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Upgrades....
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Senior Member
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16. December 2005 @ 12:38 |
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Hello everyone.
I think i have achieved the peak of my PC as what used to cream past 5 or 6 fat processes now struggles to handle 3 or 4 little ones and what used to take 2 minutes, now takes 10 and so on... It's defragmented regularly, it's scanned regularly with norton 2k5 as well.
Now, i was thinking about a RAM memory upgrade, tried to look in the usual places but there's so many diferent ones and i don't know what i'm looking at, lol...
I have a 3 year old P4 @2.4 Gb, RAM is 512Mb, and my HDD is of about 80 GB... I bought it as a package but it was good stuff when i bought it. As finances are a bit short at the moment, i was thinking about something in the lines of a 1Gb Ram, possibly (maybe not necessary) a new processor, and definetly a new HDD.
Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks.
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ddp
Moderator
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16. December 2005 @ 13:05 |
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Senior Member
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19. December 2005 @ 11:58 |
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@ DDP
Sorry mate, been away with work. Here's what i can tell you about my thing:
Motherboard: MicroStar MS-6533
CPU Support
Supports Socket 478 for Intel P4 processors
Supports from 1.5GHz to 2.0GHz
Chipset
SiS 650 Chipset
Supports 400 MHz FSB
UltraDMA/100/66 IDE Controller
Memory
2 x 184-pin DDR DIMM
Supports maximum memory of 2GB
Expansion Slots
1 x 32-bit AGP 4X slot
3 x 32-bit PCI slots
1 x CNR slot
onboard IO
2 x PS/2 ports for Keyboard and Mouse
2 x USB ports
1 x Ethernet (RJ45) LAN port
1 x Parallel port
1 x Serial port
1 x VGA port
1 x Audio port
1 x Game port
onboard IDE
2 x UltraDMA/100/66 IDE channels
Supports up to four IDE devices
LAN
RealTek RTL8100L 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet Controller
Audio
AC'97 link controller integrated in SiS 961
RealTek ALC201A/202A Audio codec
Video
Integrated RealTek 256-bit 2D/3D Graphics Engine
Dimension
micro ATX Form Factor: 24.4 cm x 23.1 cm
I think i have 2 slots occupied, A0 and A1
Bank - 0/1
Capacity - 256MB
Data width - 64 bits
Form factor - DIMM
The other is the same but on bank 2/3.
My processor is a
GenuineIntel x86 family 15 model 2 stepping 4 (whatever that means)
Max clock speed: 2.390 MHz,
External Clock: 100 MHz.
A little explanation on this processor line would be usefull... :P
I hope i answered your question as this is as much as i know... \o/
Thanks mate.
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Senior Member
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27. December 2005 @ 00:59 |
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I could use a bit of help around here...
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Senior Member
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27. December 2005 @ 00:59 |
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I could use a bit of help around here...
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ScubaBud
AfterDawn Addict
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27. December 2005 @ 02:55 |
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@permiggs
If you have a 2.4 P4 currently, the highest you could go with a 478 socket would be possibly a 3.4 Northwood. I said possibly since you might only have the ability to go to a 2.8 P4 depending on your board and its bios. (The latter is more then likely the case.)
I would stick with some memory upgrades first and make sure you have done what ddp suggested in his post. As far as the HDD, how much space are you using currently on your 80 gig?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. December 2005 @ 03:27
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Senior Member
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27. December 2005 @ 13:45 |
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Out of DDP's prog's the only one i didn't have was ccleaner. Not much different as i use those almost on a daily basis... I had a reformat recently so i only bothered in restoring back the necessary for homework (Autocad, Solidworks, MS Office... the usual as you know), so i only have about 24Gb used now.
Before i had about 68Gb used, coudn't even defrag...
I was told at my local Pc shop that i can have a 1Gb RAM upgrade for about £40 and that was including VAT and install...
Quote:
Motherboard: MicroStar MS-6533
CPU Support
Supports Socket 478 for Intel P4 processors
Supports from 1.5GHz to 2.0GHz
Up to 2.0GHz? How much is mine? And how important is that? Sorry mate, all i know is P4 2.4Gb...
Quote:
P4 3.4HT @ 3.74 1GigPC3200
This is in your sig, how can i find out this info on my pc, and what is it exactly (3.4HT @3.74 etc)?
Thanks mate.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. December 2005 @ 13:48
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ScubaBud
AfterDawn Addict
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27. December 2005 @ 14:26 |
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http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_deta...
I'm not sure that the link above will work but from what I've found out about your M/Board, the lastest bios only accepts a P4 2.6. With that said, it would be a hugh waste of money to upgrade from a 2.4 to a 2.6. And with that said, if speed is what you are after, it is time for a new build or PC.
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Senior Member
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27. December 2005 @ 14:40 |
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Gee... Thanks...
lol... I really cant afford another pc as i just bought a TFT screen and a new burner...
What do you think will be the difference if i just upgrade to some more RAM and perhaps a new HDD?
Will i be able to do my drawings (SolidWorks mainly), listen to music while downloading a film off the net? That's what i used to be able to do and now it struggles... I would have thought it would be a bit more reliable after only 3 years...
Thanks Bud.
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ScubaBud
AfterDawn Addict
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27. December 2005 @ 15:29 |
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OK, find a HDD that has a spindal speed of at least 7,200 rpm and at least 8MB cache such as a Maxtor 160 which your bios can handle.
Your M/B can handle up to 2 gig's of ram so go ahead if you want to add some more.
Use the new HDD as your master and keep the 80 gig as a slave if you upgrade. Make sure your system is clean of all viruses and spyware and good luck.
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ddp
Moderator
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27. December 2005 @ 18:40 |
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run that ccleaner as i've seen it clear up over 1.4gigs of hd space
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Senior Member
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27. December 2005 @ 23:02 |
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I've done it, cleared about 30Mb. It's a good one, the one i had before for that purpose was window washer 5. I got it changed... But over the past year i had recovered over 2Gb with it...
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