[ale] OT: College and Computers

[Glenn C. Lasher Jr.]

On Mon, 28 May 2001, Michael B Golden wrote:

> 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.

What are you going to be majoring in?  A computer science major, for
example, needs more firepower than an english major....

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

Diddley.  Okay, there's a difference, but it really isn't much.  You may
even find that your K6-2 is sufficient.  I run a K6-2 550, myself.

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

256 should suffice.  You could probably get by on 128.  You may want to go
higher if you run a Win2K other than ME as they are NT derivatives, but if
you don't do that much, you should be definitely okay on just 256.

Can't really help you with the other two, save to say that I have had good
luck with DFI MoBo's.  Do be careful, though, because some of the DFI
MoBo's don't handle Windows very gracefully, even though they handle Linux
beautifully.

-- 
glasher at nycap.rr.com
After 163 days, Verizon still couln't deliver Telocity DSL.

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