disgruntled hp owner

[mangle-u]

hi all. this ismy 1st time posting. i have issues w/my hp m380n. it has a ASUS P4SD-LA mobo. pent 4HT 3.2ghz w/800mhz fsb. 2gb's of pci 3200 kingston hyperx ram rnng in dual channle mode. video card is radeon 256mb agp 800xl. trbl is i tested w/3dmark05 & scored really low. results also showed fsb is only 200mhz. is this accurate info? what gives? is this something i can or need 2 adjust? also i read post by adverse w/similar prob w/his mobo. something about his agp aperture wont go above 64. how do i check 2 c what mine is @ currently? any help would b greatly appreciated as i am a total noob. thanx in advance people

[Darthtanion]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

First off, most of the folks who stop by here would be disgruntled with an HP machine. They generally use lower-end components, make at least some of them proprietary so they aren't industry standard (forcing you to go back to HP for component upgrades) and they neuter the BIOS to make overclocking next to impossible. *pant pant*
[steps off soapbox]

When you say you "scored really low", just how low are you talking about? My mind-reading skills are a bit rusty so I can't help you with any potential problems without first seeing if a problem even exists.

As to the FSB setting, this would be correct. Remember that the Intel processors have the ability to quad the FSB for internal processing speeds. 200FSB x 4 = 800MHz processor.

Regarding the AGP aperture, I don't know if you can get deep enough into your BIOS to check it out there or if you can even make adjustments to it. You can, however, download something along the lines of SiSoft Sandra. This utility can tell you a lot about your system components and settings as well as run a series of benchmarking tests. Might give it a shot and see how you fare.

[mangle-u]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

thank u vry much 4 the reply DARTHTANION.
well, im @wrk right now but if i memeber right, my scores were less than 5000. the " cpu " tst only chuged along @ a blistering 1 fps pace. ouch!
so is my cpu " quading " my fsb processing speeds? im playing F.E.A.R. & the game did its on evaluation of my current system & set up & scored " high " on both the pc & graphic card performance. but actually trying 2 play w/them on high is a complete joke.
it clips & slows down so bad its unplayable. i had 2 put the card setting on med & left the pc on high. im very dissipointed. any suggestions?

[casecutter]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

A score of over 4000 on 3D Mark05 is pretty good for your machine. You just need to keep the settings down to play modern games with it. Make sure you clean your system regularly (anti-spyware/disk cleanup/defragment/anti-virus) and shut down any unneccessary background processes when playing games. I consider my PC very fast and it will only pull 6.5K on 3D Mark05 when running stock.

[AsianBatman]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

to make you feel better i have [email protected], 512x2 corsair, and a geforce 6800 and i score 4200 in 3dmark05.

[mangle-u]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

ok, im back home now. my cpu score was 3455. my total 3dmark score was 4719. isnt that rather crappy?im thinking a better mobo will help. like asus P4P800SE-865PE. i read many user feedbacks & were all positive. saying very stable & fast w/very user friendly adjustable bios which my crappy board wont let my touch.
im still confused w/the fsb mhz only showing as 200 when it should be 800. can someone please xplain? & is there a wat 2 actually check the agp aperture? shouldnt it be set @256mb 2 match my radeon x800xl? i was told it may b @default setting which is only 64mb. how 2 check??

[casecutter]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

A score of 4719 for your PC is excellent. There is no issue there at all. As for the front side bus, you will never ever see it as 800MHz in bios or any other program that shows front side bus speeds. Your processor runs at 200MHz and Pentium 4 chips are quad pumped making it run effectively at 800MHz. There is no other way to put it. As for AGP aperature, you would see next to no difference by setting it to 256MB. That feature is more useful if you have a very low MB video card. The AGP aperature basically is shared system memory the video can use if needed. Seeing as you have the ATI X800XL with 256MB of memory, it would not need or use the extra memory afforded by a larger AGP aperature. If you could find a way to change it, 128MB would be the highest you'd need to set it. And even then you would see no difference.

You could get another motherboard, especially if you want to overclock. But it will NOT give you any better 3D Mark05 scores unless you overclock it ALOT. Maybe 100 or so points more stock, but like I said, a score of 4700 for your PC is excellent. Be happy with it and use it. If you don't want your games to be choppy, dump that P4 and get an AMD64. P4s are good for one thing and one thing only, video encoding IMO. If you are into gaming, then getting an AMD64 is the only logical upgrade for you.

[AsianBatman]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

ok, im back home now. my cpu score was 3455. my total 3dmark score was 4719. isnt that rather crappy?im thinking a better mobo will help. like asus P4P800SE-865PE. i read many user feedbacks & were all positive. saying very stable & fast w/very user friendly adjustable bios which my crappy board wont let my touch.
im still confused w/the fsb mhz only showing as 200 when it should be 800. can someone please xplain? & is there a wat 2 actually check the agp aperture? shouldnt it be set @256mb 2 match my radeon x800xl? i was told it may b @default setting which is only 64mb. how 2 check??

