Help upgrading my PC

vmaxfrank · Dec 10, 2007

I need help upgrading my PC. I have a circa 2000 Pentium 4 HP with the expensive kind of memory, so I figure I need to at least upgrade the Motherboard and Processor and probably the case to get more usb ports and possibly a card reader. I have installed a DVD burner, new video card, new hard drive, firewire card, and monitor in the last couple of years, but the lack of RAM is causing me problems.

Any advice on which way to go. Where is the best place to look for something like this? I'm thinking maybe just a tower sytem may get me some new software as well if my existing cards and drives can swap.

Edit, I mostly use it for checking email, editing home movies from mini-DV to DVD, and the occasional video game.

ruffryder · Dec 10, 2007

There is a lot of different ways to go about this? Some important questions are why type of video card is it? AGP or PCI? I would assume AGP? Also, how is your hard drive? They have become quite cheap and fast, and much easier with seriel cable connections.

How much video editing do you do? This requires mostly processor speed and hard drive access, games require more on the video card, memory side.

There are a couple of motherboards that allow the use of AGP cards while allowing for the latest processors and memory, allong with seriel connections for multiple hard drives (very nice for video editing)

List the specs of the video card and how much you want to spend. Newegg is a good resource to look at as you can search for motherboards that have the exact specs you need.

Also, what operating system are you running? Are you going to upgrade it at all? With a motherboard and processor change you will need/should reinstall the os fresh. This will give you the least amount of trouble, though you will need to verify that you have all of the discs availible to reinstall.

milehighassassin · Dec 10, 2007

When you say expensive memory, I am guessing you are taking about DDR2.

Price has came down, look around and you should find something reasonable.
Try these sites for memory:
http://www.tigerdirect.com
http://www.newegg.com/

I would bet your motherboard will have at least two slots. Get 2, 1-gig sticks and you should be good.

I can't find it in my bookmarks but there is a website (probably more than one) that you allow to scan your computer and it will tell you everything about it. It will tell you your exact processor, RAM. harddrives, CD/DVD drives, video card, audio, etc, etc. It is really nice for upgrading because then you know exactly what you need to buy.

Great tool for people that do not know what is in their computer.

vmaxfrank · Dec 10, 2007

A little more info. My processor is a 1.4 GHz Pentium 4 (HP Pavillion). The ram is 128 MB non-ecc RDRAM. My hard drive is a 160 Gig Seagate and the video card is a Radeon 9550 AGP (256 MB 128 bit DDR memory at 400MHz speed).

shadownelson · Dec 10, 2007

I think mileshigh is talking about www.belarc.com - check it out, free download. As others said, can't beat newegg for parts. Good Luck.

ruffryder · Dec 10, 2007

vmaxfrank said:
A little more info. My processor is a 1.4 GHz Pentium 4 (HP Pavillion). The ram is 128 MB non-ecc RDRAM. My hard drive is a 160 Gig Seagate and the video card is a Radeon 9550 AGP (256 MB 128 bit DDR memory at 400MHz speed).

You forgot to answer the money part. How much you looking to spend? I would assume the the Seagate hard drive is an IDE hard drive not a serial?

Skogen · Dec 10, 2007

Depending on how much you are looking to spend. It might be more cost effective to buy a bare bones system of a sorts that is adaptable to your video card ect.

vmaxfrank · Dec 10, 2007

I saw some systems on dell's outlet that looked interesting in the $400 to $500 range. I really don't want to spend more than $500, I'd rather stay under $400, but I also don't want to have to do this again in a year. Dell's seem to mostly have whatever processor choice (I think the Athlon may be cheaper), either 1 or 2 GB memory (It seems about $50 more for the extra Gig), DVD burner (which I already have) and a new mini-tower.

and you are right when you assume the hard drive is IDE. I've never dealt serial types, and I'm not sure it's worth a big expense as all I do is add a few chapters to my daughters ballet recitals and burn it. As far as the OS, I'm not sure I can install it fresh as it is an XP upgrade from ME and I don't have the ME disk.

ruffryder · Dec 10, 2007

vmaxfrank said:
As far as the OS, I'm not sure I can install it fresh as it is an XP upgrade from ME and I don't have the ME disk.

no you can't. you will need to install an os fresh when changing the motherboard and processor. Here might be another option, though it looks like it doesn't include a video card.

http://denver.craigslist.org/sys/504891971.html

Ex-Member · Dec 10, 2007

If you're going to spend the time to replace MB and proc, you might as well just spend the $ and get a new computer... [insert some witty comment about polishing a turd here].

