Would like some opinions on a few things

Sandhill

New Member
Messages
14
I’ll getting a new computer in the next couple of days and have been thinking about how to set it up. So I thought I would ask a few questions and get some opinions on a few things

First the specs of the new computer are

ASUS Desktop

  • Intel Core i5 3470(3.20GHz)
  • 10GB DDR3 at 1600MHz
  • 2TB SATA HDD Capacity
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 2GB
  • Windows 8

Hard drive…
I don’t know how the 2TB drive is partitioned, ( hopefully will on Tuesday)
Q.. I’ve heard that large drives perform better when they a partitioned into smaller segments.. is this true?

2TB is a monster size compared to what I have now (140GB) Would partitioning this drive say into two or three different partitions make sense ex 1) OS 2) Back-Up 3) Data1 4) Data2
Q..If so what partition software would recommend? WIN 8 system?


I’m not crazy about this computer having WIN 8, I’m use to 7. From what I’ve seen I don’t think I’ll use the Metro/Modern UI much, I most likely will use a “Start Menu Software” like Classic Shell or Start 8 and boot to desktop.

Q..
Thought about just installing Win 7 Ultra and ditching Win 8, what are Pro/Cons of this?


I’ve found this forum very useful for information regarding WIN 8 and I’m sure I’ll have more questions while I setup my new computer
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    10GB
    Hard Drives
    2 TB
Just my observations thus far and I am not attempting to answer all of your questions at this point:

1- If you intend to use only that single drive then some partitioning may be in order; however, wait until you get the system and then give us a screenshot of your disk management view.

2-10GBs of DDR3 seems to be an odd number. Is that correct? If so, how is the RAM configured?

3-Your intention to use either Classic Shell or Start 8 has been adopted by many that have no use for the Metro UI, so welcome to the club; however, don't jump the gun on abandoning Windows 8 yet because it is much faster than 7 (from my experience) and it will grow on you once you get past that learning curve.

Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Hi my2cents
10GBs of DDR3 seems to be an odd number. Is that correct? If so, how is the RAM configured?

I thought it was odd also, Rep said it’s 2 x 4GB and 1 x 2GB… I always thought memory had to be installed in pairs. He said there are four memory slots and can hold up to 16 GB total
I guess I’ll see once it gets here.


At any rate it should be faster than current setup
AMD Athlon 64X@ 3600 1.90 GHz
3GB Memory 2 x 1GB & 2 x 512MB
Vista Home Basic 32 bit
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    10GB
    Hard Drives
    2 TB
Hi Sandhill,

Oh yes... it will definitely be faster but I still don't get the 10GB config recommendation from the rep.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
One stick of 7 GB and one of 3GB, I guess? ;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP COMPAQ Presario CQ57
    CPU
    AMD E- 300 APU with Radion HD Graphics 1.30GHz
    Motherboard
    inbuilt
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
    Sound Card
    High Definition Audio on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    notebook
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST9500325AS
    Google drive 15GB
    Skydrive 25GB
    BT Cloud
    PSU
    external 20v
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    pretty good
    Keyboard
    inbuilt
    Mouse
    touchpad
    Internet Speed
    BT Infinity Unlimited - 80 up 20 down =70/16 really
    Browser
    Chrome Canary usually
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    no Start menu modifications
    Upgraded with no issues to 8.0 and to 8.1
You want opinions? I've got lots! :)

If you intend to run the same software you're currently using, the system specs are clearly better.

As for the 2 TB hard drive, you can choose to partition it or not but I would highly advise against putting a backup on one of the partitions. If/when your hard drive fails, you will not have a backup to restore it.

10GB is an odd number. My guess is that your vendor has a bunch of 1 GB dimms laying around and their value is rapidly diminishing. 4 slots being typical, they'd be hard pressed to sell a 4 GB machine these days. If you ever do need more memory, that 2GB is going in the bin. But you probably won't have to worry and even a little bit more memory is always a good thing.

Enjoy your new system.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Garage
    CPU
    i7 4770K (@ 4 GHz OC)
    Motherboard
    MSI Z87 PowerMax
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Windforce
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Seiki 39" 4K
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 2x 1TB SSD
    4x 4TB Hitachi HGST
    + other misc hot swap
    PSU
    Corsair AX860
    Case
    Enermax Hoplite (white)
    Cooling
    Lots + Phanteks PH-TC12DX
    Keyboard
    Logitech MK700
    Mouse
    Razer SWTOR 5600 dpi
Hi ChocoBilly

Good point about having the back up on the 2TB HHD, if the drive fails all is lost..


Q... Do drives perform better when they a partitioned into smaller segments?


I don’t know this systems setup on the 2TB HHD, I don’t have the new computer in hand yet, but thought if it makes sense to partition the drive to do it before I install any software
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    i5
    Memory
    10GB
    Hard Drives
    2 TB
There's at least one good reason to partition drive to at least 2 parts. One smaller, enough for OS and programs you need to be on C: partition and the rest for data. That way if windows croak or something goes wrong with the system (and it it's very probable) and you have to reformat, you will not loose all the stuff, just what's on system partition. I always do that and change default paths to keep data on the second partition if I don't have another disk. As for speed, you might see some improvement in Boot times by using smaller first partition, not much else.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
There is evidence to support that partitioning a large drive into smaller partitions will improve performance as long as you guarantee you are only accessing 1 partition at a time. The reason for this is the "average seek time", which is typically the time it takes to seek across the entire disk divided by 2. Splitting your 2TB into 2 1TB should improve overall performance since you have cut average seek time in half, and you should see better performance -- eventually. It should benchmark faster on random reads and writes. The reason I said eventually is because when it's new, you won't have that much data on it, and it will all be clustered together and your actual average seek time will be better than the benchmark. Only over time as you use the drive, fill it, delete, overwrite, etc. will the entire surface get used and performance match the numbers from the benchmarks.

And yes, partition it before you install your software. If anything disastrous happens during partitioning (highly unlikely), you won't have to re-install.

After your software is installed, I would highly recommend creating a system restore point, and making a complete system image backup which can be found in Windows 8 in the cryptically named, Windows 7 File Recovery.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Garage
    CPU
    i7 4770K (@ 4 GHz OC)
    Motherboard
    MSI Z87 PowerMax
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Windforce
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Seiki 39" 4K
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 2x 1TB SSD
    4x 4TB Hitachi HGST
    + other misc hot swap
    PSU
    Corsair AX860
    Case
    Enermax Hoplite (white)
    Cooling
    Lots + Phanteks PH-TC12DX
    Keyboard
    Logitech MK700
    Mouse
    Razer SWTOR 5600 dpi
Far be it from me not to add my 2cents.. :cool: LOL!


That is a strange RAM config indeed... if you have just the three slots best to rip out the 2gig and run dual..

The single gargantuan HDD also seems a bit strange (for the reasons mentioned above).... a small SSD with a 1TB HDD would be a much better config... IMHO

I also agree that backups should always be on a different (external) drive.


OOP's Noticed there are 4 slots.. so just add another 2gig .. strange that they don't have that as standard tho':think:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    PC-DOS v1.0
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    IBM
    CPU
    Intel 8088, 4.77MHz
    Memory
    16K, 640K max
    Graphics Card(s)
    What's that?
    Sound Card
    Not quite
    Screen Resolution
    80 X 24 text
    Hard Drives
    dual 160KB 5.25-inch disk drives
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