Shadowhunter
New Member
Before I get to the questions I'll tell you what some info about my pre-build learning process. First off, I originally planned to use my 80GB IDE HDD from my current PC (5yr old Dell Dim. 4500) with the motherboard in my sig that has 2 IDE connectors. After thinking long and hard, I decided that I'd rather buy a new HDD (WD 200GB SATA) and choose a better motherboard for about the same price as the Abit in my sig. So far so good, I was thinking.
But here arises the problem: I was planning on doing a re-install of Win. XP Pro (Off The Dell Reinstallation CD) on my IDE HDD, but after deciding to buy a SATA, I realized that my current PC only supports IDE. So I thought, how am I going to reinstall with the Dell CD when (or so I've heard) it will only work with the original Dell it came with? So I look at the price of a new OEM XP Media Center CD (A Little Cheaper) and I'm shocked to see that even after all the rebates, my complete PC comes out to about $900!
My budget is a max of about $800. So I was stressing now cause I really want this PC, but I decided to that maybe I could downgrade some of my componets to fit the bill. My RAM, costing $200 was the first thing I thought of. So after putting only 1GB of the G.Skill in my shopping basket, the total came out to $800 after the rebates.
But here's my questions:
1. My PC is currently running 512MB of DDR 133 CAS Latency 2.5. So will the jump to 1GB of DDR2 800 be big enough that I won't be dissatisfied with my desicion of going 1GB? I play medium demanding games like Americas Army and HERO Online along with minor Photoshopping (PS Elements 4.0) and of course internet and iTunes.
2. What is better of these 2 THEORETICALLY speaking: 2GB of DDR 133 or 1GB of DDR2 800?
3. And would someone just tell me, "You'll be plenty happy with 1GB!!!" just to make me feel better?
Sorry for the ultra long post.
But here arises the problem: I was planning on doing a re-install of Win. XP Pro (Off The Dell Reinstallation CD) on my IDE HDD, but after deciding to buy a SATA, I realized that my current PC only supports IDE. So I thought, how am I going to reinstall with the Dell CD when (or so I've heard) it will only work with the original Dell it came with? So I look at the price of a new OEM XP Media Center CD (A Little Cheaper) and I'm shocked to see that even after all the rebates, my complete PC comes out to about $900!
My budget is a max of about $800. So I was stressing now cause I really want this PC, but I decided to that maybe I could downgrade some of my componets to fit the bill. My RAM, costing $200 was the first thing I thought of. So after putting only 1GB of the G.Skill in my shopping basket, the total came out to $800 after the rebates.But here's my questions:
1. My PC is currently running 512MB of DDR 133 CAS Latency 2.5. So will the jump to 1GB of DDR2 800 be big enough that I won't be dissatisfied with my desicion of going 1GB? I play medium demanding games like Americas Army and HERO Online along with minor Photoshopping (PS Elements 4.0) and of course internet and iTunes.
2. What is better of these 2 THEORETICALLY speaking: 2GB of DDR 133 or 1GB of DDR2 800?
3. And would someone just tell me, "You'll be plenty happy with 1GB!!!" just to make me feel better?
Sorry for the ultra long post.
