The Computer Hardware Tips & How-tos Thread

A few days ago I finally got around to buying an nVidia-based PCIe 2.0 x16 graphics card for an Asus-manufactured **motherboard I found last summer:

**

Code:

john@john-desktop:~$ sudo lspci -v
[sudo] password for john: 
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL Memory Controller Hub (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a08
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=09 <?>

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL PCI Express Root Port (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff
	Memory behind bridge: d4000000-d5dfffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: d6000000-dfffffff
	Capabilities: [88] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a08
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [a0] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [140] Root Complex Link
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
	Subsystem: [B]Hewlett-Packard[/B] Company [B]PufferM-UL8E[/B]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 42
	Memory at d3ffc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [130] Root Complex Link
	Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
	Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
	Memory behind bridge: c0000000-c01fffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0200000-00000000c03fffff
	Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
	Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [180] Root Complex Link
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
	I/O ports at a480 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
	I/O ports at a800 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	I/O ports at a880 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	I/O ports at ac00 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
	Memory at d3ffbc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d3) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=04, sec-latency=32
	I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000efff
	Memory behind bridge: d5e00000-d5ffffff
	Capabilities: [50] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FR (ICH6/ICH6R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
	Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt, intel-rng

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
	I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
	I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
	Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FW (ICH6/ICH6W) SATA Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
	I/O ports at a400 [size=8]
	I/O ports at a080 [size=4]
	I/O ports at a000 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 9c00 [size=4]
	I/O ports at 9880 [size=16]
	Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0a
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 5
	I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]
	Kernel modules: i2c-i801

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT520 [GeForce GT520] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 352f
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	Memory at d4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d8000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
	Memory at d6000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
	I/O ports at bc00 [size=128]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at d5d00000 [disabled] [size=512K]
	Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [b4] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
	Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [128] Power Budgeting <?>
	Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=024 <?>
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia
	Kernel modules: nvidia_173, nvidia_current, nouveau, nvidiafb

01:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation HDMI Audio stub (rev a1)
	Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 352f
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	Memory at d5000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
	Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
	Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306/7/8 [Fire II(M)] IEEE 1394 OHCI Controller (rev 80) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0c
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 20
	Memory at d5eff800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
	I/O ports at dc00 [size=128]
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: firewire_ohci
	Kernel modules: firewire-ohci

03:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a0b
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 21
	I/O ports at d800 [size=256]
	Memory at d5eff400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: 8139too
	Kernel modules: 8139too, 8139cp

03:05.0 PCI bridge: Hint Corp HB6 Universal PCI-PCI bridge (non-transparent mode) (rev 11) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64
	Bus: primary=03, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=64
	I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
	Memory behind bridge: d5f00000-d5ffffff
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [90] CompactPCI hot-swap <?>
	Kernel modules: shpchp

04:08.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): NEC Corporation uPD72874 IEEE1394 OHCI 1.1 3-port PHY-Link Ctrlr (rev 01) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
	Subsystem: NEC Corporation Device 00ce
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
	Memory at d5fff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: firewire_ohci
	Kernel modules: firewire-ohci

04:09.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 44) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
	Subsystem: NEC Corporation Hama USB 2.0 CardBus
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 18
	Memory at d5ffd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

04:09.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 05) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
	Subsystem: NEC Corporation USB 2.0
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 18
	Memory at d5ffec00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

john@john-desktop:~$ 

When I first tested the motherboard with a known-to-be-good-but-no-longer-supported-by-ATI PCIe x16 graphics card last year, it wouldn't stay powered up long enough for me to access the BIOS and find out if this LGA775, DDR400 'board's CPU was fast enough to warrant the purchase of a GNU/Linux-friendly nVidia-based graphics card. But since it had a good sized after market CPU chiller I kept it for parts.

Last month after I got home from the hospital I decided to get rid of a bunch of stuff I no longer care about and was going to toss the non-functioning motherboard when I noticed that one of the four long screws which hold the chiller in place (by passing through the 'board and threading into an X-shaped metal back-plate) hadn't threaded into its corresponding hole. This resulted in the chiller being slightly raised off of one corner of the CPU causing it to quickly overheat thus shutting down the 'board.

So I removed the chiller & cleaned off the remaining thermal paste/crud from the CPU and learned that it is a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 Prescott--even though the Sept., 2004-era motherboard it was on typically shipped with a 2.8 GHz P4.

As the 15" 1536 x 768 flat-faced CRT I'm still using has grown increasingly dim & blurry in tandem with my diminishing eyesight, I'm thinking of getting a 24" 1920 x 1080 LED back-lit LCD monitor so that I'll no longer have to do a Mr. Magoo to read fine print.

'Problem is the GeForce 6200 (1900 x 1200 max., DirectX 9, OpenGL 2.0) AGP 3.0 graphics card on the Socket 478, 3,2 GHz P4 Prescott, DDR400, Asus P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard I was using will likely choke when playing full screen video at 1920 x 1080, hence my renewed interest in resurrecting the LGA775, 3.4 GHz P4 Prescott, DDR400, PCIe x16, Asus PTGD1-LA Rev 1.06 'board I found last summer.

After properly installing the CPU chiller and adding a new Gigabyte GeForce GT 520 (2048 x 1536 max., DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1) PCIe 2.0 x16 graphics card I got the 'board working and my PC can now properly drive a large monitor--at a low, low price.

And after updating the 'board's BIOS to its final version I also learned that the current 3.4 GHz P4 is indeed a processor upgrade--an upgrade which was not only mis-installed but one that was also done without first updating the 'board's BIOS.

TIP: If the BIOS messages are flying by too quickly to read them, press the <Pause-Break> key to freeze the screen and then press any other key to get things moving again.

Bottom Line

In the course of learning more about my new/old Asus PTGD1-LA Rev 1.06 (HP name PufferM-UL8E) motherboard I came across a couple of useful sites offering plenty of hardware info:

How To Access the BIOS Setup Utility
How To Access the BIOS Setup Utility (How To Enter BIOS)

Everything You Need to Know About the Dual-, Triple-, and Quad-Channel Memory Architectures
Everything You Need to Know About the Dual-, Triple-, and Quad-Channel Memory Architectures | Hardware Secrets

--

After first browsing through some of posts in the first ten pages of computer-related TBOT search results, it is my hope that this thread grows into a centralised source of handy hardware know-how.

 

A few of them went as high as 3.8 GHz:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_4_microprocessors

 

intel introduced Hyper Thread (2 threads on one core) on many of the faster P4s which some hardware enumeration utilities ID as being 2 cores or 2 processors:

Code:

john@john-desktop:~$ lscpu
Architecture:          i686
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                2
On-line CPU(s) list:   0,1
Thread(s) per core:    2
Core(s) per socket:    1
CPU socket(s):         1
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            15
Model:                 3
Stepping:              4
CPU MHz:               3401.299
BogoMIPS:              6802.53
L1d cache:             16K
L2 cache:              1024K
john@john-desktop:~$ 

The fastest Pentium 4s are not good candidates for building a 'green' PC. The P4, SL7J8, 3.40 GHz/1M/868 I'm now using consumes 115 Watts. In contrast the much more powerful Core 2 Quad series of LGA775 processors typically consume 95 Watts.

CPUs - Fastest to Slowest
http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_entry

 

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/