How much does the HD affect system performance?

[eddiek]

Okay, dumb question, I know, but here is the reason I ask:

In the last 6 months, I've had nothing but hell with my system.  Almost like clockwork, every 5-6 weeks I get error message after error message, telling me this file is corrupted or truncated, cannot be found, etc.  Most often it is my browser, IE 5.5,that gives me the illegal operation messages, always some WININT.DLL kernel BS I have no idea how to fix.
My system was built by a friend in March 1999, and I have slowly upgraded it as time has passed.  Two things I have not changed, tho, are the HD and the RAM.
I haven't pulled the cover lately and looked to see what brand the HD is, nor the memory.  I do know that it has 256mb RAM, and that the HD is an old ATA-33, as that comes up on startup.
Now.......
This Friday I am intending to go buy a Western Digital HD, probably a 30GB one, definitely 7200rpm and Ultra ATA 100.
WILL THIS HELP MY SYSTEM, OR AM I THROWING MONEY AWAY?
Sorry for the all CAPS, but I am to the point of saying "screw it" and quitting all of this altogether.
Here are the specs for the rest of the system:

Celeron 800 (overclocked to 872, temp has never exceeded 97degrees Farenheit)
10.2G hard drive, unknown manufacture
Abit mobo
256mb RAM unknown manufacture
VisionTek GF2 MX400 64mb video card
Sound Blaster AWE 64 sound card
Intel PRO/100 Ehternet adapter

Lots of room for upgrading, but it has to be one thing at a time for now.  Money is tight since the oilfield fell through in this area.  Any ideas where to start?

BTW--I have been drooling over the AMD XP 1800 and 1900 CPU's and intend to get one and an appropriate mobo soon as funds allow.

[Skuzzy]

A faster HD makes a world of difference in overall system performance.

My 800Mhz W98SE system boots (after BIOS clears) in 8 seconds flat (Seagate Cheetah 10K HD).

Conversely, my other 800Mhz W98SE system has an old Seagate Barracuda in it and takes twice as long to boot.

[mason22]

you'll blow your mind if you upgrade from that cely to a XP....yeeeooww!!  

a faster HD will help in some areas.

have you done the full format and reinstall through the years on your current setup? might help with the errors.

just remember if you upgrade to a faster cpu like the XPs, your video card might need an upgrade also.

[Animal]

The hard disk is the biggest bottleneck in todays PC.

The whole system is just there waiting for that quaint mechanical POS to do its job.

Get the fastest one you can afford, and that is still slow compared to system ram.

I recomend you get an ata-100 7,200RPM.

[bloom25]

The thing you will notice with the faster drive is much quicker bootups.  Your whole system will be somewhat faster as well, but whether or not it's noticible depends on what you are doing.  I doubt you pick up any FPS in AH, but it may start up a little faster.

Have you done a complete scandisk on your harddrive recently.  (It will take several hours to do so.)  It's important to determine what's causing your problem.  If it is the harddrive, the new drive should fix it, though you may have some corrupted files.  You should also run a virus scan to be sure a virus isn't causing this.  A bad stick of ram can cause you all kinds of problems as well.  (You are also going to have to copy the old drive's contents to the new one.  I believe WD has a utility you can download that does this for you.  Norton Ghost also works.)

[volsung1]

Hi, here is the skinny on hard drives in any system. First, an ATA 33 is a dinosaur! That being said, you can buy an ATA 100 7200 RPM drive and still be stuck with ATA 33 performance. HOW? Easy, just daisy chain it to your CDROM drive or another ATA 33 harddrive and your IDE system will default to the slowest speed for ALL drives! So. be sure to connect it to a dedicated IDE port!

     Also, when you obtain the faster HDD be certain to use the 80 conductor cable that is included with the unit. It will function on an old 40 conductor cable, but the noise level ( the extra 40 wires are grounds) will adversely affect perfomance. Remember also that the newer cable has an IDE end and a HDD end. Don't install it backwards!

     Last, but deffinately not least, ensure that your Motherboard and Bios support ATA 100! A quick visit to the homepage of the motherboard manufacturer should be sufficient to verify this info.

     If all of the above are done correctly, you should see a great improvement in IO performance.

   One last note, I see you have a 64meg GeForce2 video card. I also have one. It runs SDR (Single Data Rate) RAM. If you want immediate, gameplay/FPS improvement, purchase a card with DDR (Double Data Rate) RAM. A good cheapy is the GeForce2 TI. I got an immediate 25 FPS improvement when I switched.

