Some computer questions

[Fëanor]

That would really depend on his budget, if you have a limited budget allocating $100 of it to get a 64-bit OS to use several hundred MB of your RAM is really not sensible because using that money to go from a $75 CPU to a $175 CPU will give you many times better performance than the additional RAM.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Depends on the CPU.

Instead of blowing more money on the CPU (although again, this depends on what is already on hand) Id put it towards a SSD. I bought an Intel X25M a couple months ago and my system load times, application loads times, reads, writes, etc, are all really fast. From where windows starts loading until Im at the desktop it takes a couple seconds.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I thought the max size of an SSD was 64 GB. Or has that increased since?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Uhh, it has never been 64GB. An SSD is seen by your computer as an HDD. (well, save for some things like TRIM) which means the computer doesnt much care about the size. It has the same size limitations as for a regular HDD.

You might be thinking of the Windows x64 RAM limit for the home editions.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I know. I meant the drive size. 64 GB isn't very much for storing a lot of stuff.

EDIT: I found this:
As of October 2010, SSDs come in different sizes up to 2TB but are typically 512GB or less

I wonder if the 2TB is a consumer drive or still in the lab

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I know. I meant the drive size. 64 GB isn't very much for storing a lot of stuff.

EDIT: I found this:
As of October 2010, SSDs come in different sizes up to 2TB but are typically 512GB or less

I wonder if the 2TB is a consumer drive or still in the lab

If you know, then you would also know that there is no 64GB limit. That is just what most drives came with. I personally have a 120GB one.

The 2TB ones are available, but they cost huge amounts of money, very much disproportionate to the average cost per GB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227516

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I didnt say "limit" in my post. I just thought it was the largest size available.

 

[Furiey]

What's generally available SSD wise is increasing size wise and reducing cost wise as time goes by. When I got my PC last year they were just too expensive, now I'm looking at adding a bigger one one for less cost.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

What about getting a small-ish SSD for the OS/programs and a secondary HDD for other files? Sort of like my data partition.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

What about getting a small-ish SSD for the OS/programs and a secondary HDD for other files? Sort of like my data partition.

Well that's what I do. I have 120GB for OS/Programs and ~4TB for data.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Yeah, thats what.

Im planning to get a larger secondary drive eventually for data and convert the 500 GB into a system drive. SSDs are a bit out of my price range though.

 

[innonimatu]

Looks like I need a new PC. Few questions

I've added some decent hardware to the one I have and intend on just buying the least possible now and adding that hardware in. So I have a GFX card, sound card, 4gb RAM, and all the peripherals.

I don't know much about processors though, is this one any good: What do I need to know? Is this one any good: Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E5800 3.2GHz?

Also, what specs about my RAM modules do I need to know to find out if they will be compatible? Is the DDR number relevant?

Is there any issue with transferring my copy of Win7 to a new PC? It's a retail edition.

DDR2 is fine, there is little difference between that and DDR3. But if you buy a DDR2 compatible motherboard you'll have limited choice, and limited upgradeability in the future.

The processor you're looking at is one of the crappiest Intel ones. Go AMD instead, better value for the money and far more upgradable in the future. Intel likes far too much to dick around with different sockets and different processor features. All AMD CPUs also have the advantage of supporting both DDR2 and DDR3, whilst Intel ones only support DDR3 (memory support will still depend on the motherboard having the appropriate sockets).

The AMD Phenom X3 450 is the better value now, for the same price as the E5800.
Get a good socket AM2+ motherboard (with four memory slots) for that processor and use your current RAM.

You mention a board from 2006. I assume that your graphics board is already PCI Express? If it is AGP you'll have to replace it. Or you can just get a motherboard with integrated graphics for the time being, try the Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H.

 

[RedRalph]

Problem is, if you want to keep your old 32 bit windows most likely the new mainboard would still only be able to use ~3GB of your 4GB.
What's your current CPU model? The most sensible upgrade might be to switch to a 64 bit windows.

Actually tnhis isn't the problem, I already have 64, it's just a very weird and obscure limitation of my crappy motherboard.

Anyway, I've made my mind up. I'm getting

AMD AthlonII X4 Quad-Core 635 2.9GHz So. AM3
Asus M4A78LT-M LE
500GB Sata Hard drive
DVD-RW Sata
ATX Tower & 550 PSU
4 GB DDR3 RAM

 

[tokala]

I would recommend a 640, 645 or 840 instead of the 635, should cost (almost) the same and would be a tad faster.
If you would consider investing €20 more for the CPU, you can already get a X4 945 with 6MB L3 cache, which will be well worth it for memory sensitive applications.

And if you already have 4GB of DDR2, that board has no advantage compared to a AM2+ board that I could see, but you will have to buy new RAM for no good reason

 

[RedRalph]

The new board will let me actually use the 4 GB. My present ones doesn't. and before you say it, it's nothing to do with the Win7 64 issue.

 

[tokala]

Got that, but I was talking about a new AM2+ board instead of a AM3, like that one.

The Asus board has 2 more SATA ports, the Asrock DDR2 and DDR3 support, otherwise pretty much the same features.

 

[innonimatu]

You don't need new RAM or an AM3 motherboard, there are AM2+ motherboards which can use new AM3 CPU together with DDR2. I wouldn't recommend anything by Asrock, but if you prefer Asus you check (in Asus' site) the M4A785-M, it might support the CPU you want.