My system outdated

I'm not sure where to post this question so I'll start here.
I have VIA Technologies, Inc. Model VT8367-8233
BIOS Version Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG
AMD Duron Processor x86 Family 6 Model 7 Stepping 1
Speed 1200 MHz
RAM 128 MB
Local Disk 28.63GB

Am I WAY behind the times here?

 

Re: My system outdated?

Hello and welcome. Personally Id say it wouldn't be the best computer for me. Why do you ask? Are you looking for a new computer? What do you do with you with your current computer? Just browse and read emails, play high speed games. Computer running slow?

 

Personally I wouldn't run anything over windows 95 on that box. 128 MB ram? really?

you know, I regularly throw out 512mb sticks.

 

Oh look, I just saw a turtle go past your RAM..

In all honesty, you are way behind, I would suggest upgrading...

 

That question would be better answered by another question. What do need your computer to do?

I still have an old HP Vectra that runs Windows 98 that is only used for checking emails and occasionally surfing the web. Extremely slow system.

I also have a dual core with 4gb ram and twin Dvd burners that handles everything from daily use to backing up my Dvds to gaming.

I can't afford to keep up with the times, because by the time I get a new computer home, it's already outdated. :-D

Again, it's about your needs.

 

i've got one machine kind of like that, 128MB of ram. It's has W98, and I use it occasionaly for email checking, visiting this forum.
Don't expect much more from it however, and 98 isn't the most stable system out there.
I did put startup standalone;
http://majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=4359&file=15&evp=9b9ae16f863c6455cb0822bf677d77dc
in it, unchecked all the applications under the HKLM tab, boots fully in about 45 seconds. Can also play a few games with it. Really just have it as a novelty. Don't expect it to do much more. Don't even have an anti-vir on it. If it gets infected, I'll just reformat, I don't keep ANY date files that I want on it.
All the best.

 

Thanks for your replies. I surf the web, email, research, don't play games or download much. My computer IS slow. I've followed the clean-up process suggested here, it helped some. I have att dsl pro elite (just upgraded from pro). The thing I'm most interested in is having the windows pop up with just a few seconds wait time. The New York Times crossword seems to take forever to load. Also, when I close one tab or open another tab is also seems to take a long time.
Thanks for your help

OS is XP Professional Version 5.1.2600

 

Looks like you don't have near enough RAM to run XP Pro.

I think XP bare minimum is 256mb but even that was proven to be too little to be comfortable. You really want to have 1gb to leave some free memory available but can squeak through with 512mb if that is all your motherboard will accept.

I'd suggest going to crucial.com and run their scanner tool to see how much memory your motherboard can accept. Then post a link to the crucial page with your memory options so that someone can advise you further.

***
Just for reference my Firefox browser is using almost 110mb of memory right now. Which I think is fairly normal. That is almost your entire memory available. So, you can see why your browsing may be slow even though you have broadband--your browser is waiting for memory and having to work out of virtual memory which is much slower than RAM.

 

This is what crucial.com came up with. I don't have clue what any of it means....Thanks

Maximum Memory Capacity: 1048576 MB
Currently Installed Memory: 128 MB
Available Memory Slots: 3
Total Memory Slots: 4
Dual Channel Support: N.A.
CPU Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
CPU Family: AMD Duron(tm) processor Model 7, Stepping 1
CPU Speed: 1200 MHz

 

According to this your system can accept 1024GB of RAM. This is WAY over what anyone at the moment needs.

Is the computer a custom build or does it have a model name/number? If it has the number, please post it along with the manufacturer's name

 

VIA Technologies
System Model: VT8367-8233
BIOS Version Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG
Speed 1200MHz

Someone built this for me. I let them decide what I needed at the time.

When I look at my "local disk" under properties it shows my capacity is 30,746,062,848 Bytes or 28.6GB. Used: 14.7GB Free:13.8GB

Under "system information" its shows:
Physical Memory 128MB
Available Physical Memory 34.28MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.95GB

SODIMM & DDR - I didn't know where to find this information.
Also, I THINK I know what a "stick" is (memory device you plug into a slot in the back of the computer? Don't Laugh....), but I'm not sure.

