MTM2.com

I posted this on another board but didnt get any help... and will post it on another ... but all my old friends here have proven to be some of the most knowledgeable... so here goes... a copy and paste...

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Alright... Well..

My cousin just gave me a p3 600mhz comp... crappy vid card.. very little ram... runnin win 95!! ahhh...
Sd ram isnt hard to find so I'll prolly rob some out of another machine around here for a little while...

As for the vid card... I dunno... Anyone know a very cheap agp card? it cant get any slower than this...(8mb diamond stealth III... fixin to cram my 16mb banshee(a classic..) in there...)

Anyway.. I'm gonna put about $200 (mabey a touch more) into this thing to have it as a backup computer... I'm looking at some other p3 processors ... like 850's... most of them are made for a 133 fsb.. this thing only has a 100mhz fsb.. It should still work though .. right?


Also if I get abouve 800mhz it gets really hard to find a slot 1 processor... I've seen adapters for the socket 370.... would I be better off just sticking with the hard to find?



And before I get too far ahead of myself... will this motherboard (SE440BX-2, AAA01269-200 according to CPU-Z) even handle a faster processor? lol...


Who knows... I may turn this thing into my main gaming machine... hahahahaha......

(considering my main one now is a p2 400 ... 192 mb ram.. tnt2... Atleast it has win 98....)





Yea yea yea.... I know... old old old... but money is tight right now.. lol I wish I could pop this 600mhz processor in my other one.. lol

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Also.. any sugestions on a cheeeeeeep decient vid card? lol... think budget here... lol..

> My cousin just gave me a p3 600mhz comp...

If it's slot 1, don't change the processor. Be happy you got a slot 1 to run 600. However. Are you sure it's slot 1? If yes, are you sure it's p3?

> crappy vid card..

Any tnt 16 meg or 32 meg card.

> very little ram...

Fill it to the door jambs. Can't have too much ram. Usually pc133 will work in pc100. Not always but more often than not. Take the ram out of your main comp, put it in the gift comp. If it works, leave it there and get more ram for your main one. If it doesn't, better look for a perfect fit.

> runnin win 95!!

I'm sure you know the workaround for that.


> cram my 16mb banshee in there...)

You could do worse, you know.


> Anyway.. I'm gonna put about $200

You're crazy. Around here you can get a whole used computer for that price. Get the ram and leave well enough alone.


> would I be better off just sticking with the hard to find?

You'd be best off with the 600. Can't make a camero out of a datson, you know.


> will motherboard (SE440BX-2, AAA01269-200 according to CPU-Z) even handle

who knows, who cares.

but. quick search has some handy tools here

http://www.motherboards.org/moboidtools.html


> Also.. any sugestions on a cheeeeeeep decent vid card?

I have a 2 meg ati rage card you could borrow.

>>If it's slot 1, don't change the processor. Be happy you got a slot 1 to run 600. However. Are you sure it's slot 1? If yes, are you sure it's p3?

Whats the prob with slot 1's..? ANd i've seen a 950 slot 1... Cmon dude... gimmie more than this... lol...

>>Any tnt 16 meg or 32 meg card.

I'm sorta lookin for a voodoo 4.... wont find one cheep though..

>>Fill it to the door jambs. Can't have too much ram. Usually pc133 will work in pc100. Not always but more often than not. Take the ram out of your main comp, put it in the gift comp. If it works, leave it there and get more ram for your main one. If it doesn't, better look for a perfect fit.

I knew the ram would... the whole 133 vs 100 thing had to do with the processor....

>>I'm sure you know the workaround for that.

Yea... wheres my dern win98 disk....

> cram my 16mb banshee in there...)
>>You could do worse, you know.

Yea... I like my old banshee... it wasnt as tempermental as this tnt2... but... it wasnt overclocked either...

>>You're crazy. Around here you can get a whole used computer for that price. Get the ram and leave well enough alone.

Can't around here... I'm in technological hell.. I still see p1 133's sellin for $300....

>>You'd be best off with the 600. Can't make a camero out of a datson, you know.

Thats what someone said about my car... then I whipped their ass....

>>who knows, who cares.

>>but. quick search has some handy tools here

>>http://www.motherboards.org/moboidtools.html

Looking....

>>I have a 2 meg ati rage card you could borrow.

I still have a 2mb card here... I used to think it was the shiznit... back when I bought it for mtm1....

> Whats the prob with slot 1's..? ANd i've seen a 950 slot 1... Cmon dude... gimmie more than this... lol...

You were the one moaning about money. Why make it hard on yourself? Oh, wait. Forgot who I was talkin' to. lol

Dont bother trying to upgrade something that old.

I checked pricewatch http://www.pricewatch.com/ and you can get



for $195

or


for $174

Just click on complete system- no OS

No problem with the older iron......I'm typing this on a P2 333 mhz (pc-100), and I do fine. It has a Maxi Gamer Cougar 32 meg tnt2 card, and runs happy as a rat in a cheese factory.

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I did some searches with that M/B model number you supplied, and came up dry....kinda unusual...not even a bite from GOOGLE....any other identifiers?

You might want to install BELARC ADVISOR (free) and run it. It will give you all the info on your machine and installed software....it may supply the M/B info you require to trace it's specifications:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

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My "speed machine" is a 1000 mhz P3...... That machine has a 64 meg VOODOO5 5500 card.....

Your 16 meg Banshee is probably too weak for the P3...I ran a 16 meg Diamond Monster Fusion Banshee card in my Pent-1 233 mhz putt-putt with happy results.....You want more in a P3 'puter.

