Upgrading several PCs

[jd911]

I need to upgrade some PCs at the company that I work for. I need to know some information about the hardware in order to do this. My questions are,

How do I...
determine the type of RAM in the machine?
determine the type of motherboard and its bus speed?
determine if a second hard drive can be installed
determine what speed/type of agp card the motherboard can handle? (I know that there is an agp slot on the machines.)
determine if replacing/adding certain system components will/won't improve performance? (sound card, hd, memory, mb, etc.)

Background information on the machines.

PC # 1 - Windows 98SE, 3.01GB HD, 64MB RAM, AMD K6 400, PCI Video, Internal Modem, CD-ROM, 3.5 Floppy, Second Parallel Port, and NIC

PC # 2 - Windows 98SE, NIC, 3GB HD, 64MB RAM, AMD K6 300, PCI Video, Internal Modem, CD-ROM, and 3.5 Floppy

Also an recommendations on places to purchase components would be greatly appreciated.

[Samantha]

The first thing you do is look for documentation that came with the PCs, especially a motherboard manual. No docs? Then, the second thing you do is go to the assemblers Web site and look for docs, or you can try calling them. If bought through a reseller, try their Web site or calling. If no luck, open the boxes - you'll have to anyway. There will be identifying marks on the motherboard and RAM. You can also tell what kind of RAM generally by simply looking at - that is, whether its a SIMM or DIMM.

You can almost assuredly install a second hard drive if you have an accessible drive bay.

Are you considering new motherboard/CPUs or only upgrading some of the components? More RAM will likely get you the best boost for the bucks.



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[jd911]

The first thing you do is look for documentation that came with the PCs, especially a motherboard manual. No docs? Then, the second thing you do is go to the assemblers Web site and look for docs, or you can try calling them. If bought through a reseller, try their Web site or calling. If no luck, open the boxes - you'll have to anyway. There will be identifying marks on the motherboard and RAM. You can also tell what kind of RAM generally by simply looking at - that is, whether its a SIMM or DIMM.

(Now revealing my lack of experience in such matters)
What kind of identifying marks? I am not sure how to tell the difference between SIMM or DIMM. If I knew what kind of MB it was, I might be able find the docs around the office, but I don't know that it still exists since both of these machines were purchased in 1998 or before I believe. Also, I haven't seen anything on the memory that would tell me what kind of memory or speed (ie pc-100 or whatever). I know this much, cause I took out the memory and examined it previously. Just a bunch of numbers that I am sure probably could tell me alot if I knew how to interpret them.

You can almost assuredly install a second hard drive if you have an accessible drive bay.

I know that there is an accessible drive bay, but I don't know if the IDE will handle it. I may be confused here also, but my understanding is that the IDE only allows two drives (floppy or hard doesn't matter) per IDE channel.

Are you considering new motherboard/CPUs or only upgrading some of the components?

It is all dependent on what they are capable of. If they need to be updated then I will probably do that also.

These systems have to be upgraded to satisfy the technology for at least a year if not more.

[Paleo Pete]

When you boot the computer you can hit the [Pause] key during the memory count and write down the BIOS ID string. That's the long number, usually at bottom left. THen go to my site posted below, and look through the BIOS links or at Trish's, (the top link) and you'll find links to identify the motherboard, and maybe get lucky and find a manual. The manual will tell you what memory it supports, and lots of other good info, such as what CPU's you can use, and the jumper settings for them.

SIMM memory is 72 pin, about 4" long, while DIMM and SDRAM are 168 pin, about 5" long. Check around at a few of the memory sites and you can find pictures, I don't have any handy right now.

Most cases do have a drive bay available for a second hard drive, even the old XT machines had room for two. Only way to find out is to open the case and look.

DOn't know much about AGP, so I don't have any good suggestions there, except that the motherboard manual will have some info, or should.

As far as improving performance, the best way is to add memory. With 64MB in each machine, you'd most likely notice a difference if you added 64MB more to each. If that's not fast enough, you'll probably want to upgrade to a faster CPU, but you can try 256MB if the 128 isn't enough for you. Again the moptherboard manual will tell you what type of memory is supported. Search the PC Guide and you'll find some excellent info concerning memory, but be warned, it gets pretty technical.

Newer hard drives can increase performance slightly, due to faster access time, but memory is the best bet.

Check the modem too, if you're using Winmodems, use them for target practice and get hardware based modems. Winmodems use your system resources while hardware modems have a small processor mounted on the card that does all the work. Winmodems will definitely slow down your Internet performance. Device Manager will tell you, usually a winmodem will usually be listed as such in Device Manager.

Sound card won't make much difference, unless you want to switch from an ISA to a PCI.

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If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[jd911]

I took a look at the memory earlier today, and after looking at some pictures posted on www.crucial.com (http://www.crucial.com) I think that one machine is SIMM and the other is DIMM.

How would I determine if it is EDO, Fast Page, or SDRAM and then the speed of the existing memory?

I guess that my question on the additional hd is what does the ide support as far as the number of drives per channel. What I remember reading is no more than 2 drives (floppy or hd doesn't matter) per channel.

I think I know where I'm going with the AGP, hopefully will be able to find the docs on the motherboard and then determine more specs about it.

Your suggestion on copying the BIOS ID sounds promising.

Not using modems on these machines, strictly network access. Guess that's a plus.

[jd911]

Well, I think that I've got it now. I really appreciate the help and here's what I am doing, hope its right.

I plan to replace one of the machines since the motherboard is quite outdated. Its a P5 Series AGPset Mainboard.

The other is going to get a memory upgrade and a second hd. I plan to take the hd out and put the cd-rom which is on ide channel 1 and move it to channel 2 since it is reading UDMA 33. I will be putting the new hd onto channel 1 and putting the old hd into the other machine as a second drive. I plan to use the second machine as a small LAN intranet server.

By using the BIOS Wizard at www.unicore.com/biosupgrades/upgradenow.cfm (http://www.unicore.com/biosupgrades/upgradenow.cfm) I was able to determine that both machines contain the "VIA 82C597 rev 4" Chipset. The machine I plan to keep has a Soltek motherboard. Unfortunately I can't get their website to come up and the stuff I have has no docs with it.

I know that the memory I need is 168 Pin DIMM SDRAM. There is a picture at http://www.crucial.com/library/memorymodid.asp that shows the module at the bottom of the page. I just don't know if it is PC-133 or PC-100 but I will assume it is PC-100 since the smaller chips on the board that line the bottom have 100's printed on them. If this is the case and from what I have read, I can put PC-133 in there and it will work fine, just not at its full capacity.

I also plan to put in an ATI XPert 2000 Rage 32 Meg AGP Video Card.

I think that these changes should work for now.

Thanks again for everyones help.