Can anyone advise me on which memory to buy?

Great advice guys thanks.

I know the Dell Motherboard in my system isn't the usual form. It's not the standard ATX case. Different motherboard size, fans are hard to get to also as you have to remove the heatsink on the CPU to get to them.

I'm going to take your advice ignatzatsonic and look at SSD's. How much did you pay for your 80GB?

Can the SSD be installed into a 2.5' Floppy drive bay? I currently have 2 3.5' Spinners already installed configured for Raid. I would keep those for data storage and just keep my OS on the SSD.

Burdus32 said:

I know the Dell Motherboard in my system isn't the usual form. It's not the standard ATX case. Different motherboard size, fans are hard to get to also as you have to remove the heatsink on the CPU to get to them.

I'm going to take your advice ignatzatsonic and look at SSD's. How much did you pay for your 80GB?

Can the SSD be installed into a 2.5' Floppy drive bay? I currently have 2 3.5' Spinners already installed configured for Raid. I would keep those for data storage and just keep my OS on the SSD.

I paid 160 just over a year ago. Intels have not come down too much in price, but I have some good brands on sale for under $1 per GB. I don't know about the UK, but overall SSD prices are down perhaps 20 or 25% in the last year and will presumably trend lower over time.

One good thing about SSDs is they can be mounted nearly anywhere. They have no moving parts and so aren't subject to jarring/shock issues as much as HDDs.

I had my SSD mounted in the bottom of my case using strong tape. No issues at all. I wouldn't bother getting a "mounting kit". Just get the OEM version and make sure you have cables. I recently upgraded my case and now use a standard internal bay.

Dell cases can be tricky and non-standard, particularly regarding connections. You might want to consider getting another case and PSU along with motherboard, CPU, and RAM when you eventually have the money.

I wouldn't worry about that now. I'd get the SSD and start saving. During that time, try to educate yourself about the usability of your current Dell case and PSU if you get a new mobo/CPU/RAM eventually.

ignatzatsonic said:

Burdus32 said:

I know the Dell Motherboard in my system isn't the usual form. It's not the standard ATX case. Different motherboard size, fans are hard to get to also as you have to remove the heatsink on the CPU to get to them.

I'm going to take your advice ignatzatsonic and look at SSD's. How much did you pay for your 80GB?

Can the SSD be installed into a 2.5' Floppy drive bay? I currently have 2 3.5' Spinners already installed configured for Raid. I would keep those for data storage and just keep my OS on the SSD.

I paid 160 just over a year ago. Intels have not come down too much in price, but I have some good brands on sale for under $1 per GB. I don't know about the UK, but overall SSD prices are down perhaps 20 or 25% in the last year and will presumably trend lower over time.

One good thing about SSDs is they can be mounted nearly anywhere. They have no moving parts and so aren't subject to jarring/shock issues as much as HDDs.

I had my SSD mounted in the bottom of my case using strong tape. No issues at all. I wouldn't bother getting a "mounting kit". Just get the OEM version and make sure you have cables. I recently upgraded my case and now use a standard internal bay.

Dell cases can be tricky and non-standard, particularly regarding connections. You might want to consider getting another case and PSU along with motherboard, CPU, and RAM when you eventually have the money.

I wouldn't worry about that now. I'd get the SSD and start saving. During that time, try to educate yourself about the usability of your current Dell case and CPU if you get a new mobo/CPU/RAM eventually.

Just found this while on the Crucial site.

128GB, 2.5-inch Solid State Drive, upgrades for Dell Dimension 9200 Desktop/PC, CT2224995 from Crucial.com

I'll have a look around first before buying anything but that seems really good. Didn't realise I could get 128GB SSD for under £100.

Do the SSD's get hot? As I would probably mount it under my Media Card Reader.

Burdus32 said:

Just found this while on the Crucial site.

128GB, 2.5-inch Solid State Drive, upgrades for Dell Dimension 9200 Desktop/PC, CT2224995 from Crucial.com

I'll have a look around first before buying anything but that seems really good. Didn't realise I could get 128GB SSD for under £100.

The M4 is a good SSD.

You would not need 128 GB in most cases.

I think the Samsung is the 830 series? Or maybe 930?

My Intel is the 320 series, which I think is available in small sizes.

Don't agonize over published SSD specs. They are all way faster than HDD. Concentrate on the right size, price, reliability, support, and vendor.

ignatzatsonic said:

Burdus32 said:

Just found this while on the Crucial site.

128GB, 2.5-inch Solid State Drive, upgrades for Dell Dimension 9200 Desktop/PC, CT2224995 from Crucial.com

I'll have a look around first before buying anything but that seems really good. Didn't realise I could get 128GB SSD for under £100.

The M4 is a good SSD.

You would not need 128 GB in most cases.

I think the Samsung is the 830 series? Or maybe 930?

My Intel is the 320 series, which I think is available in small sizes.

Don't agonize over published SSD specs. They are all way faster than HDD. Concentrate on the right size, price, reliability, support, and vendor.

There's a 64GB Samsung 830 for £75. Just looking at some comparisons between that and a 7200RPM spinner.....Whoa! Boot speeds are incredibly fast.

Would the fact I'm using a Raid config on two spinners effect the performance of the SSD at all?

Also, I don't think my board is SATA III capable. Just SATA II.

Burdus32 said:

There's a 64GB Samsung 830 for £75. Just looking at some comparisons between that and a 7200RPM spinner.....Whoa! Boot speeds are incredibly fast.

Would the fact I'm using a Raid config on two spinners effect the performance of the SSD at all?

I know next to nothing about RAID.

Those who do know about it on this forum seem to frown about its performance when compared to SSD.

I'll assume you have good reasons for using it.

SSD boot speeds are typically about 30 seconds.

When I bought the System it was already set up as Raid, I've just never changed it.

I'm assuming an SATA III SSD will still work on an SATA II board, albeit at decreased speeds?

Burdus32 said:

I'm assuming an SATA III SSD will still work on an SATA II board, albeit at decreased speeds?

I can't recall anyone saying there is any particular reason for SATA 3 drives.

If available at the same price, I suppose I'd do it, but otherwise I wouldn't bother. I'm not at all sure there is any effective difference as I have not kept up with the very latest developments.

Thanks ignatzatsonic I really appreciate all the advice.

I think my next purchase may be the Samsung 830 64GB instead of the memory. Been looking at comparisons and videos on YouTube.

:)

Burdus32 said:

Thanks ignatzatsonic I really appreciate all the advice.

I think my next purchase may be the Samsung 830 64GB instead of the memory. Been looking at comparisons and videos on YouTube.

:)

The Samsung 830 64 GB is currently $85 at Newegg for the bare drive. It's $100 for the version with the "upgrade kit", which you should not need.

The Crucial M4 at the same exact size is currently $80 at Newegg.

I'd just get the cheapest of those 2 in the UK.

Intel has a 60 GB and an 80 GB, but no 64 GB.