Help I need tech advice!

[Davey182]

Hi all,

I've just been looking at the prospect of enhancing my computers performance and...

1) I've looked at the memory I have so far and it is DDR2 PC2 5300. Apparently it's 32MB physical memory (Is that low?) and 2GB virtual memory (what the hell is the difference?). Any ideas on a good upgrade memory type? My max mem amount is 4GB.

2) Graphics cards - Basically my system uses an AGP ATI card (It says X1300/1600 series). I was going to upgrade, what would your thoughts be? (Not too expensive please...)

Thanks,

Dave

ps. I have an intel dual core running at 2.1 - thoughts on overclocking??

 

[Davey182]

Bumpty bump, come on give us a hand!

 

[ViolentJ]

64MB can't be right at all unless you're still running Windows 3.1.

Virtual memory is basically hard disk space being used as a cache, so say you have a very large application and it won't all fit into physical memory, the rest will go into virtual and move to physical as and when it's needed. (think that's right)

 

[Davey182]

I have no idea mate... That's what I thought about the 32mb. Let me get a pic to show you...

two secs...

 

[Adam]

i think he means he has got 2gb of RAM.

your system at present isnt the worst in the world by all means. Maybe an idea to add another 2gb of RAM, maybe evan upgrade the CPU to maybe a e6600 or an e6700.

as for the graphics gard if your motherboard supports PCI-E (16x) then a Nvidia 8600 or an 8800 GTS GPU built by BFG would be good.

 

[Davey182]

OK so two system pics... look at the physical memory in the first one.

 

[Davey182]

i think he means he has got 2gb of RAM.

your system at present isnt the worst in the world by all means. Maybe an idea to add another 2gb of RAM, maybe evan upgrade the CPU to maybe a e6600 or an e6700.

as for the graphics gard if your motherboard supports PCI-E (16x) then a Nvidia 8600 or an 8800 GTS GPU built by BFG would be good.

I think the current ATi card in the system is in the one pci-e slot... so I take it I could simply swap them?

 

[Adam]

yeah you have got 2GB of RAM.

lol but you said it was AGP???

 

[Davey182]

yeah you have got 2GB of RAM.

lol but you said it was AGP???

Yeah I know, this is what's doing my head in... the manual says the graphics card is "half-height" AGP but the online manual and hardware support says it's a PCI-e card... :S

Is there any definative way I can be certain of the expansion/connection slots I have without opening the PC up??

 

[Daz]

It's Core2Duo, I'd say it's almost definetly PCI-E.

 

[Adam]

yeah you have got 2GB of RAM.

lol but you said it was AGP???

Yeah I know, this is what's doing my head in... the manual says the graphics card is "half-height" AGP but the online manual and hardware support says it's a PCI-e card... :S

Is there any definative way I can be certain of the expansion/connection slots I have without opening the PC up??

just right click on the desktop and click propertis, then go to the properties of the graphics adaptor and it should say there

 

[Adam]

It's Core2Duo, I'd say it's almost definetly PCI-E.

thats what i thought.

 

[Davey182]

It says location PCI bus 1... :S

 

[Adam]

right ok then yes it will be

 

[Davey182]

Cool so def PCI-e card then? Look at this: http://support.thetechguys.com and the search for MT2800 (direct link doesn;t work for some reason).

(This is different to my manual, which says AGP card )


Should I even arse around with the idea of hooking up a crossfire system?

BTW, thanks for all the help

 

[Mike_182]

Nah, get a decent X1900/X1950 card and you'll notice a world of difference, or nVidia 7950 series.