Upgrade advice

nenni · Upgrade advice

I've decided to bite the bullet and admit defeat by asking for some advice.

I'm no stranger to some programs run on computers and I help run a server BUT I'm clueless as to what to do with upgrades on my computer.

I bought my computer from PC World nearly 2 years ago and because money was tight I had to go with a simple deal. Just now I'm working with an EiSystem, running XP, with just has 256mb DDR Memory and 80gb Hard Drive.

I want to upgrade my computer so that I can add a few more programs (photoshop mostly) and still have more than enough space to do some computing courses I'm mapping out for the next coming year. (6 actually)

So I'm in need of some advice as to what would be the best upgrades to get and if anyone knows of a person who can help me install the upgrades for a good price. My money is very tight but I'm hoping to get some help. Although I'm not holding my breath on that.

Sorry if I've not give enough information. I did search google to find more information on my system but I found nothing what so ever. Which is kind of worrying lol

wildgarlic

I've never upgraded myself - this has always been done for me. Hopefully someone with more techy knowledge will be along to comment.

It might be worth talking to the man in the computer shop in Alford as he seems to come highly recommended by a lot of people that I've spoken to.

zombiecazz

It's very money dependent. How much can you afford?
I would recommend at least 1 gb of memory and an extra hard drive whether it's internal or external for storing your photos/music extra. Thtat'll free up space on your 80gb for your programs.
What your CPU?

IainC

Yeah, bit more info is required.

I'm assuming you run windows?

If so right click on MY COMPUTER and select properties and see if it mentions what CPU, etc you have.

Memory is fairly cheap to buy... go to http://www.crucial.com and let them scan your machine and they should be able to tell you what memory suits your machine and give you a price/link to buy it. Means you will get exactly the right thing, not all memory is the same you see. It might physically fit but still not work.

Would suggest an external HDD if you aren't 100% of what you are doing as it's as simple to fit as plugging in a USB cable, and you'll get a 1000Gb drive (1Tb) for a little over a hundred quid now.

If you are doing a lot of photographic work with the machine you might find that you will need to upgrade the CPU (which will mean upgrading the motherboard and RAM, etc anyway).

nenni

I'm looking now into the external hard drive

Yeah. I run Windows XP. On the CPU part I got this...

Ei-System Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 3.06GHz ,224mb RAM

I went to the link you gave me and first got a problem about the scan cause I'm using Firefox. Here is the result

Maximum Memory Capacity: 2048MB
Currently Installed Memory: 256MB
Available Memory Slots: 1
Number of Banks: 2
Dual Channel Support: No
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 3.06GHz Model 4, Stepping 9
CPU Speed: 3061 MHz

The site says I can take out my memory and replace it was 1gb and then add another 1gb to the empty slot but doesnt that mean I lose everything on the computer?

IainC

No RAM is only for running the machine, nothing is stored there. All data is stored on the HDD.

3GHz Celeron CPU isn't bad speedwise, although if you are doing a lot of encoding then the fact it's a celeron rather than a "full" CPU will let it down.

All CPU's have memory built into them, celeron CPU's have a lot less than others which can have an affect the performance when you are doing a lot of stuff at once.

Replacing RAM is easy enough to do though, can only go in the one place and can only fit in the one direction so as long as you ground yourself before you touch anything inside you should be fine. Easiest way to ground yourself is leave the PC plugged into the wall (but not switched on) and touch a bare metal bit of it. Doesn't take much static to short out a board.

The RAM increase will help a bit, scanning and defragging the machine may also help out a lot as well TBH.

nenni

I scan quite a lot and defrag every 2-3 months. The one thing that's annoying me the most is the message I keep getting saying virtual memory low and I'd love to be able to play pogo games without sometimes waiting 5 minutes for the computer to stop being a bitch lol

Ok. Now you got me worried about the grounding bit LOL knowing my luck I will mess that up :|

Looks like someone my mother knows is helping me get external hard drive. So that's cool. Just the memory to get and I'll be happy. I can't believe how much of a noob I am with the inside of computers but can do anything ON a computer. Hopefully the courses I'm planning to do will change that.

Thank you very much for the advice

IainC

If you right click on MY Computer and go to properties again. Then go to the advanced tab and then click on performance. New window opens up and clikc on Advanced tab at the top.

At the bottom of that tab is a "Virtual Memory" option. You can click on change and amend the size to suit.

I'm guessing yours is set as a windows managed size. You can change this to any size you want, you should see a min allowed and recommended sizes at the bottom so ensure the size you make it is bigger than the recommended size.

Bear in mind that whatever size you set it to you will lose that amount of HDD space for the pagefile.sys file. I'd set the initial and max sizes as being the same size. That way the file doesn't grow at all. You can set it to be a few Gb if you want.

Might help you out with your virtual memory issues.

(all above is me checking on a W2k3 server, but I'm sure XP is the same, if not gimmie another shout but it should be fairly similar... running Vista you see which is way different to get to the same bit).

nenni

Thank you for that. I just changed it just now. Now to wait and see if I get the message again