topic Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P in PCs & Accessories

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

Apehanger — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 00:59:47 GMT

Ive just bought a RZ422P but dont like the onboard sound.

I have a creative live soundcard and creative 5.1 inspire speakers from my old pc.

Can I upgrade the sound to the creative live card?

Also want to eventually upgrade graphics card to 9800 pro, is this possible with the 300w PSU?

Thanks in advance

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

chuckalicious — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:02:37 GMT

Yes you can. I have done the same. Simply open up the case as described in your manual. ONce in simply plgu the sound card into a spare PCI slot and connect the CD rom drives to the card if you want to (although note the connectors may be different so you may need to find some other ones, however connecting them isn't essential.
Turn on the PC and install the drivers for the card.
Now you simply go into the device manager, go into the sound controller section and disable the old soundcard (on mine it was nVidia Audio Codecs). Windows should now use the SB card as the default card and it should work fine.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

chuckalicious — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:03:33 GMT

Sorry, in response to the video card, you may have difficulty as I think it really needs something higher than 300W. Check some of the older posts as this has come up a few times.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

Apehanger — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:23:27 GMT

thanks for the reply, whats the highest card that can be connected with the 300 w psu?

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

chuckalicious — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 12:05:58 GMT

As far as I know, anything that doesn't require it's own power supply. So as far as know that means the lower Radeons or any nVidia card. I would imagnie the higher GeForce FX cards still need a lot of power, so it's best to check it out anyway.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

robpaxton — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 14:43:06 GMT

The ATI 9800 Pro is right on the borderline when used with a 300W supply. The only way to find out if it will work is to try it

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

chuckalicious — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 19:55:37 GMT

Expensive experiment though. Whether it will work or not is related to how many new cards you have installed etc. Rob is right though, trying it's the only sure way, but be warned, it may not work

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

kee-lo_ — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 13:35:30 GMT

Yep I have to agree with Chuckalicious.... expensive but nice card. If you have the cash get one, you'll have a good 2004 gaming...

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

Apehanger — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 23:36:49 GMT

thanks,

with reference to the sound card issue, wont i have to go into the bios setup and disable the onbaord sound?????

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

kee-lo_ — Fri, 02 Jan 2004 11:28:41 GMT

Yep.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

paddy_uk — Sat, 03 Jan 2004 22:04:55 GMT

GeForce FX 5600 128 Mb will work as that's what I put in my brother's rig for him & he has a 300w PSU. Works fine.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

kee-lo_ — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 14:33:36 GMT

They're also a pretty good card.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

Apehanger — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 17:55:44 GMT

after reading several forums, i get the impression that the ati 9600pro or xt is better when comparing similar cards, any ideas on this?
and also anyone know if this runs on 300w psu

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

kee-lo_ — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:04:56 GMT

The 9800 is like the big boy of graphics cards, it's the rolls royce, people drool when they see it. It will need a 500W PSU.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

paddy_uk — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:08:40 GMT

I think you'd run into probs with the 9600 as it's one of the higher end Radeon cards. The GF FX5600 256 Ultra is also a bit of a power sucker. The FX 5600 128 will do all the jobs that you ask of it & is well enough priced. The biggest problem you have is the 300W PSU which is a real limiter for your options. If you could change it to a higher wattage, you'd be able to pick & choose whatever card you wanted. I would be going for a PSU upgrade & GPU upgrade at the same time if I knew the PSU would fit.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

kee-lo_ — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:13:13 GMT

Yep that's the big problem with the VAIO desktop, the PSU's size.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

Apehanger — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:45:54 GMT

it cant be that big of a probelm to cahnge it can it?

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

paddy_uk — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 19:03:13 GMT

That's the main thing that's been putting me off buying a Vaio Desktop, the crap gpu & small psu.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

kee-lo_ — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 19:45:31 GMT

Tom,

Some of the newer desktops have better GPUs.

Upgrading sound/graphics in RZ422P

paddy_uk — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 19:54:29 GMT

I'll have a good butchers through the complete desktop range Kee-Lo & see if anything suites mate. Would be nice to find the ideal ready-built, rather than always having to build my own.