I dont know too much about pc's but im learning slowely.

I need advice on how to speed up my pc. This is my spec of what i currently have!

Gigabyte-GA-K8U Motherboard

AMD SEMPRON PROCESSOR 2600+
1.61 GHz

160gb Harddrive

I have been told that my Processor is crap with regards to speed (i dont know?)
I have also been told becuase of the motherboard i have i cant change the Processor (is that right?)

So i looked up in my manual and it says This motherboard supports Type: DDR400/ 333/ 266- 184pin
Max capacity: Up to 3GB by 3 DIMM slots.

I only had 2 sticks of memory in which came to a total of 512mb...I have just brought a 1gb stick and swapped it with the 512mb.

What i want to know is will this help my processor speed and would you suggest i get another 2 sticks totalling 3gb and would doing this make a big difference with regards to speed?

I am not a gamer or nothing but i would like to run my xp pro and internet without delayed pages play/store music on my pc and my pictures without having to delete them all the time.

Many thanks for reading this i hope you can help me.

First off Welcome to CDFreaks

The extra memory will help your machine,and as cheap as it is now days you can't lose.

As far as boot up and running you should also run Chkdisk ,and Defragement your harddrive on a regular bases.I try to do mine at least once a month.


As far as storing and deleting music thats more the size of your hard drive, the memory sticks should give you faster access to them but it does not make more room to store them.

Thank you bean 55 its nice to finally talk to someone who can give me plan simple advice......

what is Chkdisk? where do i find that?

i do run my defrag every couple of weeks im good at that lol..

also is it right i cant get a faster processor for my motherboard?

thanks again for your help

What number is after the K8U ?

You can change CPU but it is simply not worth it since even if you get the best CPU available for that socket (Socket 754) you'll still have a slow one. It will also be much more expensive than its counterparts as it has reached EOL (End of Life). Your best bet would be an old Turion CPU (non X2) off eBay, it would help but not by much. You can have all three memory sticks fitted at the same time so don't leave one slot empty. As mentioned earlier, get a HDD (both SATA and PATA will do). If you go the SATA route (which would be more wise) I'd suggest that you look at Hitachi HDDs simply because they issues with old hardware (SATA 1). You would go for another brand but be sure to look for a jumper that turns it into a SATA 1 device otherwise you may end up with an unusable HDD with your current hardware. You would of course avoid all this by getting an external USB HDD instead.

@ bean55
It's just GA-K8U
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=1876
//Danne

thanks dizzy i have just brought and installed my new hhd it is a western sata i do beleive?

i forgot to say that is my only hhs i have installed and i tried setting it to master but it wouldnt have it so i have put the jumper on cp i think it was because thats what my old hhd was set to....

DiiZzY

Thought so was just tryin to make sure,in case it was the -939 model.

angeleyes041968

External HDD would probably be your best bet at this time for storing lots of Music,misc stuff.

Just plugin it in and hope it works
SATA drives doesn't have Master/Slave/CS jumpers
//Danne, who types a bit too fast sometimes :-)

If you set a jumper on it then it was not a sata drive

Is the 160 you mentioned to start with the new drive or did you just get something bigger?

I only had an 80gb hhd before so i brought this new one.

western digital 160 gb


Oh know have i messed up?

No you have not messed up.

Have you installed the 160 yet?
Are you going to use it as the primary operating system drive or just as an extra storage drive?

Hi again i installed the new 160 hhd 2 weeks ago it is my only drive and seems fine touch would......thats why i am now on to the memory side of the pc to try speed it up a little. I installed the 1gb stick last night and it has really helped but wondered if i should now buy another 2 gb if it would speed it up even more?

thanks for helping

If your budget allows it yes it will help, if not 2 then another 1 gb,how much it helps is based on what all you are doing with the computer.

And how much Multi-tasking you do, and thihngs along that nature.

Linky:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...uctName=GA-K8U

For a better CPU look for one with 1MB L2 cache, from the list of supported CPU's.
You're 4 generations back in processor support, so eBay will probably be your source.

The link includes your mobo manual. I suggest you duplex print and spiral bind it, if you don't already have one in hard copy.

On memory, it's cheap now....might as well max out.
Use identical pairs if your board supports dual channel*

*RTM