questions about my pc

[redrs]

i got a emachine T3422 about month ago new from bb. i would have built my own again but for the price of the whole system couldnt pass it up $350 for pc,17"monitor, keyboard,mouse, and powered speakers. i had some ?s about the mobo., ram & power supply in it. it had very limited papers with the pc. i know its a celeron d 3.06ghz processor, 512mb ddr2 ram (? on frequency) 533 fsb, 128mb shared ati 200 onboard graphics.
i want to know about the power supply so i know if im currently overloading it, or would overload it after i add a bigger gfx card, and external dvd burner. i have added my 2 hds from old pc into this one and it took up all my power wires. 1x120 gig(came in it) + 1x40gig & 1x160gig hds dvd/cdrw. it had enough bays for expanding but not enough plugs.
i wanted to know about the mobo so would know the ram & if possible to oc processor/ram. coolings not an issue with this one, has big heatsink/fan w/ horn blowing the air thru vents in the side of the case. stays below 45*cel. unless playing something like F.E.A.R. then the fan kicks into low speed. it also has i think 3 ide plugs, and a pair of sata plugs(not sure never seen sata plugs) on board.
i wanted to max the ram out to the full 2 gigs, or atleast to 1.5 gigs to get some better performance for when i upgrade the gfx card. currntly has the 512mb ram w/128 being shared for video. i thought it scored decent with 3dmark. highest score of 3012 on the default settings, and 993 with set highest.
i had read on here that u cant put nvidia cards in this kind of pc due to the onboard ati card. which sucks cause im a nvidia fan. pc has the pci-e 16x slot(i think, its pci-e but not sure 16x or 4x) and the 1x(the smaller slot?) and i think 2 reg. pci slots.
hope someone can help me. the pc isnt listed on bb anymore nor listed on the emachines site. i have done looked there, and couldnt find any like model number or anything on the mb itself.

[bill_bright]

Running Belarc Advisor should tell you a lot about your computer and motherboard. As far as your PSU, pop the side of the case and hopefully there will be a label on the visible side of the PSU. If not, you will have to unscrew the 4 screws in back (after unplugging from the wall, of course) holding the PSU to the chassis and look on the other sides. There should be a label somewhere.

However, it would be my guess that you have already added enough to stretch its abilities - if it was not maxed out the day you brought it home. I am a big advocate of not going cheap on PSUs - I don't see the point of feeding the CPU, GPU, RAM, etc. cheap, watered down power - I am not just talking low wattage, but rock solid, accurate voltages too. I would much rather have a 400Watt Antec than a 500Watt no-name generic. What I am saying is I would not waste much time trying to figure out what kind of PSU you have, but rather suggest you just assume you need a new one and go out and get a new one.

You should be able to disable your on-board video and then install your ATI card. The downloads section of the emachine web site, for some reason, claims to be currently unavailable so I cannot download your manual - but look in there in the BIOS section, under on-board peripherals, and read up on that.

Do note that one of the reasons emachines are so cheap is that due to the assembly techniques, expansion/upgrades are limited.

[glc]

A rule of thumb - when you run out of plugs, that's all the power supply can reliably handle. E-machines are NOT designed to be upgraded - they are designed to be run till the warranty is up then thrown away and replaced with a new computer.

[redrs]

ok i will try that belarc advisor. and i was thinking the same thing on it being stretched far already, was wondering if all psu's are the same size, or are some taller, wider, deeper. i could use a deeper on it has romm it could move in, but taller & wider would be in the case or on the mobo. i know i can switch the settings for size on the onboard graphics but turn it off?, but would i still be able to use a n-vidia chip, i had thought about getting one of the bfg oc g-force cards if i had built the pc myself.
i know the e-machines are supposed to be built cheap, but have had one in past that outlasted a compaq, and is still going today only things added was lil more ram & cdrw. i was figuring i could get 1-2 years out of this one, before needing to upgrade the processor.

[redrs]

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Mothe...-200-Review/1/
ok thats the board, any ideas on if i can overclock since it says "# Supports Intel Celeron, Pentium 4, Pentium D processors in the LGA 775 –Pin package
# Supports 64 Bit Processor System Bus Frequency of 533Mhz/800Mhz/1066Mhz (133Mhz/200Mhz/266Mhz bus clock)
# Supports Hyper-threading technology
# Adjustable Voltage from 0.8375v to 1.600v in 12.5mV steps"

[bill_bright]

ATX Form Factor standards call for all ATX power supplies to have the same dimensions, mounting holes, and a minimum number and type of cable connectors. So you should have no problems picking a supply.

I don't recommend overclocking - it will void your warranty (or at least damage caused by OCing is not covered), tax your power supply, tax your cooling. But, since you indicated the voltage is adjustable in 12.5mV steps, it would appear you can.

[glc]

No, you cannot overclock it. NONE of the prebuilt mass market name brand computers are overclockable. I know that review says you can, but eMachines puts in a custom bios that locks out all overclocking adjustments.