I want to buy more RAM 5

[shirleyowl]

Hi I would like to double my ram capacity to 256 as my husband is into video editing and correct me if I am wrong[ I frequently am.] but I thought this might make it more efficient, faster etc.
The problem
How do I find the Bus number e.g 66mhz 100??????
I run a 433 celereon 111. windows ME 30 gb 'C' hard drive, plus 4 X 2 gb drives [originally set up under Win 95 hence the 4 drives]
I am going to try to fdisk the 4 drives so that they will be one. as saving a project uses loads of memory.

Can anyone help
Thanks.
Always found this site interesting and informative, if not contentious at times in a frindly way tho.
Regards
Shirleyowl

 

[paparazi]

The Celeron only runs at 66fsb but as ram is backwards compatible buy PC133, it will just run at the slower 66 clock speed.
You will probably have PC100 installed also running at the slower speed.
Because PC133 is the common type of ram at the moment it will be cheaper than buying the slower older PC100.
It won't make it run much faster but adding memory will make the system more stable during your husbands Video editing. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[cdogg]

Be careful if you decide to buy PC133. It is backward compatible assuming the memory module's density doesn't exceed what the motherboard can support. In other words, you have to look at an existing memory module in your system. Look on each rectangular block to see if each one stands for 4, 8, or even 16 MB. This will give you a good idea on whether the next module you buy will be supported or not. If the next one you buy uses divisions that are greater than the ones your current memory modules have, then you are taking a risk. It may or may not work.

If you want to be safe and even save time, go with PC66. Some newer PC100 DIMMS are just as dense as some PC133 modules and could give you the same problem...

 

[bjverzal]

Your fdisk task won't work as you've worded it. You can't combine 4 drives into 1...

Bill.

 

[shirleyowl]

Hi BJversal, hope thats right it looked like that.
Anyway MY 4 X 2gb drives are one physical one but when they installed it I was runnig Win 95[ now ME] and it could'nt recognise more than 2gb so they partitioned it.
However I think I can put it back as one drive. So far I have removed every thing from there and sent it all to my C drive which is ttally seprate physically.
So R U saying I still cant use fdisk on the old 8mg to create a second whole drive.
My husband is not very computer literate so I am trying to make it as esy as possible for him to use. I want to then sue that drive as a dedicated one for his editing,This should get over some of the gliches he has experienced with skipping etc.
AM I WRONG again!!

 

[bjverzal]

I thought you had 4 physical drives.

You're safe. Partition it as you are planning.

Bill.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

A couple of things you could do to improve all-round performance (in order of cost);

1. Move the second (8Gb) hard disk to the second IDE channel. I would suspect that your 30Gb disk is probably ATA66 or 100, and would benefit from not sharing an IDE channel with a slower drive. I would also move the swap file to the second hard disk.

2. If you're going to upgrade to 256Mb, then buy a single 256Mb DIMM, and remove the old RAM. While it should all work together, a single 133Mhz stick will give better stability than mixing chips.

3. Upgrade the video card to one that has hardware video support. Cards based on the GeForce II chipset are reasonably priced, and will make a difference by taking much of the load off the processor.

4. If possible, upgrade the Celeron processor to a Pentium III. The Celeron has a relatively small on-processor cache, which is not very adept at coping with heavy workloads, such as video editing. If you post the make and model of your motherboard, you will get good recommendations on this forum.


I hope this helps

 

[Jakespeare]

cdogg & Citrix gave you some excellent advice.

My advice on RAM is:

http://www.crucial.com/

Just go to that web site, and you can plug in all
the information about your Computer - or, your mainboard,
and choose the memory you want (the right size(s).

Excellent memory with Free FedEx shipping right to your door.

** ON THE FDISK: Don't forget to use FAT32 when your format that 8 GIG Hard drive.

** and do set it up as a slave on the secondary channel seperate from the Primary HD. Citrix was Right On on that.

AGP - Does your mainboard have AGP ?
IF so,,,,,,,, you can get a GREAT video card update for $50 at

http://www.newegg.com

Choose the 32 MB MX 200 Nvidia by Gainward or one by MSI (both name brand - HI-Quality video cards).

That will REALLY help the video editing process (along with the RAM) as it off loads some of the CPU'S work load to the GPU / video card.

 

[shirleyowl]

Hi all you good people.
A few points that I probably didnt make clear.

We already have a firewire card?
i.e. we plugged in a card that came with the software from Pinnacle. so is this OK. I dont have to buy another video card? DO I
Citrix P1 HOW! It is already my slave drive does that make a difference.

Citrix P4 How much is that likely to cost? Would an Athlon be better. I would love a 1ghz proc. how much should I look to pay to do that. I presume it will fit in my system. Correct me if I am wrong.
How do I find out which mother board I have, I have made so many changes to my ACER I dont think there is much left of the original. Even the case is not the same.And I used my local dealer to do this for me. Can I use my Control Panel to find any of these items and which they are or is there another way.
This is the first time I have thought of adding stuff myself. I used to take it to my local dealer, then my nephew [builder of computers for his job] put in the firewire card for me. When I saw how easy it looked I thought I could try the next thing myself.
I am learning all the time. and hopefully one day may be able to offer my services to others now I am retired from teaching.

Jakespeare, Yes I knew about FAT32. but thanks

 

[CitrixEngineer]

If you already have a dedicated video hardware card, then please ignore my advice on that

Your computer has two IDE channels. Each can take a primary drive and a slave drive, configured via jumpers on the drive itself.

The primary and slave together share a single IDE channel. If one disk is slower than the other, then both disks will run at the speed of the slowest one - which is why it is worth having faster drives on a separate channel to slower ones.

This can be a fairly tricky process - and was only suggested as a performance enhancer.

The steps are;

1. Open up the case, and locate the two identically sized IDE slots. If both are occupied, then I would suspect that the second channel has your CD device on it. This raises a slight dilemma, since CD-ROMs are slower than Hard Disks. If the second disk is only for storage, this may not be an issue, if the performance gain on the main hard disk is worthwhile to you.

2. Connect the 8Gb drive to the second IDE cable, if you wish to proceed. You may wish to make the disk the primary, in which case it should be at the end of the IDE cable, and the CD device should be connected to the middle connector. If there isn't one, switch this cable with the one that was connecting the two hard disks. Change the jumper on the hard disk so that it is in the master position, and the jumper on the CD so that it is in the slave position.

3. Boot the machine, and check that the disks are functioning correctly and/or plugged in correctly by using the BIOSes auto-detect feature. Virtually all BIOSes since about 1995 have this.

4. Post back at Tek-Tips if you have any problems with the above procedure


An AMD Athlon processor @ 1Ghz is very cheap and will give superb performance. Unfortunately, it will not go into the same board as an Intel processor, so you would have to buy a new motherboard.


As for identifying your existing motherboard, simply open up the case and look for the manufacturer's name and a code, usually in fairly large white numbers and letters, eg BX6, VT6X4, KG7-R, etc. The more information you can give, the easier it will be to track it down.

Since all motherboards are not equal, this information is necessary to determine which is the best processor for your board.


A quick tip; When opening up your case, make sure that you do not touch any of the components, unless you are sure that your environment is as static-free as possible, and you are wearing an anti-static wrist band connected to earth.


I hope this helps

 

[Daire]

The info from Citrix is really good, but as far as I know you can connect IDE devices to any connector on the ide cable it doesn't matter if they are master or slave. BOB THE BUILDER WILL FIX IT 4U

 

[CitrixEngineer]

You could well be right, Leptonite - I've been building PCs since the days when it did matter, so I still stick to this rule.

Old habits die hard