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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 2, 2005 11:19:50 GMT -6
Hey Robinhood -
I think my Dell is ready for a memory upgrade. I've got two slots, one empty, the other holding a 256 MB DDR SDRAM non-parity, unbuffered module.
Question: do I need to have equal-sized modules in each slot? I can buy another 256 MB module, or pay a little more for a 512 MB module. But will the 512 and the current 256 work together?
Thanks!.....Jake
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 2, 2005 17:56:30 GMT -6
yes, they will work fine together, you don't have to have the same size, just make sure they are the same speed. PC2700, PC3200, etc. I would reccomend using Newegg.com, even the suppliers I can use can't beat them. Actually the 512MB chips are running about $40 bucks right now.
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 2, 2005 18:00:19 GMT -6
One more thing, if you look on your mother board, each of the memory slots will have a alphanumeric denomination, they will be something like "mem0" and "mem1", you want your largest chip in the "mem0" slot.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 2, 2005 22:17:32 GMT -6
Thanks, dude! You are worth your weight in gold!!.....Jake
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 2, 2005 23:17:53 GMT -6
No problem mon, it is what I do!
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 2, 2005 23:29:23 GMT -6
BTW, the reason for putting the memory in a specific slot is because the second chip acts like an overflow. In other words the second chip isn't used until the first is full, if you are constantly filling the first chip and it is overflowing to the second chip it slows the computer down just a bit, where when the larger chip is in the first slot it don't overflow as often. The first chip is also "closer" to the processor by way of the arcitechture of the motherboard, thus improving performance.
Probably too much information, but I hope it makes sense.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 2, 2005 23:37:04 GMT -6
Makes sense to me......Jake
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 8, 2005 15:42:18 GMT -6
Okay, the 512 chip is ordered and on its way. Now, another question:
My hard drive is nearly full. I figure I can get a second internal one, or an external. I'm leaning toward the external, as they are about the same price, and that way it will be compatible with any future computer I buy. BUT.... I'm worried about access speed. Will the USB connection make the drive noticeably slower than an internal, bus-connected drive? I have USB 1.1, but could easily upgrade to 2.0 if it is important.
Thanks!......Jake
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 8, 2005 18:30:58 GMT -6
at 1.1 it would be noticably slower, internal will always be faster, but if you are just using it to store data, go external, the speed differnce won't even hardly be noticable
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 8, 2005 19:01:15 GMT -6
One more thing on the hard drive thing, a Hard drive is a hard drive, you have a few different types of interfaces, IDE, SATA, SCSI. If you get yourself a larger HD say 200GB to store nothing but data on it and it is a IDE, it will work with most computers for some time to come yet, however if you get a SATA, that will require getting a seperate PCI card, but that HD will be compatible for much longer than the IDE's will be. Almost all new computers are now shipping with SATA as the interface for the HD. IDE is a dying architecture, but it will be around a few more years yet. SCSI I wouldn't even consider as they are more expensive and they are a quickly dying technology. You still see SCSI drives in some servers, but just about everything new is SATA which requires less bullshit, cheaper, and faster.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 8, 2005 20:35:16 GMT -6
Thanks again, sport. You are a wealth of information.
Memory is on its way, new optical mouse has been installed, and I'm ready to start shopping for drives. I feel like I'm doing "This Olde Computer" for PBS!!......Jake
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 8, 2005 22:57:46 GMT -6
I feel like I'm doing "This Olde Computer" for PBS!!......Jake That is too funny, I am constantly putting old PC's together to make a decent computers to give to different organizations. I have given quite a few away to daycare places, libraries, etc. so if you know of anyone that has older PC's that they aren't using, I usually can use at least parts of them to build decent little PC's for surfing the internet, playing kids games, getting email, etc. Sure makes alot of folks happy, and I like doing it. The smiles on the kids faces are worth every second I spend doing it. |
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Oct 9, 2005 6:38:29 GMT -6
Regarding old computers... I always donate my old computers if they are servicable, to local not for profits, usually the types you mentioned. THere is a website that I heard about on CNN that works somewhat like Ebay except that no money ever ch-ch-changes hands, everything is free. Robinhood, this could be a good source for materials required to finish up a 'give away', OR as a place to post a working machine you want to give away. The way it works, you post what you have to give away, you get emails from people who might like it, then YOU CHOOSE the recipient and make pick up arrangements. www.freecycle.org/ |
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 9, 2005 10:12:03 GMT -6
cool, never heard of it before, I will check it out
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 22, 2005 14:14:35 GMT -6
Okay, the memory is in and working great. The install went without a hitch.
One interesting thing: the single mem card that was already there was in slot *1*, not slot 0. I didn't realize this until I had already pulled it out. No problem, I just put it back where it came from, and the new (bigger) mem card into slot 0.
Everything is running fine at the moment, but it's usually not till later in a work session that I started experiencing slow-downs. I'll report back later.......Jake
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 22, 2005 14:20:25 GMT -6
Next question for Robinhood: While I was under the hood, I poked around the hard-drive department to see if I had all the requirements for adding a second one (I've decided to go with the internal). Looks like I do have it all: a bay for a second drive, and two power connectors and two data connectors on the hard drive ribbon. But....
The problem is, the extra hard drive power and data connectors are attached to my Zip drive! I don't really need a Zip drive anymore (a half-gig flash drive works much better for transfering files), so I could easily disable it and use the connectors on the new hard drive.
But, I'd like to keep it going for old time's sake. I noticed there is ALSO a spare pair of connectors on my floppy drive ribbon. So (at last) my question: Can I use this second set on the floppy ribbon to connect the Zip drive? Or is the controller not compatible somehow?
