gimme some advice then.

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

im gonna be upgrading my pc over the next month. just now i have 256 Mb of ddr ram, but sdram i s cheaper, will sdram work on a motherboard that uses ddr ram ? and whats the difference between ddr ram and sdram anyway?

ive also got a small amount of cash to spend on a hard drive, i was gonna get a 7200 rpm 80 GB, but am i just as well to get a bigger one which is only 5400? will i notice a big difference in speed?

ive got crappy onboard sound too, what soundcards are a good deal ? i dont have the cash to buy top of the range so i wondered what decent mid range stuff i should look for.

thanks :bk

[roxq]

most motherboards have slots for ddr ram and sdram dimms, thought you cant use both simultaneously.

dunno about soundcards but you can get a decent soundblaster for less than £30.

with hard drives, capacity and reliability are more important than speed, you wont notice the difference

[roxq]

ps ddr ram is faster. thats all you need to know

[CCSDUDE]

You'll notice a pretty big difference in speed....but thats mainly if you use a lot of programs an work with files often.....I'd say go with 7200 though since 5400's are pretty rare an are a waste of cash if you can pick up a 7200. Just watch the temps on it....BTW Don't get a Diamond max maxtor drive....they over heat like all hell....they made the drive smaller so it's like half as thick as a normal form factor drive...same mounting so it fits in the normal IDE drive bays. But it gets hot as hell....



Peace all, Later

[Power Penguin]

I think you can just about do anything with hese things : I've had my two completely enclosed in soundproofing and they run just FINE. 5 days now, 14 hours continuous at one point!

I won't ever buy 10000, unless they use some serious heat reducing tech. They's is too hot to handle.

[CCSDUDE]

Originally posted by Will Rae
I think you can just about do anything with hese things : I've had my two completely enclosed in soundproofing and they run just FINE. 5 days now, 14 hours continuous at one point!

I won't ever buy 10000, unless they use some serious heat reducing tech. They's is too hot to handle.


Most 7200 drives don't get hot hot I was talking about the EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL! Diamond Max drives.....avoid them at all costs! If yall can get a form factor Maxtor drive that's running at 7200 it's fine but this new design thats half the thickness of a normal drive......really blows it got hot to the touch in around 5 minutes an was too hot to touch within 15......fucked up, eh?

[MoonMan]

Get DDR RAM. It may be a little more expensive, but it is worth it. Double Data Rate RAM is worlds better than SD. My next major upgrade I am going to sell my SD sticks and get some DDR. I am not exactly a computer wiz, but the computers I have seen with the same amount of RAM I have (384 SD) and its DDR seem to run much smoother... just an observation.

[gorphon]

a 80 gig drive at 7200rpm w/ 8mb buffer (as opposed to the most common 2mb one) that you should be able to pick up for $100 bucks or less. its the special edition one and unless you have a decent pc store (not big corporate mumbo jumbo) in your town you may need to go online to find one. Its labeled a special edition drive...

I would stick with the ddr ram or wait until the prices on pc2100 (or whatevr number it is now) come down some. sdram is at the low end of the totem poll these days.

for sound cards Ive heard the turtle beach santa cruz is very good... I bought an sb audigy and will never purchase another of their products again. but it really all depends on what you want to do with it, there are tons of different cards out there.

If I were you (and this is what I am doing) Id wait until after the holidays, typically- as with other products, tech related or not- the prices on current hardware (as opposed to what comes out in the next couple monthes) are nearly certain to drop quite substantially.

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

ok ive made up my mind about the h/d and ram.....256Mb of ddr ram and an 80GB 7200 h/d should do the trick. still not sure about the sound card though, but musics one of the main things i do with my pc so its kind of important to me to get a reasonable one. ill just shop around i think.

and no, i wouldnt get anything from a big computer store, those places are criminally overpriced.

[Justin9670]

I have to go with what gorphon says about the sound card. I have had a turtle beach santa cruz card for almost two years and it rocks! Their website says the cost is around 80.00. I paired it with a three part Altec Lansing speaker system and I have to admit that my computer sounds better than my Bose 901s

[CCSDUDE]

LOL Everything sounds better then bose....... :mellow


B&O makes some good ass shit that has the same style has bose.....cept bose cost 1,000 an B&O is in the 5,000+ range for most of there shit.


I agree though Turtle Beach makes some good cards.....Creative went down hill long ago.....

I remember when one of there SB 16 cards could power a set of big speakers on it's own....now they can't even keep a shitty set of small speakers loud enough to hear without an amp built in on the speakers......

BTW If your really into your music...an have tons of cash to blow check out some of the high end 6 channel sound cards.... LOL There around 1,000 or more an they sound killer.....but that's more for people who mix music an use it as a music maker rather then a music player...


Peace all, Later

[kl_zool_3cyk_db]

Well, please, donot buy SDram, if you've got DDr, Dimms won't work, believe me.

About your HD, you WILL notice a difference, believe you me. I do not recommend you buying a slower one.

About the sound card, I jus't can't think now of a GOOD, and CHEAP one. But as soon as i know, I will tell you

[jonny5]

i was in at best buy a few days ago.. saw my soundblaster card for under 30 bucks.. and it's worked for 4 years w/o a problem. that's my recommendation on soundcards. looks like you got everything else figured out :)

[Jared592]

yeah, go with the DDR, the 7200RPM, and the SBLive! Value is a good buy at $25 for a 32-bit card. Check it out. (http://www.bizrate.com/marketplace/product_info/overview/index.xpml?cat_id=463&prod_id=5219917&de_id=200&name=Creative%20Sound%20Blaster%20Live!%20Value)

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

thanks again to everyone for all their suggestions, its been helpful to hear what u gotta say, and there seems to be one or two things coming through loud and clear. name;y that ddr ram and a 7200 rpm h/d are the way to go.

krell, i thought i might be able to count on you to get down to brass tacks hehe. my system is solid but unspectacular, but with a nice big easy to access case its built for upgrading.

ill answer you point by point.

1) im already have one 256Mb stick of ddr ram, and have two free s;lots

2) my m/board is an Epox EP-8KHA+, processor an athlon XP 1700
ive got a modem, no nic, myvideo card is PCI and theres 5 free PCI slots.

i think thats about it. my current h/d is a 40Gb 7200 rpm maxtor which is practically full. the graphics card is a decent geforce but the real weakness of my system is the shitty onboard sound and the crappy speakers.

so at the moment its looking like an 80GB 7200 rpm h/d 256Mb of ram, and ill look into the sound card a bit more, but ive heard so many good things about that turtle beach santa cruz , thats a definate possibility.

thanks

[manu323323]

HDD: you won't even notice the difference between 5400 and 7200

sdram and ddrram:ddr stands for "double data rate"
this means: if you got 333 mhz ddrram it actually goes at 666mhz.
you can't put ddrram into sdram slots and neither sdram into ddrram.

Soundcard: they don't cost much anymore.
i think you can have a really good soundblaster for 60 Euro.

Hope i helped!

[CCSDUDE]

Originally posted by manu323323
HDD: you won't even notice the difference between 5400 and 7200

sdram and ddrram:ddr stands for "double data rate"
this means: if you got 333 mhz ddrram it actually goes at 666mhz.
you can't put ddrram into sdram slots and neither sdram into ddrram.

Soundcard: they don't cost much anymore.
i think you can have a really good soundblaster for 60 Euro.

Hope i helped!

Everything you've said was stated by others.....an yes you will notice the difference....check the access times on a 5400 an a 7200......

I'm sure he get's the whole ddr sdram thing....

As for the soundcard go with turtle beach......