Mixing two PC's into one?

the_syco

Tosty55 wrote: »

Here is a picture of the gx520



It is a foxconn ls-36 rev a01 motherboard

2nd from the right is an AGP card slot, if I'm not mistaken?

By the way, where abouts are you located?

Cuddlesworth

Tosty55 wrote: »

Thing is, there is no slot on the gx520 for a graphics card, unless im missing something

Ahh, I remember now, the GX620 had the better psu and a PCI-ex slot. The GX520 has the slot, with no plastic or soldered connections. Same board though. You can see where it should be on the pic. They also didn't bother attaching the second set of ram slots. You can also see where they should be.

The odd looking slot is a PCI-X port. Double the speed of a pci slot. Still crap though.

Think you might be out of luck with this.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Ahh, I remember now, the GX620 had the better psu and a PCI-ex slot. The GX520 has the slot, with no plastic or soldered connections. Same board though. You can see where it should be on the pic. They also didn't bother attaching the second set of ram slots. You can also see where they should be.

The odd looking slot is a PCI-X port. Double the speed of a pci slot. Still crap though.

Think you might be out of luck with this.

Yea, suppose so, guess I'll call it a day then.

TerrorFirmer

Where are we getting that the compaq has an XP and AGP from? I was under the impression it's the compaq that has the S775/Pci-E motherboard.

@Tosty you haven't really specified what you want to play. I indicated the sorts of games that are playable at high settings on the 945 with a low end card like the 6670 - can't stress enough that if you decided a few weeks down the line you wanted to play Battlefield 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, whatever - these games will not run properly on a 945, or even close. Unintensive modern games like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops will still run passably enough, but the whole point though was that it would allow you to play some games - not that it would be a modern gaming machine or capable of being one to any extent. I would think of it as a cheap and temporary fix. 30 euro on a Pentium D and another gig of ram is hardly criminal, and the 6670 will hold most of its purchase price indefinitely and can be reused down the line in a new computer.

Some people think it's a waste of money, I most certainly wouldn't if I could go from having a useless computer to being able to play a host of still popular titles for the paltry sum of 60 euro. Really only you can decided whether or not that's a sound and worthwhile investment for you.

You said 50-100 euro - don't spend more than 60 euro. If you were really going to spend 100, it would actually be cheaper to buy a 2nd hand Core 2 based Optiplex and 6670 altogether that'd kill the Pentium D for that money and be far more passable for more modern games to boot. As outdated as Core 2 is, all but the most intensive new titles run generally OK on the faster Core 2 CPU's with a decent card.

I have a Spare Pentium D here you're more than welcome to take on a test run for the Compaq - it's a slow Pentium D though, think it's the 820, which is a lot slower than the 945. Would make a nice boost though for day to day casual use over the P4 though.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Where are we getting that the compaq has an XP and AGP from? I was under the impression it's the compaq that has the S775/Pci-E motherboard.

@Tosty you haven't really specified what you want to play. I indicated the sorts of games that are playable at high settings on the 945 with a low end card like the 6670 - can't stress enough that if you decided a few weeks down the line you wanted to play Battlefield 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, whatever - these games will not run properly on a 945, or even close. Unintensive modern games like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops will still run passably enough, but the whole point though was that it would allow you to play some games - not that it would be a modern gaming machine or capable of being one to any extent. I would think of it as a cheap and temporary fix. 30 euro on a Pentium D and another gig of ram is hardly criminal, and the 6670 will hold most of its purchase price indefinitely and can be reused down the line in a new computer.

Some people think it's a waste of money, I most certainly wouldn't if I could go from having a useless computer to being able to play a host of still popular titles for the paltry sum of 60 euro. Really only you can decided whether or not that's a sound and worthwhile investment for you.