 

When you run the crucial test it opens a page in your browser. Can you copy the link from the address bar and paste it here in a post? It would be easier for us to see your options.
If not what type of RAM did they recommend you buy? ie. 184 pin DDR PC(3200) this type of info tells us what we need to know.

Pic of RAM stick/module

 

Thanks again to everyone for their help.
I just switched from ATT Pro to ATT Elite. It's suppose to be faster, but I can't tell the difference.
Thanks for the pix. Now I get it.....


http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/viewscanbyid.aspx?id=A3395EB431D926C3

 

Since we're all correcting stuff here, 1.2ghz wouldn't be in the early 90s. In fact, Intel was the first to break the 1ghz boundary, in the release of it's Pentium III 1ghz cpu on March 8, 2000.

 

According to http://www.memory-up.com/memory/VIAChipset14458.html your chipset will support up to 1GB DDR modules, the 1GB limit may have been because the biggest stick at the time of your board manufacture was 256mb. Do you know what mainboard you have? Is it an Epox?

When you shop for ram, just be sure to get sticks made with x8 chip infrastructure, like 64Mx8 1gb or 32Mx8 512mb sticks. That way you dont run into any density issues.

 

Ah, such sweet things you say... You don't really need me here though.

wombie, you've got three slots, a max of 1GB per slot, and if you want to keep running Windows XP you a should install at least an additional gigabyte. In fact, I would never, ever suggest to someone to try and run XP on less than 1GB. 1GB is eight times what you have right now!

If you want to buy from Crucial (since you ran their scanner), these parts will fit your mother board and should work just fine. Oh, and your board can't run dual channel, so you won't get any extra benefit from buying a kit versus buying a single module. Go with whatever is cheaper, in other words.

So basically, just do what everyone else in this thread already suggested.

 

Hi Mimsy, take a look at wombie's crucial analysis. It detects 4 slots.

I also looked around for this board info and came up with the Epox links but they all state a 3 slot board--doesn't match the information crucial is getting from BIOS. :confused

Just for my info is it generally the case that a board from early 2000/2002 can read 1GB modules of DDR automatically even when at the time 256mb was the standard and assuming no upgrade to BIOS?

 

This was on the web page Mimsy directed me to. 1GB no kit. But I didn't see anything about x8 chip infrastructure mentioned by Noone. As a last check with everyone, this is ok to buy? Thanks



http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT12864Z335

 

I would hazzard at a guess with you system being that old your motherboard wouldnt accept just a 1gig stick of ram like the guys said, try for 4 sticks of 256mb, i have an old system in the spare room hanging about and it can accept 2gig but has 4 slots and cant put than 512mb in each slot so maybe the case with your motherboard, try for ebay also use cpu-z or everest and people can tell you what exacts RAM to purchase, sdram or ddr.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

I noticed that... but all information I could find everywhere else said three slots, so since the Crucial scan was wrong on a few other things as well I went with the majority that said only three slots. I've seen enough early DDR motherboards with three slots to not be surprised at the number, only irritated that someone would build them that way.

Er, that's a coin-flip either way really, from what I've seen. It depends on the chipset on the motherboard. Keep in mind though that I tend to get a bit of a skewed sample size, since I only hear about the ones that have problems... Usually my suggestion it to try just putting the memory in and if that works, be happy and leave it alone. If it refuses to work, then do BOIS updates and see if they help. If they don't, then you are going to have to start looking at creative solutions.

wombie:
The part you found should work just fine in your motherboard. Crucial lets you send things back for refund if they don't work, so if it doesn't, you won't be stuck with an ugly new paperweight.

 

I can get used tested ram fairly cheaply. DDR low density modules run me $20 for 1gb, $10 for 512mb, $5 for 256mb. If you want to paypal me I'll ship you some. This is less expensive than you will find them for on ebay.