Computer... Round 2

Ok, so this new system I got which is a 2.4ghz Intel Pentium box, 256mb DDR...

I had some video issues with the onboard video, picked up an ATI Radeon 7000 64mb DDR video card, and it solved this issue... but now I got two issues:

1) The on board video will only turn down to 4mb it won' t completely undedicate ram to onboard video.

2) Chat issues with MSN or Roger Wilco style programs freeze my machine to a choppy level, an obvious issue with the onboard sound not being able to handle it.

So, my question is what does everyone think I should do? I can' t do it all, so I need to make the best choice, hoping some geeks here could offer their advice.

1) Buy more DDR Ram (another 256mb stick)
2) Buy a different motherboard with Onboard Audio (if so suggestions?)
3) Buy a sound card

Here' s the information on my current motherboard I found to help give you further insight on what I have now:


P4 Titan 533 series, support Intel Pentium 4 CPU with FSB 533 MHz, support DDR333 memory
GIGABYTE introduces the newest member of its P4 Titan 533 series, GA-8SIMLH. Based on SiS 651 chipset, GA-8SIMLH is the first VGA-integrated solution to support FSB533 MHz and DDR333(PC2700) memory thus providing excellent performance. By equipped the brand new SiS 962L chipset, GA-8SIMLH also delivers most up-to-date features to the system. GA-8SIMLH is a full function platform for the mainstream segment of desktop PC market and represents a great choice for Intel Pentium 4 and SiS VGA-integrated chipset based motherboard.

Real 256-Bit 3D/128-Bit 2D Graphic Engines Integrated
With the integrated 3D/2D Graphic Engines, video accelerator and MPEGI/MPEGII video decoder of SiS651 chipset, GA-8SIMLH is able to provide a quality graphic interface for all kind of 2D/3D graphic and video application for the Intel Pentium 4 based PC systems.

SiS MuTIOL® Technology applied
he SiS MuTIOL® technology is applied for the platform to provides 533MB/s bandwidth for the connection between SIS 651 north bridge and 962L south bridge of the motherboard. With new system architecture, the system performance is enhanced significantly for full range of applications.

Main Specification

Socket 478 for Intel® new 0.13 micron-process Pentium® 4 processor
SiS 651/962L Chipset
Supports FSB533/400 MHz
2 DIMM support up to 2GB DDR333/266 memory
AGP 4X, 3 PCI slot
6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
Two Ultra ATA133 Connectors
Integrated Ethernet 10/100Mb Network Connection
Easytune™ 4, Q-Flash™, @BIOS™

I showed my brother your post, and he recommended a sound blaster live audio card as the most bang fer yer buck solution. I hope this will help.

I' m afraid I' m not going to be much of a help, but I can offer this:

You shouldn' t have to buy more RAM. I don' t really see what it will accomplish, since you' re not actually fixing the problems, just giving it more RAM to work with. Sure, it will help, but the problem is still there.

The onboard video is disabled in BIOS, right? (I' m pretty sure it' d have to be to have the extra video card in there... but just making sure).

Also, I' ve never used MSN, but I' ve always assumed that it was something similar to AIM or ICQ, right? If so, what would that have to do with the onboard sound?

 $> man woman
 $> Segmentation fault (core dumped)
 

You shouldn' t have to buy more RAM. I don' t really see what it will accomplish, since you' re not actually fixing the problems, just giving it more RAM to work with. Sure, it will help, but the problem is still there.

Yes, problem is still there but more ram can help give the system resources more to work with and perhaps help relieve some of the stress on the board for the rest of the operations.

The onboard video is disabled in BIOS, right? (I' m pretty sure it' d have to be to have the extra video card in there... but just making sure).

Yes, there are three options in the BIOS, one is to change the amount of memory dedicated to onboard, the options are 4, 8, 16, and 32, there is no " off" or " none" option. So it' s now set a 4 so I' ve only got 252mb Ram for the system.

Also, I' ve never used MSN, but I' ve always assumed that it was something similar to AIM or ICQ, right? If so, what would that have to do with the onboard sound?

MSN actually works VERY good for person to person chatting, it' s extremely crisp and clear, the only down side its its person to person you can' t group chat. What this has to do with onboard sound is that the sound and microphone are both running through the motherboard for voice and sound, the board has an issue processing this.

check if u don' t have on board devices activated, like video or audio.
It may sometimes be the problem (irq probleme in fact).
Check the bios of your motherboard and go on the website of the constructor to check for a revision. It may arrange the problem.

MSN actually works VERY good for person to person chatting, it' s extremely crisp and clear, the only down side its its person to person you can' t group chat. What this has to do with onboard sound is that the sound and microphone are both running through the motherboard for voice and sound, the board has an issue processing this.

Ooooooh, didn' t know there was a " speaking" version.

Sorry, don' t know what to tell you. I' ve never seen a board with onboard video not have an " off" setting.

I agree with Ale{x}, check for updates on the BIOS.

 $> man woman
 $> Segmentation fault (core dumped)
 

The onboard card is not using your system memory. It should have RAM dedicated only to it, or at least I have never seen a setup like that. As for getting more memory I am guessing you are running XP. 256MB is pretty much the minimum you can have with XP. I recently upgraded my memory and it smoothed out games by quite a bit. For the sound card get a Live or even better go for an Audigy.