[ale] OT: College and Computers

[Michael B Golden]

Hello all,
        Sorry that this is off-topic, but I don't know of a more
knowledgeable group for this type of thing. I just graduated high school
and am looking at what I need to do to my computer before college this
fall.

Current System:
AMD K6-II 450Mhz
64MB PC100 RAM
4.3 GB HDD
16X CD-ROM
SB16 ISA Sound Card
33.6 modem
Realtek 10/100 PCI NIC
SiS 6326 AGP 8MB (chipset can only actually access 4 MB)

I'm not really sure what is actually needed for college and what I need
to upgrade in this system or if I should replace it. The system will be
primarily Linux, with Windows only as needed by courses, and perhaps a
little toying with the BSDs. I am very low on money and so am trying to
find a way to do this cheap but not cheat myself too much. If I end up
choosing/needing to replace it, I'm not too sure on a few things that
make a fairly significant difference in price.

1. What is the real difference between a 1Ghz Athlon and a 1.3 Ghz
Athlon?

2. How much RAM is actually needed? What are the relative differences
between 64,128,256,384, and 512 MB?

3. What is DDR RAM and how does it compare to regular SDRAM?

4. Any other specific recommendations on boards, chipsets, etc.?

Thanks in advance,
Michael Golden
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