Q's on hard drive

[tnbgd]

I want my computer to run faster but I don't know what to get for it. I already installed a memory chip 512 mb worth, which puts it up to 736mb, still when I'm doing multiple things the cpu usage skyrockets and boggs down my computer. So I was thinking about trying to get a new hard drive but, I can't find out how to get the informaton needed to do so. I have a AMD athlon xp 1700+ 1.46ghz and 736 mb of RAM. The question that I really need to know is how to find the interface face speed for my computer so that I can shop for another hard drive.

[tubago]

You problem is not memory, it's proccessor
It can also be HD. If your HD is 7200rpm or more it's okay. Less than that can make your computer run slower

[bigH2O]

Most likely the CPU. Athalon 1700 is slow to begin with, and if you combine that with any sort of antivirus scanner, spyware scanner or software firewall expect it to creep along. Not much you can do about it except change the CPU. Hopefully the mobo can handle a faster processor, otherwise you'll have to change the mobo out too.

[lmnobs]

tubago and big are right on the money if you know what mother board you have it would be advantageous to us so that we could suggest a solution as it may not handle what you want to do . You can also run the speed up on the CPU on some instances ...

[vantim]

You should be running my cpu. Now that's slow. LOL. What Operating System are you running? If you are running Windows 98 or ME, I would suggest getting Windows XP and formatting your current setup. Also make sure you're not running a boat load of programs at startup. Also if you've been running your OS for more than 2 years, I would think about reinstalling windows anyway. Winbloat can cause massive slowdowns. Also download a good spyware scanner (like spybot search & destroy) and make sure your computer isn't already pulling double duty dealing with scumware and such. Do a full Anti-virus scan and make sure your Anti-Virus app is completely up to date.

The hard drive will make the most significant difference on your aging computer. Like Imnobs said if you're already using a 7200rpm drive then your fast enough already. If you can switch to an athlon XP it will give you a little boost. (but, I don't think it will make that much of a difference) If your going to change the processor I would get a motherboard as well and move to a newer platform like an AMD64 or a newer P4 setup.

[tnbgd]

Thanks for all your help guys. I was also wonsdering how do I find what speed my Hd is running. So what you guys are saying its not the capacity of the HD that matters most its the RPMs? I'm running windows XP right now and I just updated it like two weeks ago. Another thing how do I change the start up programs so that its not soo slow. Thanks again.

[vantim]

go to www.lavalys.com and download everest home edition. It will identify your hardware. It should give you the make and model of your harddrive. From there you will be able to look up all the specs on it.