At 18:18 08/05/00, Bob Wright wrote:
>At 02:43 PM 08/05/2000 , Susan Hays wrote:
>>I have the following:
>>
>>Gateway Pentium II 300
>>320 MB of Ram
>>ATI All-in-Wonder 128 video/graphics card
>>6.4 Gig Harddrive
>>
>>Unfortunately, after upgrading my Ram and video/graphics card, I
>>can't tell any major differences than before I upgraded.
>
>The PC you describe above is more than fast enough to enjoy browsing
>the web...You need to be considering Internet speed...not PC speed...
>Using a cable modem or DSL...5mg files snap off the Internet onto
>your hard drive.

Hi Susan

I agree with Bob. You probably just need a faster Internet connection.
There are however two things that you could do to speed up the way
programs load and run, the time it takes to boot your computer, and
the ease of backing up your data. I'm talking about a bigger faster
hard drive (which should noticeably improve performance) and a faster
processor...to make you feel better!

My brother has the same computer you have. (Bought in January 1998
from Gateway.) Here's what he did:

He bought a 7200 RPM IBM hard drive (like him, your 6.4 GB drive is
probably a 5400 RPM drive). The new drive transfers data and responds
much faster than the 6.4 GB drive...which he still uses as his second
drive. The faster spinning disk platters and the way data is packed
more densly on the disks really make a big difference...maybe a 100%
difference in read and write performance. These 7200 RPM drives go for
about $7 per Gigabyte now. (Don't pay much more!) I like the IBM 7200
RPM Deskstar drives, but other manufacturers make similar fast drives.
If you got a 20 or 30 GB model, you could move that on to your next
computer...when the time comes. The key is to get a 7200 RPM model.

The other thing you could do is replace your PII-300 with a 533 MHz.
Celeron processor. Why not an even faster Celeron? Because your older
motherboard may not be able to supply the lower voltage used by the
new "FC-PGA" Celerons. You need to get a "PPGA" 533 MHz. Celeron.
(Not the "FC-PGA" one!) I recommend an Intel "boxed" Celeron (not
OEM) that comes with fan and three year warranty. (You need to buy
a heatsink and fan separately if you get the cheaper OEM Celeron.)

You'd also need a "slotket" adapter card to enable the Celeron
to fit in the "slot one" on your motherboard. Iwill, MSI, and
Asus make excellent slotket cards. You don't need a "Coppermine"
ready slotket for the PPGA Celeron and you should pay less than
$20. (It's best to avoid no-name generic ones.)

The Celeron/slotket combination might cost $120. We're talking a
78% CPU speed increase here. (It's no longer a secret that Celerons
perform as well as the more expensive Pentium II processors.)
Changing from the PII to the Celeron is a 5 minute job. You don't
need to change any motherboard jumpers. The Celerons ignore all
jumpers because they are "locked" at the factory to run at eight
times the computer bus speed.

Flashing your motherboard BIOS to the latest version at Gateway's
website will allow the system to report that you have a Celeron.
(The speed reported at boot may be 500 instead of 533 because
there were no 533 CPUs when the BIOS was released.) This is purely
cosmetic. A good benchmark program (not Norton SI however) will
show that your CPU is indeed running at 533...no matter what the
BIOS reports.

My feeling is that if the extra RAM that you added to your system
is "PC100" SDRAM, think of a new motherboard and much faster
processor (in the 800 or 850 MHz. range)...either now or in the
not too distant future when prices drop a bit. If all your memory
is "PC66" SDRAM, consider the 533 Celeron (while they are still
available) and slotket adaptor as a one time only CPU upgrade
for this computer.

The faster (and bigger) hard drive might give you the greatest
perceived speed increase and would be appropriate whichever
way you go...even if you stick with your PII-300 for now. If you
think 30 GB is way over the top, remember that if you manage to
get a broadband Internet connection, a bigger hard drive would
come in handy for all the stuff you'll download. 30 MB movie
trailers come download in under three minutes, a new MS or
Netscape browser in two minutes, big shareware programs,
tons of music... You could also create a disk partition and
periodically back up your main windows partition. That way,
if your Windows installation starts acting weird, you could
replace it with a 100% version (configured the way you like)
in (say) 15 minutes.

Regards,
Bill

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