Thoughts sought on upgrading my crappy old computer

[thedogisdead]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone would be so kind as to chip in with a bit of advice? As I'm not a gamer/ video editor etc, I've not needed a beefy machine so I've been using an old box I salvaged from work and added a few bits, so the specs are as follows:

* 3ghz Pentium 4
* 1gb ram
* 40gb/ 500gb IDE hard drives
* ATI Radeon 9200 128mb AGP graphics card

SO, pretty old and nasty all round, but there's a bit of juice left in it, so I'm wondering if it's worth squeezing it all out?

I'd like to run a few games and desktop effects without getting in to trouble with my crappy graphics card. Emulators are like whack-a-mole when it comes to running them flawlessly, so I'm mulling over whether switching to an nvidea card would be better?

I'm hoping better flash performance and maybe the ability to run some more recent games in virtualbox will be an added bonus!

Does anyone have any idea whether a card like this is likely to work on my machine...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PNY-Nvidia-GeForce-6200-Gaming-AGP-Graphics-Card-512MB-/110502885872?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item19ba7c39f0#ht_1549wt_1141

Also, the RAM is expandable to 4gb. I know it's definitely worth putting another gig in there, but does anyone know if I'm likely to see any great performance increases by maxing it out with 4?

Apart from those two things, I'm thinking there's not much you can do to eke out the performance of an old codger like this box?

Or... should I just shell out for a new box?!

Thanks in advance - hope you can help!

Cheers,

Aaron

[jerenept]

Sounds okay for running Ubuntu, or WinXP, and should run Vista/7 well. I have a computer similar to yours and it has served me well.

[swiftlinuxcreator]

Only in the world of Microsoft Windows is a computer with a 3 GHz Pentium 4 processor and 1 GB of RAM considered crappy. That's plenty for running Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or any other heavy Linux distro. With a ligher distro (like Puppy Linux, antiX Linux, or Swift Linux), your "crappy old" computer will FLY!!!

Why would you want to buy a new computer when it's much cheaper to add more RAM? Even with the heavier distros, your computer will fly for many years to come with 2-4 GB of RAM.

[smellyman]

Crikey. that is a great machine for Ubuntu.

Mine is a p4 2.4ghz, 1 gb ram, nvidia 7300

Ubuntu is blazing fast on it.

[tgalati4]

2 GB will suit your needs fine, unless you are doing music or video editing, then you might consider 4 GB. Put in a faster drive like a Western Digital Raptor or velociraptor and that will give you a boost.

Your graphics card selection may be limited by your power supply. More RAM, a faster disk will use a little more juice, but a new graphics card might cause your old PSU to lag. Watch your voltages on the bus if you do put in a new graphics card.

[earthpigg]

given your stated needs and wishes, i'd go for another 1 gb of ram, and whatever the fastest on-sale video card you can find is.

is the 500gb hard drive faster than the 40gb? if so, i'd retire that 40gb hard drive. after 5 or 6 years of continued use, hard drives are on borrowed time anyways.

hey, does anyone know the progress on the GPU accelerated flash for Linux that we are supposed to have?

[ubunterooster]

I have puppy on a PC with 192 Mb ram, a 4GB Hdd, integrated graphics....yaddda, yadda. It runs fine.

[sandyd]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone would be so kind as to chip in with a bit of advice? As I'm not a gamer/ video editor etc, I've not needed a beefy machine so I've been using an old box I salvaged from work and added a few bits, so the specs are as follows:

* 3ghz Pentium 4
* 1gb ram
* 40gb/ 500gb IDE hard drives
* ATI Radeon 9200 128mb AGP graphics card

SO, pretty old and nasty all round, but there's a bit of juice left in it, so I'm wondering if it's worth squeezing it all out?

I'd like to run a few games and desktop effects without getting in to trouble with my crappy graphics card. Emulators are like whack-a-mole when it comes to running them flawlessly, so I'm mulling over whether switching to an nvidea card would be better?

I'm hoping better flash performance and maybe the ability to run some more recent games in virtualbox will be an added bonus!

Does anyone have any idea whether a card like this is likely to work on my machine...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PNY-Nvidia-GeForce-6200-Gaming-AGP-Graphics-Card-512MB-/110502885872?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item19ba7c39f0#ht_1549wt_1141

Also, the RAM is expandable to 4gb. I know it's definitely worth putting another gig in there, but does anyone know if I'm likely to see any great performance increases by maxing it out with 4?

Apart from those two things, I'm thinking there's not much you can do to eke out the performance of an old codger like this box?

Or... should I just shell out for a new box?!

Thanks in advance - hope you can help!

Cheers,

Aaron
what kind of RAM is that.

IF its RD RAM, which a lot of P4s had before going to DDR2 (or was it DDR?), anyways.
im giving away 1 GB paired sticks.

