Registered: Aug 2000
Location: baton rouge, la
Posts: 4101

upgrading, brands, whatnot

i'm thinking of giving my system a kick in the ass. i'm running a 266p2 64megs sdram 6.4gig hard drive, using windows. its a compusa built pc. i'm looking at getting 64 more megs of ram, plus a new harddrive if possible, maybe a 20gig. i have an uncle in thailand that says he can get hardware cheap, plus there are places i can get it fairly low cost.

now then, i have questions about upgrading. does it matter what brand of ram goes into the comp? does it have to jive with the brand thats in it already? how difficult would it be to put it in myself, considering i know nothing about hardware and configuring a computer setup.

in addition to that, anyone know a good place to pick up the hardware i'm looking at buying?

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it's too bad that whole families have to be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: texas
Posts: 661

I can get 20gig hard drives for 100bucks but right now memory prices are on the uprise and I have a P2 400 I would let go of for 65bucks

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 10178

ill buy jyates, shoot me off an email

dillybar1@black-hole.com

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 5526

(top)

Logan reminded me that he really needs some help here.

Any advice or suggestions. ????

This could be a pretty interesting discussion, I would think.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: 54.60°N 5.70°W
Posts: 1950

Okay. Firstly, I'm in Ireland - so I leave the question of where to get your stuff to someone who is at least on the same continent as you.

As far as the RAM issue goes - my advice is to stick with what is already on your board.

There are two types of memory modules: DIMM and SIMM. SIMMs are short, 32 bits wide and have one notch along the bottom. DIMMs are 64 bits wide, a bit longer and have two notches.

There are two basic types of RAM: DRAM and SRAM. Most computers are now made with SDRAM which stands for synchronous dynamic random access memory. This is because SDRAM can run at much higher clock rates than other memory. Today's computers use such fast processors that other types of memory are being developed to keep up with them. These include SLDRAM and RDRAM.

Most of the techie stuff was pulled from ZDnet, so I ain't kidding. I know many people mix n match RAMs, but its safest not to.

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There is no music any more.
Music was assassinated on the 8th December 1980

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: b0ulder
Posts: 5126

I buy most of my hardware from AZZO Computers. They have really competitive pricing and actually calculates shipping at the website. If I can't get what I want there I go to Price Watch and find a place I've already shopped from or I go to about the middle of the search results. The cheap ones get beat every time by azzo, though. They charge this shit out of shipping.
www.azzo.com www.pricewatch.com

You can get whatever brand of RAM you want, as long as it's the same kind. You've probably got pc100 now, so you should get any quality brand. I stress that because I've recently been dealt a pretty nasty stick of cheapo memory that killed my motherboard and sound card.

Corsair, Mushkin and Kingston make good stuff. I just bought 128mb of Azzo's own brand. So, whatever, as long as it's quality. Make sure I'm right about the type though.

If you're looking for personal recommendations:

cosair pc100 128mb
maxtor 20-40gb
p2 450

you don't need ecc or pc133 or any fancy shite. you're set with a fat upgrade.

[This message has been edited by memdink (edited 10-08-2000).]

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