[Mosquito555]

Ok, I got it now! I knew that Dells had restrictions but I thought they were just BIOS related...Anyway, I agree with your last lines too Crj. Kurtis you have a DUAL CORE 3.0 Ghz CPU. You won't have any performance problems for some years from now...And with 2 GBs of RAM
and such a powerful gpu games will also perform well so we bother o/c? When your machine gets old however and you start looking for a replacement just make sure you buy a custom one

[razor_edge]

Thanks Mosquito555. I know that my pc isn't quite garbage yet, but i still had assumed that when the time came i could've upgraded accordingly. I suppose the furthest i could upgrade my system now would be to buy a pentium D 945. And the reason i bought this pc was infact for gaming, isn't that what the xps franchise was all about? So crj, do you think my system is capable of playing games that use directX 10? I know i need vista first obviously, but do you think it's worth purchasing? I don't want to put any more money on my system if it's going to struggle to play games of decent quality within the next few years atleast.

[crjdriver]

If you want to use directx10, you need a dx10 card. The 7900 you have listed is dx9.

You do understand that games will still run [at least for a while] using dx9 correct?

FWIW I almost never recommend attempting to upgrade a pre-built system. With a dell [or any big box mfg] you are pretty much stuck with what you have. It is possible to install more ram or a larger hd however serious upgrades such as a new motherboard, later model cpu, etc are very often cost prohibitive.

In short use your system until it will no longer do what you want and then build a new system or have a shop do a build for you.

[Mosquito555]

Hi again people! Kurtis, as crj already said you will be able to run all DX10 games but without DX10 specific features enabled. In my opinion this is not a problem as no such games exist and only a few titles will use the new DX10 in the next year. You have a quite powerfull gpu and you should stick with it. DX10 is still far from being mature and standard. It is not even included in today's Vista shipments as far as I know. Also keep in mind that some "hardcore gamers" do not recommend buying a DX10 card right now as their DX10 performance cannot be fully tested. Ok, if you're building a new machine go for a 8800 but as you already have a 7900 you will see no big difference in today's DX9 games and when DX10 games come out the next generation of DX10 cards will be also out. And as usual they will be more powerfull at the same prices or you will be able to get a 8800 at lower price. So just wait, your PC is great
and it outperforms today's machines with less powerfull gpu's even if they are based on Core 2 and newer Athlon64 X2 cpus.

So, I propose changing nothing with your fine PC and consider upgrading to a newer gpu when the next gen cards come out (If you find it neccesary).

[razor_edge]

You've convinced me. I guess i'll leave my pc as is for the time being, atleast probably until next year sometime. Although i have had an offer by somebody to buy my geforce 7900GS gpu. So i was thinking i could either sell it and buy a single geforce 8800GTS 320mb, or i could buy another 7900GS 256mb and use it in SLI. Which do you think would give the best gaming performance?

[Duckman69]

hey crj, if you are unfimiliar with over clocking but want to flash your bios to allow changes for o/c ... you mentioned you can render the pc unbootable (anyway you can back up an image and restore it to working again? or somehow flash the bios & if errors occur reformat or get back & running?)... im new to o/c i had read some in the past on it but im gonna do some extensive reading this week on the subject, then look into my pc specfics as much as i can i wont be doing anything for @ least quite some time, but im scared from the mention of an unbootable pc... had too many of those issues in the past :/... do you know any good places to start on my journey? & what programs have you used to o/c in the past... again i will be doin alot of research before i attempt anything... i hope you can shine some light for me, thanks this forum was a good insperation...

[Mosquito555]

Hi Duckman welcome to the thread.

No, you can't save an image or something while flashing the BIOS. If the BIOS is flashed incorrectly (most likely to happen if you update it via windows or if it has manufacturer restrictions) your machine will be dead...Well, there are options to recover your systems in certain motherboards via floppies etc but I do not recommend messing around with stuff like that if you do not have previous experience! As for overclocking, several good guides can be found via google, just type "overclocking guide". Even magazines offer guides for time to time. Be patient and learn as much as you can before attempting anything. Simple overcklocking can be done without any special programms, just by changing FSB settings (and voltage or multiplier if provided by BIOS) in your BIOS setup. Newer CPUs like Core 2 Duo, or Athlon 64 do not even require special cooling systems if you do just basic overclocking.

Kurtis
The 8800GTS will of course give better performance than the single 7900...For SLI mode 7900s I m not sure. Keep in mind that in order to get SLI working you must have 2 identical
cards (same manufacturer, model etc) not any 7900 will do it!!! Again I suggest waiting for a while. ATI just brought out the 2900 cards and a pricing and performance war with NVIDIA is about to start. Wait till prices are stabilized and until ATI/AMD drivers are mature. Then you can make comparisons. And keep in mind that after summer usually new models come out...

