Computer Advice

[Quinn]

http://www.memoryexpress.com in Calgary, http://www.genericcomputer.bc.ca in Vancouver. At least until you reach Ontario, prices seem to go up as you move eastward, likely due to the increased cost of shipping from the port, where all the gear comes in from Asia.

[LostMind]

dual channel ram is honestly a great performance enhancement.

in my amd64 system, upgrading my ram made a big improvement. Also, nearly every mobo made recently is manufactured with it because it is an easy and cheap way to grab a bit more performance... and dual channel setups have been around for quite a while now, so this isnt groundbreakin tech (I am a big fan of bleeding edge tho)

I think all of us geeks have probably scared scales away from computers...

[Samw]

Originally Posted by Invigor

I need more ram. are there any places cheaper than www.ntcw.com -- they're pretty uber low.

Yeah, quite a few places are cheaper. You picked one of the pricier places. Do you want to know a place that provides mail order or is any other store in Vancouver fine?

[Samw]

Originally Posted by Richer

Oh... and yeah, I basically assumed that any mobo made in the past two years utilize dual channel ram... probably something I shouldn't have assumed.

-Richer

Most newer boards yeah but many many entry/mid level systems still utilize single channel. That's clear when you look at the products page of many computer stores and motherboard manufacturer webpages (ASUS and DELL for example).

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/prod...HS1&l=en&s=dhs

http://www.a-power.com/sys/index.html

http://www.sonexpc.com/?mod=system

http://www.ncix.com/ncixpc/

A buyer still should watch out for it and understand it. I don't think we can assume that its automatically dual channel just because the technology has been there for 2 years. Also, even though the motherboard supports dual channel memory doesn't mean the user knows about it and knows to buy 2 sticks of RAM. If a user is asking for advice, we shouldn't assume he knows all about it in my opinion. It doesn't sound like Scales needs a high end computer so a mid-entry would do fine or he may very well go for the challenge and build his own. So this info could be handy if he hasn't kept up with the last 2 years. Lastly, if dual channel was an automatic, there wouldn't be any point to advertise "Single Channel" and "Dual Channel" in the computer ads.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Richer

For the general user, I don't see any problems using 512MB of ram with a Athlon XP 2700+ cpu.

-Richer

yup that will work but you only talking a difference of $80.00 to get the athlon 64 cpu and motherboard. and another 80 to 100 to double the ram.

Steve

[Invigor]

Originally Posted by LostMind

dual channel ram is honestly a great performance enhancement.

what exactly is dual channel?
I'm lookin at buying this: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=CORSAIR

[AJ_77]

My buddy at work just returned a system to these jokers. Biggest mess I've ever heard of, didn't get more than a single thing right with his custom order. And it took weeks longer than promised.

So unless their prices are irresistible, maybe look elsewhere... I should say this is my first exposure to this company, and that for parts only you could have better luck.

[Scales]

WOW!

...I am trying to digest this educational exchange and will be doing some more research over the weekend...

Cheers...and thanks for your responses...

[StirCrazy]

what software for an OS are you going to run?

Steve

[Quinn]

I'd be willing to put money on XP Home (Pro is hardly necessary)... there aren't many other choices out there for the average home user.