Do you happen not to read replies...darth already told you...about the fsb.

[mangle-u]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

ok, thanks casecutter. i guess i just xpect 2 much from my system. i thought that 3dmark score was low. i did some comparing on thier site w/similar systems that showed scores in the 5 & 6k range. dont remember if they were amd or not. which amd cpu would i need 2 equal the p4 3.0ghz? & can i still get good results from newer games w/my agp card if switch 2 a fast amd & good mobo? which mobo would u recomend? also thanx 4 explaining in " noob " terms that i was able 2 understand about the fsb.

[casecutter]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

An AMD64 3000+ would equal and be faster than your P4 and is very affordable. My suggestion would be to get an AMD64 3700+ San Diego as it has a bigger L2 cache (1MB)and, in my opinion, is faster than the Venice and Winchester cores. I also suggest to stay away from the Winchester cores (512KB L2 Cache) and try to get a Venice core if you go with the 3000+,3200+,3500+ or 3800+. These numbers may sound confusing, but it really is very simple. WHat they mean is what speed of P4 cpu they compare to. ANd if you overclock at all, the AMD64 CPU simply outperforms the P4 on a HUGE margain.

As for the motherboard, alot of guys here will point you to stay away from an AGP board and go PCI-E. I am not one of them. I suggest the MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum S939 motherboard. I use it and it is very user friendly and extremely overclockable. It is the best AGP S939 motherboard out on the market, in my opinion. It is very very easy to set up and just as easy to overclock, once you relearn overclocking as nothing is the same about overclocking an AMD64 CPU compared to a P4.

And remember, ANY P4 system that is scoring in the 5K+ range in 3D Mark 05 is definitely overclocked, and probably a S775 CPU (Socket 775). That score you posted is very good, and I do mean very good. I still run an AGP card and refuse to switch as the bandwidth of the AGP bus has not beenused fully by almost all games/software out and I feel that PCI-E is not necessary yet. PCI-E is more future proof, but if you want to keep your AGP card, like I did, you will not be dissapointed if you go AMD64. I had an ATI X800 XL about 9 months ago and it was simply awesome in my system. I only upgraded to the X850 because I like to upgrade constantly for no good reason.

Remember, this is my opinion and others may not agree. Hope this helps.

[mangle-u]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

very cool. as i just recently purchsded my x800xl &didnt want 2 upgrade yet. so the agp cards w/good amd cpu & mobo { like your set up } can still run latest games fairly fast w/alot of the graphic & phyisic's features enabled? frys has a amd 3200+ w/gigabyte GA-K8NSC939 mobo comb for $229. is that a good deal? would it be faster than my p4? it is agp. i looked several places 4 the mobo u mentioned & couldnt find. only located the pci-version. do u know where i can get? & about how much $$ they are? & what does san diego, venice, & winchester mean? is it just the names? when i look @the cpu's i dont see those names anywhere w/them. hmpf.
thanx agn 4 all the help!

[Darthtanion]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

https://www.newegg.com

Try checking htere since you're US bases. They have prices that are very hard to beat and they don't rape you on shipping charges either. I'd be willing to bet that they will beat any prices offered at Fry's.

[casecutter]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

This:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103537

+ this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130514

=

far superior performance and it will easily out game your P4 by a wide margain. Plus, you will be able to overclock it reasonably well with the stock heatsink and get even more performance for your buck. Your 3D scores are not going to jump up by alot, but your real world performance will definitely jump up alot.

[mangle-u]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

that sounds great. those parts are very resonably priced also! i have another ? reguarding the amd cpu's. is the 3000+ " venice " better than an opposing amd cpu that doesnt have a name after it like venice etc? even if it boasts higher speed ie: 3200+ ? if so, why? thanx agn for all the help, u have been very enlightening.
also thanx darthtanion 4 his help. u 2 are only 1's who reply. helps keep beginers like me in the game !

[casecutter]

Re: disgruntled hp owner

Make sure it is a Socket 939 CPU you are looking at. And if you do not overclock much or don't plan on doing any overclocking, you may want a 3200+, or even a 3500+ as they have a faster stock speed. But, if you like to overclock, the 3000+ Venice will keep up with even the 3800+ Venice.

Same thine between the AMD64 Venice or AMD64 Winchester. The Venice is a better overclocker. If you do not intend on overclocking, you do not need to worry about which CPU you get.

My suggestions would be:

1. If you are going to overclock, get an AMD64 3000+ Venice. (cheapest)
2. If you are not going to overclock get an AMD64 3200+ Venice or Winchester (slightly more expensive)
3. If you have the extra money and you are not going to overclock, get an AMD64 3500+ Venice or Winchester as it will have a nice high stock speed. (even more expensive)

As strange as it sounds, the AMD64 3000+ Venice will usually overclock just as well as its' more expensive big brothers. Take the cost into consideration and the use. You will get excellent results from any of the CPUs I have listed. And if I have made this too confusing, just ask for more info, I will try to explain it the best I can.