Finishing Touches

All through last week, I added the finishing touches to my new PC. I upgraded the RAM from 1.5GB to 2GB, making it run a lot quicker. I have also upgraded the hard disk configuration. I have removed my 120GB IDE hard disk and installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure so I can use it as an external hard disk. I originally added a 400GB S-ATA drive but it used to make clicking noises when shutting down and it used to freeze the PC for about thirty seconds during the POST sequence (Power On Self Test, a procedure all PCs undertake to check everything is working okay. Most modern PCs usually display a manufacturer's logo when doing this). It was also extremely noisy. I went back to PC World to replace this with another hard disk of the same model, only to find that I was having the same problem. I ended up this disk back and opted instead for a 320GB IDE hard disk. I know I really should start using S-ATA now but I have had a bad experience with it so it will take me a while to go back to it. I seem to have cracked it now though. I have installed my 320GB IDE hard disk as the master and have set my 160GB hard disk to slave. I have more space than I used to so that is okay, and it is good to know that my PC will support SATA II if I need it to. I also had to send the original ASUS PCI-Express graphics card back to PC World because the bearings were going in the fan and it was making a buzzing sound, which was not very attractive and, in fact, very distracting. I replaced it with a PNY card from PC World which has exactly the same nVidia chipset (7300 GS) and it has VGA and DVI outputs, as well as S-Video. The important thing is that it doesn't use a fan. It uses some sort of heat diffuser instead, so it makes my PC whisper quiet again. I seem to have got my PC running much faster now though. Everyone was right – 1GB of RAM will just about let Windows Vista run with Aero, but if you want the best results, you are best going for 2GB.