Computer Nerd Question

[jason_t]

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Well, PT maxes out neither the CPU nor the RAM, so going overboard on either end would not help. The biggest thing you can do to boost actual performance is get a fast HD. It's tough to say exactly where the cutoff is in terms of noticable performance gains via CPU/RAM, so I can't say for *sure*, but other factors beyond clock speed are going to have a much more profound effect such as FSB speed and L2 Cache.

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I think you misunderstood me. It's not to improve the performance of PT. I will be running complex queries on the PT databases themselves (PT will be closed), and want them to execute quickly. Does this change your answer?

Also, what is FSB speed? And L2 cache?

gm

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FSB speed = front side bus speed. It determines how fast the CPU can talk with the memory and other hardware.

L2 cache = level two cache. This is memory in the processor itself used to store data the CPU is accessing frequently.

[Muisyle]

Just get 2 gig of ram anyway.

A gig of Corsair PC3200 (DDR400) ram is $85 off Newegg.com

[mc1]

IMHO the FSB or the level 2 cache is insignificant if you are buying a top end (ish) PC which it sounds like you are.

They will all be using the same motherboard chipset and it is likely to be more jargon that just compicates matters.

[smoore]

For fast database queries you want hyper I/O. Get some sort of RAID system (I'm not sure what the kids use these days) and get some wicked fast RAM. I don't know if DDR RAM will help your cause any, definitely something to research. To be honest, you want a windows database server, find out whatever those use now and buy accordingly.

[Yads]

As other's have already stated CPU and RAM have almost nothing to do with DB querries. You will need a fast HDD and that's about it.

[JustSteel]

I would recommend getting a couple of Western Digital Raptor hard drives (10,000rpm) and use RAID 0.

[CORed]

For database queries, the most important factor is hard drive speed. So make sure your hard drive has high fast data transfer rates and low seek time.

[CORed]

The hard drive is still the most important factor, whether you are using poker tracker itself, Access, or Visual Basic programs to access the database. Even a complex database query will not tax the CPU or memory. CPU's are so fast now, that unless you are doing someting extremely processor intensive, the processor is usually not the limiting factor. Databases are disk intensive. The seek time and data transfer rate of your hard drive will be the limiting factor in the performance of your queries. If your queries are returning large datasets, memory might be an issue, but it will not be nearly as important as hard drive speed.