Its time for all you GEEKS to work out!!!!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

No, not that type of workout! Do you really think I’d come here and ask you to get all sweaty and tired, I think not! I think its high time for you all to work out those under-utilized minds and imaginations of yours. And wouldn’t you know it, I’m here to help!

OK, so maybe I’m not being entirely selfless here…you caught me. Here’s what I’m thinking. I’m ready for a computer upgrade over here and I’ve decided to tackle it myself. Here’s where you come in, I’m asking you all to let your minds run wild and tell me what you’d do in my shoes. Think of it this way, you get to live vicariously through my PC and wallet. And all I ask in return is that you share your ideas, advice, and perhaps a measure of instruction to a just-good-enough-with-computers-to-be-really-dangerous Doper. What do ya say?

OK, here’s what I got.

Windows 98 SE, 400 MHz Pentium II CPU, 13 GB Hard Drive (original to the system, probably 5400 rpm or less), 30 GB Hard Drive (newer, 5400 rpm at least, maybe 7200), 256 MB memory, HP 9100i CD-RW, DVD-ROM (original, probably first generation), add ons like a Sidewinder Joystick, Optical Intellimouse, and a Sony 17" monitor.

I’m thinking I want to upgrade the CPU which means it’ll probably royally fuck everything else, and I’m not the best at dealing with drivers and garbage yet. So, here’s what I come to you for. I want to get as much machine as I can, while reusing as much of the hardware from my current machine as possible which isn’t too outdated to be useful. Ideally I’d just like to buy a new CPU and Motherboard, and probably a cabinet considering the form factor will likely change. I’ve never shopped stuff like this so I have no idea what to look for.

My goal is to get a Pentuim 4 running on this thing, but I’m not sure how fast to go vs. best value price. I’m not exactly Mr. Moneybags, so if I’ll save a ton of money getting a 1 Gig CPU instead of a 1.4 Gig one (while leaving myself room for the upgrade when prices come down) I’ll go with the slower chip (cause seriously, anything is going to be a huge upgrade from where I’m at now). This stuff however I don;t really know how to evaluate or research, advice or links would be appreciated.

I’m going to install Windows 2000 Professional on it, so that’ll further change things and probably make it trickier to get all my components working again. And in reality its the incentive to do all this, I’m sick of 98 and its long past time to reinstall, but I figure if I’m going to start from scratch, I might as well do it with a better machine.

Questions, whats the smart way to set up your partitions and where do you put the OS? I’m thinking I might want the OS on the newer 30GB drive, but I’m also thinking that I’ll want to use that drive for my media (MP3s, pictures, porn and movies). Logically I like the idea of having the OS on its own partition (maybe with all the programs too, advise please) so I don’t have to do much as far as my files go when I do the reinstall. And I like the idea of having my media on its own drive (not just a partition) so I can unplug them if I want. That said I need the 30 GB drive for the media. Is it dumb to put the OS on the older 13GB drive, will I really see much improvement buying a newer faster drive? With storage being as cheap as it is, is it silly to even bother partitioning these drives? Would it be overkill to buy a really fast ~10GB Drive for just the OS and installing 3 drives into the new box?

What are the major pitfalls I’m gonna have with all this?

Am I an idiot for thinking I can handle this?

Where can you guys point me to learn all the things I should know before trying this?

I know I’m going to be basically cut off from online help and support when I attack this, and there will be no manufactures numbers I can call if I get really screwed.

If you were doing this with my money, what would you do?

I do alot of coding on this machine, quite a bit of file transfer and remote access to other networks, and a few fairly beefy games. So how much of an upgrade should I really do here? Is there something on the horizon I should wait for?

I suppose that this is a bit of a GQ post, but I decided to put it here since there probably isn’t a definative answer and it will likely inspire alot of advice and opinions. So if you have a GQ buddy who’s a generous computer god, point him or her this way.

Approaching my trusty IBM like the final scene in Old Yeller

2

Here’s an idea …

Stuff’s gotten so damn cheap these days–there’s a fire sale on every corner.

You might be able to pick up a whole new system for less than you think (rather than going the mobo route). Save your old computer, stuff an Ethernet card in it, and use it as a server.

Get the new system with an Ethernet card, but without a monitor, and get a monitor switch box, instead–so you can use the monitor with both computers.

Cheers,
Dan

3

Yeah, I’m with ya, but even at rock bottom prices at P4 ain’t cheap enough, and I think thats what I need.

And part of me likes the idea of a machine free of all the garbage add-ons that come in those factory bundles. Even at the lowest prices I’d still be paying for a sotftware bundle and OS that I’ll just end up reinstalling anyways.

4

I keep hearing great things about AMD processors. The next PC I buy probably won’t have an Intel chip.

FWIW, I’ve always wanted to build my own box, but there are too many other things that need to get done first.

I just resurrected an old 486(!) to use as a timing computer for my slotcar track. Opened the case up and tore out all of the unnecessary stuff–this darn software runs in DOS.

5

geekbooks, you are such a geek.

Come update my computer. I’ll give you pie.

6

If you are going to get a P4, be sure to get a lot of cooling fans placed strategically inside the tower. I heard that it gets very warm in a P4 CPU.

You didn’t list one of the most important parts: your video card. Assuming it is not adequate for your needs, one of the best vc upgrades is the ATI All-in-Wonder. You can play games or watch TV on your computer.

