Looking for advice about my PC

[rsbrash]

I am trying to find out if upgrading my system is plausible. I play a lot of MMOs and need to increase my performance. Here are my specs:

I have a Tyan Tiger 133 S1834 Mobo with dual P3 800mhz cpus
300W power supply HP-300SN
1 GB of 100/133 SDram
ATI 9200SE video card
Sound Blaster Live sound

I recently tried to install an ATI X1300 and 9550 video cards but neither would work with my system. I believe it was from AGP compliance on the Mobo.

Is upgrading my PC plausible? or am I looking at a junker? I don't have much of a budget at all for buying a new one as I am a stay at home dad with a one income family. Any suggestions (or used pcs) would be greatly appreciated, lol. Thanks

[pam123]

That motherboard is AGP 4X so those cards should have worked.
You might have an insufficient power supply problem though.

edit : 350 watts should do the job for you but if you've got your eye on a new build in the next year or so go to a minimum of 450 watts with a 20-24 connector.
I would get the power supply now and start putting money aside for a new mobo, cpu, graphics card and memory by the end of the year(probably new operating system as well.).
With luck you'll be able to reuse the rest of the parts in the new build and really hold down the cost.

[Stevevai9]

Is that a pc you built yourself, or is it a mass produced pc, like an HP or dell?

[rsbrash]

This was a custom build that I got from a co-worker about 3-4 years ago.

As for the PSU the specs were in line for the cards I tried. and my Bios monitoring shows the system is running fine. It should have been fine for the cards. I had been told on the support forums for the card that my AGP version was probably outdated. I think they said I was on AGP 1.0 or 2.0 and needed 3.0 which my Mobo wouldn't support it. I wouldn't know how to update that anyway.

[pam123]

Both the cards you listed are backwards compatible to 2.0, which is AGP 4X.

Here's the 1300 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102677
Here's the 9550 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102428

[rsbrash]

The X1300 lists the PSU requirement to be 350W but I had the VisionTek version which only required the PSU to be 300W.

But with the 1300 the boot would freeze during the memory test and with the 9550 (true ATI) it wouldn't boot period. It really bugs me too. The 9550 should work if nothing else. I am probably just doomed to run this system for another year or so. PCs are so aggravating sometimes. But at least I have it working, that is what matters.

[makisushi]

hmmm...this one is a doozy
Your motherboard is AGP 4x, and both cards should have worked.
I was going to ask if you made sure that the video cards had power, but only the 1300 has seperate power hookup... have you tried different bios versions?

[rsbrash]

My Bios has the most current update if that is what you are asking. There hasn't been an new one since 2002 i believe. But it is current. Unless there is something else to update on the bios besides the basic flash update.