You said 50-100 euro - don't spend more than 60 euro. If you were really going to spend 100, it would actually be cheaper to buy a 2nd hand Core 2 based Optiplex and 6670 altogether that'd kill the Pentium D for that money and be far more passable for more modern games to boot. As outdated as Core 2 is, all but the most intensive new titles run generally OK on the faster Core 2 CPU's with a decent card.

I have a Spare Pentium D here you're more than welcome to take on a test run for the Compaq - it's a slow Pentium D though, think it's the 820, which is a lot slower than the 945. Would make a nice boost though for day to day casual use over the P4 though.

The only game that I would play as of now is Minecraft, but as you say for 100 euro it would be better to buy a new second-hand pc.

Because the gx520 still powers on and can run decently if I do not open over two programs at a time, I think I will leave them as is and start saving up for a cheap laptop... mainly because of the portability.

Anyway, the compaq I think will just do its job as a door stop for now, maybe for spear parts some day, or even the case can be reused.

the_syco

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Where are we getting that the compaq has an XP and AGP from? I was under the impression it's the compaq that has the S775/Pci-E motherboard.

I'd be assuming the same thing.

=-=

I was asking your location, to check if there were any good deals for your area, but unfortunately there wasn't really. Something like this would be great if they had the low-profile bracket if the GX-520 was the low-profile machine. Lots more choice if it isn't, though.

If you have a car, this (it's in Mullingar) may be an idea? If you knew that the RAM you have now would work, you could slot it in, and the Dell harddrive should also work (although you may need some soundcard and motherboard drivers). If you still have the Dell XP cd's, any hard-drive (such as the Compaq one) will suit it.

Tosty55

Ok, ditch the idea of a laptop (bad idea ) I decided to buy a new computer, and what do you guys think of this? :

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ASUS-K5130UK006S-Desktop-PC/315445/307

Could I add upgrades to it in the future? (Graphics card, ram)

uberpixie

Tosty55 wrote: »

Ok, ditch the idea of a laptop (bad idea ) I decided to buy a new computer, and what do you guys think of this? :

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ASUS-K5130UK006S-Desktop-PC/315445/307

Could I add upgrades to it in the future? (Graphics card, ram)

Hard to say: a lot of prebuilt PCs are not built to be upgradeable, they are built to be disposable to be sold to folk who never open their PCs.

http://www.asus.com/ie/Desktops/K5130/#specifications

From what I can tell from the spec sheet: the PC should come with a spare pci express x16 slot and has a 350W power supply of some sort.

However the PC is based on an intel h61 chipset meaning you can only use older Intel Sandybridge (gen 2), which will be harder to track down as intel are currently on gen 4 Core. You are buying into a pc that is 2 generations behind what intel currently sell.....


http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/H61_Express.html

Best guess: as it is an Asus PC, you could potentially get away with it as they will be using standard parts. But tracking down a replacement cpu could be difficult and you will prob need to go the 2nd hand route.

As people have already suggested (Cuddlesworth): might be a better idea and pick up a 2nd hand gaming rig from adverts.

Tosty55

uberpixie wrote: »

Hard to say: a lot of prebuilt PCs are not built to be upgradeable, they are built to be disposable to be sold to folk who never open their PCs.

http://www.asus.com/ie/Desktops/K5130/#specifications

From what I can tell from the spec sheet: the PC should come with a spare pci express x16 slot and has a 350W power supply of some sort.

However the PC is based on an intel h61 chipset meaning you can only use older Intel Sandybridge (gen 2), which will be harder to track down as intel are currently on gen 4 Core. You are buying into a pc that is 2 generations behind what intel currently sell.....


http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/H61_Express.html

Best guess: as it is an Asus PC, you could potentially get away with it as they will be using standard parts. But tracking down a replacement cpu could be difficult and you will prob need to go the 2nd hand route.

As people have already suggested (Cuddlesworth): might be a better idea and pick up a 2nd hand gaming rig from adverts.

I get what you mean, but im not sure if second hand computers can be trusted?

