Minimum needed for XP, sp2 smooth running.

[monty1945]

A relative asked me a question about processor speed, now that he has
cable modem and it's really slow (he used to have DSL, which was
faster). I'm the "computer guy" in the family, so I get asked all
these questions at family gatherings. He has a P2, MMX, 400 MHz with
384 MB RAM now, and since he switched to cable modem, it's really slow
(but it was fine when he had DSL - his wife made the switch). He has
a friend who has a celeron running at 600 MHz, but it only has 192 of
RAM. Both have XP pro, sp2. He doesn't want the friend to ship the
computer to him, due to shipping costs, unless he knows that it will
run considerably faster. I told him I didn't know, and so I'm posting
this question here; which is more important for cable modem, the
processor or the RAM, or is it not that simple? His wife has a
celeron running at 1.2 Mhz with 512 MB of RAM and it's much, much
faster than his P2, 400 MHz, so there's no way to tell from that,
since it's a faster processor and has more RAM.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A relative asked me a question about processor speed, now that he has
cable modem and it's really slow (he used to have DSL, which was
faster).

Whether DSL or cable is faster has to do with the connection speeds of
the two different services, and next to nothing with the inherent
different between the two. It depends on the specific service
companies and what speeds they provide, but as a general rule cable
downloads are significantly *faster* than DSL ones (uploads, on the
other hand, are often slower).

I'm the "computer guy" in the family, so I get asked all
these questions at family gatherings. He has a P2, MMX, 400 MHz with
384 MB RAM now, and since he switched to cable modem, it's really slow
(but it was fine when he had DSL - his wife made the switch). He has
a friend who has a celeron running at 600 MHz, but it only has 192 of
RAM. Both have XP pro, sp2. He doesn't want the friend to ship the
computer to him, due to shipping costs, unless he knows that it will
run considerably faster.


I told him I didn't know, and so I'm posting
this question here; which is more important for cable modem, the
processor or the RAM, or is it not that simple?

It's far from that simple. It's an apples and oranges kind of
question.

First, whether the processor or the RAM is more important has nothing
to with the cable modem. The speed of internet access generally
depends on what the service provider provides, and has little to do
with your hardware.

In *everything* you use the computer for, there are several things
that have the potential to slow the computer down. Which is more
important at any given time has to do with what you are doing at that
given time. Moreover, what becomes the bottleneck depends on what the
capabilities of the various components are.

For example, let's say you are running typical office applications on
a 400MHz processor with 128MB of RAM. Both components are very slow,
but undoubtedly, in that situation, having so little RAM will hurt you
the most.

Then let's say you upgrade the RAM to 1GB, and keep the 400MB
processor. Now you have enough RAM for almost anything you do, but
having such a slow processor will slow you down the most.

Over and above that, both a P2, MMX, 400 MHz with 384 MB RAM and a
celeron at 600 MHz with 192MB of RAM are going to be extremely slow.

His wife has a
celeron running at 1.2 Mhz with 512 MB of RAM and it's much, much
faster than his P2, 400 MHz,

Not at all surprising. The difference has to do with the difference in
the processor speeds, and--depending on what apps the two of them
run--probably also the amount of memory.


so there's no way to tell from that,

 

[dobey]

I don't think the difference between both computers would be great,
especially since the 600 only has 192 MB RAM. P2's are usually better at
multi tasking. You could probably still find some performance comparisons of
both processors on the net.

Depending on the configuration he may be able to use both machines and build
a PC with 600 CPU and up his RAM to 512MB, (my guess without knowing the
size or type of the memory modules).

Having said all that, it's probably better value to go and buy a second hand
box with a 2GHz CPU and 512 MB RAM, (after you take into account the cost of
shipping), or even upgrade his machine by buying parts locally. He could use
his drives if need be in the newer machine. Of course it sounds like you
will need to do the work

As someone mentioned, the internet connection speed doesn't have anything to
do with the PC, unless there is some kind of software required for the
modem.

Does his computer seem slower overall. Has he considered when the cable was
installed some ISP software was installed and is running in the background?

It's a bit late for comparison now, but he might try
http://www.speedtest.net/ to see what speeds he is getting. We don't have
much cable in Australia, but my understanding is the bandwidth is shared so
speed may vary depending on how many others are using the net at the same
time.

Of course, there is another possibility his machine is used as a zombie
which is using his upload. He might try running task manager and looking at
the network tab to see how much activity there is when he isn't browsing or
reading emails.

It could also be he has a crap modem, or it is poorly configured, or his new
ISP just isn't as good.

Take your pick

 

[PA Bear]

The hard disk space requirements for Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=837783