upgrade help (PLEASE) RAM & HDD

[ronrontx]

PLEASE HELP!!!
system=IBM Aptiva 2171-545 w 96MB RAM and 13GB HDD. NEED OPINIONS on my upgrade plan. want to take up to 256 (128x2) and 30-40GB HDD. I understand how to upgrade memory, but for storage upgrade-is that process similar to upgrading RAM? Also, do you recc upgrading from OS WIN98 to XP Professional 9what I have at work) and doing a hard-drive overwrite and reinstall to clean things up? I have adaptec-is NERO really better. High-speed CABLE internet connection. PLEASE HELP...have tried to get help in several other forums, NO LUCK, are you guys all that serious-is my post not specific enough...don't hate! help

[Lostman]

Depends on what your doing with it. It's not a gaming rig. But if it's for casual internet and word processing use, then throw a stick of pc100 (don't know if you can get PCC133 with that board) and a larger hard drive.

It's a P3, so you can run XP if you have enough memory. I suggest at least 512 meg. But again, I don't know what that board can handle and in what incraments.

[ronrontx]

thanks....'yuse guys swell'

[dethangel]

i dont think i would run XP on that machine, as im pretty sure that the max ram is 256, i would suggest win 2k, as it is a lot less processor/memory intensive (i dont run xp on anything less than a P4 here at the school) and if you do any kind of gaming, youre gonna need more ram than that (and like i said im PRETTY sure that you cant) ill check a few more places and make sure tho

[dethangel]

http://www.computeranimal.com/memory/8305.html

(you have 2 dimms right?)

this is what makes me think it only supports 256MB, no one sells 256MB chips and if you only have 2 dimms, youd have to have 256MB chips, but www.computeranimal.com is saying 256MB chips are not compatible

i hope this clears things up a bit, and im sorry there aint anthying else i can reccomend doing, unless oyu have a friend with a couple of pc100 sticks of 256MB, and you could just try em? i mean, that woint hurt anything, so its worth a shot (i wouldnt go buy em and try and return em, whatever you do) the only other thing i could think of would be to replace your mobo

[Cthulhu]

I'd stay away from XP with anything under 256MB ram. 2000 would be a much better choice, especialy with you only having a P3. At work I use a 2000 pro with a celeron 650Mhz and 256MB ram and it works just fine for office type stuff and even some less memory stressing gaming (C&C, Starcraft etc.)
Not sure about the dimms question though.

[dethangel]

thats basically what i said lol

[ronrontx]

thanks...i think i'll prob go OS/WIN200...2x128at100Mhz to get the 256 and leave the 13GB storage, since I am using not that much anyway....? would you recommend a wipe of the HDD and a clean install of the 2000 as opposed to an upgrade install? i think i may have wasted programs on local HDD that i may have been looking at or playing with earlier...
-dethangel? dude, or dudette-you almost had me 'skeered' to open the reply....interesting name, that's all I'm gonna say---and thanks a bunch!!!!!

[dethangel]

yes defiantely a clean install, always