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Other => General Topics => Topic started by: .: Mac :. on February 08, 2007, 03:22:32 AM
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Custom built PC here and have a question to those of you who have built your own.
THis machine has the following:
Intel Pentium 4 Model 531 (3Ghz, HT, EM64T, 800Mhz FSB)
768MB(1 256 and 1 512) of DDR266 RAM
160GB PATA Hard Drive
NVIDIA Geforce 4 MX 4000 GPU with 128MB of VRAM
The Motherboard supports Dual Channel 333 and 400hz RAM and has SATA connectors
Now knowing that which will give me the best performance boost?
a) replacing the RAM with 2 512MB DDR400 chips (they would then be dual channel unlike it is now)
OR
b) Upgrading to a SATA Hard drive from the current PATA drive?
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I may be wrong but I would go with the RAM upgrade.
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I may be wrong but I would go with the RAM upgrade.
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I agree, I would upgrade the Ram.
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266MHz vs. 800MHz, no contest. Make sure the RAM will work with your MB. Not all RAM is created equal. See what brands your MB maker recommends. You did not mention if your board supports SATA II. That might change things.
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I would upgrade the RAM and the graphics card :-D
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Not sure if the board has SATAII. its an Intel D865GSA board
EDIT: box says 1.5Gb/s so thats SATA I
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Yes its an older GPU but Since im not running Vista and Command and Conquer 3 is not out yet, I will wait until later to upgrade that
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I've built tons of systems. You stated your MB supports DRR400? Go with this if anything "http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141212"
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Thanks, I will be ordering the memory
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Hello Mac !
I would recommend this ram to you if you are buying at newegg.com : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
The price is lower than PQI , it's faster (better timings) and it's from Corsair which means you can't miss ;)
If you'll be OCing though none of those two kits will do, i have a similar setup to yours and i used some cheap value ddr 400 PQI ram in my system and it was a total nightmare for OCing. Now i use a 2x1 gb Patriot(very popular ram here in EU) ddr 400 signature ram running at ddr480 with a slightly bumped voltage at default timings, stable as a rock :) . Not a huge OC but not bad for the price either. This is what i use now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220079
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Thanks for the link, No I do not overclock my hardware In this machine yet ( wait until the warranty runs our on all the hardware first)
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Thanks for the link, No I do not overclock my hardware In this machine yet ( wait until the warranty runs our on all the hardware first)
No problem ! Well if you won't be OCing than that Corsair value ram should really do well for you ... And also about the warranty with Corsair, this is from their warranty policy :
... Corsair's memory modules, SD, and CF Flash Memory cards all carry a lifetime warranty ...
http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/warranty.html
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Crucial memory is also good and they have a guarantee that the memory they supply for your system will be compatible. You input the motherboard info and it lists recommended/compatible RAM modules.
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Mac as you may know it's always good to have 2 of the same kind of Ram that are a Matched pair. The system will generally perform much better and usually faster that way. As the others have mentioned I would go with the Ram. I use the crucial brand and they have a fine product IMHO. :)
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Thanks for all the input guys :) Memory ordered:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440
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Good choice Mac ! ;)
Yes Crucial produces very good memory modules , actually there are quite a few brands out there which produce good quality memory ( Kingston, Mushkin, OCZ, Geil, PDP, Kingmax only to name a few ... ) but out of the ones that were available at newegg.com i think the Corsair modules Mac ordered offer the best price/performance/quality.
He should be seeing quite an increase in performance since he will now be running FSB to RAM ratio at 1:1 (200 mhz) and also in dual channel mode. His Prescott CPU will really appreciate the dual channel mode, i know mine does . :)
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good choice mac :)
rotten to the core....must be a bad apple ;D
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Even with the upgrade I doubt it will match the performance of my Dual Core Mac :D
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how about my new quad processor desktop :o
along with my dual core mac(computer) ::)
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Core Duo's are nice if you can afford the upgrade ... Unfortunately i have to stick with my OCed P4 for at least a couple months more as the cost of upgrading my rig is just a little too much for my pocket ATM . I think i'll wait for AMD to introduce their new CPU's(which i hope will be soon) before i make the next upgrade .
