Epinions Computers Q&A: Week 3
Feb 07 '01 (Updated Feb 21 '01)
The Bottom Line They say one of the best ways to learn is from other people's experiences, and that's no exception when it comes to learning computer skills.
(Sorry for the extended hiatus from the "weekly" Q&A lately, but ever since the Epinions downtime we haven't been able to post more than one review to a category. Now that the glitch has been worked out, here's the next in the series...)
They say one of the best ways to learn is from other people's experiences, and that's no exception when it comes to learning computer skills. One of the best examples is the long standing tradition of PC "Q&A's" in computer magazines and websites, where readers submit their various questions on topics such as troubleshooting, buying advice, and upgrade advice, in hopes of getting their question (and, more importantly, the answer) published. Who knows how many hours I've saved by reading these Q&A's, and avoiding the same pitfalls that other computer users have already been victimized by?
With that in mind, I've created an email address at "computers_qa@yahoo.com" where you can send any computer-related questions you may have, and I'll "publish" the answers to the best questions in my next editorial. I promise to also respond via email to all questions received, even if they don't end up appearing in the actual Q&A.
I also promise to make each Q&A as educational and pertinent to the topic of "developing computer skills" as possible--not just to the people asking the question, but to everyone reading it as well. The last thing I want to do is fill my articles with esoteric solutions to obscure problems, with little relevance to anyone except the person asking the question. My goal is to make this a series of "Developing Computer Skills" editorials, but about the topics you're interested in, not just the ones I want to write about.
As far as what makes a good question goes, basically any question relating to computers is fair game. It doesn't even need to be about a specific problem or situation, but can be as general as "What's the best fastest processor today" or "How can I get my computer to run faster"? As readers of my prior epinions can probably tell, my main areas of interest deal in upgrading advice, hardware buying advice, CPU's, system optimization, and troubleshooting, although of course questions needn't be limited to these topics.
Again, please send all questions to computers_qa@yahoo.com and also let me know, if your question makes the next Q&A, whether you would like your Epinions member name published or if you'd rather stay anonymous.
By the way, if you're wondering why your question didn't appear this week, it's probably set to appear in the next one, which should be appearing some time next week. Of course, I'm a bit tempted to wait until email alerts are working again. :-).
This Week's Questions:
-Should I Dual-Boot With Windows 2000 and Windows 98?
-Choppy DVD Performance: CPU or RAM?
-What's the Difference Between SIMMS and DIMMS?
-How Can I Identify My Motherboard?
-Netscape Crashes: Program Conflict To Blame?
-What To Buy: New Video Card Or New Motherboard/CPU?
-Integrated Video: What Video Card Should I Buy?
Should I Dual-Boot With Windows 2000 and Windows 98?
Submitted by bishop
Q: What do you think of a dual boot up system for me? I was thinking of getting Windows 2000, but I don't want to deal w/ compatibility problems so I'd get Windows 98SE for other uses. If I do go this route, do I need two hard drives, or just one 45-gig or something?
A: It sounds like a great idea, for exactly the reason you mentioned: compatibility, especially with games (and to a lesser extent other types of software too).
A lot of Win2K's "compatability" problems aren't technically due to Windows 2000 itself, but simply because many Win2K drivers still aren't fully mature, especially when it comes to the latest graphics cards, sound cards, etc. Many games also aren't fully tested on the Win2K platform, as they are with Win98/ME.
Windows 2K is even designed for dual-booting, since it doesn't require a 3rd party OS manager or any special configuration. You also don't need two hard drives, or even an especially large drive. One hard drive is fine and all you have to do is to create at least two partitions on your hard drive, one (or more) per OS.
After doing a quick search I found this article on setting up a Win98/2000 dual-boot system. It's not comprehensive, but it should give you a pretty good idea of the process:
http://india.cnet.com/software/OS/Windows2000/ss05.asp
Just be careful if you ever upgrade your Windows 98 partition in the future (to Windows ME, for example), since there's a documented bug when upgrading a dual-boot Win98 partition:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q253/9/05.asp
NOTE: The following three Q's, submitted by rader6795 (an excellent Games Advisor, by the way) are actually all from the same email. I've broken it up into three separate Q's for easier reading.
Choppy DVD Performance: CPU or RAM?
Submitted by rader6795
Q: Recently, I bought a DVD player that was compatible with my ATI 3D card. Problem is, the video runs choppy. My belief is that this is due one of two reasons.
