Originally posted by: III
What is the difference in the types of RAM?
P4 2.0GHZ
512MB PC2100 DDR
120GB 7200RPM Ultra DMA hard drive
Am choosing between ATI 9500 Pro and GeFore 4600 video card (not sure yet)
How can I make it go FASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nowadays you're pretty much going either DDR or Rambus.
Performance of a DDR-based Machine ~= Performance of a Rambus-based machine
Cost of rambus is more than DDR though.
DDR comes in several flavors...here are a few:
PC1600 -- 100 MHz * 2 = 200 MHz DDR
PC2100 -- 133 MHz * 2 = 266 MHz DDR
PC2700 -- 166 MHz * 2 = 333 MHz DDR
PC3200 -- 200 MHz * 2 = 400 MHz DDR
PC3500 -- 216 MHz * 2 = 433 MHz DDR
Rambus comes in a few flavors...
PC800 -- 100 MHz * 4 = 400 MHz
PC1066 -- 133 MHz * 4 = 533 MHz
Currently in the consumer market only Intel uses Rambus for a solution. Both AMD and Intel have DDR-based motherboards as well.
Intel's latest processors take advantage of 533 Mhz FSBs; AMD's latest processors take advantage of 333 MHz FSBs.
Don't get mixed up by looking at the frequency of the FSB though -- PC2100 is sufficient to run an Intel-based system with a FSB at 533 MHz.
As for making things go faster...you mean overclocking? You can do this by changing the multiplier or altering the FSB frequency. Make sure your RAM can handle such changes though. Other limitations include your AGP port, voltage you send to your components and quality. Since increasing the frequency and voltage means an increase in heat, sufficient cooling is required for stability.
Since overclocking means putting stress on your RAM...getting faster RAM always helps
Overclocking your video card is rather similar...you have your core clock frequency and memory. Ti4200s overclock quite nicely...
Hard Disk performance is also important. Western Digital has well performing hard disks with 8 MB buffers. IIRC, they're going to release 10,000 RPM SATA Hard Disks
Your choice of audio solution can affect performance as well. Some sound cards use the CPU more than others.
Hope this helps a bit.
Darien
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