PC upgrade help

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tomahawk
  • Start date Start date
T

Tomahawk

Guest
Hello, I am planning to upgrade my computer and would appreciate some pointers on how to best improve its performance. It is a 1ghz athlon with windows ME, 512 ram, 64mg geforce2 video card, and soundblaster live. If more info is needed just let me know. I appreciate any help provided. God bless!
 
Get a brown box and mail me the gf2
biggrin.gif
 
Get either Xp PRO or Windows 2000 just my advice and maybe if you have the money see if the Mother board can support a higher proccessor and upgrade that and maybe your Vedio card, THATS if you got the money. and if your 512 ram isnt DDR i would suggest u get DDR because its alot nicer than SDR or w/e the old junk i had was lol
 
You can find OEM software for decent prices at this site:

http://www.softwareandstuff.com

Basically, OEM software has to come with a piece of hardware, but you can get it for cheaper prices. They basically sell you a mouse and the program.

I'm too lazy to check, but I think you can get XP Professional for about $150 from them (a whole lot less than paying retail).


Another upgrade you could potentially do is a CPU upgrade. Do you know what the maximum speed processor your motherboard can handle is? (or at least the make/model of your motherboard?)

You've got pleanty of ram, but if you want more, look at www.crucial.com

The GeForce2 is still a pretty good video card, but I noticed a pretty good performance difference when I upgraded to my GeForce3. I wouldn't worry much about the videocard unless you play a lot of FPS games though.

Another upgrade to improve performance is a harddrive upgrade. If you're running a 5200 RPM harddrive, you might want to consider a 7200 RPM drive. You can get a new harddrive and just have two in your system, but make sure the faster drive is the master drive and the slower one in the slave.

The place you should go first to look for parts is:
http://www.progresssystemsinc.com/

(I have to plug CCGR's business ;))
 
It always depends on budget

I would suggest a mother board that has a fast bus speed.

It has to be DDR as anything less isn't moving ahead.

there are different speeds of DDR ram so you need to get a board thats compatible with the ram you WANT.

Video cards are always the bomb.

you need 512 ram these days. especially with XP. get pro edition not home edition of XP.

DVD burners are getting cheaper all the time, but make sure it comes with software. You pay for it somewhere, it's always cheaper (there are exceptions to the rule) bundled with it.

LCD screen are nice. a 17 inch lcd can have a viewing area as large as a CRT monitor. (rough enough anyway) so they are worth a look at. Look great to.

Motherboards have everything onboard these days. But know what you want. the sound may be onboard digital but not support surround software that tells you where the enemy is, in games. DOH (that's me) so you may need a sound card.

If it comes to priorities. Keep your old sound, monitor case etc. Go with the new motherboard and Ram. The processor wouldn't fit any new boards ( i think) if it does i would still use that and spend extra on a better video card, and get another processor in 6 months.

there's my 6 cents worth


sealcomm
 
you can also get an amd throoughbread 2.4 ghz for real cheap nowdays. I would get that and replace with DDR memory. That should hold you for a while.

Oh and upgrade to a gf4 or radeon. Doesnt have to be a w00ting card. You can get a 64mb gf4 for around $40.

Oh it all depends on the mobo tho.
 
if you're not going to completely get a new system - what mobo you got, and is that 1ghz athlon slot A, or a thunderbird?

also, after win ME, win98 could be considered an upgrade...
biggrin.gif


I would suggest win2k pro, actually.

don't get a dvd burner. right now, the +/- war is playing out, and dont get stuck with the "other" one when one wins out (remember floptical?)

also, LCDs are really expensive. make sure you really need it.

oh, btw, rizz - a 2.4ghz athlonxp doesn't exist.
smile.gif
the highest clock speed is the 2800+, which is around 2.3ghz (a little less). however, a 2400+ does exist (albeit at 2ghz).

meanwhile, my AthlonXP 2100+ is running at 2415mhz (11.5*210)
biggrin.gif
w00t

motherboards have everything onboard... yeap. sounds about right. nForce2 has the best integration EVAR. seriously, if you want some sweet "w00ting" digital audio, get an nForce2 board with the MCP-T southbridge - Dolby Digital Encoding, S/PDIF out, S/PDIF in, support for up to 5.1 (more if you daisy chain subwoofers and stuff together) surround, *drool*.

plus, its relatively cheap - around $120 for the Asus A7N8X Deluxe, and $85 for the EPoX 8RDA+. I would recommend against the Abit NF7-S, the only other big contender. theres also the Chaintech Zenith 7NJS (I believe thats the model #), which has arguably the best IDE RAID capabilities, and is purdy, to boot.

need more, just ask. ignore these monkeys.
tounge.gif


j/k I lub j00 all.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll post what I end up with once upgrades are complete. God bless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top