building new system 1st timer

[mwr1550]

I am going to build a new computer, this will be my first and I'm pretty much a novice. I'm starting out with a DFI AM33-EL motherboard with a AMD Duron 900mhz processor. I plan to use the system for gaming mostly. My first question is this; The motherboard comes with onboard video but I want to use a geforce2 64 mb video card, I can't seem to locate which pins disable the onboard video (manual doesn't show it) could it be that I can just disable onboard video in bios?

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"Clone me, Dr. Memory."
The Firesign Theater, Were all Bozo's on this bus

[hiredgoonz]

There should be a BIOS option to select which Video card (AGP or PCI) to initialize first...the built-in video is probably AGP, so make sure you get a PCI vid card and then go into the BIOS and set it to PCI...

Also, when windows is installed, you should disable the onboard video in Device Manager, in case the board uses system memory for video memory...

And, if you're going to use the system for gaming, you really should try to get a mobo without integrated video...a PCI video card is going to be at a big disadvantage for gaming. If you don't have a choice then it's a moot point, but if you do, I would strongly recommend reconsiderig the mobo choice...

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When all else fails, read the instructions.

Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;rid;kbinfo)

Google (http://www.google.com)

[mwr1550]

Ok, thanks for that info goonz, Now I have another dumb question, Just what is a "mobo" anyway, i've never heard the term until just recently and I can't find it referenced anywhere. And what do they cost? I'm building this system on a shoestring budget (Thats what happans when you make a living selling shoestrings) I already have a pci video card, a 64mb nvidia geforce that I picked up fairly cheap and I was going to use it because I figured it would be better than the onboard video which shares 8mb of system ram.

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"Clone me, Dr. Memory."
The Firesign Theater, Were all Bozo's on this bus

[buck52]

Mobo = Motherboard

buck

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just hav'n fun

[hiredgoonz]

Sorry 'bout that...I usually expand abbreviations the first time, but I forgot...

You'll be ok with the geforce...just make sure to set the bios to initialize the PCI video card first...

To get into the bios you'll have to press F1 -or- F2 -or- F10 -or- DEL at the startup screen, depending on what kind of computer you have...look around until you find a video option...

Also, until you do this, the system may boot on the built-in video card, so you may want to keep the monitor plugged into that until you get it set up right...

And like I mentioned before, once you have windows installed, it is important to disable the onboard video in device manager since you now have clarified that it DOES use system memory. No sense losing 8mb of RAM to a video card you're not using...

Good luck, keep us posted...

------------------
When all else fails, read the instructions.

Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;rid;kbinfo)

Google (http://www.google.com)

[mwr1550]

Hey, thanks for clearing that up. I am pretty much stuck with the mobo I got, the board and processor were a package deal for fairly cheap. I realized it probably wasn't top-o-the-line but It's better than what I got now.
I am debating now on how much ram to put in the system. I know I'll put in at least 256mb, and would like to put in more as I can afford it, if it'll make a big difference. I've heard some systems don't benefit all that much from ram higher than 256. Any advice on that?

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"Clone me, Dr. Memory."
The Firesign Theater, Were all Bozo's on this bus

[hiredgoonz]

That will still be a good system...as far as memory:

Depends on the operating system...if you're going to use 98 or ME, 256mb would be fine, but don't use 512mb or more with those...you're just asking for trouble...

If 2000/XP 256mb is good, 512mb is better...

If you're going to dual boot 98 or ME with 2000 or XP, then 384mb would be a nice compromise and you probably wouldn't see much performance increase above that anyway...

------------------
When all else fails, read the instructions.

Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;rid;kbinfo)

Google (http://www.google.com)

[This message has been edited by hiredgoonz (edited 02-22-2002).]

[mwr1550]

I will probably use win98 so I guess I'll go with 256mb ram and (correct me if I'm wrong) isn't it better to use 2 128 ram cards than 1 256?

I've been doing some research on the main pc guide site and am beginning to understand a few things better. One of which is that I probably won't see a big difference in game performance even with a faster cpu and 100mhz mobo because of the pci bus and videocard. If this is in fact the case, why would the maker even bother putting pci bus on a board that supports 100mhz system?

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"Clone me, Dr. Memory."
The Firesign Theater, Were all Bozo's on this bus

[hiredgoonz]

It shouldn't make a difference whether you have 1*256 or 2*128...

Not sure I understand what you're asking about the PCI bus, but I'll take a shot. All motherboards have a PCI bus...this is where add in cards like Sound, Network, Modem (there are too many kinds to list them all) get plugged in.

Some mobos also have an AGP slot for added video performance, some don't have the slot, but have a built-in card on the AGP bus. Since you're using a PCI video card, the bottleneck for your graphics performance (depending on the application) is probably going to be the video card rather than the CPU.

Even if you went with a faster chip, you probably wouldn't get better gaming performance because the CPU will be waiting for the video card, so to speak, not the other way around.

------------------
When all else fails, read the instructions.

Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;rid;kbinfo)

Google (http://www.google.com)