If you get a barebones machine, a lot of the hardware you have already will move into it fairly easily. You could get a cheaper machine, save the $ of a factory-installed DVD/video card upgrade. HDs... get a big internal one, you'll use it. While you're shopping pick up an IDE to USB adapter. Turns an internal HD (like the one in your comptuer already) into an external USB drive.

And if you purchase from TigerDirect, they'll ship you their stuff in a bright pink box

opus · Dec 10, 2007

Buy new one.

Fosgate · Dec 10, 2007

What do you have on it now? How many MHZ processor. Part number of the desktop. All of this is crucial when doing upgrades. For example, the system I'm typing on now is a Gateway Essential 550 Pentium 3 550mhz with a Front bus speed of 100Mhz. MOtherboard part # on it is a 40000532 and cross refrences to a Tabor 3 BX 440 chipset. This motherboard has a 2x AGP Slot and accepts 100mhz dimm memory but has to be double sided memory. And at boot the startup menue tells me it is an Intel Phoenix Bios 4W45B0x0.15A.0017.P12 which only supports up to 384MB Ram and up to 800MHZ processors. Ram would cost me $17 per stick and a 800MHZ Slot1 Pent3 processor would be about $25. Video Cards that support 2 X AGP for 256MB would run about $50. I found 1 guy that could bump my processor to a pent4 1.3Ghz for $110 but I'll pass on the upgrade. (yeah its not a gaming system it's just been internet cruizing since 2000).

It would be very important for you to open thee case up and find the manufacturers motherboard part# on the processor, Ram and Motherboard. And also write down what Bios version comes up on boot (usualy hit F1 on startup to access the setup screen and it's on the first page also). Also what brand of computer can help. I myself am in the process of doing a few cheap upgrades to give this another year maybe 2. I've used Pricewatch.com since 1995 when I was heavy into computer tech. They link to other retailers like tigerdirect, new egg and several others.

ruffryder · Dec 10, 2007

How are all of your accessories? Do you have a nice LCD monitor, good printer, keyboard, mouse, speakers? That all connect through USB? (except the monitor of course)

I would go with a mac mini. Nice setup and not that expensive, starting around 600.

Don't be afraid of the mac, they are so user friendly, have really good software, and are easy to use.

I helped my parents go that route and the amount of calls I get about computer problems has dropped to nothing. Use to get them quite regularly before when they had a pc.

Not sure about what Fosgate is telling you, but the stuff he listed is 5 years old if not more, and that stuff is/can be more expensive than newer.

Pentium4 1.3 GHz for 110? You can get the intel core 2 duos for around 150 easy.

It is best to start from scratch anyway since you need the os/motherboard/memory/processor the little stuff ads up, and trying to keep your old equipment going sometimes is more work and money than it is worth.

Good like with your decisions, but I would go the easy route and get a mac.

Kong · Dec 10, 2007

Bought gateway loaded for just over $900 last month, no monitor.

intel quad core
500mb 7200 hd
dvd etc burner with label flash
a bunch of usb's
firewire
whole area of every kind of flash mem ports
nvida gforce 8500 w/256mb
Awesome unit.

Got it for video editing and online shooter games This baby rocks.

Vista Home Premium
3gb ram

Can't touch it building from scratch. Sell yours, that's what I did. Saved my extra DVD usb burners and a couple of usb harddrives.
This unit just rips through vid editing. Too bad the programs don't fully utilize the quad core yet, but it really does the job and that is a cheap price.

