Computer questions

[jgra1]

hi all, I don't know much about computers, but have an oldish desktop here.

I would like to occasionally upgrade it cheaply if possible..

I seem to be using most of my RAM a lot of the time.

At the moment I have 6 RAM slots, 4 are similar sized and 2 are larger, the 4 have a 1GB stick in each (2 pairs of 2 different manufactures / DDR2 but don't know how many pins).

Would it be worth / is it possible - to buy one larger capacity stick with faster access, or should I try to fill up the empty larger sockets? or just buy 4 new RAMS with twice the capacity, and more speed - seem to be quite expensive.

(I don't know why only 3GB of RAM is available, I removed all 4 of them this week for a different reason, so maybe one isn't seated correctly)

I realise the speed of the machine is also affected by HD access, Processor etc - as you can tell I am a bit lacking in knowledge



thanks in advance for any pointers, including 'get a job and buy a decent machine!)

John

[Gibbo2286]

Your best bet would be to go here and see what's recommended: http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/systemscan ... 03641:s

[Sloppysod]

hi all, I don't know much about computers, but have an oldish desktop here.

I would like to occasionally upgrade it cheaply if possible..

Hi John, I agree download the crucial system interrogator and see what is comes back with.
Also have you considered a full motherboard swap? I changed motherboards in to desktops earlier this year and it made a difference, I then swapped both the hard drives for a Samsung solid state drives, I now have two desktop PC's which should last a while. My old hard drive I use to install programs onto, my documents are on an external drive, this way I only had to buy a 120gb SSD which are a lot cheaper than 500GB drives.
My PC is AMD, quad core which is okay but not a slick as my wife's Intel I3, Dual core, but then again I have quite a lot more software install on mine.

Good luck

[jgra1]

thanks both, I had been thinking about HD as I have a 500 in there, almost full, with some bad sectors.. I wondered about raiding it with another, that may save data when it all goes wrong, but wont help access speed..

but, if I swap the HD for an SSD, change the RAM, change the MB, I am thinking that the cost would be high, I may as well get something already built.. but cash is very tight at the moment so i am a bit snookered..
this machine does what I need (browsing/word/excel/Google Earth and so on, with a bit of gaming - but just freezes a bit here and there and takes a while to open apps)

Looking below, it seems I have 4GB of DDR2, which could be 8, or I could try and find 4GB of DDR3 .. the longer slots are slower so maybe not so useful..

[jgra1]

I just got a job

albeit a contract thing, in a local authority.. fingers crossed I can do it ok, and dont mind the long journey every day..

either way, any pay is a least a month away !

[Gibbo2286]

Have a look at Gumtree for freebies, it's surprising how much people give away on there, you might find a better computer for nowt.

[jgra1]

is mine that bad ?>

[jgra1]

my old IT manager popped by yesterday and gave me 2 x ddr3 2GB sticks, (well he gave me 6) . these wont fit in the 4 slots I was using previously, but do fit in the other 2 slots I have.. so far, I have not had anymore BSOD's since then (was getting some memory issues)

oddly when I query the speed of these RAMS it's only 400, the old ones were 800 mhz and the ddr3 were supposed to be 1066 or something..

anyway, the computer appears to be running again for now!

[dnsey]

You won't see any improvement by fitting faster RAM than your system needs - it's a bit like tyre speed ratings, high enough is good enough.

[jgra1]

thanks Dnsey.. it was a cheap shot well a free one.. to be honest the reason for changing the ram was some blue screens over the last 2 weeks, lots of them, some (I think) pointing to RAM issues .. I just thought if I change it maybe I can get some a bit faster. I honestly don't know what my system needs, but it can handle something a little faster than what was in there.

are DDR2 and DDR3 slots different by the offset of the 'gap'? that image I posted from crucial suggests I have 4 x ddr3 slots and 2 x ddr 2

it seems I have 4 x ddr2 and 2 x ddr3, as that is the only way they would fit - confused

[Peter.N.]

I have had several secondhand Dell computers from Ebay, mine have been utterly reliable and they start about £60 for a dual core but for not much over £100 you can get 8gb ram and a 100gb hard disc.

Peter https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... 5&_sacat=0

[jgra1]

this was second hand from ebay Peter about £100 .. it does fine for me really.. just been crashing recently and the memory seems a culprit.. its been completely fine for the last 24 hours, with the new memory.. hopefully its fixed for now!

I do like a desktop, an old fashioned idea but it suits me when I am not using the phone.. either end of spectrum.

[Peter.N.]

I don't like laptops - to fiddly. Hope yours behaves itself.

Peter