Upgrading my PC...

[Beam]

Some juicy info about the asshole Rambus company: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambus

And the best deal I could on 184 pins in the Netherlands: http://www.geheugen.com/memoryzoek.asp?modelid=STD046

There is even cheaper stuff around but it is either 160 pins or the number of pins is not mentioned.

[Kemal]

Okay, so looking at this, I might even be better off buying a new motherboard (which could also support 8x AGP for my video card, and then buying a (much cheaper) 512MB ram module for that...?

[col]

Yup

[Beam]

Guess so, just this memory upgrade is very little bang for the buck. If you go for a new MB and RAM you also most likely need a new CPU because of the CPU socket. A guestimate is that you can have a budget upgrade for 300 Euro's the Intel way (Celeron 2.66, 512 MB) and prob. better if you go the AMD road.

I really recommend to go to MyCom and tell them what you have, what you're looking for and what your budget is. They also can do the assembly.

[Kemal]

Okay, thanks for the info people, this has really helped as otherwise I would have undoubtedly bought the wrong things.

About the motherboard... is it doable to install that yourself? I have installed vid cards, sound cards and ram before on other PCs, but never a motherboard. I'm hesitant to led other people do it if one could do it himself as well, since I really need this pc on daily basis, as well as wanting to avoid possible extra costs if someone would come over to the house and do it for me.

[DrAlimentado]

if you are comfortable inside a PC then yes, it is very doable. It is just a bigger job than fitting a card.

Fitting the processor is slightly heart-stopping for a moment or two, but I have fitted quite a few and never broken one yet. Remember to put heat-conducting paste inbetween the cpu and fan. Fit the processor on the board before putting the board in the pc too

[Rik Meleet]

Depends on what CPU you are going to get. Screwing a mobo in your PC isn't that hard -just be careful with ESD- but the heatsink of a P4 can be tricky. Same holds true for placing a CPU.

The main difference between building in vid-crds/sound cards/memory on 1 side and a CPU on the other side is that the vid/snd/mem have a big margin for error. A CPU fits only 1 way, but can be damaged in many ways if done incorrectly.

A Motherboard is just "lastig" as you easily forget a screw or you can't allign it properly since sometimes you need 3 hands. The "Tip van Flip" in that case is to put your case on the side and use gravity to assist you in alligning the motherboard.

[anarres]

As others have said (and if you can afford it), you really should consider a proper upgrade to your system, namely the motherboard.

Of course once you think about the costs of that, it's only a little more to buy a new "barebone" (i.e. mimimal basiscs) system. These consist usually of a motherboard, case (usually with PSU - power supply unit) and (again, usually) memory (RAM). You can then move across your harddrive, CD/DVD, floppy, cards, etc.

The benifit of a barebone system over a motherboard is that they do the "scary" part - namely putting the MB in the case. Actually this is an easy task if you've done it just once before, but you must take precautions like avoiding static build up and not touching chips on it and not letting the MB have direct contact with the case, even around the screw mountings. If you feel you can tackle this task them by all means buy a MB and we can give you advice on it here.

The other main issue around MB's is to make sure it fit's your case (obviously not an issue if you buy a barebone system). Once installed there may be further issues such as possibly reinstalling your OS (been known to be an issue when CPU type changes, for ex Intel to AMD, and also known to be an issue for simple MB differences like different chipsets).

Sorry there is no easy answer - it's a minefield (albeit a lot safer than 10 years ago). If you have the cash, go barebone and move across your cards. If not, then maybe we can help you choose a MB anyway, although I would NOT recommend taking apart your old PC to fit it unless you have a second internet connection you can use to access online (hehe - I've done that a few times and regretted it...).

[Kemal]

Hmm, going to have to think it over as this seems way more complicated than just buying new mem... on a barebone system, where would the CPU be fitted then, would I still have to do that myself?
Cash is an issue I'm afraid, I limited myself to around 60 euro originally for only a mem upgrade, now a new motherboard seems mandatory but would already be another 60 euro over the budget at least...

I do actually have a second internet connection available when (possibly) taking the other PC apart...

[akots]

I'm sure you can do it. It is not that complicated.

RIMM is a weird socket, it might be a good idea to get rid of it certainly. However, cutting on the cost is also important. There is a huge Compaq warehouse here and they have some old memory chips. I might be going there in any case in a couple of days and might be I can find RIMM one or two 512 Mb chips for your board. They would come at really low price about $60-80 per 168-pin 512Mb chip and its a good idea to have 2 certainly for total of 1Gb. And it is almost certain that it is not a good idea to have one 128Mb and another 512Mb chip. They are supposed to work better in pair. IMHO, changing motherboard, CPU, and memory is not worth the trouble.