I just got a new Mobo,processor , and case

[imtim83 0]

i was wondering why my new stuff sorta seems like laggy. Like it seems faster but not like a lot. I got a Abit KT7A Raid Motherboard , duron 800mhz processor and this Super ATX 100 Full Tower w/ 300 Watt Power Supply. I used my old 8.4 gig maxtor 5400 rpm Hard drive (9.0 ns seek time i think), 128 mb of ram that is like pc100 or maybe one of the pc66 but i think they are both pc100 i know one is for sure, voodoo 3 2000 pci video card , dlink ethernet card , cdrom , CD-RW , floppy , and this old isa sound card but just for now i will upgrade all the old stuff sooner or later little by little.

 

Does anyone know what is slowing me down ?

i am thinking its my hard drive and ram or maybe more than just that

 

i use to be on a intel celeron 366mhz processor btw

 

please reply

thanks

[DosFreak 2]

Yep, HD & RAM. Get an IBM HD.

[imtim83 0]

i only can get a hard drive or more ram right now which would be better for now?

i am thinking i should get ram first

does 256 mb of SDRAM, PC133 • CL=2 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 32Meg x 64 Cruical ram sound good?

it is $118.79 plus free 2nd day shipping

 

or should i get a hard drive?

 

btw i am running on win2k pro if that helps any.

 

my Hard drive specs are

 

The DiamondMax 4320 drives feature a top capacity of 17.2 GB, 9.0 ms average seek time, 5,400 RPM, up to 512 K cache buffer and UltraDMA compatibility. These drives offer an outstanding combination of capacity and performance for today’s desktop systems.

 

Maximum Capacity of 17.2 GB

Supports Ultra Mode 4 for up to 33 MB/sec data transfers

512 Kb Cache Buffer

5,400 RPM Spin Speed

< 9.0 ms average seek time

 

other infomation on my maxtor hard drive i am using right now can be found at

 

http://www.maxtor.com/products/DiamondMax/DiamondMax/QuickSpecs/42062.htm

[DosFreak 2]

ehhh, you really need both but..... RAM definetly RAM.

 

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C:\Dos

C:\Dos\Run

\Run\Dos\Run

[imtim83 0]

well i will try to get both but dont think i will be able too inless i get 128 mb of pc 133 ram and a 20 gig HD

but i rather have 256 of pc 133 ram and a better HD.

 

btw does the duron have a 200mhz bus that it runs with sdram or only ddr ram ? curious

[OLEerror 0]

Well, right now you can get a 256meg stick of RAM from Crucial for $96.29. And we're talking 133MHz CAS-2 stuff here.

 

I'd advise going for the RAM first. It will make the most noticable difference. And if you are using Windows 2000, it won't correctly support ATA-100 drives until SP2 is released (hurry, Microsoft. hurry!)

 

Just be sure to yank the older RAM when you install the new stuff. Otherwise it will be clocked down to the old speed.

[imtim83 0]

Think 256 MB of ram is enough for my win2k pro ?

I can't beleive how quick that ram went down $20 in a matter of a few days!

i love that

hope they come back down as good if they ever go back up in price

and btw what kind of hard drive should i get?

i may try ibm after i get my ram but would maxtor be ok if i had to get maxtor cause of the amount of money i have or because i just want to get the new hard drive fast and locally

[Four and Twenty 0]

256 megs of ram is a fine place to start you will apprecitate the performance increase over 128. Also there is nothing wrong with maxtor drives i have 3 of them in my sys some old and some new and they all work flawlessly. One advantage of maxtor over ibm besides price is that maxtor drives are quiet where as ibm dirves are very noisy.

[clutch 1]

Weird, the Maxtors have always been noiser to me. I just get IBMs now anyway, but the Maxtors/Western Digitals are fine.

 

BTW, get more RAM first.

 

 

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Regards,

 

clutch

[EddiE314 0]

yea, Maxtors are really good but noisy as hell, I use nothing but Seagate.

[CrazyKillerMan 0]

Yah, i upgraded ram from128 to 256. Wow, a huge diff in win2k performance.also....M$, hurry up with SP2!!!

[imtim83 0]

Ok i am thinking about not going with 512 mb of ram now but with 2 dimms of 256 mb of ram .

It is 2 dimms of 256mb of micron ram , pc133 , cas2 , lifetime warranty , and 2nd day shipping free for $192 for a total of 512 mb of ram.

Cause i why not since ram is so cheap now

you know.

but if i cant get it then i will for sure get at least 256 mb of ram which should be fine.

 

do yall think 512 mb of ram is too much or what ?

 

thanks

[CUViper 0]

you can never have too much.....

[imtim83 0]

So 512 mb of ram isnt too much ?

cause i dont do like a lot of graphic or video editing mostly

[OLEerror 0]

256 is plenty if you aren't doing graphics intensive stuff. I just upgraded mine to 512, but that is more for future expansion than anything else. That and I figured I might as well max it out while I was at it.

[imtim83 0]

But should i get 512 mb of ram since its so cheap for two 256 dimms of pc133 cas 2 of micron ram if i can for the future , etc?

?

