Hard drive upgrade

[sadaist]

I'm not tech savvy at all. I have a Compaq desktop about 5-6 years old. I have a brand new hard drive that I might install, but want to know if it will make any difference in speed since my processor is remaining the same. I have upgraded my ram previously.

Here are my specs:

CPU 2.00 GHz Intel Celeron 760 mb RAM

current hard drive - 40 GB - 5400 rpm - 2 mb cache - IED/PATA

new hard drive - 300 GB - 7200 rpm - 8 mb cache - IED/PATA

I know I will have a ton more storage, but will I see any speed difference since the processor & RAM are staying the same? I do limited gaming, mostly watch videos & burn music. Basically just wondering if the new hard drive is worth putting in, or should I just save up & wait a year for a new pc. My current pc is great but just a bit slow with large games so I have all the audio/visual options set at bare bones minimum to keep the frame rates & latency acceptable.

[Blaze]

update the ram
I have spare ram from my last update.
Do you have both slots filled?

[Kristy]

A 40 gig hard drive belongs in the Smithsonian not in your computer. With a Celeron processor, I'd say definitely update (or "modernize") your RAM to a minimum of 1 gig if you're not planning on buying a new comp for a while.

[Panamark]

It will make a difference in speed, its a faster drive.
Also if your old drive was full and fragmented, the new
drive will speed things up. Windows (Im assuming thats
what you have) loves to use chunks of hard disk space
for temp storage, so that should help too..

Blaze is correct too, if you add more Ram, Ram is
a shitload faster than a Hard disk, Windows will
then use the extra ram for its swap and temp
files. The faster HDD and RAM combined will
make a noticeable difference.

If you are running Vista, then maybe not.

[sadaist]

I have both RAM slots filled. 256 & 512. I can replace and double the 256. I think the max my system can handle is 1 GB.

So increase the smaller ram card and install the new hard drive?

As for fragmentation, I have a 13 GB folder that will not defrag. For some reason Warcraft has this problem. But still, one game taking up almost 33% of my hard drive is crazy and it plays slow as fuck.

Oh, I'm on Windows XP if that makes much difference. Service Pack 2 I think.

[Blaze]

use this, I did.
SDRAM, DDR2 and DDR RAM memory upgrades from Crucial.com
It would be nice if mine fit your pegs....
but, check me tomarrow....
Most likely I will never put the left ove memory on ebay
Almost not worht the hassle

[Kristy]

So increase the smaller ram card and install the new hard drive?

Yes.

And with increased RAM there is less need for defragmentation.

[Panamark]

If you are adventurous, theres always Puppy Linux,
you could upgrade your Ram to 1 gig and that PC
would fly... (Puppy loads the whole OS into upper
Ram)...

[Panamark]

(wouldnt recommend the Puppy Linux thing if you
are only familiar with MS Windows)

[twonabomber]

may have a BIOS problem with a big hard drive. i put a 300 gig into an old machine and it only wanted to recognize maybe half of it.

[Panamark]

Good point twona, although if its recognizing 2.0ghz CPU, then he might have
half a chance that the BIOS will see it. Worth mentioning though, I've been
caught on that. Some older BIOS's will report the drive, but not allow the
OS to format it. Something to do with the LBA and sector translation...

[Little Texan]

Good point twona, although if its recognizing 2.0ghz CPU, then he might have
half a chance that the BIOS will see it. Worth mentioning though, I've been
caught on that. Some older BIOS's will report the drive, but not allow the
OS to format it. Something to do with the LBA and sector translation...

You can always flash the BIOS with a BIOS update from the computer/motherboard manufacturer that will allow it to recognize the bigger drive, or put a limitation jumper on the drive and use the software that came with it to install a drive overlay that will allow the full capacity of the drive to be used.