Bought a New Dell, Do I need ...

I bought a new dell 8400 and these are the specs:

Pent 4 630 3.0 GHz, 512MB (2X256MB) RAM, 40GB HD, DVD/CD Burner, Audigy 2 ZS sound card, 256MB nvidia geforce 6800 video card, and a 19" flat panel.

I'm going to buy a 160GB HD, and I'm wondering if I should use the 40GB HD as a second drive used for backup and extra storage purposes only, or should I go ahead and buy two 160GB HDs instead?

I'm a beginner and I would like to start gaming a little on my PC. The other things I would like to do, is to be able to store pictures, video, and music without any problems. I would burn most of it on cds or dvds but I'm sure I'd store a lot on the HD as well and I don't want that to bog down my other few programs I may run. I don't do programming or professional video editing, so I don't have many programs at all. Most of it would just be the normal Office, Quicken, Photoshop, and miscellaneous printer/photo editing software. The rest hopefully would just be some cool games or something.

Also, do I really need to upgrade my RAM to a gig? If so, I have 4 available slots for memory should I buy 1GB (2X512), or just buy another 512GB (2X256)?

I'm sure all this depends on my PC usage, so I'm prepared to answer any questions necessary. Thanks a lot for all of your help.

Gil.

 

Extra HD: I would keep running the 40gig drive as the master, and use the 160 gig drive as a storage device. If you only install programs and stuff like that on the 40, it will run faster because it won't be as fragmented by lots of video/photo files moving around constantly.

RAM: Upgrading to a gig of ram is probably a good idea as it will make video editing and gaming much faster. I dont know if having 2x256+1x512 will run slower than 2x512 though.

 

i agree with longinus, use the 160GB drive for file storage and backups and the 40GB drive for win XP and other software. That way when u have to reinstall windows u wont have to format and thereby delete 160GB but only 40GB.
Also, i think u should go for a GB of ram, its definetly worth it when u have a relatively good system like that, try to go for the bigger memory modules so that in future when and if u upgrade u wont have to throw out too many of them.

 

That makes plenty of sense. What about games? Do you store the content on the master or the secondary? Also, I've heard about the quietness of some HDs. Are the HDs from dell loud? I think I would want my master to be as quiet as possible because that's the one that would be ran more often. Am I being too picky? I would almost think of buying TWO of these quiet 160GB drives just to be sure I wouldn't be annoyed by a loud one, but I don't think I need that much space.

Okay I'm convinced that I am going to upgrade to a gig of ram. But my question still stands about buying another 2X256 to fill up all four of my memory slots (4X256 which would equal my full gig, and is the cheaper route), or try to sell my 2X256 for $40-$50(?) and buy a $90-$120(?) 1X1GB?

I guess my logic to the cheaper route was that I could get by with 4X256 for another year and by that time the 1GB should be cheaper and I could get atleast 2 1X1GB for say $120.

One last question about ram, when I buy my new ram should I buy DDR2 400 (same as the ram coming from dell) or should I buy higher such as DDR2 533?

Thanks again for all of the help here.

 

Its never a good Idea to have 4 sticks of memory especially different brands,if you get another 2 sticks not only do they have to be the same speed but the same make and they will be wierd ones that dell got from venus so you prob cant find any "unless dell" sells them as an upgrade and then they will be overpriced,so if you can find someone to buy them get rid,and get a new 1 gig stick. BTW I have the loudest harddrive going and it aint that loud!

 

Just install the games on the 40. As for the relative noisiness of the drives, I've got a Samsung drive that came with a dell that has since been taken apart, and I don't really notice that much noise coming from it, and my case is sitting open next to my mousepad.

 

check too see what brand of ram dell put in there i agree with rikky it should all be the same brand and speed but in the dell i bought they put some crucial ram and i just bought more too match that

 

If your motherboard is set up for dual channel it would be best to have two sticks of identical ram

 

I also have a Dell 8400 and I went to Tigerdirect.com for my memory . The 8400 has a total of 4gigs and you can use any combination of memory . I have two sticks of 256 that came with it and two sticks of ddr2 ultra 533mhz 512. The 8400 will just run at 400mhz not the 533 . if you need any more help just e-mail me at "discboy321@yahoo.com" I play HALO alot . Ed

 

Also make sure your new hard drive is SATA. The 8400 ide cables are taken if you have two cd rom's which most 8400 come with.

 

I would use the 160 GB drive as the Master or main drive.

It would almost certainly be faster than the current 40 GB one, so it would be foolish to use the faster one only as a "storage drive" as recommended above.