TerrorFirmer

That isn't a bad price at all for a machine bought from retail. Upgrade ram to 4GB, add a card like the 7750, and you'd be able to play most modern games at very respectable settings for under 300 overall. The G1610 really isn't that bad at all, and it'll be reasonable down the line to get a 2nd hand CPU to replace it when you feel it's not doing what you want it to do. You could always order a new PC using budget parts either online, the advantage being able to use newer hardware and widen your upgrade prospects down the line, but really the PC World machine is good value for money and the platform is still viable for several years into the future easily, if you prefer to buy a pre built system.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That isn't a bad price at all for a machine bought from retail. Upgrade ram to 4GB, add a card like the 7750, and you'd be able to play most modern games at very respectable settings for under 300 overall. The G1610 really isn't that bad at all, and it'll be reasonable down the line to get a 2nd hand CPU to replace it when you feel it's not doing what you want it to do. You could always order a new PC using budget parts either online, the advantage being able to use newer hardware and widen your upgrade prospects down the line, but really the PC World machine is good value for money and the platform is still viable for several years into the future easily, if you prefer to buy a pre built system.

Only reason I looked at it is because its only 190e, for about that price I dont think i could build a better pc myself with parts ordered online.

TerrorFirmer

No, but if you want to play modern games, you still need a video card and more ram. So really your total budget is, say, about 300. It's still possible to build a brand new machine for in and around that price, but that machine @ 190 with another 100 spent on another 2gb Ram and a video card is good value. If you buy the machine for 190 and don't add a video card or more ram it'll be perfectly good for everyday use but it will not be good for games, I don't think Minecraft plays particularly well with Intel Integrated video.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

No, but if you want to play modern games, you still need a video card and more ram. So really your total budget is, say, about 300. It's still possible to build a brand new machine for in and around that price, but that machine @ 190 with another 100 spent on another 2gb Ram and a video card is good value. If you buy the machine for 190 and don't add a video card or more ram it'll be perfectly good for everyday use but it will not be good for games, I don't think Minecraft plays particularly well with Intel Integrated video.

I used to be able to run minecraft on my gx520 @ super low settings and got about 10-15fps, as long as I can achieve something higher than that im happy.

the_syco

Ah here... if you're going down that route, fill out the below as a new topic. The lads will build some very nice systems for ye, and some of the places will put it together for ye!

1. What is your budget? [€xxx]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing/3D Modelling/HTPC/Internet] (If gaming include which games)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] [Yes/No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.]

Examples;
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057017864
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057009711

the_syco

As for the existing Dell, does anyone know if any of the below would be of any use to the OP, if the GX520 port that he has is an AGP port?

the_syco wrote: »

A
fastware ag240d (8MB on board) - the manual says it's a 3D PRO 740. possibly 8MB

B
rage pro turbo agp 215r3bja33 - low profile card - has 4 vg3617161dt chips on it, so I'm guessing it has 64MB on it)

C
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB AGP VGA Video Card S3 QCE2HC

D
Creative Labs CT7260 - ports; line out, spdif out, tv out, vga out (blue 3*5 vga connection), vga in (round 3/4/2 connection). has four m11b416256a chips on it, so I'm assuming it's 16MB.

A, B, and C were in static bags. D wasn't. Unknown if any of them work.

Tosty55

the_syco wrote: »

Ah here... if you're going down that route, fill out the below as a new topic. The lads will build some very nice systems for ye, and some of the places will put it together for ye!



Examples;
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057017864
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057009711

Thanks, I went and started a new thread where I filled out that form.

TerrorFirmer

Any of those cards would be a massive downgrade from the integrated video of the Gx520, which would be the GMA900 or 950. The Rage Pro would have been all the rage....about 15 years ago now I'd say. Those are actually relic's of a long past era

The Gx520 doesn't have an AGP port anyway.

the_syco

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The Gx520 doesn't have an AGP port anyway.

Oh I'll blame the interwebs for falsely telling me otherwise.