Advice on upgrading my set up

[Dealings]

Ok tryng to figure out my specs and post them and then ask what could I do to upgrade short of buying a new pc

OS: Win XP
Processor: AMD athalon 64 3000+ 2.0 Ghz
RAM: 3 gig Ram (how do i tell what kind of ram it is? assuming its ddr
Vid Card: RadeonX1300 (probably very obsolete)
Mother Board: I have a gygabite brand mother board where do I get more spec info

lastly what other important relevant info should I find and post about?


My goal is to see if I can add more that 3 gig of ram (have 3 slots) by using the new 2gig or higher if I can find of RAM.

I am however aware that an OS and MB can only go so far to detect so Im not clear if I have any recourse

[xcheck]

Here's the software I use to get all the details from my system. It's old, but it does work:

Auslogics System Information 1.1.12.218

A few questions first:

• Are you experiencing performance issues?
  
• Is there a piece of software that you want to run that you currently cannot?
  
• What kind of hard drives do you have? Old style IDE or SATA?
  
• How many watts does your power supply have?

At first glance, it's not that bad of a system.

3gb of ram is plenty for just about everything, but even so, Windows XP will not recognize or use more than that. So if you put in 6 gb it still will only use 3gb. You have buy Vista if you want more ram.

Use the software and post info about your mobo, hard drives and power supply.

[Kahlan2255]

Winows xp 64bit would allow him to use more ram, but from my understanding 64 bit drivers and what not are a pain.

Idk, im about to upgrade my system as well, so i will be here doing alot of research with ya

[xcheck]

Originally Posted by Kahlan2255

Winows xp 64bit would allow him to use more ram, but from my understanding 64 bit drivers and what not are a pain.

Exactly correct. I'm not sure they always shipped the 64bit version of XP with 64bit cpus because of that too.

[cudacuf]

Originally Posted by xcheck

Here's the software I use to get all the details from my system. It's old, but it does work:

Auslogics System Information 1.1.12.218

A few questions first:

• Are you experiencing performance issues?
  
• Is there a piece of software that you want to run that you currently cannot?
  
• What kind of hard drives do you have? Old style IDE or SATA?
  
• How many watts does your power supply have?

At first glance, it's not that bad of a system.

3gb of ram is plenty for just about everything, but even so, Windows XP will not recognize or use more than that. So if you put in 6 gb it still will only use 3gb. You have buy Vista if you want more ram.

Use the software and post info about your mobo, hard drives and power supply.

32 bit OSs can recognize more than 3 GB Ram. You just have to enable the Physical Address Extension.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...96(VS.85).aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system...AE/PAEdrv.mspx

[xcheck]

no shit? I thought it was 3gb, and 2gb max per application. Hmmm.

But it says PAE only works on Intel based CPUs...doesn't that mean it won't work on an Athlon?

[Crippie]

keep an eye on the Dell site..a refurbished dual core intel 3-4gb's ram and decent drive for 4-500..or can hold out ..I got a new quad core 3gig system for 549...
ps i get coupons for 15-20% off regularly drop me a line if you ever want to go that route.

[JimJohnson]

I am not a fan of XP64 but I recommend Vista64.