Why my computer was slow

[gmoreno]

I just upgraded my box. There was too many ifs with getting a mac mini. Not sure what was going to work.

Anyways I just realized that my hard drive was holding me back. I now have 2 ghz box with a gig of memory and my box is still slow. It has to be the hard drive. Its as slow as my old box.

So when I build my parents a box from my old parts I'm going to have to buy them a new hd. I think my hard drive is about 5 years old. I don't know why it never crossed my mind.

[trickster]

I've seen that at work. Sometimes, even if the machine is old, replacing the hard drive gives it a speed boost.
I think they get tired with old age.

[Compunuts]

Yeah, it's just like any other. The best link is your weakest link (or something along the line).

Most people seem to be obsessed with the speed of CPU. But the point is as long as your computer is working efficiently, it's not all about computing power. For example, most HDDs stuck in 7200 RPM speed and IDEs with 66 MHz or less up until recently. Even if you buy HDD with higher RPM, if your MB doesn't support it, then you won't get the full advantage of it. A friend of mine bought 80 GB UDMA133 HDD and paid about 30 bucks more than the same size with UDMA 100. He told me that the sales man said it's faster so it's better. But the thing is his MB only supports 66 MHz EIDE on his old AMD Athlon K7 box.

So for you, if your HDD is only 100 MHz and 5400 RPM, then it would be much better off buying 7200 RPM drive. Or better yet, go for 10K drives. It used to be 10K drive prices are much higher but not any more.

[Stuart]

You're only as fast as your weakest link.
Goes for RAM, Token Ring networks, ethernet networks...

[gmoreno]

So what hd should I get now. I have upgraded to a mobo that supports sata? I didn't undertand the mhz in a harddrive. I know 7200rpm is about the standard.

[trickster]

Western Digital 250GB SATA/150 for $109 After Rebates

Hitachi 250GB Serial ATA/150 for $99 After Rebate

Seagate 200GB Ultra ATA/100 for $49.99 After Rebate

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160GB 7200 8MB ATA-133 EIDE OEM Hard Drive for $49.99 After Rebate

My recommendation is, if you can afford SATA, go for it. Otherwise, modern EIDE drives are pretty good too.

[Compunuts]

Yeah, if you can afford it, go for SATA. If not, go for the higest speed your MB will support for your IDE, 100 MHz or 133 MHz. Those MHzs are interface speed (like FSB in MBs) and RPMs are the drive spinning speeds (the faster it spins, the faster it can read and write).

[gmoreno]

I got a good deal at NewEgg $55 for 80gb SATA 150 8MB cache. I went to Fry's, they are now getting more expensive. Or maybe newegg has really good deals.

[Schotty]

[quote author=gmoreno link=board=3;threadid=10648;start=0#msg95666 date=1125080944]
Or maybe newegg has really good deals.
[/quote]

Yeah, thats pretty much it. Screw most stores. I am eternally pissed at Worst Buy. CompUSA is expensive, but at least :

** I get it now

** I get respect, not insults. Proof in point, Linspire box sets. the salesman admitted to not liking Linux, but stated that there are those that do, and this may be a good thing to bring up to those people.

** I got a selection. I got more than crap, and worse crap.

** It gets me out of the house Yes this is important these days. Oddly, the local CompUSA is next door to a really nice grocery store that sells all of the booze I like **AND** decent sushi.

When online, NewEgg is my **Only** choice (sans Crucial). Best prices + Wealth of choice + Quality customer service == Happy bearded fedora wearing BOFH.

[me=Schotty]done now. Out for more coffee then back to work. Yay.[/me]

[gmoreno]

Man even my burner is faster. I think my hard drive was slowly dying since my burner was burning slower and slower each time. Last cd I burned took 2 hours!!! I thought I had a bad burner.