Quote:

OK heres what I got. HP m8000n. Yes I did not build my own I bought a family computer so my wife would not bury me in the yard. It came with 2 gig with 2 extra slots. I put in a 7600gs vid card(it only came with onboard one). Has AMD Athlon 64x2 dual core 5200+. 32 bit vista.

I am just on this side of stupid when it comes to computers so Can you change from 32 to 64??? Is that the windows program or is it in the motherboard??

Is there a sit to check what motherboard you have. I am assuming the motherboard is the telltell for how much you can upgrade.

With this system will getting more ram help or will I even notice?




I checked out the site for HP, they have a decent detailed list for the motherboard specs, although their web layout is kinda confusing, in any case heres the link to the motherboard model that should be on your model case.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docum...257&lang=en

According to the site you can go all the way up to 800 without a problem. from 533 to 800, thats a definite boost, now wether if you will feel the difference depends on how much you push your system to the limit. If you just use word and email everyday then you probably won't. If you have seven different photoshop applications all open at the same time, then quite possibly your computer will feel smoother. The little blue note that they cleverly pasted on the memory section of the page, makes me think that you will get backhanded down to 3GIGS if you put in all 4GIGs. So I would go with just purchasing 3GIGS, preferably identical 800s since it also has the dual-channel business, lol. I would make the jump from 533 to 800, no doubt.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134065

This is a nice set for a nice price, 3 of these would make it sweetness. And if you try for 4 and it doesn't workout, newegg's DOA policy is awesome.


Depending on the CPU you have it should be no problem, I looked up both amd cpus for your motherboard and they both support 64bit processing with the exception of one anthon 64 that is like uber rare and you wouldnt purchase it unless you wanted to have only 32bit stuff. However, if you wanted to make the move you would have to buy a 64bit windows and that doesn't come cheap if you go vista and it requires a bit more ram then just 3gigs to run decently if you go home or business anyway, xp is a lot cheaper and i would go as far to say more reliable at this point, still...lol

In any case, somethings that are on the horizon for you are the drivers for your accessories, and perifierals, cd-rom, speakers etc just about anything that requires a driver to function, even some software like certain background services would probably need an updated 64bit upgrade patch unless you bought it very recently and they thought about including that as part of the install. But something's might not work right and if it doesn't it means it needs to be updated. Also your processors are AMD which currently at this point in time they are at the lower part of the totem pole as far as speed goes when they compare to intel, atleast for now anyway. This in mind some hardware even software are geared more towards intel simply because of it's expandability and success as of right now. So if some things don't go as fast as you like them or as smooth it isn't thet hardware thats bad it's the people that made what your trying to use.

So as a wrap up, your set for 64bit you have all the right stuff, just need the OS and some fixatures on your devices and as long as your processor is the stock one. Which it should cuz thats what should have come with the computer, you'll be alright.