I am not an expert and need advice...

[LambOfGod]

r u crazy?! its awesome!it actually helps... it takes up so little system resources but it helps.

Lets see some proof

 

[freestyler105]

Uggggg... please dont download that utility.

Those Programs that "free" up ram are all crap.

IT WILL DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD.

I tend to agree with that, but it did get a 5/5 CNet editors rating, so maybe it's worth a try?

 

[wol-va-rine]

what about the processor? hows a pentium 3 gunna work with a p4 motherboard?

sorry, I should've clarified that the p4b mobo already has a pentium4 processor on it...

 

[Celegorm]

what about the ram, do both boards have/take the same kind of Ram?

 

[LambOfGod]

I tend to agree with that, but it did get a 5/5 CNet editors rating, so maybe it's worth a try?

I want/would want to see some real world benchmarks, ect... showing that it actually did something.

 

[wol-va-rine]

what about the ram, do both boards have/take the same kind of Ram?

great question, I know the p4b takes pc133 and I am running pc133 on my current p2-99b, when I run pcwizard it shows up as pc133 (and one of them even shows up at 125, which kinda confuses me, but that's really not that hard to do ), it also shows that I only have 2 sockets filled, when I have all 3 filled, weird, dimm1-1, dimm1-2, dimm2-1, and dimm2-2 appear filled, while dimm3-1 and dimm3-2 say empty, even though the dimm3 slot is physically filled, I have no idea what all this means...

would this sdram work on the p4b...?

I found this on the internet, http://www.dansdata.com/i845s.htm, it's a less than glowing review of the board I want to switch to, but even so, it's a huge upgrade from the one I have now (asus p2-99b) and I am not really worried about performance, I don't play any high end games and just mainly surf the web and post on message boards, the upgradeability of the board (which has a processor and was free) is what has me wanting to switch mobos, especially the 6 pci slots and agp slot...

 

[wol-va-rine]

... thats too bad. the processor is probably a pentimum4 and it wont fit into a case... well, another case would be about 20 dollars at a near retailer, but are u willing? u can spend 20 dollars extra and probably get a pentimum 4 that may have 1000 mhz/ 1 ghz or more and have 512 ram. i would do it. the 6 pci can really come in handy in the future too.

I went to the privately owned dealer up the street and got a used atx case with a 350w Eagle power supply, plus a 64 mb nvidia geforce mx400 video card (agp, with a dvi plug) for about $45 (which was a huge upgrade from the old trident 2mb pci video card I had, I can already see the difference)...

now I just have to try to figure out how to get the asus p4b mobo to work, I have all the right plugs (I think) because the power supply says it's "pentium4 ready"...

I appreciate all the advice I've gotten in this thread, and any more would be an added bonus, y'all have been very helpful, thanks...

 

[wol-va-rine]

downloaded the p4b manual from asus, set the jumpers and powered it up, it said (yes, "said") in a female voice something to the effect of "floppy drive failure", which was no huge surprise since I hadn't connected one yet, just a hard drive to see if it would power up and then boot up...

as borat would say "great success"...

I now need to solder one of the cooling fan wires back in because it became disconnected at some point years ago (either going into the closet or from blunt kiddie trauma while in the closet)...

the good news is that it's a 1.5 ghz processor (my old system is running at 550 mhz)...

old $100 system
asus 2-99b mobo...
550 mhz slot processor...
512 mb sdram...
2mb trident pci video card...
3 pci slots...
3 5.25" bays...
2 3.5" bays...

new $145 system
asus p4b mobo...
1.5 ghz processor...
512 mb sdram, upgradable up to 3 gig...
64 mb nvidia geforce mx400 agp video card...
6 pci slots...
4 5.25" bays...
3 3.5" bays...
2 onboard usb ports...
onboard audio (though I use a SB Audigy SE)...

I am very happy...