I have a Dell desktop which was state of the art when I bought it seven years ago. It has 256k of main storage and a 1.5 thingie chip and runs Win2k for me. The Old Darling is really past it now and takes absolutely for ever making dvds for me to watch in the gym. I download tv programmes from UKNova mainly in .avi form and convert. My DVD player is a Wharfedale 1210 with a 10" screen and does't produce the best of pictures but it is fine for my gym use. It will play standard dvds (the files in a VIDEO_TS folder) and will also play .vob and .mpeg files that I burn directly to disc. Could some kind person recommend the absolute speediest software that will produce a dvd from an avi file. I am not at all interested in quality, just the speed of conversion. I don't even need a menu if that would speed things up. Maybe a two step approach, first convert to mpg and then burn, would be quicker? At the moment I use Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 and am prepared to buy more software if it really is speedy. Mind you if some fast freeware were available that would be perfect. Basil.
I assume you mean 256K of RAM? Do to the Dell site and see what type of memory your Dell takes, then go to a good site like www.newegg.com (If you are a resident of the states- not sure of any good Canadian or European sites, others may contribute their opinions) The only option you really have is to increase the amount of memory, which will speed up the transcoding process. I really don't think that Nero is any faster, but you can give Nero a try and use their free trial, download here and try Nero vision. Download Nero here. Here is a good guide for Nero. Guide
Thank you Blivet. You are right my 256k is RAM. I'm going to take your advice and invest in 512k or RDRAM. Basil.
I have a Dell 4400, it can hold up to 1 Gigabyte of RAM, I suggest that you get as much as your sustem will hold. If you are in the states, I suggest www.newegg.com as a starting point. You may have PC2100 speed RAM. Again, check with Dell to find out which type your board can handle.
Sounds like a dell optiplex series. They will run xp quite nicely, tho they only have something between a p3 450 and 600 cpu. All the ones I have seen are limited to 512MB of pc133 ram (getting scarce and expensive) in 2 256 sticks. (if it's a dell dimension with a celeron scrap it.. xp runs like a pig even with 512 ram.. cpu jammed at 100% for ages and ages just opening an explorer window)) Mt experience of XP on these machines is extensive. Usually they have onboard graphics (inteli810 chipset, or matrox 12mb) sometimes onboard sound (cmi8331-8.. not seen by XP) and a pig of a bios which reverts to network boot at the slightest drive error. Saying that they run xp very well with only 380 ram installed, slow but extremely stable... but.. and here it comes.. they will be slow for anything to do with dvd.. it's cpu cycles, or lack of... Installing a light weight OS, a minimal linux distro like DSL or puppy, or building your own from a core system and adding stuff will bring it to life in a way you can't imagine. As it was built for 2000 I would think it is only going to be at most a p3 600.. the 900's came out for xp just before being wiped out by the P4. Now the cautionary bit about old hardware.. Be careful.. you can very likely buy a complete old p4 1.xghz system for around the same you will spend getting an old machine up to running xp poorly.. so think before spending anything at all on it.. A $200 graphics card and $50 on ram isn't going to make up for an old slow cpu, and probably will not even fit.. There is more than one kind of ram for these old systems.. single and double sided, and the only way to find what works is by buying and trying.. Not a great way to go forward.. Dell have given up with the p3 support many years ago, so info is generally guesswork.. I have even found mis-information about ram types for machines of this era... There it is.. As with any hardware there comes a point where it isn't worth upgrading, and isn't capable of handling modern applications.. The p3 is at that point, and landfills are filling up with them. They like linux, and run it well.. M$ have lost the plot
Thank you Blivet and Varnull. My machine is a Dell Dimension 8100 with 2x128mb memory modules and a 1.5Gh Pentium 4. I am running Win2k. The manual says 'Your system supports dual-direct RDRAM RIMMS in 64, 128 and 256mb capacities.' So, it seems to me that my best bet is to buy two 256mb modules and install them in the two empty memory slots. I live in the UK and a quick glance at ebay here suggests that it will be worth while buying in from the USA. I suppose I could buy four modules and discard my current memory but that would be expensive for only a 33% increase over the 2 module plan. I'm not very technical and for this reason Linux isn't an option I'd feel comfortable with. Sooner or later I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy myself a new machine but even then I intend to keep this old one for downloading my torrents and even perhaps converting from avi to dvd. If I am not using it as my main machine it won't bother me that it is sluggish. So it looks like an investment of $60 or so (this includes shipping to the UK) will triple my memory from 256 to 784mb. I would be grateful for any further comments you may have. Basil. PS I've got my eye on this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Dimensio...ryZ11152QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Don't know if they ship to the UK, but here is another good cheap site where I pick up goodies for myself and the kid's computers. Surplus Computers
Thank you Blivet. I had a look but they don't ship to the UK. But, I found this on the UK ebay and got it for about $35. Pretty good eh? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190202522082&s sPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009 Basil.
The memory arrived today (an extra 512mb) and was installed and up and running in ten minutes - from 256mb to 758mb in almost a blink of an eye. I breathed a sigh of relief as I didn't really know what I was doing and was concerned about compatibility. It has speeded the operation of my machine on day to day operations and I'm delighted. Thank you for putting the idea into my head. Having got the taste, I'm now wondering about upgrading to a faster CPU. My machine is a Dell Dimension 8100 running a Pentium 4 1.5ghz chip. I've had a look on ebay and see there are much faster Pentium 4 chips for sale. I've three questions that somebody might be kind enough to answer. 1. Would a faster chip make much difference? I wondered if it might speed up the encoding from .avi to vob files quite a bit, especially as I now have 768mb of RD-RAM. 2. Is changing the chip just a matter of unplugging the old and substituting the faster one? 3. If it is more complicated than that, would it be sensible for a novice to have a go? If I'm barking up the wrong tree or being silly, please let me know. Basil.
Well play around with comparisons and benchmarks here (you might have to choose earlier years). You might find your answers. http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html
