Last Nagging Questions Before Ordering Upgrade

[Jeriko]

Well, I'm all but ready to order my upgrade as soon as I can read a few more motherboard reviews and secure Raptors at a decent price. But I have a few nagging questions on subjects I'm not familiar with.

Memory: I'm moving off the AMD platform to Intel's Pentium 4. I vaguely recall reading here, in reference to a question about an 845 based board, someone suggested 4 256 meg 2700 sticks for a gig of RAM rather than 2 512's. I don't know what the reasoning is behind this, or even if it has merit, but I'd like to know why and if this is so, and if it applies as good Canterwood / 3200 advice as well.

Memory #2: I'm planning on ordering Samsung Original 3200. It has a CAS of 3. Am I really going to notice the difference between 3 and 2.5? I'm not an overclocker, and the "super deluxe premium ultra grade" (Mushkin 😀 ) stuff that usually has the 2.5 seems overkill to me.

Operating system: I've read the XP / Professional "Which OS is right for you?" document at Microsoft, and for the life of me I can't figure why I'd need XP Professional - but everyone suggests I buy it over Home. But I obviously don't intend to run dual processors or encrypt my filing system, so I'm left wondering if there are other benefits that I'm missing. I primarily use my system for 3D modelling in MAX, creating textures and artwork in Photoshop, and gaming, and have a small wireless network that I use for my notebook. So... should I bother with Pro?

-J

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: Jeriko
Well, I'm all but ready to order my upgrade as soon as I can read a few more motherboard reviews and secure Raptors at a decent price. But I have a few nagging questions on subjects I'm not familiar with.

Memory: I'm moving off the AMD platform to Intel's Pentium 4. I vaguely recall reading here, in reference to a question about an 845 based board, someone suggested 4 256 meg 2700 sticks for a gig of RAM rather than 2 512's. I don't know what the reasoning is behind this, or even if it has merit, but I'd like to know why and if this is so, and if it applies as good Canterwood / 3200 advice as well.

Absolutely wrong. Always use as few modules as possible.

Memory #2: I'm planning on ordering Samsung Original 3200. It has a CAS of 3. Am I really going to notice the difference between 3 and 2.5? I'm not an overclocker, and the "super deluxe premium ultra grade" (Mushkin 😀 ) stuff that usually has the 2.5 seems overkill to me.

What you want is CAS 2, and it has nothing to do with OCing. Geil makes CAS 2 RAM for not much more than Samsung.

Operating system: I've read the XP / Professional "Which OS is right for you?" document at Microsoft, and for the life of me I can't figure why I'd need XP Professional - but everyone suggests I buy it over Home. But I obviously don't intend to run dual processors or encrypt my filing system, so I'm left wondering if there are other benefits that I'm missing. I primarily use my system for 3D modelling in MAX, creating textures and artwork in Photoshop, and gaming, and have a small wireless network that I use for my notebook. So... should I bother with Pro?

-J

Home will be fine.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

I don't know who told ya you need the most RAM possible, but they're wrong. With a non dual channel board like the 845, it's best to use the least amount of sticks as possible. As for feeling a difference between CAS 3 and 2.5 or even CAS 2? Nah, you won't feel a difference, unless you're obsessed with benchmarks.

XP Pro offers a few more maintenance options than Home as well, I believe.

 

[stncttr908]

I haven't really touched many of the features that Pro has to offer. The only one I can remember encountering was the built in firewall, which I disabled anyway. It won't be worth the extra cash over Home.