Thanks dude! If you're at Hedo this week, please ignore this question and just go have fun......Jake
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 22, 2005 16:07:13 GMT -6
The connectors on your floppy cable will NOT work for a HD, it is a different type of cable, it doesn't have as many wires. I would just dump the ZIP drive. Just make sure your jumpers are set right on both of your hard drives and go. If you get a new HD, I would highly reccomend a Western Digital. I have NEVER had to replace one, I however have replaced quite a few Segates and Maxtors.
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 22, 2005 16:09:53 GMT -6
Oh, have you noticed a improvement in performance with the increased memory?
Also, it is not uncommon for a off the shelf computer to have the memory in the wrong slot, it is one of the things I always check when I have a PC in my shop. The people building these things just don't give a shit.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Oct 23, 2005 6:30:32 GMT -6
The connectors on your floppy cable will NOT work for a HD, it is a different type of cable, it doesn't have as many wires. I would just dump the ZIP drive. Just make sure your jumpers are set right on both of your hard drives and go. If you get a new HD, I would highly reccomend a Western Digital. I have NEVER had to replace one, I however have replaced quite a few Segates and Maxtors. I will second the Western Digital recommendation! |
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Post by JustIan on Oct 23, 2005 7:59:54 GMT -6
Thanks again, sport. You are a wealth of information. Memory is on its way, new optical mouse has been installed, and I'm ready to start shopping for drives. I feel like I'm doing "This Olde Computer" for PBS!!......Jake Robinhood can comment on this but I use this program. www.internet-track-eraser.com/I paid $34.95 for it and it keeps all the crap from building up on my hard drive. I have heard that it is not a good idea to have two hard drives as they can slow things down. It may be a better option to get one large hard drive and replace the smaller one. |
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 23, 2005 10:56:22 GMT -6
Actually you are better off to run 2 seperate hard drives, on 2 seperate IDE channels, that way you can put your virtual memory on the secondary drive, and your virtual memory doesn't even have to wait for a free cable to access the drive. It improves performance quite a bit if you can do this. As far as having 2 drives on the same cable it isn't any slower than having one drive, you can still move your virtual memory to the second drive, which I reccomend, but you won't see as dramatic of improvement as if it were on a totally seperate IDE channel.
Plus if you run 2 drives, and you keep all your data (i.e. photos, documents, etc.) on the secondary drive and you would happen to get a nasty virus, it makes it much easier to just reformat and reinstall Windows. I set all my cleints up so that they are running 2 seperate partitons if they only have 1 hard drive, and those that have 2 hard drives I set up so that all data is kept on the secondary drive.
So the short answer is 2 hard drives, no problem mon!! It is all good!!
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 23, 2005 10:58:42 GMT -6
As far as that program goes, I have never heard of that one. I prefer the freebies, Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, AVG Free. I have also used the Webroot Spysweeper, very nice program, and it is not real expensive.
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 23, 2005 11:00:25 GMT -6
BTW, there are quite a few other freebies that are really good, but are more for an advanced user, one of the most powerfull is a program called HijackThis, but trust me on this one, you can hose up a computer pretty good if you don't know what the hell you are doing.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 25, 2005 19:51:13 GMT -6
Okay, "This Olde Computer" marches on. The speed improvement with the tripled RAM (768 Meg now, up from 256) is extremely noticeable.
Now, I just got home with a Western Digital (thanks for all the recommendations!) 120 Gig IDE drive (to augment my 40 Gig), a USB 2.0 card (only had 1.1 before) and an external USB hub (don't like crawling around back to hook up camera, etc.). Hopefully, I'll find time over the weekend to do some installing.
More news as it develops. Thanks for all the input!......Jake
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Post by Robin Hood on Oct 25, 2005 20:00:41 GMT -6
Umm, you may have an "issue" with the USB hub and your camera, sometimes they don't like the hubs, and want a direct connection, I know my Fuji WILL NOT work through a hub, it has to be directly into the back of the PC.
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Post by Lady Irie on Oct 25, 2005 20:38:33 GMT -6
My SONY wants a direct connection too, but I don't have any problems with the other peripherals.
Jake, that is basically how Robinhood set me up. I am still working at cleaning up that old hard drive. It really was a mess! To tell you the truth, now that I know the data there is safe, I am kind of taking my time. I always did hate house keeping!
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Post by Chicago Jake on Oct 25, 2005 21:13:06 GMT -6
Well, that would suck. We'll find out. I normally use the USB on the front of the computer for the camera connection, but I'm not sure if it is replaceable......Jake
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Post by Chicago Jake on Nov 17, 2005 16:06:42 GMT -6
Okay, the new hard drive is in. I feel like I just bought forty acres for my back yard! Now, any advice as to what I should move there? Obviously I'll move my photos and mp3 files there, but what else?
If I move "my documents" there, how will the OS know it? It seems to "automaticaly" go to the pre-canned MyDocuments a lot of the time, which is very handy.
Should I move my virtual memory to the new bigger drive? Should I expand my virtual memory size? Calling all geeks!!......Jake
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Post by Captain Gary on Nov 17, 2005 16:10:36 GMT -6
If I move "my documents" there, how will the OS know it? It seems to "automaticaly" go to the pre-canned MyDocuments a lot of the time, which is very handy. Jake, Are you using MS Word? If so, you can set a default directory that you want to save you docs in. I'm sure most of them are that way too. |
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Post by Chicago Jake on Nov 17, 2005 16:35:51 GMT -6
Gary, yes, I can do that with all my application programs with no problem. It's the OS functions (like when using the Windows file explorer) that like to default to C:\My Documents......Jake
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