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Thread ID: 111550	2010-08-01 21:50:00	Frustrated - upgrade Ram or entire system? Multitasking power necessary	CrazySexyCool (15915)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1123763	2010-08-01 21:50:00	Hi everyone . So I need a computer that can multitask efficiently . My current computer is out dated and thus frustrating me greatly . :badpc: I have a pathetic 248 Ram and a Intel Celeron 2 . 50GHz Processor and running Windows XP home Edition 2002 32 bit:waughh: It's not meeting my needs . I'm not sure wether I should simply upgrade the ram to 2GB and hope that it meets my multitasking needs . I have a feeling this upgrade will fall short . :confused: Failing that I'm looking at possibly upgrading to a new system all together . What I think I want in a computer based on the reading I've been doing is::drool *Windows 7 *a 4 quad core processor *ability to run dual LCD monitors *it least 4GB of RAM upgradable to 8GB *affordable and reasonably priced I want the performance and speed to multitask but don't want to pay through the teeth or anymore than I have to *I only want the computer I don't want the monitors, keyboards, mouses ect just the computer With these needs in mind can anyone kindly chime in and recommend some fairly priced fast good performing PC's? I'd be very grateful for any feedback or advice . Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing from any of you . :banana	CrazySexyCool (15915)
1123764	2010-08-01 22:49:00	I'd upgrade it. That is Motherboard, CPU, RAM. And if it's for gaming - Graphics. What do you want to use it for?? Non-Gaming: www.playtech.co.nz www.computerlounge.co.nz (has monitor etc but you can contact them to get a custom quote)	pctek (84)
1123765	2010-08-02 01:56:00	248M is really not enough , 512M minimum, 1G better. Some older XP PC's can actually run SLOWER if you stick in more than 1G XP memory management is pretty inefficient after 1G anyway (ie you wont get much benefit) 2GHz Celeron should be OK, but will never be as fast as a new dual core PC. You may also have a slow HD, & possibilty lots of accumulated crapola slowing things down.	1101 (13337)
1123766	2010-08-02 02:11:00	XP memory management is fine. Tell me how it's "pretty inefficient after 1G"? Any solid examples? I've found better performance in 32-bit WinXP than 64-bit Win7 personally, with 4GB RAM and 512MB GPU. Yes, I know only ~3GB is accessible, but I don't miss that last 1GB. Trust me, I leave a *lot* open ... Here's the deal: Most new Netbooks ship with a 1.6Ghz Atom processor. Your CPU is going to outperform it without a doubt. Depending on just how much multi-tasking you're doing, that CPU is probably going to be fine. 1GB -> 2GB RAM would go a long way towards helping. I'm with 1101 on the slow HDD, get yourself something newer / faster there. Listen down by your PC Case and on many older machines you can often hear the HDD going nuts. You can also use the "HDD Activity LED" on the front to gauge how much it's being used.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1123767	2010-08-02 03:09:00	The important question is what kind of multi tasking? If you are just wanting the ability to have lots of internet browser windows open, you just need more ram, CPU horsepower is a factor but it means more money, even if you are running office applications most desktop applications are not resource hungry, so you could get away with it, but if you are wanting to browse the net while watching a movie, or do a lot of encoding or compress/decompress files a lot, do photo or video editing, have a TV card, play games (pretty much what everyone does with PCs these days) then you are going to notice the difference with pretty much any upgrade you do.	Deimos (5715)
1123768	2010-08-02 03:17:00	Any Celeron that comes with 256RAM has got to be early P4, which means its a crime to call it a CPU.....Personally, I would bother with upgrading the RAM and HDD on that, its just not worth the technicians time and cost of the rare memory.... A new borad with integrated everything, new CPU and RAM, HDD or just buy a box.	SolMiester (139)
1123769	2010-08-02 04:36:00	www.playtech.co.nz I'd recommend that as a minimum starting off point, it includes everything but monitor, kb & mouse and speakers. If you wish to change it just give them a call on 0508 PLAYTECH or send them a message via this page: www.playtech.co.nz I don't have much time to comment anymore. will update you later.	PCT Joe (15018)
