Two quick computer questions

krawnight

Hey all,

So I am trying to upgrade my girlfriend's computer. I'm pretty computer literate, but not so good with the hardware, so I am coming to you guys for some quick advice.

1) She has a Pentium IV 3GHz running on 510MB DDR memory and a Radeon X600 256MB graphics card. Right now I just plan on upgrading one of the two, and I am guessing the bottleneck is in the RAM, right? Or should I upgrade the graphics card first?

2) With regards to the RAM, she has two 256MB sticks of DDR PC2-4300. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but the 4300 refers to the speed of the RAM right? She has two free slots, so when I buy more RAM, does it help if I buy say PC2-5300? I vaguely remember something to the effect that the computer will use the slowest speed, so if I had to choose between 1GB of 4300 and one of 5300, should I buy the 4300 if it is cheaper? Or does it not matter? Or will an extra gig of the 5300 be better than the 4300? (The current RAM is staying in).

Thanks for the help!

Violynt

Buy 4300 if it's cheaper, it will use the slowest stick of ram as its base speed.

The x600 is pretty much a radeon 9800, ancient, buy some thing like..a 7900GS or a x1950pro.

EDIT: Oh yea, RAM first. 512 is awful for gaming nowa days.

EDIT2: Clarifying something.

krawnight

That's kinda what I thought. Neither is great, but I wasn't sure which was more important to upgrade first.

So the computer will use the slowest speed of the RAM, good to know.

Any other suggestions for video cards/information to look into?

Violynt

Well, those 2 cards right now are really the best bang for the buck (I hate that saying).

That CPU isn't good either, well it's good, just isn't fast by today's terms. You can't really upgrade that without a new motherboard and that would give the least results. But remember, if you do buy ram you won't be able to use it in a newer motherboard.

krawnight

Violynt wrote: »

Well, those 2 cards right now are really the best bang for the buck (I hate that saying).

That CPU isn't good either, well it's good, just isn't fast by today's terms. You can't really upgrade that without a new motherboard and that would give the least results. But remember, if you do buy ram you won't be able to use it in a newer motherboard.

This is just a hold me over until she graduates. She'll get a new computer then. She wasn't really much of a gamer when she got this, so I don't see any point in spending big bucks now. Just some small upgrades until she gets a new rig.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why won't the RAM work with a newer motherboard? As in, once I put it in one computer it is stuck with that one? Or are there compatibility issues?

taliosfalcon

krawnight wrote: »

Violynt wrote: »

Well, those 2 cards right now are really the best bang for the buck (I hate that saying).

That CPU isn't good either, well it's good, just isn't fast by today's terms. You can't really upgrade that without a new motherboard and that would give the least results. But remember, if you do buy ram you won't be able to use it in a newer motherboard.

This is just a hold me over until she graduates. She'll get a new computer then. She wasn't really much of a gamer when she got this, so I don't see any point in spending big bucks now. Just some small upgrades until she gets a new rig.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why won't the RAM work with a newer motherboard? As in, once I put it in one computer it is stuck with that one? Or are there compatibility issues?

pretty much every new motherboard will use DDR2 ram, except for the odd one that already uses DDR3, normal DDR ram won't fit in those slots

krawnight

Oh, okay, that makes sense, thanks!

Also, quick follow-up, is Tom's Hardware pretty much the spot to go to for hardware reviews? Are there other good sites people recommend?

krawnight

Actually, scratch that, different question. I used the crucial.com memory tool to tell me what RAM she was using right now and it said she has two 256MB DDR PC2-4300 (in two of four total slots).

However, it is recommending I buy DDR2 and place it in the other two slots, leaving the first two with the DDR.

Can I have DDR2 RAM in two slots and DDR RAM in the other two slots? Will this just not work? Or will the DDR2 RAM operate at the same effectiveness of the DDR? Sorry for being dense and asking so many questions.

Or, final option, is this program just completely wrong?

gneGne

Do you happen to know what motherboard the computer has? It might be an old one with just DDR support (not DDR2)

krawnight

I did some checking, and the computer definitely supports DDR2.

Why the Crucial.com Memory Advisor told me I was using DDR, I do not know. I thought it was strange that I couldn't find any DDR RAM that was using the speed it was saying the current memory was using.

And as I understand it, there is no difference between DDR2 PC2-4200 and 4300? It's just a rounding issue?

Snowcone

krawnight wrote: »

Actually, scratch that, different question. I used the crucial.com memory tool to tell me what RAM she was using right now and it said she has two 256MB DDR PC2-4300 (in two of four total slots).

However, it is recommending I buy DDR2 and place it in the other two slots, leaving the first two with the DDR.

Can I have DDR2 RAM in two slots and DDR RAM in the other two slots? Will this just not work? Or will the DDR2 RAM operate at the same effectiveness of the DDR? Sorry for being dense and asking so many questions.

Or, final option, is this program just completely wrong?

PC2-4300, which according to the above is already in the system is in fact DDR2.