First of all, I have a pretty generic processor (a Cyrix MII clocking at 300Mhz). The thing I'm sure is effecting my DVD performance, though, is my RAM since I've only got 32MB of RAM. So, with that said, I want to install more.
A: It sounds like your CPU is the main culprit here, since "software" DVD decoding is one of the most CPU-intensive tasks you can possibly throw at your PC. DVD playback with my K6-2 400 was pretty choppy at times, and that was even with 192 megs of RAM. You really need a 500+ mhz CPU for smooth DVD performance, so trying to do real-time DVD decoding on a sub-300 mhz CPU is sheer torture.
Plus, if I'm not mistaken, I think the Cyrix MII 300's were technically "PR-300's", in other words "performance rated" as being comparable to Pentium II 300's when running office applications, but only running at 233 mhz in actual clock speed.
The obvious solution is to buy a DVD decoder like the RealMagic Hollywood Plus from Sigma Designs. Most video cards these days claim to feature "DVD decoding", but it's almost always "hardware-ASSISTED DVD playback" where the CPU is still handling most of the work. A dedicated decoder card will take almost ALL the strain off of your CPU and handle DVD-decoding using its own dedicated processors. I did an experiment once where I "under-clocked" my computer to 166 mhz, and amazingly, DVD playback using the decoder card was still silk-smooth. Plus, most (if not all) DVD decoders have TV-out ports. It's pretty cool to be using your PC and browsing the web, writing Epinions, etc. while outputting a DVD to your TV at the same time :-).
DVD decoder's aren't too expensive either. I bought mine almost a year ago for about $45, and it's still one of the best decoder cards on the market. Just do a search for "Sigma Designs" at www.pricewatch.com and you can find them for $40-50. You should be warned though, that installing a DVD decoder can sometimes be a pretty hellish experience (see my review of the Hollywood Plus for details).
Of course, you're right that 32 megs of RAM is pushing it (even with a hardware decoder), so more RAM would definitely be a good idea too.
How Can I Tell the Difference Between SIMMS and DIMMS?
Submitted by rader6795
Q: How do I tell the difference between SIMMs and DIMMs? I've been told you can just look and tell the difference, but I have yet to find any information on it.
A: You can basically tell the difference by socket size. DIMMS use longer 168-pin connectors, while SIMMS use 72-pin connectors that are about an inch shorter. If you check the "How To Install More Memory" category here at Epinions ( http://www.epinions.com/cmhd_HowTo-3 ), there's quite a few excellent guides that cover SIMMS vs. DIMMS in detail.
How Can I Identify My Motherboard?
Submitted by rader6795
Q: How can you identify what motherboard you have? I lost my manual sometime last year so I don't know much about it.
A: The best two ways to do it are by the serial numbers and markings on the motherboard itself, and by the BIOS "Post" codes that you see along the bottom of the screen while booting up. If you go to...
http://www.motherboards.org/moboidtools.html and/or
http://www.windrivers.com/identity/mboard/index.htm
...you can ID just about any motherboard in existence and get complete specs, BIOS updates, sometimes even replacement manuals. If you have a motherboard using an AMI BIOS, you can even download a utility that can automatically determine your motherboard make and model for you. Plus, once you've determined your motherboard manufacturer, you can contact their tech support department directly to find out specific details about the board (e.g. processors it supports, RAM types, etc).
Netscape Crashes: Program Conflict To Blame?
Submitted by jjbrickley
Q: We recently installed a free firewall program (ZoneAlarm) and purchased an anti-virus from TrendMicro (PC-Cillin). After both were installed, Netscape will lock-up if you use it to connect to the web (i.e. autodial on load). If you initiate the connection first, it is not a problem. This does not happen under IE, only Netscape, so I have been using IE until we solve the problem. Is there anyway to tell who's locking up Netscape?
A: In your system's current state, the only way I know of to isolate the problem is by using other 3rd party crash protector utilities, some of which can tell you which is the offending application (or at least the offending DLL, which can then tell you which app is responsible). I wonder if Pc-cillin has this capability also.
I'd suggest doing full uninstalls of each program (and maybe even manually search the Windows registry after doing so, if you're familiar with that process, to make sure EVERYTHING is removed). Then see if the crash occurs with either program by itself, or whether it's a conflict only when they're both installed. Of course, I'd also confirm that Netscape is OK with neither installed, since one of the apps might have made a "permanent" modification to your system that's affecting Netscape.
