I've already said that I've brought all the components except RAM and AV. So it's too late to replace them. But don't worry, they'll serve me well for many years to come. I only came here for help concerning RAMs and AVs.
I use a 3.0 GHZ P4 with HT and it pretty much gives up at the oblivion range of games, definatly will not hold out if you want to play SC2 or supreme commanders.
My aim with this new PC, is not only just for games, but to handle programs such as FL Studio 7 XXL, Pinnacle Liquid Edition, and others. I can take some slowdowns or choppy frames during games.
I had a simlar graphic card before it died. It will work for older games but definatly do not expect new games to play well on it (if they even do play).
When a game doesn't run at all, I check on the graphic card's vendor's site for updates. They have patches that make older graphic cards compatible with newer games (Unless the games require more graphic card memory.).
do not bother getting 4GB of ram with those specs, 2GB is more than enough if your using XP (which is probably all that system will run properly). Rather save moeny for an extra 2GB for better hardware as it will pay of in the long run. 4GB of ram is only good with vista and playing modern games (which your PC will run slowly anyway).
I never liked Vista so I'll stick with XP. Due to my Motherboard's limits, I'll be getting only 3 GB. Because many games or programs drain too much RAM, which will likely cause a crash. A real pain if you ask me.
I strongly recomend you rather put that money into a better graphics card if you want better preformance.
I'll upgrade my graphic card (And probably my CPU) in the future (Due to ridiculously expensive prices and as they are not available in my country yet.). But for now, I'll stick with this one.
As for anti virus, I am currently not sure as I use norton and it seems recurce hungy.
Yes, I know they slow the PCs down a bit. But it's worth having our PCs protected from all malwares. AVs can be disabled before running games, so they won't slow down the performance. And Norton is also a good program, let me write that on my list paper.
However this is only my view and so do not jump to descisions on it and wait for other experts ideas.
Don't worry, I'm never in a hurry. But thanks for your help and advices.
i think 2GB ram will be enough
i use avast! antivirus and is good enough for me
I prefer 3 GB of RAM to keep my games and programs stabilized (No crashes). Avast! is also a good AV program so I'll add it to my list paper...
Your motherboard supports up to 4GB of memory. However, if you run a 32-bit operating system (like standard Windows XP), then you will not be able to make use of 4GB of RAM since your operating system will not be able to address the full 4GB (due to memory-mapped I/O). I would suggest instead getting 3GB (2x1GB + 2x512MB) or 2GB of RAM.
Also, your motherboard accepts DDR2 only at 400MHz and 533MHz (based on the spec) so don't bother getting 667MHz or 800MHz DDR2.
So XP won't detect up to 4 GB? Okay, so I'll get 3GB (2x1GB + 2x512MB). Nice, they'd perfectly fit in all four sockets. I'll also keep in mind of their MHz as well...
Unbuffered, non-ECC memory is what nearly all standard desktop computers use. ECC is an error correction and detection scheme used on memory for servers and workstations.
So, are all (Or almost all.) the RAM chips from many vendors always unbuffered and non-ECC?
Based on your previous description, it sounds as if the motherboard does NOT support 2GB modules. I would stick with 1GB or 512MB modules.
Okay, so no 2 GB modules. And I've almost purchased that without knowing it! Thanks for warning me.
Many commercial virus scanners are decent, and their individual performance tends to fluctuate depending on the current virus threats and the response time of the companies to maintain their virus detection heuristics.
You should take a look at some comparisons if you want to be absolutely sure. For example:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2007_11.php
That said, I personally use
AVG free on a few of my machines because it's free and works reasonably well.
Okay, I'll take a look of that link. And as well adding AVG AV in my list paper.
As a final note, don't spend any extra money on this machine. It is using very dated components. It would be much better to save your money for a bit and buy a newer machine with an Intel Core 2 chip as you will get far faster performance and a system that runs cooler and much more efficiently.
I know they're quite old-fashioned, but there are no Intel Core 2 Chips in my country yet (My country is so delayed with imports.). And I've already spent my money on these components, like I've said in this post. But I'm happy about it. I'll probably buy that after few years...
But with my new Pentium 4, I've already brought a special cooler device that will replace that Intel's tiny fan. I don't know what's called, but it's a huge bronze metal thingy that attaches on the P4 Chip and absorbs most of the heat, and the other two huge fans installed in my tower will expel the heat, thus keeping my PC fresh.
I have the same video card on my old computer, its crap and causes my old computer to restart automatically (overheats even when I have 5 fans). Try getting a video card with atleast 512MB of memory, they will run most of the latest games.
Okay, so what kind of PC and tower do you have? Mine has many holes, and two huge fans to cool everything down. And a huge bronze metal thingy that absorbs excessive CPU heat. Ah well, I might have to post a picture of my PC to show to everybody (Could be fun.).
As for the memory, keep in mind that the RAM is even more important, because if you play TES4 - Oblivion with only 1 GB of RAM for too long, it'll crash. Why? Because I've used the Task Manager to monitor the RAM availability and there was only 36 or less MB of RAM available, it had no more room to store more textures data.
Now, again with 1 GB of RAM for The Sims 2 (With all Expansions), if you play for too long, the Sims' graphics will become garbled with twisted vertices and displaying colorful messy stuff. Why? Because, once again, there was not enough RAM memory to store more textures.
That's the reason why I need 3 GB of RAM.
