Newbie Video Junky

[ktoycelica]

I was given a computer for free that had a new 250 gb hard drive, windows xp sp2, and a video agp 512mb ddr card installed. I was also given two more 256mb sdram pc 133 cards by my brother that got me up to 768mb of ram the mother board is intel d845wn with a 1.6 ghz pentium 4. I installed an 8.5 gb dvd+/- dual layer drive and a new sound blaster x-fi audio card. I would like to go with more ram but am not sure if I can. When I look up the mother board it says it can use up to 3 gb of ram but that it is not verified. What should I do I want it to run as fast as possible? What about EEC and Non EEC PC 133 sdram is one better? I am willing to spend a little money because I got the PC for FREE. Any help would be awesome thank all of you.

[doctorhardware]

Non ECC memory is just fine. I have had only one 512meg stick of non ecc go bad. To make the computer go faster 1) faster cpu dual core if possible 2) max out the memory. 3) and have only what you need running in memory, for example turn off like you av, popup blockers any thing that is running in the back ground. Chewy has a stickie that gives info what needs to be turned off.

[katzdvd]

I was also given two more 256mb sdram pc 133 cards by my brother that got me up to 768mb of ram

Depending on your use of the pc, 768 may really be all that you need; I have a friend that is using 512 sdram in a 1.1 duron pc, & as long as he doesn't multi task too heavily, he can work with video & surf the net, & do other light tasks as the same time without any issues.

regards, katz

[volfann]

Go to Crucial .com and they have an online analyzer that will tell you how much RAM and what kind your system can use.

[ktoycelica]

Thank All Of You

Thank you for the help. I may need more soon. I really like making videos. But I almost always end up locking up a computer doing it. I will eventually learn the best way to do things without crashing my PC. Once Again Thank You All!!!