1123770	2010-08-02 05:11:00	Why then do all the Netbooks ship with 1GB RAM and a 1.6Ghz Atom CPU? If it's not enough for basic browsing / multitasking? If you're on a budget, just do the RAM upgrade and re-install Windows and you'll be chuffed with the difference. I'm with Deimos, what *kind* of multitasking are you wanting to do? If it's generic browsing / emailing / word-processing, then 1GB is generally sufficient, 2GB is more than ample. Here's an example: I'm running WinXP, I have a total of 17 browser windows open TeamSpeak3 3x Word documents 2x PDFs 9x Notepad windows 6x PuTTY sessions 2x Calculator windows 2x Media Player Classic Home Cinema windows (1 actively playing) 2x WinSCP windows WinAmp EVEREST TiVo Media Converter Anti-Virus is open (Just manually updated it) Total RAM usage (approx): 2.2GB Average CPU usage during browsing on my dual-core 3Ghz: 3% Keep in mind that it's currently playing a video ... Based on that, are you sure that you want to fork out the big bucks for a quad-core, or that you need 4GB -> 8GB RAM?	Chilling_Silence (9)
1123771	2010-08-02 11:24:00	I'd upgrade it. That is Motherboard, CPU, RAM. And if it's for gaming - Graphics. What do you want to use it for?? Non-Gaming: www.playtech.co.nz www.computerlounge.co.nz (has monitor etc but you can contact them to get a custom quote) Thank you kindly for taking the time to reply to my post and for the recommendations I really appreciate it. I've taken a look at your recommendations and gone over their specs. I do want to save money and not over spend but in saying that I don't want to have to find the system I upgrade to not meeting my requirements in a short matter of time. Please keep in mind I am but a humble beginner level with computers and have a keen interest but only just starting to learn about them. With that said what I want it for is primarily multitasking not so much gaming as I don't really play games at all in saying that I'd be open to it with a computer that was capable but given my graphics card and crap computer I haven't ever really gotten into it. So Gaming requirements aren't a real priority and if I did get into it I guess I could always upgrade to meet gaming requirements. I want to be able to run several things at once. I like to multitask with everything I do and my current computer sucks at this and has no grunt. I want a machine that I can do a lot and I plan on getting into video editing and stuff once I can afford to get a good camcorder. Mostly I need something that will allow me to do things like. *play videos *use messenger *multiple tabs web browsing ect *play music on a media player (the only time I wont have music playing is when I'm seriously concentrating on something I'm reading and trying to learn about) *be able to run a number of programs that I use for work and study *basically I don't want lag I want a computer that can handle just about anything I throw at it and still be able to do other things while I do it if that makes sense? I'm sorry I cant be more specific lacking the terminology and understanding to be more precise at present. With that said I had a look at the office computer systems on the link you provided for non gaming systems and liked the look for this one below: www.playtech.co.nz Playtech Matrix XT $1399.00 (I thought it might be good to upgrade to 8GB of ram?) Or unnecessary? I just don't want to have any lag or hesitance I suffer from button rage lol when I press a button or tell my computer to do something I expect it to do it instantly anything short of that envokes rage and 4 letter words and an overwhelming urge to beat my computer with my keyboard relentlessly. Sadly I'm not rich and computers aren't disposable on my income so I settle for the 4 letter words and silent bitter resentment till the feeling passes lol Processor Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz (8MB Cache) Quad Core Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64bit Memory 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 CL9 Dual Channel Hard Drive (OS Bootup) 500GB - SATA2 3Gb/s 16MB Cache HDD Motherboard Playtech Approved LGA 1156 Intel H55 Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 210 512MB DDR2 HDMI / DX10.1 Audio High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio Optical Drive 1 22X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/Dual Layer Write Capability Power Supply Playtech Approved 600w Power Supply Case Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Case System Recovery Playtech Rewind System Recovery DVD - Normally $99 Security Software BullGuard Internet Security 9.0 - 60 Days Free Trial Office Suite Software Microsoft Office 2007 Professional 60 Day Trial Monitor No Monitor Keyboard & Mouse No Keyboard & Mouse Speakers No Speakers Additional Info Front Connection: 1x Audio, 1x