Ideal hardware configuration Access

[KMKelly]

I don't pay a lot of attention to hardware details and was working along happily on my last machine. Had to get a new machine and my boss wanted to maximize performance. They give you the minimum requirements but not the ideal/best case.

If one GB is good, more is better was the theory. I was concerned that adding RAM without adding hard drive speed would be less effective, but I had no resources to find the ideal system configurations for different types of needs.

I ended up with a computer with a 2.8GHz processor and 4GB of RAM, one of which the Windows XP OS won't recognize/utilize (apparently a known issue) I thought the 4GB was overkill, but I had zero information to backup a theory on the appropriate amount. So, I was told to order 4 and I did. Now I want (despite its being too late to help me) to try and collect some information on a good setup for someone running Access queries a lot.

I work in Access most of the day. Our base data set includes 4 main tables with 2.5M, 1.3M, 540K, and 84K records respectively and the tables are all fair size field wise. I also have datasets on a SQL Server on the network that are accessed semi-regularly and do a data update weekly encorporating a data dump that includes the entirety of the smaller tables and one months data for the larger tables.

If anyone here is hardware literate and aware, any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

Kris

 

[psemianonymous]

I think you're correct about the max-RAM issue. As for your database performance, I'd recommend:

o As much RAM as possible (but I would say anything over 2GB for a 32-bit machine, especially on your CLIENT machine, is not necessary). If you can run the queries in RAM, they run about 1000 times faster than on your hard drive.

o As fast of a hard drive as you can buy. There are some very fast (15000 RPM) drives available for like $400, with relatively small GBs. Faster RPMs = faster reading and writing, which you'll do a lot of.

o May I also recommend a dual-monitor setup. I love mine.

I don't know how long you spend waiting for things to run, but I've honestly never heard of someone buying 4GB of RAM for a client PC. For the record, any of your 32-bit OS servers have an absolute max of 4GB of RAM, and probably have less than that...if that gives you some perspective of how much RAM you have.


If they're willing to pay that much money, awesome. Just be thankful.

 

[addy]

I agree mainly with pseale but regarding hard drives, they are so cheap now compared to a few years ago that for performance, the best option in my opinion is to get 2 or 3 smaller drvies and set them up in a RAID 0 format.

You will definitely notice the speed increase.