[Brian Frank 0]

If the 512 MB stick is cheaper than 2 256 sticks. But on the other hand, maybe having an extra dimm slot or 2 open is good. With Win2k, theres no such thing a too much ram. Supposedly, WinXP will require a minimum of 128 megs, so assuming you will upgrade sometime, stock up on sdram while its still cheap.

The current Maxtor (ATA100, 5400rpm, 20.4 GB) ive got is so freakin quiet.

I dont get ibm's just because theyre so expensive.

Also having an AGP video card will benefit you even running at 1x its still faster than a PCI video card mainly because the AGP slot is on it's own exclusive bus, whereas the PCI shares its bus with other PCI devices so the more you have PCI wise the more clogged that bus will be. To hold you over, make sure youve got the latest full (not beta) drivers for the Voodoo for win2k.

As for DDR and 200MHz FSB, the duron does support a 200 MHz FSB with DDR. WCPUID says that it has a DDR bus speed even w/o DDR RAM,

but the Duron is plenty fast. I think the true 200MHz FSB will only come if you pair it with DDR, but considering that both DDR and RDRAM dont really provide the promised performance boost, I really wouldnt worry about DDR right now. Its just a waste of money in comparison with KT133A chipsets and PC133 SDRAM.

 

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Whaazzzupppppppppp!

Asus A7V

Duron 600@680

384 MB SDRAM PC133@113MHz

Samsung 48x CD-ROM

Toshiba 12x DVD-ROM

Zip CD650 USB 4/4/6

Zip 100 USB

Maxtor 20.4 GB ATA100

Voodoo 4 4500 AGP

Guillemot Maxi Sound Fortissimo

SIIG 3 port 1394 PCI Adapter

D-Link DFE-530 10/100 NIC

Creative Cambridge Soundworks FPS1000

MS Intellimouse Optical

Kleer 17-inch @ 85Hz 1152x864x32 desktop

[imtim83 0]

but should i get 512 mb of ram ? to just have the ram for the future and stuff since i am on win2k pro ?

 

thanks

[OLEerror 0]

Well, it certainly won't hurt anything. It really depends on if you want to spend the extra money. You probably won't see any performance difference between 256 and 512. I'd suggest getting one 256 meg stick for now. SDRAM keeps dropping in price. You may be able to pick up a second 256 meg stick for around $50-60 (or less) six months down the line. So, unless you plan on hosting a Quake III server or running CAD software, 512 will probably be overkill.

 

The only reason I purchased 512 is because I test a lot of various software apps. So the extra memory means I can run it through its paces better. Especially when I'm testing for software conflicts. Since I'm going to have to test more graphics oriented programs in the future, I wanted to be ready for them.

[imtim83 0]

Are you talking about 256mb of micron ram (crucial ram) one dimm of , pc133 , cas2 , lifetime warranty ,maybe free 2nd day shipping for $50 or $60 in a few months ?

cause i heard ram prices are going to go up

soon Cause wont DDR ram become more wide spread and be the more commom ram and then sdram not be produce as much so ending up more expersive soon

 

 

And btw should i get a ibm HD ? hearing that the GXP 75 series are having a lot of problems like overheating , etc

but not quite sure if its common but i have heard of some.

not sure if i am getting a 15 or 30 gig 75GXP series from a ibm or not yet

but the 15 gig one is $115 and 30 gig $179 or $169 which is from the website www.ibm.com cause if i get it there i know i get that 3 year warranty just in case

 

 

thanks

[OLEerror 0]

Yep, I'm talking about Micron ram. Heck, any make of ram. Intel's boards will begin supporting DDR ram by the end of the year. All of the memory manufacturers will want to unload their SDRAM once this happens. In fact, I figure Crucial's sudden price drop in SDRAM comes from the fact that they want to keep it cheaper than DDR ram. When they came out with their PC1600 ram they had to drop their SDRAM prices to keep the demand up.

 

There will probably be a price stagnation coming up, but I expect another large drop in SDRAM prices in the not too distant future.

[imtim83 0]

BTW what hard drive brand should i get and size.

i know i want fast speed , really good performence hard drive , etc but don't know what brand to get. but i do know i want 7200 rpm and ATA 100 and like low seek time

thinking about maxtor ,western digtal or ibm , but not sure

it may be maxtor or western digtal.

I dont know if maxtor is faster than WD or ibm so its hard to say since i cant find no benchmark agaisnt ibm and maxtor!

 

thanks

[SHS 0]

If can go for IBM 1st if not then Maxtor

just make you get 7200rpm

The Storage Review - Hardware, Benchmarks, Reviews, News, Research, Glossary, Links and Surveys http://www.storagereview.com/

[imtim83 0]

But is ibm hard drives really all its up to be? like the 75gxp series

i heard one where it kept overheating but still could be used but not when it overheated then one where there ibm 75gxp 30 or 45 gig just died one day.

 

And is ibm really much faster than maxtor cause i never seen a benckmark in my life that showed maxtor agaisnt ibm just WD and ibm

and never one with all 3

 

 

thanks

[clutch 1]

I am basing it on experience. I have had my two IBMs and worked with others, none of which failed. I have had a few Maxtors of my own along with others at work and seen some of them fail. I haven't heard of IBM GXPs overheating until now. The only drive that I have seen fail more than the Maxtors have been Seagates (IDE and SCSI).

 

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Regards,

 

clutch