Couple of Questions

[erick15]

I have a couple of questions.

My computer right now:

motherboard - asrock 4Core1333-eSATA2
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.as...ore1333-Esata2

ram - Super Talent 1GB 240-pin PC2-5300 DDR2 667 S-Rigid Desktop Memory (T6UB1GC5)
http://www.outletpc.com/c2885.html

I have just ordered logitech z-5500 speakers.

edit: OS = windows xp professional

1. Will buying a sound card be worth it? My motherboard says that it supports 7.1 audio. The sound card I was planning on getting would be the asus xonar d2x. Would I notice a difference between this sound card and my motherboards built in audio.

2. How easy would it be to upgrade my ram? Could I just buy the same kind of ram that I already have and just fill my other 2 slots with it, so that I would then have a total of 4gb of ram (currently have 2gb). Would I notice any difference if I was to do this?

3. When I turn on my computer on the screen it says, raid 1 is degraded but bootable. Also when I turn it on one of the hardrives says it is fine while the other one says "error". Is there anything I can do to fix these things?

 

[Remeniz]

1. Will buying a sound card be worth it? My motherboard says that it supports 7.1 audio. The sound card I was planning on getting would be the asus xonar d2x. Would I notice a difference between this sound card and my motherboards built in audio.

The Asus Xonar D2X is a very nice card but you might only just notice the difference between the on-board audio and the D2X running through Logitech Z-5500's. Run it through a nice set up and you will hear the difference.

2. How easy would it be to upgrade my ram? Could I just buy the same kind of ram that I already have and just fill my other 2 slots with it, so that I would then have a total of 4gb of ram (currently have 2gb). Would I notice any difference if I was to do this?

As long as it's dual-channel RAM your good to go. Stick with the same speed though.

3. When I turn on my computer on the screen it says, raid 1 is degraded but bootable. Also when I turn it on one of the hardrives says it is fine while the other one says "error". Is there anything I can do to fix these things?

This means that one of your drives in the RAID 1 array is corrupt. Usually you would just replace the bad drive and let the controller mirror the new drive.

 

[erick15]

Thank you for your reply

The Asus Xonar D2X is a very nice card but you might only just notice the difference between the on-board audio and the D2X running through Logitech Z-5500's. Run it through a nice set up and you will hear the difference.

So I shouldn't get the sound card. Just run it off my motherboard?

As long as it's dual-channel RAM your good to go. Stick with the same speed though.

So all I would have to do is buy 2 sticks of the same kind of ram that i already have and put them in the slot on my motherboard? Is that all I would have to do?

This means that one of your drives in the RAID 1 array is corrupt. Usually you would just replace the bad drive and let the controller mirror the new drive.

Can you explain to me on how to do this

 

[Remeniz]

So I shouldn't get the sound card. Just run it off my motherboard?

Get the sound card if it's a good deal. Like I said it is a great audio card.

So all I would have to do is buy 2 sticks of the same kind of ram that i already have and put them in the slot on my motherboard? Is that all I would have to do?

Yea. Just buy the same 2 sticks you have now, pop them in the motherboard and your off. Although you will only have between 3GB-3.5GB available due to the 32 Bit OS.

Can you explain to me on how to do this

The RAID drives?

See which drive is giving the error and remove it. You can still boot off the other drive. You could try to rebuild the RAID 1 array first just to see if the drive is suspect but that involves using the interface in the DOS environment (unless it has OS software too).

If you don't know which drive is bad then disconnect the SATA connector to one of them and start your machine. If it loads into Windows then the disconnect drive is the bad one, otherwise power down, re-connect the drive and remove the other.