[sprint]

I added a ATA 100 HD recently .. but I had to add a PCI Controller Card [PROMISE ULTRA100 TX2] .. about $18.00.

sprint

[eddiek]

I was just about to post a serious WHINE about this new HD, a Western Digital 30Gb UltraATA100 7200rpm masterpiece, that now has my system running like a 486!  
I am dead serious, this thing takes forever to boot, I can take a good long crap while it opens up Internet Explorer, took a nap while it decided to activate my DSL software to get online.
So, I need an 80-wire ribbon cable.  Will do that.  The guys at the place where I bought it said nothing to me about needing that.  I brought the unit home, popped out the old HD (turns out it is a Western Digital one also) and put the new one in, started the FDisk, FORMAT, etc, then loaded all the drivers.
How do I set the system up in BIOS to NOT run at the CD-ROM speed (an Hitachi DVD GD-2500 I found out tonight), which is 4800 rpm?
By that, I am asking WHERE in the BIOS do I go to change it?
Am not trying to be a pain in the bellybutton here, fellas, I just want to do it right and get past this pain in the neck I inflicted on myself today, and paid $94 to get it!
BTW:  One last thing, the video card I have is DDR.  I was curious about it when I bought it, all the spec sheets on this particular card state clearly that it is DDR.  Not that it matters.....soon I will be moving up to a GF3 or maybe a GF4.  The oilfield is picking back up, I'll be able to make the leap to an AMD system in about 6 weeks.

[Skuzzy]

Hate to tell you this eddiek, but you got ripped off on the price of that HD.  The IBM 40GB 120GXP can be had for $74.00.

But, to try to answer your question.  First, get the 80 pin cable and attach it to the primary IDE connector on your motherboard.  Then use the old cable and connect it to the secondary IDE port and run that cable to your CD.  If you put the CD and HD on the same cable, the DMA speed of the motherboard will not go any faster than the CD speed.

This will allow your HD to run at full speed.  There is no BIOS setting to worry about, unless the BIOS requires you to enter the ATA speed of the drive.  Most of the current BIOS ROM's will auto-detect the AT-100/ATA-133 interface and set the DMA speed accordingly.
You will need to enable your second IDE port, if you have it disabled in order for your CD to be detected.  You can also set the port to realize it is a CD in the BIOS ROM and you can tell the BIOS to make it an optional boot device.  Handy when you need to install later MS OS"s as they can be installed directly from the CD.
Some of the later BIOS ROM's even give you a boot menu when you power up so you can pick what to boot from (i.e. HD, Floppy, CD...).

[volsung1]

Hi again, Skuzzy is correct, the way to ensure that your new drive runs at it's max speed is to connect it to an IDE port that is dedicated to it. I recommend the primary IDE port. Connect your CD-Rom to the Secondary IDE port. You said your motherboard is currently supporting a Celeron 800 which means it is probably new enough to support the ATA-100. I'd still verify it though. You should find it listed under "General I/O" (or something close to that) in your motherboard users manual.
   As for the video card, you're right, the GF2 MX/MX 400 64mb video card was released in both flavors DDR and SDR. The SDR memory clock is 166MHz where the DDR is 333MHz. Here's the catch, the DDR version comes with a 64 bit Memory Bus, where the SDR Memory Bus is 128 bit. Since performance translates roughly into a multiple of the two settings, the 2 cards perform about the same. My TI has the 128MHz Mem. Bus and the DDR clock. That's why I got the performance boost. Here's where I found the info.

http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/vidcards/shootout/mx400/

   Also, in your bios under "Advanced Chipset Features" ensure that the AGP 4x mode is selected and that you have the AGP aperture set to 256 Mb of RAM. This is how an AGP video card accesses your system RAM, and is what makes AGP worth having. While you're there make sure your "System Bios Cacheable" and "Video RAM Cacheable" settings are both set to "Enabled".  
   Oh and two last pieces of advice. first, get off of Win '98/ME! I recommend Win2k Professional if you can get your hands on it. It's much more stable. Second, before you blow your wad on an XP1900 CPU research it thoroughly! The simple fact is that unless you're running a database application with dozens of users connecting simultaneously, or running some very exotic software, anything over 1 Gig is a waste. Get yourself a 1-1.4 Gig Athlon, and a board that supports the faster stuff and save the upgrade moola for your new video Video Card.
                                                                C-ya,   Vol.