Off-topic

[Aries1918]

Dun according to Wiki

[rustediron]

Hmm... maybe it was a play on words, or even a pun; Go, Dun? Check?
'tis a mystery!

On a separate note, Dun is also a colour, apparently.

[Gairun]

it's a shade of brown isn't it?

[nickbeat]

What's brown and sounds like a bell?

[Aries1918]

A bell with brown paint on it?

[nickbeat]

"Dungggggg!"

I know, bad joke but it means well.

[Kangleton]

Thats what I think of your joke.

[Inner Biotch]

Dun according to Wiki

Nope, wrong. It's a game

[nickbeat]

Your epic fail pic is way funnier.

[Aries1918]

Nope, wrong. It's a game

If Wiki doesn't know about it, then it is not important enough for me

[MKartMaster]

If Wiki doesn't know about it, then it is not important enough for me

[citation needed]

[Kangleton]

RAM. Someone explain it to me.

I don't need to know all the details and all that, I just want to know what kind of RAM is best. 2GB of RAM, I've learned, isn't necissarily a good thing, depending on what variety it is... so... whats a good kind of RAM, and what isn't?

[Jaeram]

Well nowadays DDR3 is supposed to the the top of the line stuff, and the old 8-bit memory used in things like the original nintendo is the not so top of the line stuff.

[Kangleton]

So, if I had 2GB of DDR3, I'd have a pretty good computer, when it comes to RAM?

[MKartMaster]

Jaeram's right, DDR3 is the top-of-the-line stuff right now, but it's not as prevalent as DDR2 (and compatible equipment isn't as common either). So far as I've seen.

Be wary of anything with the word "Value" or versions of that in the name; certain companies take less-than-perfect RAM and package it as "Value" RAM for less. Basically, somewhat worse (and possibly bad) RAM for less money.

2 GB is usually plenty, unless you want high-end gaming power. Thing is, WinXP can only address 4 GB (I'm 99% sure that's the number) total of memory in your box (ie processor cache, RAM, vid card, etc). This means most people will only see RAM up to 3 GB max being useful in XP. You need Vista (or maybe a 'Nix OS, I don't know about them much) if you want to use 4+ GB.

Speed/Latency/Etc. This part drove me crazy trying to figure out. Basically, you want frequencies and such (PC3200, DDR800, the like) to be as big as possible, and your latency/timings (like 3-3-3-3-12) to be as low as possible. Lower latency = faster accesses to memory = better performance. But things get messy when you look at frequencies. Here, you want the adjusted freq on your CPU to match the adjusted freq on your RAM to match, or slightly favor the RAM. An example:

Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 GHz processor; FSB 1333
NoName RAM; DDR2; DDR-800

Intel "quad-pumps" its processor speeds, so the "true" FSB on that processor is 1333/4 = 333 (rounded)

DDR2 means "Double Data Rate" (with a 2 on the end for "v2" or something), so the freq on the RAM is 800/2 = 400

In this example, the RAM has a slight freqency advantage on the processor, which is okay, but not optimal I suppose. Getting DDR-667 RAM would put it a 1:1 ratio, but sometimes buying DDR-800 (and having some excess) is just cheaper, which is good.

Umm...that's all I can think of. I had a bookmark of something explaining the frequency MUCH better than I did (I think I might have forgotten something); but I seem to have lost it. For example, I distinctly remember there being an 8 in those frequency calculations somewhere.

Someone feel free to chime in with something I messed up.

==========================================
HIJACKING FOR A QUESTION OF MY OWN

Does anyone have any idea how I'd change the install path of a program? I have a partition on my drive that I've set aside for Windows and small programs, but it's too small for some of the games I want to install (like NWN1 or C&C3), and said games do not give me an option to install in a different directory, they just install right there.

[EDIT]: Nevermind, I googled for it and got an answer! Here's what I got:

Open regedit (run -> "regedit)
Navigate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion
DoubleClick "ProgramFilesDir"
Change the target path
???
Profit!

[EDIT2]: For referential clarification, said programs were simply installing in Window's default %Root%/Program_Files/etc location without any option to change it.