Need opinions

[Cheetaz]

Hey I just registered so um, hey, I'm a new member. So hey again.

Anyway, I bought a computer a month ago or something, I haven't used it at all, not much atleast, since I don't have anywhere to have it atm.

But, here's the specifications:

Motherboard:
ECS GeForce6100SM-M, nForce405+6100, Socket-AM2, m-ATX, LAN, DDR2, PCI-Ex8
Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9GHz Socket AM2 1MB
RAM:
Corsair Value S. PC5300 DDR2 512MB 64Meg x 64, CL5, 667MHz, 240-pin

The fan to my processor was the one that came with in the package, so it's not a super fan like most of you have. (I checked that thread where you show off your inside of computer and they had HUGE fans). Yes, there's no videocard because I didn't get one with the package. So I'm wondering, a videocard or another RAM stick?

So yeah, I just want your opinion on it. Sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forums, but I'm new and can't find so good, I tried looking for a suitable place and this seemed most suitable. Thank you!

EDIT: Hey, just curious, in "Right click My Computer > Properties", in the Computer part, why is my RAM not 512 when it's supposed to be? It says 480+ (can't exactly remember). Same goes with my harddrive, got a 160GB one, it's only 149GB when choosing "Right click C: > Properties". I know the manufacturors don't go by 1024 thing, but some RAMs are exactly 512 or whichever specific memory they have. Pretty weird, eh?

 

[lastshot]

Not really, You do actually have 512 mb's of ram, however you have an onboard video card. It uses ( in your case) 32 mb's of your ram for buffering video( you can even set it up to use 128mb). So 512-32=480. If you get a video card, you would disable the onboard video and free up that 32mb's.

 

[Cheetaz]

Oh, now I understand.

But when I go to check the VGA information in screenoptions (if you know what I mean) it says it's 256MB (said it was only 128MB on the package.)

But thanks for telling.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

its kinda of a tough one for you. cheaper video cards use the system ram, like the onboard. but here one thing that makes you think: 1gb will get your system scootin for the internet and general office apps, but get a video card if you plan to game. well, you have the nf405+6100 chipset, i got the 410/430+6100 chipset, which works great, the graphics aernt that bad for the games i play (nfsu, nfsu2, halo, max payne, etc...older games, mostly packman and mario brothers...no more info on that, i dont feel like getting banned)

but yea, if you want to increase system performance, get ram, or if you want to game lightly, get video, and if you want to completely go all out, get ram and graphics, thats what i did,

got my mobo, cpu, and a 256mb of ram, then upgraded with hdd, dvd, psu, ram and vid, and trust me, the ram makes it scream...

if you have some extra $$$ to burn, go and get a sata hdd, a 120gb+ one, brand doesnt matter, as long as its a name brand, but 1gb + a sata3.0 = one screamin fast pc. just this last few days i installed windows on my 80gb(ide)(mce2005) and you can feel the difference, the loading bar goes acrost 6 3/4 times, on the sata it just went 1/2 way then hit desktop.

i think there might also be an option in your bios to change the memory available to the video, if you are just doing internet stuff, id say 8mb is good, but gaming bump it up to 64mb.

 

[darksideleader]

wow nice you put ur comp in an xbox, waste of an xbox though

 

[bmxfreakrider]

it fell of my tv and the dvd bracket snapped and hit the cpu and cracked the mobo...

well anyways, your hdd question, yea, that happens. Its a standard, i cant remember exactly, but a true MB is 1024kb, and ...ooh i remember, i got drunk one night and figured it out, lets see if i can remember...

A true kb is 1024B, and a true mb is 1024kb, and a true gb is 1024mb.

well, in windows, their kb is 1024b, their mb is 1024kb, and their gb is 1024mb

but harddrive manufactures see it like this:
kb = 1000b, mb = 1000kb, gb = 1000mb

think thats how it is. cant remember exactly, it was like a year ago anyways.



hdd manufactures state space on a hdd by using a base 10, but hardware is binary, and reports it as 1024. so the space is there, just reported differently.





why dont hdd manufactures just make a true 1024mb, instead of using the 10 base system...i mean 5.4gb is not a lot, but on a 80gb hdd, thats over a 6% loss of space, so on a 1tb device, thats over 60gb lost, so the bigger the hdd, the more noticeable the loss of space is.

 

[Cheetaz]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not much into games though, so I guess an extra RAM will suit me well. Well, I play Starcraft and other games that doesn't need much memory but even those games ran perfectly fine on a 7 year old computer.

Is my chipset sucky or, what did you say? You only stated yours was good. I don't know much about chipsets and such, so I'm pretty curious.

And I already bought a new harddrive, that's the 160GB one. It's IDE though. But I looked up the difference between SATA and IDE, and everyone was like "Nah, not much of a different, SATA is just slight faster but I'd recommend IDE blah blah" so I chose IDE. It works fine for me though, so I'm happy.

And yeah, manufacturers are on crack, they shouldn't count it that way, they should use the real way to count data. It's kinda scamming, paying for something you don't get, lmao. But since they still do it I guess it's not illegal.

Thanks for replies though, others can feel free to reply with your opinions aswell, if you got something to say. More help, the better.

Thanks.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

yea the nforce 405/410/430 chipsets are great, especially are paired with the 6100 and 6150 chipsets.

and i was thinking the same thing, whats the difference between sata and ide...thats what i asked myself. i looked at the data sheets, and was still looking, then realized the facts: ide has a max transfer speed of 133MBPS and sata has 3GBPS...do the math, sata is wayy faster, the hdd supports it, just the bottleneck is the ide interface. of course hdd's dont operate at 3gbps, but there is a noticeable speed diference.

 

[lastshot]

Alot of people don't like sata because "it's too easy to pull out", And it is compared to ide. But Ide Has the ability to be way faster.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

but hey for us people on the go who need to take our data with us, sata is perfect. (even tho usb is a little more convientent, because not all pc's have esata & a power hookup.