If it's one of the latter two, I'm not sure there's much you can do besides making sure you have the latest versions of both installed and, if applicable, fully patched. You might also try reinstalling Netscape. I would tend to doubt that the two programs are somehow incompatible though, since I just did a quick web search and found no mention of the two apps
conflicting. In fact, according to one article, the PC-Cillin company and the ZoneAlarm company are partnering up to share technology, which is rather ironic (http://news.excite.ca/news/bw/001122/ca-zone-labs-trend-micro)
NOTE: JJBrickley discovered that the culprit was "Webtrap" feature of PC-Cillin, which he found could be fixed by disabling the feature. For the complete fix in JJBrickley's own words, see: http://vicwang.tripod.com/fix.txt
Should I Get a New Video Card Or New Motherboard and CPU?
Submitted by Sean (non-member)
Q: I have a Pentium II 450 and am in the process of buying a new video card. I'm leaning toward the Creative Annihilator Pro for $96 or the Voodoo5 5500 for $180. I also have a K6-2 450 that I would like to overclock. I also am debating scrapping this idea and getting a Asus A7V board and AMD Thunderbird 1.1Ghz for $366. How much power can I get out of what I have, compared to what I can get new?
A: Assuming your current graphics card is relatively decent (TNT, TNT2, etc) a CPU/motherboard upgrade might be the better option. You could, in fact, get an A7V+Duron 700 for about $200, overclock the Duron to 900-1100 mhz (the typical overclocking range of most Durons), and spend the $165 saved on a Geforce 2 GTS. A Duron system clocked around 1 ghz, plus a Geforce 2 card, will easily provide better game performance than a 1.1 ghz Athlon alone. Of course, it might take _some_ work to overclock the Duron, if you're unfamiliar with the process. There's an excellent overclocking guide (with photos) at: http://myhome.netsgo.com/wesleycrushr/Hardware/default.htm
If you'd prefer not to overclock, then I think you could go either way (CPU or graphics card). It's just a matter of how important 3D game performance is to you, which games you play, other applications you run, etc. Generally speaking, a PII 450 is still a decent CPU for most games these days (barely). Also keep in mind that a 3D card upgrade will provide little-to-no performance benefits in applications other than 3D-accelerated games. Even graphics cards from 2-3 years ago have virtually the same 2D performance as the latest cards today.
Between the Annhilator Pro and the V5 5500, I'd avoid the V5 since 3dfx will be "dissolved" within the next few months after their assets are sold to nVidia, and all tech support is going to end in February (possibly driver updates as well). Between the two, I'd go with the Annihilator (or any other Geforce 2/Geforce 2 MX card) any day. If you decide to buy the "MX" version of the Annihilator, be aware that the Annihilator MX is not any faster than other Geforce 2 MX cards, even though it uses DDR RAM (it's only 64-bit DDR, instead of 128-bit SDR). You might also want to avoid the "original" Annihilator, which is based on the original Geforce chip and lacks the latest features, and go with a Geforce 2 version instead.
Integrated Video: What Video Card Should I Buy?
Submitted by Peter Lee (non-member)
Q: I bought a computer with video card integrated (soldered on) in the motherboard (what a mistake). I have a Celeron 466 with 192 megs RAM. PCI slot is only available to me. Do you have any suggestions to which video card I should buy?
A: Considering your system, I'd strongly suggest a TNT2 Vanta PCI. They're have the best price-to-performance ratio of any current PCI cards, and a quick check at www.pricewatch.com shows 16 meg models selling for about $50, with a 32 meg model for only $66.
The "Vanta/M64" versions are not as powerful as the regular TNT2's (they have only half the internal memory bandwidth), but on an older system like yours, the difference should be negligible and a Vanta should perform nicely. Geforce 2 MX PCI's are another option, and much more powerful than TNT2 Vantas, but at over $135 each they're not very cost-effective (especially in an older system where its capabilities could never be utilized).
You could consider the Voodoo 3, since it was the "card of choice" for PCI users for many months. But Voodoo 3's are now more expensive than TNT2 Vantas, and with 3dfx going out of business soon it doesn't make much sense to buy 3dfx cards anymore.
If you decide to buy a TNT2 Vanta, just go to www.pricewatch.com and do a search for "TNT PCI". All listings will be automatically sorted by price, with the least-expensive vendors at the top.
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Epinions.com ID:
vicwang
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Member: Vic Wang
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 216 members
About Me:
Systems Analyst and all-around computer guru who's always keeping up with the latest technology.
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