What is the bottleneck?

[astroruben]

What is the bottleneck (hardware which is the main reason why system is slow) for this XP system?

P4 2.26Ghz 533FSB
PC2700C2 256MB RAM
WD200BB (OS) Primary IDE - Master
WD800JB (video) Primary IDE - Slave
Sony DRU500 Secondary IDE - Master
WD200BA (mp3) Secondary IDE - Slave
All-in-Wonder Radeon 9700 Pro
SoundBlaster Live! MP3+

Current 3D Mark Score: 12915
Used for: Gaming, TV/VHS capture to DVD

I believe that memory is what slows down the system, but if I'll add a stick of 512, will it worth it and improve my 3dmark score and overall system performance? Or my hard drives are too slow for my needs? I don't know what to get, more memory (cheap) or Serial ATA card and with a new hard drive (expensive).

Thank you for any comments.

[mrtristan]

Sorry. I'm not too familiar with benchmark numbers. Exactly what's slow on your system?

In my experience, systems that are unusually slow are most likely related to a driver issue. Adding more RAM will probably make the OS seem a little more responsive, but it won't add blazing speed. From what I've read, 512MB is a nice number for XP. I've been running 1Gig of RAM in my computers for a few years now.

If it's not a driver problem, I would try adding RAM as the first option. It's the easiest and cheapest thing to do and gives you the most bang for your buck. Don't expect a dramatic change, though.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

Check out www.futuremark.com forums- they know much more than us video nerds!

in short: Add another 256 megs of ram, will help 3d mark a bit. Perform scandisk & disk deframentor, may speed things up a little. try getting a RAM management program (prob worth disabling if doing 3d mark).

tweaking xp would also improve your score a little, there is lots of software avalible. Anyway, your main bolttleneck is your processor, overclocking it would help.

Also. updating all your drivers for motherbaord and video card would help!

but your score is still pretty good so it isn;t really worth upgrading it yet, except perhaps the ram.

[The village idiot]

The bottle neck is that tapered part just below the cap. This helps the liquid to come out at a controlled rate. Also makes sealing the opening easier, since there is less area to close off.







Sorry, couldn't resist




















Well you have a 533Mhz front side bus, however you are using memory that can only go to 333mhz (if memory serves). So you could get a little bit of speed from changing the memory to a faster type. Find out what the max speed is for you MB and buy that type of memory. After that, the bestest graphics card that is avail, and then the fastest processor, and then the fastest disks, and then start all over because there is always something faster just over the consumer horizon. You have to draw a line somewhere, or else you will never be satisfied.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

lol village