RAM Upgrades

[Dark_Soul74]

When upgrading RAM, what are the things that need to match to make them compatible? Do they all have to be the exact same thing? What would be a good thing of RAM for 1GB+ with a decent speed, under $175, and compatible with an Athlon XP 3000+?

[pixels]

Depends on your mobo. I think.

[Exedore]

Okay, first question! When upgrading RAM, what are the things that need to match to make them compatible? Do they all have to be the exact same thing? What would be a good thing of RAM for 1GB+ with a decent speed, under $175, and compatible with an Athlon XP 3000+?

The most that you absolutely need to match is the type of RAM (DDR SDRAM*, SDRAM, RD RAM) and whether or not it uses ECC. However, it's also best to match the maximum clock speed (usually PC##00 for DDR RAM) and the manufacturer. Different manufacturers may use different parity, etc. for their RAM, which can cause compatability issues.

*usually just refered to as DDR RAM

An Athlon XP 3000+ has a 333MHz front side bus by default, so you'd want to get DDR RAM at PC2700 (DDR333) or better. If you want to get 1 GB of RAM, I'd go with two sticks of 512MB each. If you check NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com) or ZipZoomFly (http://www.zipzoomfly.com), you should be able to find a deal under $175 USD. You won't be able to get high quality RAM like Crucial or Corsair, but Kingston RAM is fine. Also, make sure that you don't get ECC (Error Checking and Correction) RAM unless your motherboard supports it.

[Dark_Soul74]

Would this (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-480&depa=1) work well?

[WeekendLazyness]

You wouldn't be able to use that memory at it's full speed, but it would clock itself down for your chipset. If you aren't sure, Crucial has a wizard right on it's website to help you pick what memory you need.

[Dark_Soul74]

So...you can't get something faster than the frontbus?

[WeekendLazyness]

You can, but it will be clocked down.

[Exedore]

So...you can't get something faster than the frontbus?

Exactly what WeekendLazyness said. You can get a higher clocked RAM, but it will only run at what your processor's front side bus is set to.


For the RAM that you linked to, it's great, except that the CAS latency* is 3. Usually you'll want to get 2.5 or less, but unless you're a hardcore computer nut, it generally won't matter much. However, since I doubt that you'll be overclocking at all, two of these (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-407&depa=1) will probably be a little better (for $4 more).

* Since I know someone is bound to ask, CAS latency is basically a measure of how long it takes for memory to be able to be read after the request is sent.

[Duddits]

/me nominated Exedore to be mod when/if the subforum is created

Exedore, Duddits has a question. Whould his 128 RAM Windows XP 1997 Celeron Processor computer be any quicker if Duddits added a liguid nitrogen cooloer-thing to cool down his crappy processor?

[Dark_Soul74]

Hmmm....Are any of the available systems here (http://www.pcprodirect.com) a much better system than the HP I had selected at BF(Athlon 3000+ XP, ?RAM[To be chosen], CD-RW/DVD-ROM, Monitor, No Warranty, Floppy, USB, FIREWIRE, 7-in-1 Reader + Radeon9800PRO for 210 at NewEgg)?

I was looking at this (http://www.pcprodirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=460) model, and found some decent stuff, but want a second opinion, as well as some part suggestions. :D

[Exedore]

For the first link you gave, only the Pentium 4 System was a good deal. I've never heard of AMD Athlon Pro 3100A's before, and I know they aren't Athlon XP's. Anyway, here's a decent system I came up with from the p4 selection (I REALLY hate sites where you can't link or copy/paste):

Processor - P4 2.8GHz, 512K cache, 800MHz FSB, Hyper-threading
Motherboard - ASUS P4P800-VM
Memory - DDR-400, 2x512MB PC3200, Non-ECC
Hard Drive - Western Digital 120GB, 7200 rpm, Serial ATA, 8MB cache
Video - (integrated)
Sound - (integrated)
DVD/CD ROM - Sony 16x DVD-ROM drive
Network - 10/100 Mbps LAN (integrated)
Operating System - Windows XP Home

Total $777.85

You'd definitely want to get a video card (the board has 8x AGP). If you want to save some money, you can decrease the Hard Drive size and switch to ATA 100 (just try to stick with an 8MB buffer and keep 7200 rpm). You can add a sound card for about $40. Thier monitors look ok, but you can get them just as cheap at a local Appliance/Electronics store and not worry about shipping. Just remember that lower dot pitch is better, and to make sure that the refresh rate and max resolutions are high enough for your liking.


For the second link, I came up with this:

Processor - AMD Athlon XP 2800+, 333MHz, Barton
Motherboard - ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe, nForce2 333MHz, etc. (you should look into the Abit ones - I didn't have time)
Memory - DDR-333, 2x512MB PC2700, Non-ECC
Hard Drive - Western Digital 120GB, 7200 rpm, Serial ATA, 8MB cache
Video - (none)
Sound - (integrated)
DVD/CD ROM - Sony 16x DVD-ROM drive
Network - 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN (integrated)
Operating System - Windows XP Home

Total $676.63

You may want to up the processor to an Athlon XP 3000+ or 3200+, 333MHz, Barton, but that adds in a bit of money. Like the P4 system, you'll need a video card and monitor and probably a sound card. Also note, that for both systems, they don't have a CD-RW drive like the HP one did that I posted over at BF.

[WeekendLazyness]

Why not ask us all a question Duddits? I feel left out.

Your liquid nitro rig would help it run faster, but you would need to edit some BIOS settings.

[Exedore]

* Duddits nominated Exedore to be mod when/if the subforum is created

Exedore, Duddits has a question. Whould his 128 RAM Windows XP 1997 Celeron Processor computer be any quicker if Duddits added a liguid nitrogen cooloer-thing to cool down his crappy processor?

Even if you then overclocked the CPU until it was no longer stable, it wouldn't be that much better. Liquid Nitrogen cooling is mostly for people who overclock processors far more than they were ever intended, and the benefits over a normal Heatsink/Fan aren't that great.

[Dark_Soul74]

What would be a good network card? I can poke at my router if you need me to.

[MacG]

I think the Help Desk can have a sub for this catagory.

[Exedore]

What would be a good network card? I can poke at my router if you need me to.

Both the computers I listed had integrated network cards, so you shouldn't need to buy one. However, any $10 - $20 card (such as this (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=33-124-107&depa=1)) should be fine if you need one for some reason.