Expensive p-1's?
Tall prices can be found anywhere...I recently visited a new "computer surplus" store nearby, and they were selling a USED 1000 mhz p3 box for $400...no monitor, keyboard, etc......rediculous! I can go to outpost.com (Frys) and get a full-up 2.3 ghz celeron system with combo DVD/ CD-burner. 512 megs of pc2100 ddr mem, 80 gig drive, built-in 10/100 network and 56k-modem, AND win XP for $600, BRAND NEW! Everything but the monitor is in that package (it even has a 7-in-1 flashcard reader)

Needless to say, I won't be going back there...surplus my sorry *beep*!

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IF you can go mail order, then Woody has the right idea....you can buy a lot of used goodies for $200 that way...

COMPUTERGEEKS.COM has lots of new and used items, including plenty of videocards from 8-megs on up.....It's probably your best bet...They ship internationally...

here's a link to their 3D-card page:
http://www.compgeeks.com/products.asp?cat=VCD

The CPU page has a slot-1 800mhz P3 for around $110...
http://www.compgeeks.com/products.asp?c ... eron/P2/P3)

See what you can find about your M/B...look for more numbers/identifiers...if anything, you can get a new slot one board for under $30
http://www.compgeeks.com/products.asp?c ... therboards

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FINALLY, for your $200 you can get this whole used system there (not including shipping):

Dell GX110 Pentium III 866 MHz System

General Features:
128 MB RAM
10 GB hard drive
CD-ROM drive (speeds may vary)
1.44 MB floppy disk drive
Integrated video
PCI sound card
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet controller

Motherboard Features:
Intel 810e chipset
Two (2) 168-pin DIMM sockets
Five (5) PCI slots (on riser card)

I/O Ports:
Two (2) PS/2 ports
Two (2) 9-pin Serial ports
One (1) 15-pin VGA connector
One (1) 25-pin Parallel connector
Two (2) USB ports
One (1) RJ-45 Ethernet port

Case Features:
Three (3) 5.25-inch external drive bays (one occupied)
One (1) 3.5-inch external drive bay (occupied)
Two (2) 3.5-inch internal drive bay (one occupied)
Power Supply (100-240VAC, 50/60Hz)
Power cord


Notes:
OS, drivers, or documentation are NOT provided

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Scrape up another $100, and you can get a much newer and better system than that example.....do a little browsing....

I hope this helped...good luck!

Thanks yall out of the 3 plavces I posted this... (racesimcentral.com ... 38000 members... and I'm a mod...) (sharkyforums.com 31000 members..) (here... 542 members..) This is the only place that offered any help at all.. sad aint it? If anyone else has thoughts... please share....

> sad aint it?

Not at all. This place rocks!

I was refering to the fact that out of 60,000 members only one on the other two boards even bothered to reply... and he didnt help.....

We prefer quality over quantity. But in your case, we'd be just as happy with either

when's that track gonna be ready?

Whenever I can get traxx and mtm2 on this computer... (a vid card and ram...)

Been told the mb will go up to 850 mhz...

and 768 mb of ram...



Twas told get a geforce 3 ti and ram and have at it.. lol...

hmmmmm



How much of a diffrence would 250 mhz make in mtm2 anyway? (Also wanting to run Nascar Racing 2003.... )

Pfft! You can just about run the game on 250MHz on its own, never mind 600 or 850. So long as you've got a halfway decent video card to handle the rendering, you should be able to max the graphics options and still get smooth enough framerates in most circumstances. It's the rendering that'll slow you down most - the CPU won't really come into it.

Nascar 2003 is a different matter - I don't know what that game's like so I can't comment, but since it's so recent I suppose it would benefit. But as far as MTM2 is concerned, going from 600MHz to 850 won't show much improvement because the game would probably already be maxed at 600. If you were to go to 850MHz, you'd be doing it for Nascar 2003, or to keep up with your graphics card, or just because you want it anyway

hehe... I've never had problems with frame rates in mtm2... my p2 400 in the other room gets over 100 fps most of the time... lol...

This one is gonna be a fixer upper for a couple months... slowly savin to build "the" computer lol...



As for the processor... everyone is telling me to kust get a bitched out vid card.. rofl.. so uhh... ok... I should be able to get alot of things backed up off this thing next week and mabey get win 98 installed... somthin tells me the banshee will find its way back in for a week or 2...


N2003... THink of 43 mtm trucks on your screen at 1nce... all but 1 ran by ai... killer graphics.... ugg... I need a p5 9ghz.... hah

Anyway.... Is there a frame rate limit in mtm2? I forgot....

Also.. Will fsaa work on mtm2? say if I wanted to run the equivalent to 1024x768?

MTM2 only works at 640x480 or less, as far as I know.....it's been around for some time...

There is a max framerate for MTM2, but I can't recall the actual number....I've seen at least 240 with my 1 ghz/voodoo5 machine...

The highest I got was 340fps, also on a voodoo5500. However, directx over 7a tries to sync to the refresh rate, and the fps really tanks out.

B D.... Fsaa makes it apear as if I'm running a higher resiloution... (I thiknk...) I think its all done in the hardware.... I dunno...
340 fps? LOL.. geez... talk about having leadway for high polly trucks...

While I'm thinking of crazy things... anyone know a way to hook my surround sound system to my computer? For some reason those 15's sittin by my tv are just screamin for a workout... I'm thinkin about a Audingy 2 card ... It wouldnt happen to have rca outs would it? lol

Go to radio shack or it's equal, and get an 1/8" 3-conductor to twin-RCA Y-cord or Y-adapter...the signal from the audio card is line-level, same as the RCA inputs on your stereo.