Fosgate · Dec 10, 2007

ruffryder said:
How are all of your accessories? Do you have a nice LCD monitor, good printer, keyboard, mouse, speakers? That all connect through USB? (except the monitor of course)

I would go with a mac mini. Nice setup and not that expensive, starting around 600.

Don't be afraid of the mac, they are so user friendly, have really good software, and are easy to use.

I helped my parents go that route and the amount of calls I get about computer problems has dropped to nothing. Use to get them quite regularly before when they had a pc.

Not sure about what Fosgate is telling you, but the stuff he listed is 5 years old if not more, and that stuff is/can be more expensive than newer.

Pentium4 1.3 GHz for 110? You can get the intel core 2 duos for around 150 easy.

It is best to start from scratch anyway since you need the os/motherboard/memory/processor the little stuff ads up, and trying to keep your old equipment going sometimes is more work and money than it is worth.

Good like with your decisions, but I would go the easy route and get a mac.

Not all systam boards will accept the Duo processor. Myself I'm passing on the 1.3 upgrade for myself. I'm just going to throw maybe $50 at 2 upgrades. I've already got my next unitl picked out at a Asus sytem Board with 2.4Ghz Duo (Or AMD Phenom) 2Gb 1333mhz ram, 512Mb PCI Express vid card 500mb drive, DVDR all wrapped in a Thermaltake Tsunami tower case for around $900

vmaxfrank · Dec 11, 2007

Thanks Fosgate, but I stated my ram is RDRAM which is not made anymore and very expensive to boot. That's why I'm looking at a bare bones system to upgrade.

I'm not looking for monitors and such as what I have works for me. Heck, I don't even have HiDef TV yet. We just need something that won't take 15 minutes to boot up and something that will copy my daughter's ballet recital without crashing.

Thanks for all the advice from everyone. I figure once I get some Christmas money, I'll shop newegg, tigerdirect, and dell outlet and see if I can find something. My biggest worry is going to Vista, but I'm not sure how much that will affect me as I am a basic user.

The Mac is a thought, but the Mrs. and I run some work stuff at home that requires a PC and it appears to be out of my price range.

ruffryder · Dec 11, 2007

The lastest ones allow dual boot, what programs are you talking about?

You can get word, exel, power point all native on the mac. Have you asked the mrs about the mac? She might like that idea better? You never know.

Q-BALL · Dec 11, 2007

vmf- I feel your pain,i've got it's twin sister sittin under the work bench for close to a yr.now.It got to the point where it wouldn't boot without crashing.got messages of either ram/motherboard troubles.looking at the situation then as you are now i decided to go for a new puter,sure am glad i did. although it's only 256mb,i could pull the ram out and send it to you,just couldn't guarantee that the cards are ok as stated above.

Ex-Member · Dec 14, 2007

yeah, another +1 for Mac... There's a few apps I have that only run in windows.... I could probably throw a labview app together to make my radio talk to my computer without using windows, but it's just as easy to have windows installed in parallels and fire it up when I need it. Get enough RAM (I have 2GB) and windows runs just as fast on Mac hardware as it will on PC hardware.

Also, add up the cost of software on the PC.... Mac comes with iMovie/iDVD for video editing, some basic office utilities, iTunes for music... Enough software to get started doing what it sounds like you need to. Not to mention you don't have to deal with any of the antivirus/spyware bullsh** that plagues the windows world... that alone is worth the switch IMO.

I frequently travel from DTC/Littleton to thornton/northglenn, if you want to see what a Macbook can do, I can show you... maybe answer some questions about them. I've already converted a few people (Supplicate on here being one of them) to Mac after they saw how powerful yet easy to use they are...

Help upgrading my PC

Well-known member

Moderator: Premium Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

ACCOUNT CLOSED

Banned

Well-known member

Well-known member

ACCOUNT CLOSED

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

ACCOUNT CLOSED

Similar threads