigger case to boot, and two, try an AGP video card instead of my PCI.  Neither of these worked.

Then as a lark, I put the second memory module in.  I had been only running one for testing purposes.  It started and loaded like it was supposed to have a month ago.

What I am at a loss to explain is how one module won't work and two will.  Maybe it has something to do with needing two modules for the DDR to function?

Anyway I am now the proud owner of this:

AMD AthlonXP 1800+ w/ Thermaltake Slim Volcano 8
MSI 745 Ultra Mobo
384 MB of PC2700
12 GB total HDD
32x10x12x CD-R Pacific Digital
Geforce 4 MX 420 PCI w/64MB of video RAM
ATI TV Wonder VE
RealTek 10/100 NIC(comes with the cable modem)

It's not the latest or the greatest, but it's a damn sight better than what I had, so

BTW, thanks to everyone who answered my stupid and sometimes inane questions over the last few weeks, you guys are teh :thepimp: :thepimp:

[aldo_14]

384 is a wierd amount of RAM, bTW.... i though they were suppossed to be matched pairs?

well done, BTW.

I've installed a new mobo, CPu, PSU, RAM. HD, CD-ROm etc (the guts, basically) over the life of my PC, it's always a nice learning experience to have.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]It's particularly satisfying to boot up something you built.

I'm waiting for my radeon 9800 pro 128mb to arrive, it's a slight upgrade from my Geforce2mx.
[/color]

[Liberator]

1 256 from Kingston and 1 128 from Vdata.  IIRC they don't have to be matched, just the same clock, I just always thought it would act like the appropriate SDR with just one.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Neither works on their own?
[/color]

[Flipside]

Scariest 10 minutes of my life was putting the new chip into the motherboard etc that I had built, it was the first computer I'd ever made, and theres still surrogate parts in my current one, though most of it's been upgraded with the casual violence of long-term hardware freaks
Isn't it strange how you start off handling them like silk and after a couple of years you are using your Biro to bend the pins back into position

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Did you hold your breath when you pushed the power button for the first time? I know I did.
[/color]

[Flipside]

LOL Yes, the first computer, annoyingly enough was the ONLY one ever to work first time

[DragonClaw]

Originally posted by Liberator
Geforce 4 MX 420 PCI w/64MB of video RAM

So many people I know own that card... Nvidia and their marketing techniques...

[Liberator]

It was cheap and I needed to replace my Voodoo 3 2000 16MB.  Overall it's been pretty good to me.

[Anaz]

seems to be two types of gfx card people here...

1) bought a GeForce 4 to replace their voodoo 3
2) bought a Radeon 9x00 to replace their GeForce 2 MX

I am in the second group.

[Knight Templar]

Same here, and loving it.

[Flipside]

Bought a GeForce 4 to replace my Cougar, and I have no idea what chipset it used

[aldo_14]

I bought an FX5600 to replace an MX2.... then the whole 'Half-Life reveals nVidia pish' story broke.  sigh.

[Taristin]

I intend to replace my GF2 MX with a r9600xt (256Mb weee)

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Anaz
seems to be two types of gfx card people here...

1) bought a GeForce 4 to replace their voodoo 3
2) bought a Radeon 9x00 to replace their GeForce 2 MX

I am in the second group.

[color=66ff00]Yeah I just bought a 9800 pro to replace my GF 2 MX. Strange that.
[/color]

[kasperl]

and this is why i don't want a GF myself.

[Taristin]

Clicky-clicky

[kasperl]

ok, a bit to expensive for me.

can anyone who likes to browse lot's of hardware catalogues brows to my "choose my new graph card" thread an give there opinion?

[Flipside]

Oooohh.. and a free mousemat if you order quickly

Seriously though, looks a v.nice card, but when I upgrade, I plan to get the 9800xt, or better if possible, I want something I don't have to replace for a while.
Admittedly, this means that I will have to upgrade the motherboard, and while I'm at it, I might as well look at upgrading the 1700XP.....

This is why I don't upgrade often