Pr0d1gy

Let me know. I build computers, so I can help if you're having issues or would like that badass gaming rig you always wanted.

AtomDanger

This offer still on the table?

Pr0d1gy

Sure, what ya need?

cabby

Couple questions. If I reformat my hardrive will I lose all my saved things? And if so is there a way I could keep them? And another, if i add more RAM to my computer will it automatically get faster?

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attention

A reformat can happen in 2 ways... quick-reformat will just lose the main dictionary to the data entries (all the data is still there, just not easily referenced) ... full-reformat will zero out every bit and surface check the platters...

If you quickformat your drive you can still get stuff back, but not easily...
If you full format, forget it... best you leave that kind of recovery to the experts...

Im wondering if you are trying "optimize" your PC?

If so, a format may not be required... unless you have some really messed up system and you wanna start clean (then use Norton Ghost to get back to a particular state should you install something messy again) ...

You need to "backup" all your valuable stuff to some external media...
This is a good habit *in general* to get into... Most HDD will last a good 5 years... but you never know when it will fail... best to get those jpg, mp3, avi, mpgs, docs and games onto some DVD media

"Faster" is a relative thing

More Ram will keep the CPU from creating "page memory" on the HDD... this is a good thing, but it has diminishing returns... eventually it wont have any effect...

In my case I have a p4-3Ghz with HT, I threw in half a GB Ram for winXP... ran perfectly fine... RAM prices dropped, thru another half a GB in... 1 GB total... turned off virtual memory... Much snappier performance when switching between multiple applications...
RAM prices dropped again... got another full GB... making 2 GB total...
no real improvement.

Say you want better game performance... then you dont want RAM, you want a better video card

So in the end... it depends

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Pr0d1gy

That is all 100% correct with the exception of the RAM for games comment. In fact you will need more RAM to properly run most newer games, with 2gb being pretty much standard for MMORPG's and BF2 (although I could play BF2 with 1gb, it works better with 2). Nice job attention.

adminmma

If you’re buying a machine today, minimum system should be 2ghz, 1 gig of ram and if you’re into gaming, a decent gaming card (even older Nvidia 6600 GTs will do )

If you just want to back up your documents, burn a cd or dvd. If you dont have a cd burner, pick one up. They’re cheap, install at a shop is usually $25 (Canadian) and likely, they will back up your files for you (most of the smaller shops have great customer support)!

Then you can even go through the format process.

Will ram speed up your machine, yes. *RAM - random access memory.
Accessing virtual memory will slow your machine down, hence why people prefer ram (of the silicone chip type). Virtual Memory is simply the operating system using some amount of disk space as if it were real memory.

As I said, hard disks are slower than ram. So if the operating system is doing a lot of swapping between the two, it's going to slow your computer down.
If that's happening frequently, or if your computer seems to be "thrashing" or constantly swapping in and out from disk, it might be time to add some memory to your machine. It can be one of the most cost effective ways to increase your system's speed.

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AtomDanger

Umm, I don't know lol...
I want to be able to burn music / movies
So i want a dvd r
I dont do any gaming, so i guess something simple with good speed and burning

cabby

So If I pick up some RAM my computer will speed up and I can play some better games on my pc? I don't know shit about gaming cards or whatever, does every computer have one? My computer is old but runs farely well. ONLY PENTIUM 3!!??hahahah But it is very zippy and I have 3meg internet.

This is what I want to do.
1. Get more RAM
2. Get another hard drive, preferiblly an external drive that uses USB
3. Get some info on the gaming card stuff from you guys. Can you be more specific as to what they look like or where they are found in a PC(I know theyre not all the same but i need help haha)

__________________
Stephen Quadros: How long have you had that mustache?
Don Frye: Since I was 5. I got it from my mom's side of the family. She's not a pretty woman.

"Well that ends an exciting round of LAYING." -Stephen Quadros

Squeetard

I'm afraid your comp will never be able to play any of the newer titles. A Pentium 3 and the pc100 ram it has is too slow. You will have a hard time even finding memory for it. And you video card slot is probably AGP 2x, the last card to fit in there was a geforce 3.