P.S: Even if you OC that P4 to the limits it will still be slower than Conroe .
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I know the P4 is slower, but the P4 is in my Windows Machine the Core Duo is in my Mac. I always spend more on Macs than PCs ;D
Drhayden, I heard there is a serious flaw with the quad core machines, the only way to fix it is to go to your nearest UPS or Fedex store and ship it to me ;D :D
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Anyone considering any quad core CPU should consider M$ policy on multi-core CPU, I recall reading something about this a while ago, the Home versions support single and dual core processors. However, for quad core you will need the Professional/Business versions of Windows OS Vista or XP.
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Thanks for pointing that out David! Guess I will have to stick with XP when I upgrade my PC to Quad core as the Business and Untimate Editions of Vista are way to pricey.
My Upgrade Plan:
Early 2008: Pentium 4HT -> Core 2 Quad(45nm version)
I just bought My Core duo Mac mini last month so it should be good untill 2010 (I keep my Macs until the 3 year warrenty runs out which will be Jan of 2010)
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I can't recall where I read it but it is worth confirming if you were considering one and XP Home or Vista Home. It should be OK with the Pro versions, drhayden1 just says Vista Pro (doesn't match a vista version) in his signature. He has one of the quad core processors.
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its the vista ultimate davidr....my mistake... changed it ::) :o
there's only the home basic,home premium,business,enterprise,and the ultimate
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AFAIK all Windows Vista editions support MULTI CORE cpu's(one CPU with multi cores). However you will need the ultimate or bussines versions to support MULTI PROCESSOR(more than one cpu on a motherboard) configurations.
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Home in both XP and Vista incarnations will support dual core, but MS's thinking is quad core and multi processor are for business and want to extract a premium for supporting them.
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@DavidR: From everything i've read so far after a quick google search confirms i am right. Multicore cpu's(there are no limitations on the number of cores) are supported in all Vista versions the only restriction is on multi processor configurations (2 physical cpu's or more) which are only supported in the bussines and ultimate editions.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=130 (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=130)
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6156413.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=tr (http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6156413.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=tr)
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2068721,00.asp
(http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2068721,00.asp)
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As I said I can't recall where I read it, probably one of the newsletters I get, but no mater what you do it would be wise to confirm before going out and buying a quad core solution only to find it doesn't work.
Ed Bott talks of Dual core (I said it supports dual core processors) and not Quad core. Whilst ExtremeTech shows a chart that indicated 'Unlimited' logical cores, unlimited seems strange and even in Home Basic, which doesn't even have support for some very 'basic' functionality. No encryption, scheduled back-up, media centre, etc. etc. so in something this crippled I find it hard to think Unlimited logical cores (whatever that means exactly) is correct. I would hover be very happy if it were but I would like to see this as a Microsoft chart/listing.
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/highlights/multicore.mspx
Multicore Processor Licensing
Published: November 3, 2004 | Updated: June 7, 2005
This I found some time ago it is an old article when dual core was just about to become more common and if anything it is as clear as mud as it is so old. The new Core 2 Extreme is in fact two core 2 duo processors on the same die so how that falls on to their multi-core policy who knows.
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I think virtual cores refers to Hyperthreading
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Then how come people are running their quad cores on Vista Home and XP Home?
Another link for you : http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=301
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That is fine as practical experience will always be better than raw data tables.
Even though this relates to Quad Cores and XP Home Edition, I would like to hope that would be true of Vista Home, even the crippled Vista Home Basic version.
However, with XP Pro and no intention of a Vista upgrade and probably no quad core processor either, it doesn't even effect me.
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However, with XP Pro and no intention of a Vista upgrade and probably no quad core processor either, it doesn't even effect me.
:)
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I however do plan on going Vista and quad core(i'm sure i am not the only one) so it does affect me ;)
I just wanted to get this whole multi core thing cleared up for others that may be reading this thread ...