Sazerac's Help Desk (post your tech-related questions here!)

Thompson, for the swap file you should set the min and max to the same number. Depending on the amount of memory you have. I have 256MB memory and have the swap file set at 768meg min and max. what this does is it frees the OS from constantly reshuffeling the swapfile size, this frees up a lot of cpu time and IO access time. So multiply your memory by 2 or 3 and set the min and max to that number. It really does help.

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Disintigration is easy, If you really want to impress me, ReIntegrate it.

[Sharheim]

This doesnt realy have anything to do with W&W but i thought maybe you tech guys could help me out a bit.

Problem is that my 700mhz is about as slow as a 450mhz and i need to know what should be changed in the system next time im shopping, and also if there are some specific configurations i can do right now.

My System:

Motherboard, Epox k7kxa
Processor, Athlon 700mhz
Ram, 128 Pc100
Graphics, Hercules Geforce 2mx
HDD, IBM 10.1 gig drive and a realy old 3.5gig Seagate(I was thinking that one might be the problem)
PCI, SCSI, Adaptec AIC7850
PCI, Network, D-link 530TX Fast Rev(A)
Multimedia, CD-r, Matshita CW-7502
ISDN card, ASUScom

Oh yea i allmost forgot.
I also have problems with the onboard soundcard (I know they allways suck)
but i cant get the volume up, i mean no soundcard whatsoever can be this quite It's some via crap chipset..
Next time im shopping i sure aint gonna buy EPOX motherboard.

If you have any idea's suggestions or anything id be very greatfull...
Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Sharheim (edited 09-05-2001).]

I think that old slow HD is one problem, you could use a bit more memory to 256meg. Everything else looks ok try the swap file thing I posted above and defrag your HD once in a while. That should get you on track.

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Disintigration is easy, If you really want to impress me, ReIntegrate it.

[Thompson]

How big hard drive should i buy then? 20 gigs or more??

Thompson any newer 5400RPM or 7200RPM drive will be better than the older drives. It's hard to find 20gig drives in the stores but they can be found on line. The key though is to get a faster drive possibly ATA66 I would say ATA100 but I don't think your mobo will make use of the ata100. So stick with a 20 or 30 gig 7200RPM if you can or 5400RPM if not. Also don't bother to partition it into smaller drives, with modern OS's like win9x and 2000 and FAT32 or NTFS you don't have to worry about those old DOS block sizes.


Note: and disclaimer These are just my opinions and the things I have done on my system.

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Disintigration is easy, If you really want to impress me, ReIntegrate it.

[This message has been edited by MagiK (edited 09-06-2001).]

[Sharheim]

Thomson, if i were you i would buy one of the new bigspace drives..
Depending on your mainboard you might need a controller card for it but those are quite cheap.

Yes if money is no object definately go for the biggest drive out there. But in the world of $$$$ per MB the 20's and 30's are pretty cheap. I bought 2 30gig 7200RPM drive for $75 each at Best Buy 2 months ago (after rebate and store discount)

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Disintigration is easy, If you really want to impress me, ReIntegrate it.

[Sharheim]

75+75 = 150 + 50 = 200$ gives you an 80gig drive.
You can turn and bend on that as much as you want..
But if you want to make a profit you go for a bigger drive

Shar but what you don't know is that with 2 30gig drives I can use my RAID controller to make them look like one big 60gig drive (RAID 0) with twice the speed of that one 80gig drive...since the 30gig 7200's are ATA100 and so is my RAID controller. Having used RAID 0 for 2x20gig drives and 2x30gig drives I have 100gig of ultra-fast diskspace and my gaming speeds are very very nice...still haven't found a game that will really stress my system in this configuration. Geforce3 video mated to a 1ghz PIII with 256meg of RAM Every games I have runs smooth as silk at 1600x1200, only problem with that is my monitor is only 19" and sooooo I stick to 1280x1024 course with WnW thats not an issue.

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Disintigration is easy, If you really want to impress me, ReIntegrate it.

[Wyvern]

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