Pete M Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 so I've discovered how cheep the usb 2.0 ports are on ebay. :D then when I opened up the old girl, I discovered why that "wireless signal not found" warning pops up. turns out there's a wifi card in my desktop that (I'm assuming) only needs the external antenna. (I got the desktop used/free many years ago and really never did anything with it since at the time it was light years better than the ancient brick I had before (anyone remember the 486?) and was happy just for that). and while I've got it open I'm going to fill that open ram spot if I can find an affordable 1gig pc2100 or 2700 card. I've been so spoiled by using my father's laptop that when I switch back to the ol' desktop I'm reminded of how painfully slow it is. :ack: So when all is said and done, it'll be one step closer to the 21st century. :clapping: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 11, 2010 Author Share Posted August 11, 2010 2.0 ports are in and they are blazing fast. :D transferred 1 gig in under a minute instead of like 10. still waiting on my wifi antenna and ram. oh, and it looks like my computer was built in 2000. still hummin' along. :typing: (loudly I might add. still need to swap out that fan) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Although a 10 year old computer sounds old, my favorite computer that I own is my 2.8GHz P4 w/3Gb of RAM and Windows XP Pro that I bought in 2002. Still plugging away and has been rock solid for 8 years - much more stable than my other desktop with all the gizmos and gadgets (well, gizmos and gadgets from 2006 when I put that one together). I also have an IBM ThinkPad laptop from the late 90's that I love, but thing needs a new screen and they cost more than I paid for the thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 11, 2010 Author Share Posted August 11, 2010 my 'puter is pluggin' away in a similar manner as my 86 MJ. It "works", but you'd better not be in a hurry. :D I'm hoping that the extra ram and 2.0 ports will make it less painful for the user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kastein Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 Nice! I gotta get my desktop running one of these years... built it last august and still haven't installed an OS :dunno: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 16, 2010 Author Share Posted August 16, 2010 got my ram today. I gave up trying to get a pair of gig cards and went with 514s instead. cheaper and I'm not entirely certain my old computer could even make good use of 2 gigs of ram anyhow. Threw one of them in the open slot and WOW what a difference. :eek: holy crap I should have done that YEARS ago. :doh: To anyone with a slow computer (assuming it hasn't been compromised in some way), do yourself a favor and check what your available ram is. mine was only 256. now I'm running an extra 514 on top of that and the 'puter no longer slows down when I try to do two things at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakjeep93 Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 i won't use a computer with less than 2 gigs of ram. my main pc(the one I'm on now)has 4 gigs of ram, and my backup has 3gigs. too bad you wernt closer pete id hook you up with a good pc . me and dad build them for fun so weve got like 5 lying around the house doing nothing lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kastein Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 got my ram today. I gave up trying to get a pair of gig cards and went with 514s instead. cheaper and I'm not entirely certain my old computer could even make good use of 2 gigs of ram anyhow. Threw one of them in the open slot and WOW what a difference. :eek: holy crap I should have done that YEARS ago. :doh: To anyone with a slow computer (assuming it hasn't been compromised in some way), do yourself a favor and check what your available ram is. mine was only 256. now I'm running an extra 514 on top of that and the 'puter no longer slows down when I try to do two things at once. minor nitpick... it's 512 :thumbsup: All memory sticks (except USB flash sticks and SSDs, etc) are powers of two, so 1/2/4/8/16/32/64/128/256/512 megs, or gigs, or I guess in the future terabytes :eek: I used to run Win2k on a Pentium I class laptop with 64MB of RAM... I can't believe I did that for as long as I did. My desktop, when I get around to installing FreeBSD on it, will have 8GB. I'll likely be running a few 32 bit virtual machines under a 64 bit VMM since I can't get nVidia video drivers for 64 bit FreeBSD nor 32 bit w/ PAE enabled FreeBSD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 16, 2010 Author Share Posted August 16, 2010 minor nitpick... it's 512 :thumbsup: d'oh! I knew that. :oops: I swear. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 Older computers are much better. I cannot stand Vista or 7. I run only XP Pro or 2kpro. Every "new and better" computer I've ever used was a total POS. My wife just bought a new laptop with a dual core processor and windows 7 YESTERDAY. The damn thing takes 5-10 seconds to open anything after you click on it. My netbook with XP Pro and my 6 year old dell with XP Pro run a ton faster than that. minor nitpick... it's 512 :thumbsup: d'oh! I knew that. :oops: I swear. :D S'ok. We have the same issues with gear ratios. Drives me nuts every time I see 3:55 instead of 3.55. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 Adding RAM has a much more obvious effect on older PC's in terms of overall system speed. Once you get in the 4GB+ range with RAM, you won't see much difference if you're just doing the basics like internet browsing, e-mail, etc. We have a powerhouse PC in our office with dual Xenon processors and 12Gb of RAM. It's not much better or quicker with opening internet browsers and e-mail clients than other 'standard' PCs in the office, but when you run a complex computation fluid dynamics (CFD) model on it, it leaves the others in the dust :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kastein Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Older computers are much better. I cannot stand Vista or 7. I run only XP Pro or 2kpro. Every "new and better" computer I've ever used was a total POS. My wife just bought a new laptop with a dual core processor and windows 7 YESTERDAY. The damn thing takes 5-10 seconds to open anything after you click on it. My netbook with XP Pro and my 6 year old dell with XP Pro run a ton faster than that. minor nitpick... it's 512 :thumbsup: d'oh! I knew that. :oops: I swear. :D S'ok. We have the same issues with gear ratios. Drives me nuts every time I see 3:55 instead of 3.55. Yeah :fs1: 3.55:1 is even better, 3:55 just drives me nuts. I see it so often I mostly just ignore it now though. Adding RAM has a much more obvious effect on older PC's in terms of overall system speed. Once you get in the 4GB+ range with RAM, you won't see much difference if you're just doing the basics like internet browsing, e-mail, etc. We have a powerhouse PC in our office with dual Xenon processors and 12Gb of RAM. It's not much better or quicker with opening internet browsers and e-mail clients than other 'standard' PCs in the office, but when you run a complex computation fluid dynamics (CFD) model on it, it leaves the others in the dust :D Minor nitpick... Xeon not Xenon :waving: Xenon is an element (a noble gas to be specific) while Xeon is the trademarked processor family name. Firefox really, really loves to suck up large quantities of memory when you leave it open for weeks or months at a time and have 4-5 rows of tabs open :rotf: I actually noticed a difference going from 1 to 2GB due to this. Also, you usually won't see any change (on a 32 bit OS) going anywhere above 2GB unless you've specifically tuned the OS configuration to take advantage of it, and almost certainly won't see any advantage on a 32 bit OS going anywhere above 3GB or so without those configuration changes. Anything above 64GB requires a 64 bit OS but then again, if you can afford and justify 64GB you probably know way more about computers than I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landlubber Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 XP pro FTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 19, 2010 Author Share Posted August 19, 2010 XP pro FTW. x3 now I'm working on finding a cheap enough dvd RW drive for the desktop. :D what I have now only plays CDs. :fs1: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 You can get a DVD writer for about $20... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Minor nitpick... Xeon not Xenon :waving: Xenon is an element (a noble gas to be specific) while Xeon is the trademarked processor family name. No, our computer is special. It uses dual fuel cell processors that run on Xenon and Oxygen to generate a tremendous amount of electricity. So much that we sell it back to the grid and earn enough profit to employ 10 people. We just come into our 'office' every day where we take turns napping and refilling the Xenon fuel tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted September 5, 2010 Author Share Posted September 5, 2010 found a decent site for computer stuff and so I replaced all my fans and even added an 'out" fan. it's quieter for sure, but not silent (they are cheap fans after all and my desktop is literally on the desk, right behind the monitor). the one fan that use to scream now and again was smashed repeatedly with a hammer. :yes: I got an extra 50mm fan for my xbox. got an idea on how to help it stay cool with out going all out giving 12 volts to the stock fans. :brows: (which is so far the absolute best way I've found for sucking out heat) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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