Mic, 2x USB 2.0 Back Connection: 6x USB 2.0, 8 Channel Audio, 1x VGA, 1x PS/2, 1x DVI-D, 1x HDMI, 1x S/PDIF Warranty 1 Year Return to Base Warranty In regards to the gaming system I think it has a good processor compared to the XT but given that it's aimed towards gamers I think I'll not consider that one cause I don't think I'd really get into gaming realistically even though I like the thought of being able to. With that said if I plan on doing a lot of video editing mainly my own home made movies and stuff is the graphics card very important or will the one in the XT suffice? Do you think this would be good for my requirements? Or do you think it's like total serious overkill? I just don't want to hit lag saying it annoys me is a grave understatement. I can't really compare as I don't really take note of other computers I use and their set up. This has been a very recent interest out of necessity with my frustrations with my current computer trying to get an understanding of what makes computers perform better and what makes them suck ect. Still learning. I know there are versions in between the two examples that I've posted in here. However my lack of knowledge is whats holding me back from getting a real concise grip on what I need and what is under what I require and what is vastly over what I require and pinpointing suitable systems in between is hard with my beginner level understanding. I'm not made of money but will find a way to make it happen whatever the end choice will be with the help of you kind people. Again I thank you kindly for your reply and I must say to all that I'm pleasantly surprised and grateful for the amount of interest and assistance you all have shown in reply to my humble issue that must seem like doing your abc's to all of you who have a well grounded understanding and education in computers. For that I thank you all sincerely. Thanks pctek I look forward to any replies. PS: pctek I like your signature that's kool re: 1101... 248M is really not enough , 512M minimum, 1G better. Some older XP PC's can actually run SLOWER if you stick in more than 1G XP memory management is pretty inefficient after 1G anyway (ie you wont get much benefit) 2GHz Celeron should be OK, but will never be as fast as a new dual core PC. You may also have a slow HD, & possibility lots of accumulated crapola slowing things down. Thank you also for your reply it's much appreciated. Yes 248mb is no way near enough it's like saying my computer has raisins for balls lol. Do you know why it is that computers on XP run slower when upgrading to more than 1GB? I don't understand this sorry as I said I'm still a beginner. I would have thought more ram = better performance? But maybe not necessarily always the case? I do have some accumulated crapola but have done my best to keep that under control in saying that It wouldn't hurt to have a thorough spring clean but I guess I'm hesitant cause I know that generally speaking when I have done this in the past I still don't ge the performance I need. re: Chilling_Silence... XP memory management is fine. Tell me how it's "pretty inefficient after 1G"? Any solid examples? I've found better performance in 32-bit WinXP than 64-bit Win7 personally, with 4GB RAM and 512MB GPU. Yes, I know only ~3GB is accessible, but I don't miss that last 1GB. Trust me, I leave a *lot* open ... Here's the deal: Most new Netbooks ship with a 1.6Ghz Atom processor. Your CPU is going to outperform it without a doubt. Depending on just how much multi-tasking you're doing, that CPU is probably going to be fine. 1GB -> 2GB RAM would go a long way towards helping. I'm with 1101 on the slow HDD, get yourself something newer / faster there. Listen down by your PC Case and on many older machines you can often hear the HDD going nuts. You can also use the "HDD Activity LED" on the front to gauge how much it's being used. Thank you also for your reply it's much appreciated. I can definitely hear what I think is my hardrive going nuts when I am doing things that overload my computer and it starts buzzing and humming loudly which I have come to associate with my computers gonna slow down and start being a #@$% and the blinking light yes I'm familiar with this Do you think simply having my tech upgrade my HDD and my Ram would then allow me to do all the things I want to do in regards to multitasking? I've had this computer for some time now maybe 7 years give or take so I am realistic with it's ability. My only fear with upgrading my hardware like the HDD and Ram is that maybe I will still get stuck with lag if I overload it? I don't know what do you think? Should I just skip upgrading the entire system