Motherboard help...

Rico1 · August 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">Im questioning my bios...</div>Hmm well, ive been trying to tweak my computer to the max since its so out o date i can barely run anything decent so i was wondering if:

A) Updating the motherboard BIOS would help increase performance.

B) Could it screw up my computer very badly?

C) Have you ever done it yourself?

Basically i want to find out the advantages of doing it, i know how to do it since i already flashed my voodoo 3 bios but im not too sure if it would be wise to try it on my motherboard also.

Just weighing outt he pro's and con's before actually doing it...

Any help?

Legionnaired · August 2002

Ok, Here's the deal:

Updating your bios wont give you much better performance on it's own, unless it's a hacked overclocking bios of sorts.

Now, if you screw up a bios flash (Restart before complete, that sort of thing), well, you're screwed. Your motherboard will ceace to boot, and you'll have to spend 20 bucks on a new bios chip.

The rule of thumb, with BIOS flashes is "If it ain't broke, dont fix it."

Oh, I have done it myself. Although hard to screw up if you do it correctly, it's possibly the most tense 30 seconds you'll ever have on a computer.

Vober · August 2002

BIOS are the root of all evil, touch them without a phd and your computer will die. GET RAM. dirt cheap, and works wonders in incressing preformance. 128 stick for a vout $30, great deal, or a 256 stick fo $50, check local small stores, not massive capiltalistic stores(best buy)

DeathWish · August 2002

Yeah, flashing your BIOS won't improve the performance of your PC - as Rico said, upgrading your RAM may help things to run a bit better, but the only route for a large speed increase really is to buy a new processor (and motherboard if required) :|

Legionnaired · August 2002

One question though, two actually, what are your specs, and is it pre-made (store bought) or did you put it together yourself?

Rico1 · August 2002

Celeron 400 mhz 128 SDRAM, integrated audio chip, Voodoo3 3000. Xcel 2000 m741LMRT mobo.

I put it together myself a long time ago.

Vober · August 2002

If you have a lil bling bling, I built a computer, minus a few parts I had(moniter, cd-rom, both which you have) for under $400.

AMD Duron 1100 mhz
128 megs pc133 ram
radeon 7500

And thats all that matters 8-), well except my sound card is well my motherboard right now, and my speakers are a piece of junk, sound sucks, but Im about to upgrade that...

richard_of_richardland · August 2002

1100Mhz with only 128MB ram?

Are you nuts? That should have 256in it at least, the other day I accidentally left out one of my sticks of ram, and I could on boot up instantly tell I had less ram, I checked and realised what I had done.

1.2Ghz really should have 256mb ram, your ram should never be a bottleneck given how relatively cheap it is.

Vober · August 2002

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (richard_of_richardland @ Aug. 24 2002,14:47)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">1100Mhz with only 128MB ram?

Are you nuts? That should have 256in it at least, the other day I accidentally left out one of my sticks of ram, and I could on boot up instantly tell I had less ram, I checked and realised what I had done.

1.2Ghz really should have 256mb ram, your ram should never be a bottleneck given how relatively cheap it is.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Yea yea yea. My first plan was a better processor and 256 megs of ram, but my old geforce 2, and well, my new plan won. Im playing Battle feild 1942 right now, and my radeon almost kicks as much ### as I do. I plan to upgrade sound soon, then get another 256 stick of ram. well not another 256 stick, but a another stick. I upgrade to a better processor after sound then ram, then a new moniter so:

1: SoundBlaster PCI live! card and speakers
2: 256 megs of PC133 ram
3 & 4: Moniter/Processor upgrade depending on what I need

Motherboard help...

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