According to Microsoft, it is recommended to place your different OSes on separate hard drives. And yes, it is a very good idea to have the OS on a separate partition from your data. In fact, you can do three separate partitions: one partition four your OS and its drivers, one for your swap/Internet temporary files/archivable downloads, and one for OS applications and games.

7

Are you sure you want to go with a P4?? The RAM for those is ungodly expensive, they require RDRAM which is new and very expensive. Shortly though Intel is supposed to come out with a P4 chip that will support SDRAM, which is as cheap as its ever been, called “Brookdale”.

Personally I love the Athlon Thunderbirds. The price and performance combo cant be beat. Some people don’t like them though because they ARE a little more delicate and not as heat resistant.

8

Are you sure you want to go with a P4?? The RAM for those is ungodly expensive, they require RDRAM which is new and very expensive. Shortly though Intel is supposed to come out with a P4 chip that will support SDRAM, which is as cheap as its ever been, called “Brookdale”.

Personally I love the Athlon Thunderbirds. The price and performance combo cant be beat. Some people don’t like them though because they ARE a little more delicate and not as heat resistant.

9

Wow… talk about double post… well… as I was waiting for that last post to go through I checked the prices on rdram and its not as ungodly as it used to be, though it is higher, not heart attack bad though.

10

I’ve got a ATI Rage Pro video card I beleive, and I would like to upgrade to one with a tuner built in, but I’d like to save that until a later (read next paychck) date.

Whats this about P4’s not supporting SDRAM? News to me, anyone care to confirm?

11

Also, I might be a irrational snob, but I have been tunnelling on a Intel, maybe I’m loyal, or dumb, I don;t know. But then again I really don;t know much about things this low level so I’m willing to listen and have my mind changed.

12

Whats the upside to using a different partition for applications than your OS? When you reinstall you lose those things anyways, is it faster to have them together or apart?

13

Whammo holds the side of his face wide eyed and in shock from the abusive slap!

14

I dont understand the question. Why do you want a dual boot? Unless you want a Windows partition and a Linux partition or something I see no need for it at home other then when people come over you can turn it on and go, “Oooo look! Two operating systems!” Why do you want to run 2000 at home if your not networking? Its not good for games if you like games. Stability is a plus but still Win98 CAN be that way too. Win98se is still the best alternative of what we have for home use IMHO.

15

p4’s only support RDRAM,now. Soon, this new chipset will support SDRAM, but in early tests it’s slower than anything.

I’d go AMD. Cheap, run like heck, and good. You can get a place to put together a barebones kit, and not have to do anything but install your own stuff.

For instance, one place I saw had a Socket A Motherboard for $130, AMD 1.2 GHz for $129 and Fan for $14. Oh, and memory is dirt cheap. I’m seriously pricing a 512Meg chip for my other computer. :slight_smile:

16

Why in the world would you consider upgrading and still be thinking in terms of a single processor? If I were a PC person instead of a Mac person, I’d go find me a motherboard with about 4 of those gigahertz Athlon chips on it. And three fast AGP slots. (Triple monitors, oh yeah!) And enough RAM sockets to put 8 gigs of RAM in it when I max it out a couple years down the pike. (I’d start off with a single gig for now).

Well, maybe the specifics are a bit off, but you know what I mean. Take advantage of the inexpensiveness of your platform’s hardware and get some serious multiprocessor iron to play with!

17

Hmm, multiple Processors…not a bad idea. Hadn’t considered that, is it hard to manage a 2 CPU system, does the OS handle it all for you? Is the effect similar to the sum of of the 2 chips?

Whammo…where are you getting this dual boot crap? I don;t want 2 OS’, never did. And I’m thinking I want 2000 for the stability, theres very little downside to running it AFAIK. I may be networking with a couple of laptops in the future, and someday I hope to do some servering.

18

Wow, sorry for burdening you all with that servering thing…

pounds head on desk

serving

19

AFAIK, there’s no real added adminstrative duty w/ running dual CPUs. I’d imagine you just set it up in your BIOS (same as you do with one) and let 'er rip.

As for dual booting, I see no real reason not to. You say you’re into some gaming, correct? Well, depending on what video card you get, you may get noticably better performance on Win98, especially if you’re using an ATI card (the Rage, Radeon, etc.) since ATI’s W2K drivers are pretty damn bad. On another note, I personally can’t get my ATI vid capture to work in W2K, though it works fine in 98. It’s also a great tool to fall back on if you manage to hose one Win2K. It takes some work, but it’s possible, trust me.

As for drive space allocation, you’d get the best performance by installing any games you play on your newer drive, though depending on exactly how bad your old one is, it might not be the most noticable change. OTOH, it doesn’t seem as if you have that much media to work with so the smaller drive might be okay for your purposes. (Disclaimer: I have 112 GB of HD space, mostly media files, so my sense of proportion is blown to hell.)

And you might want to go to http://www.sharkyextreme.com and check CPU prices. You really can’t beat AMD for bang for the buck and, ftr, the 1.3 GHz Athlons have matched or beat the 1.7 GHz P4s in most benchmarks, or so I’ve heard. Personally, I’m probably going to go Duron in my next system. (What can I say, I’m a cheap ass.)

Well, have fun. :slight_smile:

20

Hmmm, I’m starting to think that a pair of 1 Gig Athalons might be a tasty option. I’m suprised that ATI is having trouble with Win2K. I might say screw it and just get a new Video card in that case, hell the one I have is almost 3 years old.

I’ve played with a dual boot machine before, and in my experience its more trouble than its worth…I have no idea how that topic was started, but I’m not considering it.