and simply have my tech upgrade my HDD and Ram? Do you think a complete system upgrade would be over kill and unnecessary? Perhaps over kill? I've had this hunk of junk for so long I almost feel like I deserve a significant upgrade for having to put up with this jurassic things lag for so long. In saying that I'd like to be realistic and not spend money I don't have to. Any further input regarding the two options would be greatly appreciated. While my multitasking may not be very heavy at the moment I'd like to be able to do heavy duty stuff if I had to. I don't want to experience lag again in my life I despise it with a passion. Perhaps this is unrealistic. But I'd like to eliminate as much lag and slowness as possible and be able to enjoy the fast speedy grunty computing experience that others that are in the know do. in reply to your second post... Why then do all the Netbooks ship with 1GB RAM and a 1.6Ghz Atom CPU? If it's not enough for basic browsing / multitasking? If you're on a budget, just do the RAM upgrade and re-install Windows and you'll be chuffed with the difference. I'm with Deimos, what *kind* of multitasking are you wanting to do? If it's generic browsing / emailing / word-processing, then 1GB is generally sufficient, 2GB is more than ample. Here's an example: I'm running WinXP, I have a total of 17 browser windows open TeamSpeak3 3x Word documents 2x PDFs 9x Notepad windows 6x PuTTY sessions 2x Calculator windows 2x Media Player Classic Home Cinema windows (1 actively playing) 2x WinSCP windows WinAmp EVEREST TiVo Media Converter Anti-Virus is open (Just manually updated it) Total RAM usage (approx): 2.2GB Average CPU usage during browsing on my dual-core 3Ghz: 3% Keep in mind that it's currently playing a video ... Based on that, are you sure that you want to fork out the big bucks for a quad-core, or that you need 4GB -> 8GB RAM? I am on a budget but can stretch and make a complete upgrade possible if that's the route that I should take. I cant reinstall windows cause I don't have the recovery disk I don't have any of my disks any more I've lost them all over the years lol. Maybe I could get my tech to reinstall windows onto my pc with a ram upgrade. Also thank you kindly for the example that you provided. Much of my multitasking would be similar to what you described but I'd like the ability to do heavier multitasking and the only reason I don't at the moment is purely because my computer won't allow me to with it's lack of grunt. Perhaps with this it would be fair to say perhaps a complete upgrade would be the way to go? Thanks again your example really helped. re: Deimos... The important question is what kind of multi tasking? If you are just wanting the ability to have lots of internet browser windows open, you just need more ram, CPU horsepower is a factor but it means more money, even if you are running office applications most desktop applications are not resource hungry, so you could get away with it, but if you are wanting to browse the net while watching a movie, or do a lot of encoding or compress/decompress files a lot, do photo or video editing, have a TV card, play games (pretty much what everyone does with PCs these days) then you are going to notice the difference with pretty much any upgrade you do. Thank you also for your reply I appreciate it. The multitasking that I do is as mentioned above a number of things including lots of browser windows but I also like watching movies and I'm a total youtube freak lol. I don't do encoding wouldn't know what that entails but think your talking about computer coding maybe? Yeah I'm years away from that if that's what you mean lol. I do a bit of photo editing and will be doing a considerable amount of video editing in the future. I'm not a gamer and gaming capability isn't high on my priority list and while it's unlikely I'd play games I do like the thought of actually having a computer that is capable of allowing me to play games. I'd like to get a TV card that's where you can watch TV on your computer right? I wouldn't mind getting a second monitor and having one for TV and one for computer if that's possible from one computer system? That I haven't even looked into yet but noticed it was an option on the playtech builds. Interested in that definitely but not a priority. re: SolMiester... Any Celeron that comes with 256RAM has got to be early P4, which means its a crime to call it a CPU.....Personally, I would bother with upgrading the RAM and HDD on that, its just not worth the technicians time and cost of the rare memory.... A new board with integrated everything, new CPU and RAM, HDD or just buy a box. Thanks SolMiester