Freebies that are worth having
Guest
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A super-fast graphics card ain't gonna help much. The bottleneck in your PC is likely to be the speed of the data bus on the motherboard. This is the speed at which the various components talk to each other. 3 years ago, the fastest bus you could get was about 75 MHz and most were only 66. Current motherboards communicate at twice that speed. Why is this a problem? Because your processor relies on the motherboard clock to set its own internal clock. If you are running a 500 MHz processor on a 100 MHz board, you set the jumpers (mostly these days this is set in BIOS) to 5X. Ie, 5 times 100 = 500.
If you get a 800 MHz processor, you will probably find that you cannot set the multiplication factor high enough to get the processor to run at full speed. Add to that the fact that even if you do get the processor running correctly, your data bus will slow memory access down. Since about half of a processor's functions are memory related, you aren't going to see much in the way of a performance increase. Finally, the connectors on most of the late-model chips have changed, so you probably wouldn't be able to get a fast processor to fit anyway.
Right, so now you've replaced your motherboard and processor, you will need to change your RAM. 3 years ago, RAM could just about keep pace with the highest bus speeds of 75 MHz. Motherboards running at 133 MHz are not uncommon, and your RAM just won't cope. It's not just a matter of it not running at full speed, it just won't work at all. Period.
Modern motherboards have AGP,these days as standard. (Advanced Graphics Port) This is a small, brown (usually) edge connector next to the PCI connectors. You can still get PCI Video Cards, but why ham-string your system?
You may also have an old style power supply. Does your computer switch itself off when you shut down, or do you have to press the power switch to do so? If your computer switches itself off, you might be OK. If not, you will probably need a new, "smart" power supply as there may not even be a compatible connector on the new motherboard for your old supply.
You may wish to replace the items mentioned above, and keep some of your old kit. You may not find that the saving is worthwhile.
Try here:
http://www.computerprices.co.uk
They get the lowest quote from 26 companies in the UK for any component you ask for. Price things up. See also my reply to pax anglia on http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/For...ML/000546.html
If you get a 800 MHz processor, you will probably find that you cannot set the multiplication factor high enough to get the processor to run at full speed. Add to that the fact that even if you do get the processor running correctly, your data bus will slow memory access down. Since about half of a processor's functions are memory related, you aren't going to see much in the way of a performance increase. Finally, the connectors on most of the late-model chips have changed, so you probably wouldn't be able to get a fast processor to fit anyway.
Right, so now you've replaced your motherboard and processor, you will need to change your RAM. 3 years ago, RAM could just about keep pace with the highest bus speeds of 75 MHz. Motherboards running at 133 MHz are not uncommon, and your RAM just won't cope. It's not just a matter of it not running at full speed, it just won't work at all. Period.
Modern motherboards have AGP,these days as standard. (Advanced Graphics Port) This is a small, brown (usually) edge connector next to the PCI connectors. You can still get PCI Video Cards, but why ham-string your system?
You may also have an old style power supply. Does your computer switch itself off when you shut down, or do you have to press the power switch to do so? If your computer switches itself off, you might be OK. If not, you will probably need a new, "smart" power supply as there may not even be a compatible connector on the new motherboard for your old supply.
You may wish to replace the items mentioned above, and keep some of your old kit. You may not find that the saving is worthwhile.
Try here:
http://www.computerprices.co.uk
They get the lowest quote from 26 companies in the UK for any component you ask for. Price things up. See also my reply to pax anglia on http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/For...ML/000546.html
Guest
Posts: n/a
Probably just me, but I've tried Netsonic twice over the past three years and both times I've had to reformat, so this is one that ain't worth having.
(The second time was the brand spanking new version so I thought it would be better
)
The first time it's happenstance, the second time it's enemy action!
(The second time was the brand spanking new version so I thought it would be better
)The first time it's happenstance, the second time it's enemy action!
Guest
Posts: n/a
Yeh I agree Eric. Netsonic is horse!!!!!. Used it a couple of times before I dumped the useless bloodey thing from my disk.
Freebies that have a good track-record with me so far are:
Atom Time (adjusts PC clock to server clock)
Download Accelerator (with full Resume etc)
Gator
Housecall (on-line virus check)
Hypersnap-Dx (cut/crop/save screenshots)
Napster
Neotrace
Netscape 4.7 (NS6 is useless)
Optout
Realplayer
Realplayer Jukebox (Winamps better!)
Sam Spade
Winamp
Winzip
Zone Alarm
Can anyone recommend a good alternative to that silly Windows Media Player?
[This message has been edited by Slasher (edited 18 November 2000).]
Freebies that have a good track-record with me so far are:
Atom Time (adjusts PC clock to server clock)
Download Accelerator (with full Resume etc)
Gator
Housecall (on-line virus check)
Hypersnap-Dx (cut/crop/save screenshots)
Napster
Neotrace
Netscape 4.7 (NS6 is useless)
Optout
Realplayer
Realplayer Jukebox (Winamps better!)
Sam Spade
Winamp
Winzip
Zone Alarm
Can anyone recommend a good alternative to that silly Windows Media Player?
[This message has been edited by Slasher (edited 18 November 2000).]
