What do i need?

[darkangel]

here is the spec of my p.c any help on what i should get next whould be great. thanks!!

AMD Athlon 2000+ 1.67GHz
Asrock motherbord K7VT2
ABIT SILURO GF4 TI4200 OTES GRAPHICS CARD
CREATIVE AUDIGY 2 SOUND CARD
40 gigabyte HARD DRIVE
LITEON DVD-ROM DRIVE

These are the basics of my p.c what any more info just ask.

 

[Ian]

You seem to havea pretty good PC at the moment, so post all of your other components and we will try our best

What do you want to do to it, just make it faster, or are there any specifics?

 

[darkangel]

I would like it to be a bit faster but i do not have much money so any solutions which are cheap would be great.

 

[muckshifter]

Asrock motherbord

... do you mean Asroc?

Hmmm, get a branded board ... MSI, Asus or even Soltek, still a good price but a better manufacturer.

You should also look at the AMD 2400 should only be a tenner in it.


Oh crap, I just reread your post ... you have these items.

 

[kish]

Originally posted by darkangel
I would like it to be a bit faster but i do not have much money so any solutions which are cheap would be great.

RAM RAM AND MORE RAM! You cannot overstate the importance of adequate RAM in a system. You don't say how much ram you already have on your system, but I'll bet it's a lack of memory that's the bottleneck in your PC's speed.
Go for a good memory manufacturer like Crucial or Kingston
Don't just choose the cheapest manufacturer or you may be sorry later.

The only solution to speed problems after memory is a processor upgrade... that usually means motherboard upgrade too which can end up being very pricey.

So, try the RAM upgrade first and if that doesn't work then you'll have no solution but to follow the processor/Mboard upgrade path.

Good luck

 

[1nteger]

Depending on how much RAM you have, that's where u could get the biggest performance boost by simply adding to your current system. I'd go for 512Mb as a minimum.

Have u got a CD-RW? Very cheap now but also very useful for backing stuff up etc. Lite-on make good budget ones...and it would go nicely with your DVD-ROM :spin:

 

[darkangel]

at the moment i have 1 stick of 512mb of ram i do have 2 slots in my p.c so i might put another one in, but is ti worth getting DDR memory. My brother has got some but you can not tell if it is makking a huge diffrence.

Please help me!!!

 

[floppybootstomp]

I'm not familiar with your motherboard, does it take DDR RAM?

Does the board offer a choice between SD-RAM and DDR (seperate slots for each type)?

If so, yes, go for DDR RAM, it does help, go for a Gig if you can afford it, it does make a difference. And RAM is quite cheap atm.

Crucial offer quality RAM and the online UK site has a guide to find the right stuff for your motherboard. Next day delivery as well.

I recently upgraded from PC2100 to PC2700 Ram on my MSI board, and put the512 of PC2100 it replaced alongiside the 512 in My Abit KR7A-R, making a total of 1 Gig in the Abit board.

I was actually very surprised at the difference it made, this machine is definitely a lot zippier now

And as 1nteger pointed out, first thing I wondered about when looking at your spec was 'Where's the burner?' You can pick up a good Liteon CDRW drive for around £35.00 atm.

 

[1nteger]

Originally posted by darkangel
at the moment i have 1 stick of 512mb of ram i do have 2 slots in my p.c so i might put another one in, but is ti worth getting DDR memory. My brother has got some but you can not tell if it is makking a huge diffrence.

Please help me!!!

DDR ram is definitely worth it if the ram you currently have is only standard SDRAM (and if your motherboard supports DDR, which it does I guess), but even 512Mb of basic SDRAM should be ok for most applications.

The questions you need to ask yourself are:
1. What do I want to use my PC for immediately?

2. Are there any other things I may want to use it for in future?

3. What software do I need to be able to run to do these things?

4. What is the minimum recommended system to run this software? (Check on web sites like Amazon or go into shops to check this.)

Then assume that you will need to have BETTER than the minimum stated on the software boxes!!

Your current system with that CPU and graphics card should handle most current games well, but upgrades may be necessary to run some of the games coming out next year. If it can run games, it should be fine with most other applications.

To check how your system is performing compared to others, download a free copy of a benchmarking tool like 3DMark2001 and run it at the default settings, and look at your score. If you have non-DDR RAM, for example, you could check your score against other systems similar to yours that do have DDR and see how they compare (3DMark allows you to connect to the web to do this). 3DMark2001 and others are geared towards gaming, but they do test your entire system performance.

Packages like SiSoft Sandra can also be useful...they can diagnose your system performance and suggest tweaks to improve it. I wouldn't buy these, but definitely worth checking out freee downloads and demos.

The bottom line, though, is: can your PC run the software you want it to with no problems? If it can, then you have no need to change anything. When you hit a problem...come back here and perhaps we can help identify if you need to upgrade something!!

I hope that helps

 

[darkangel]

My board does take DDR and SDRAM

So do you think that i should get a extra 512mb of sdram which will make mp p.c have 1gb or should i get 1 512mb DDR i proberly carn't afford to get 2.(but if i could should i)

Also in my case i have 2 fan slots which at the momment are empty do you think it is worth putting fans in them.
would it make a big diffrence

 

[1nteger]

Originally posted by darkangel
My board does take DDR and SDRAM

So do you think that i should get a extra 512mb of sdram which will make mp p.c have 1gb or should i get 1 512mb DDR i proberly carn't afford to get 2.(but if i could should i)

Also in my case i have 2 fan slots which at the momment are empty do you think it is worth putting fans in them.
would it make a big diffrence

I would go for a single stick of DDR rather than 2x 512Mb standard sdram. That's not based on performance comparison, but more because you could later stick in another 512Mb of DDR and really boost your machine if necessary. Others may disagree.

Case fans...you only need to add more if your CPU is particularly hot...check the temp in the bios. If it's running at anything approaching 55-60c, then definitely stick a couple of fans in and see if that helps cool things down a little. If its running at 50 or below, then they are not a necessary purchase.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Originally posted by 1nteger



I would go for a single stick of DDR rather than 2x 512Mb standard sdram. That's not based on performance comparison, but more because you could later stick in another 512Mb of DDR and really boost your machine if necessary. Others may disagree.

nope, sound advice, imo

 

[kioskwatcher]

Icurrently work for a company that is planning on switching to the asroc mobostar motherboard. Has anyone heard any complaints on it yet. I have also heard rumors that it is Asus's cost efficient board but have been unable to find any documentation that ties the two together. I also need to know if anyone has an idea on how a motherboard, CPU, ond all other components will react to salty air, beach front weather. It will be protected from the falling elements, but it will still be outdoors. Anyone have some advice on these issues???

 

[splinter]

Hey darkangel,
I have the same mobo & cpu as you do (AMD Athlon 2000+ 1.67GHz
Asrock motherbord K7VT2)

I upgraded from 512mb sdram to 512 ddr ram recently (no noticeable difference) i wasted my cash there

Our mobo can only take the slowest ddr ram (2100) so not a great ram stick to put into any future "better mobo".
i.e you would want a better fsb (front side bus) & so the capability to run faster ddr ram!

Save ya cash dude and get another mobo when u can afford it.

That said, our mobo & cpu are great for overclocking