for your reply I appreciate it. That's what I was thinking that maybe I'd be better off just upgrading my whole system and getting a new box as you put it. I can appreciate your saying it's a crime to call that a CPU not completely understanding the reference to the CPU but I feel my computer is a hunk of crap. It's served me well but I have no loyalty to it lol Id bin it in a heart beat with something else to replace it. It's pissed me off far too much to hold any sentimental attachment to it hahahaha. I hadn't yet considered upgrading the HDD I didn't realize it would be necessary until going through the replies here thanks everyone! I was going to DIY upgrade the Ram it looks fairly straight forward and would consider attempting DIY with the HDD depending on how involved it was. True kiwi DIY attitude lol firm believer in doing it myself and saving the money unless I know I can't do it or will likely fail in my attempt lol. Yes I like the idea of a new box if the general consensus is to go that route. Which I'm feeling so far it is. I'd like to save money and would be fine with a simple hardware upgrade if it meant it would do everything I required in saying that I love the idea of something new altogether and ooooh windows 7 looks pretty lol Im on XP and yeah bleh lol. re: PCT Joe... www.playtech.co.nz I'd recommend that as a minimum starting off point, it includes everything but monitor, kb & mouse and speakers. If you wish to change it just give them a call on 0508 PLAYTECH or send them a message via this page: www.playtech.co.nz I don't have much time to comment anymore. will update you later. www.playtech.co.nz Thank you kindly also for your reply and recommendation and contact info your very helpful. Do you think the Elite A80 would be sufficient for my needs? At $719.00 it's a attractive option. While my understanding of processors is infantile I think the 2.9GHz is a good thing with speed yes? I read faster processing speed is better but not the be all of the total performance with the amount of cores needing to be taken into consideration also. What I wonder is this sufficient or do you think a quad core would be better? I like the price but I do wish for a significant noticeable difference in performance I don't know exactly what will bring this I know most new systems will kick my current ones butt I just want no lag or as close to eliminating lag and slowness altogether I want the Holden v8 of computers lol without going overboard and trying for a Ferrari? cause I'm sick of my moped like crap current computer :( Playtech Elite A80 Desktop PC $719.00 Processor AMD Athlon II X2 245 2.9GHz (2MB Cache) Dual Core Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit Memory 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3-1333 CL9 Hard Drive (OS Bootup) 500GB - SATA2 3Gb/s 16MB Cache HDD Motherboard MSI 760GM-E51 AMD 760G Socket AM3 DDR3 Graphics Card Onboard Audio High Definition Audio 6 Channel Optical Drive 1 22X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/Dual Layer Write Capability Power Supply Playtech Approved 400w Power Supply Case IN-WIN Z583TC Black/Silver uATX Mini Tower Security Software BullGuard Internet Security 9.0 - 60 Days Free Trial Office Suite Software Microsoft Office 2007 Professional - 60 Day Trial Monitor No Monitor Keyboard & Mouse No Keyboard & Mouse Speakers No Speakers Additional Info Front Connection: 1x Audio, 1x Mic, 2x USB2.0 Back Connection: 4x USB2.0, 6 Channel Audio, 1x VGA, 2x PS/2 Warranty 1 Year Return to Base Warranty Thanks again to all of you who took the time to reply to my thread and read through it your help is much appreciated. Funnily enough I went to another forum prior to this I think it's called tech guy support forum or something which has a large following yet didn't get anywhere near the amount of information that you all have kindly supplied me with. Thanks everyone and any additional information or advice would be greatly appreciated. CrazySexyCool	CrazySexyCool (15915)
1123772	2010-08-02 11:30:00	XP memory management is fine. Tell me how it's "pretty inefficient after 1G"? Any solid examples?Eh? XP's memory management is useless! I'm not saying that installing more than 1GB causes problems - it doesn't - just that XP does a very poor job of making use of the available resources, especially when compared to something like Linux's memory management system. As an example, take a look at the pagefile usage on a system with large amounts of ram. Even though it doesn't need to, Windows will swap a ton of stuff to disk anyway, despite having stacks of ram available.	Erayd (23)
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