Need advice on upgrading my current PC

[cwchan]

I am planning to make a small upgrade to my home PC, that is, hard disk or RAM, for better game performance. Below is some of my current system spec.:

P3-800EB
Asus V7700 GeForce2 64MB
Quantum CR 13GB IDE (UATA/66, 5400RPM)
128MB PC133 SDRAM
Windows 98 SE

Which upgrade will have significant improvement, the RAM (i.e. to 256MB) or the HDD (i.e. to UATA/100, 7200RPM)? Or, is it still okay to stay with the above spec.? Thanks and hope to hear from you.

 

[dennilfloss]

I upgraded from a CR to a Fireball Plus LM and it really speeds things up. More than when I went from 128MB to 256MB.

 

[BFG10K]

If you've got enough money get the RAM as well because the prices are so low at the moment.

 

[4824guy]

A faster 7200rpm/2meg cache HD will improve disk access and PC performance. However, with RAM prices being so low now, it seems that now is the time to add another stick. HD's will continue to fall in price and increase in size, but ram prices are starting to edge back up again, so I suggest you get some more ram now.

 

[dennilfloss]

Oops. I forgot about the RAM prices edging up again and thought strictly in terms of performance, not dollars.

 

[Ulysses]

I noticed this $89 special on PC133 SDRAM 128MB at Mushkin with free shipping this weekend. Hard to beat.

OTOH, a 7200 RPM HDD like an IBM Deskstar 75 GXP would probably help more.

 

[Santan]

If your upgrading a relatively new computer - then you probably got money to burn...If this is the case

Keep your existing set up...FOR NOW...wait until the DDR boards for AMD come out...Then get the fastest processor money can buy...

Plus - forget ide 100 - go u160 scsi - get yourself an adaptec card and a seagate x15 - thats 15000 rpms...of pure speed!!!!!

Good luck

RIck

 

[Sugadaddy]

<< Plus - forget ide 100 - go u160 scsi - get yourself an adaptec card and a seagate x15 - thats 15000 rpms...of pure speed!!!!! >>



He said UPGRADE, which usually means not spending as much as what you're whole system cost.

RAM would be a good buy because of the price, but keep in mind that you'll probably never notice a difference in Win98. I'd get a bigger faster hard drive (7200 rpm), you'll see a big difference, and I'm sure you feel your HD is kind of small. (I bought a 20gig thinking I'd never even get close to filling it up, but I was wrong, so I'm getting a new one soon)

 

[bonkers325]

dont get a ddr 64mb not worth it
screw quantum get ibm
get 256mb pc133
thats all

cheers,
bonkers325

 

[BFG10K]

bonkers325:

Please Rate Me(1-10) On My Profile Thanks

Right, I'm off to give you a 1 right now!

 

[Unpede]

Buy a Promise Ultra 100 Card and another 13 Gb Hard Drive. Then do the Fastrak mod and thats it!!

 

[cwchan]

Thanks for all the advices. I think I will go for both upgrades(HDD and RAM).

Many people said that IBM hard disk is better than Quantum. Is it true?
By the way, if I purchased a new UATA/100 HDD, do I need a new type of IDE cable, or I can just stick with Ultra 66 IDE cable that I currently have?

 

[fs5]

Your system seems pretty good right now, you want to think about what components you can use in the future on your next upgraded system. I would get a HD upgrade because it'll probably carry over to you next computer. Memory on the other hand won't because everybody will probably be using DDR by the time you do a whole system upgrade.