[crjdriver]

Originally Posted by Duckman69

hey crj, if you are unfimiliar with over clocking but want to flash your bios to allow changes for o/c ... you mentioned you can render the pc unbootable (anyway you can back up an image and restore it to working again? or somehow flash the bios & if errors occur reformat or get back & running?)... im new to o/c i had read some in the past on it but im gonna do some extensive reading this week on the subject, then look into my pc specfics as much as i can i wont be doing anything for @ least quite some time, but im scared from the mention of an unbootable pc... had too many of those issues in the past :/... do you know any good places to start on my journey? & what programs have you used to o/c in the past... again i will be doin alot of research before i attempt anything... i hope you can shine some light for me, thanks this forum was a good insperation...

If you do an incorrect bios flash, there is no way to restore an image. The system will not post. You are confusing the os with the system's ability to post. Note there are some high end boards that have a bios backup and there is the intel bios recovery type of system. However intel boards do not have overclocking options so it is a moot point.

BTW I was referring to editing a bios .bin file and then using the edited file to flash the bios. FWIW I do not believe in overclocking. If you want a 6000+ cpu, do not buy a 4800 and expect to overclock it to 6000 speeds.

[Duckman69]

ahh theres nothing really wrong with my pc its 6 months old i was gonna test out doing it with a an old POS computer i got like 5 computers 2 are down now ;// waiting on parts but i got 1 thats form 2000(ancient) i was gonna start trying to oc with that... figure if anything goes horribly wrong o well...you dont believe in o/c but you said in posts you oc'ed a few machines... you mean you dont suggest it to noob's on the topic? im eager to learn something new as far as messing my bios up to the point i cant boot i doubt it will happen if i do my proper reading... reading on sites & forums of ppl with the same machine as me flashing the same style as me, etc

[Mosquito555]

Originally Posted by Duckman69

ahh theres nothing really wrong with my pc its 6 months old i was gonna test out doing it with a an old POS computer i got like 5 computers 2 are down now ;// waiting on parts but i got 1 thats form 2000(ancient) i was gonna start trying to oc with that... figure if anything goes horribly wrong o well...you dont believe in o/c but you said in posts you oc'ed a few machines... you mean you dont suggest it to noob's on the topic? im eager to learn something new as far as messing my bios up to the point i cant boot i doubt it will happen if i do my proper reading... reading on sites & forums of ppl with the same machine as me flashing the same style as me, etc

Even if you do everything right the BIOS can be killed by various reasons. By just being unlucky and have a programm crash or floppy read error to something certain as updating your BIOS with an unnoficial, unsported and possibly not tested enough BIOS. All this stuff apply if you have a Dell PC (or maybe other non custom built machines with similar BIOS restrictions)...Otherwise we missed the point in this thred!

Anyway, as I told you there is no need to mess your BIOS by flashing it in that way if your PC has no such restrictions. In that case start reading your mobos manual about the o/c options it provides...I already posted that basic o/c is quite easy as long as you are familiar
with BIOS settings and you understand computer terms like FSB...

But o/c is more something like a trend than something neccessary in my opinion...

Your 2000 machine (What is it a PIII or something?) will possibly have the minimum o/c BIOS options to go with. My PIII 733 only allowed me to change FSB between 3 standard speeds and I couldn't speed it up with one Mhz steps at a time (something really helpfull and flexible). Also keep in mind that your old PC will be propably warmer due to technology restrictions...If you want to go far beyond the standard motherboard o/c threshold you 'll need good cooling. You don't want to give away a respectable amount of cash just to experiment with your PIII.

[Duckman69]

thanks for the help again i appreciate it, ill be doing some research this thread has been helpful as your recent comments, yea i got the point of the tread i was just poking & prying for some more info thats all, anyways see ya round the forums... thanks again
~later

[ChRoNo16]

you all argue too much, no you cant overclock a dell, if your willing to ruing a motherboard trying, you should be hit with a tac hammer.


if you wanna overclock, build or buy a custom machine, dells dont overclock, and if it did, it would overheat and you'd be in deep crap. got it?>


simple as that.

[Duckman69]

i wasnt talking about a dell but thanks for the tac hammer next time i fry a mobo ill take it into consideration

[ChRoNo16]

Yah, it's a nice tool to use


anytime you need help with custom rigs or opverclocking, lemme know, if I cant answer the question, i have close friends that can!

[bdg146psu]

Originally Posted by Kurtis Bungay

You've convinced me. I guess i'll leave my pc as is for the time being, atleast probably until next year sometime. Although i have had an offer by somebody to buy my geforce 7900GS gpu. So i was thinking i could either sell it and buy a single geforce 8800GTS 320mb, or i could buy another 7900GS 256mb and use it in SLI. Which do you think would give the best gaming performance?

You'll need two PCI-E x16 slots to run an SLI setup. I don't have a whole lot of experience updating pre-built systems, but from what I understand, they don't give you much to work with in the way of expansion, so I'm doubting your Dell has 2 of these slots. I'd wait until DX10 becomes the standard on new games, then upgrade the GPU. They should come down in price a lot by then and you don't really need one until then anyway.