[Khakilang]

I think that is a pretty decent computer. But it depend what you want to install with. Linux Distros or Windows? I had 2 old computer with Pentium 4 2.4 and the other 2.6 GHz with 512MB RAM, 40 GB hard disk and nVidia TNT graphics card with 32MB. 1 I install with PCLinuxOS and the other Open Suse and both are running quite well. Of course I don't use for game just normal work. I think your computer should be comfortable with any of the Distros or Window XP. Try some software first and see whether they need the upgrade like RAM and the Graphics card. Than only you decide.

[mips]

Does anyone have any idea whether a card like this is likely to work on my machine...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PNY-Nvidia-GeForce-6200-Gaming-AGP-Graphics-Card-512MB-/110502885872?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item19ba7c39f0#ht_1549wt_1141

That card won't be much faster than your current card so it's a waste of money and it seem pretty pricey seeing it's so old.

My recommendation to you is not to buy anything less than a (listed in order of performance) 7600GT, 7900GS, 7950GT being the most powerful nVidia AGP card you could get after which they only made PCI cards.

The ATi Radeon X1950 XT is an even faster card but I'd be concerned about the drivers though.

Wrt to your ram query, seeing you want to run virtualbox I would say go 4GB.

The AGP cards seem pretty pricey so you have to consider whether it is worth it splashing out £150-200 on such an old computer when a new dual-core PC (minus gpu) can be had for just over £200. Sometimes it makes more sense to sell/donate an old PC instead of upgrading it unless you can do the upgrades on the cheap with free/secondhand stuff.

Maybe browse ebay for cheaper deals and find out who the cheapest online UK shop is for pc parts and do some comparisons before even considering buying.

novatech.co.uk
ebuyer.co.uk
chilledpc.co.uk
eclipse-computers.com
aria.co.uk
overclockers.co.uk
www.cclonline.co.uk
www.scan.co.uk
www.digibelt.com
www.aememory.co.uk

Can you provide us with more detailed information on your motherboard? I suspect though that it uses DDR ram, PC3200 (400MHz)

[cascade9]

what kind of RAM is that.

IF its RD RAM, which a lot of P4s had before going to DDR2 (or was it DDR?), anyways.
im giving away 1 GB paired sticks.

P4s went to SDRAM, DDR1 then DDR2.

RDRAM worked, but the decent P4 models never ran with RDRAM (RDRAM only went as far as 533MHz FSB, the good P4s are 800MHz FSB models)


That card won't be much faster than your current card so it's a waste of money and it seem pretty pricey seeing it's so old.

My recommendation to you is not to buy anything less than a (listed in order of performance) 7600GT, 7900GS, 7950GT being the most powerful nVidia AGP card you could get after which they only made PCI cards.

The ATi Radeon X1950 XT is an even faster card but I'd be concerned about the drivers though.

Wrt to your ram query, seeing you want to run virtualbox I would say go 4GB.

The AGP cards seem pretty pricey so you have to consider whether it is worth it splashing out £150-200 on such an old computer when a new dual-core PC (minus gpu) can be had for just over £200. Sometimes it makes more sense to sell/donate an old PC instead of upgrading it unless you can do the upgrades on the cheap with free/secondhand stuff.

Maybe browse ebay for cheaper deals and find out who the cheapest online UK shop is for pc parts and do some comparisons before even considering buying.

novatech.co.uk
ebuyer.co.uk
chilledpc.co.uk
eclipse-computers.com
aria.co.uk
overclockers.co.uk
www.cclonline.co.uk (http://www.cclonline.co.uk/)
www.scan.co.uk (http://www.scan.co.uk/)
www.digibelt.com (http://www.digibelt.com/)
www.aememory.co.uk (http://www.aememory.co.uk/)

Can you provide us with more detailed information on your motherboard? I suspect though that it uses DDR ram, PC3200 (400MHz)

I sort of agree, but price makes this plan unworkable IMO.

7XXX nVidia cards are only avaible 2nd hand now. Even the 7600GTs commonly go for about 50 quid+. Not really worth it when you can get a much, much faster card in PCIe for far less.

4GB DDR1? Possible, but the best prices for 1GB DDR1 in the UK I can find is 25 quid for a 1GB stick.

So for 4GB + a 7600GT you could almost get a new computer.....

BTW, staticice is IMO better than any of those palces linked above. Not well known, but a great site.

http://www.staticice.co.uk/index.html


Why would you want to buy a new computer when it's much cheaper to add more RAM? Even with the heavier distros, your computer will fly for many years to come with 2-4 GB of RAM.

Because adding RAM just adds RAM. If you've got enough RAM, adding more will NOT make your computer any faster. Like I said above, adding old RAM generally isnt cost effective anyway....

Once you start thinking about power costs, upgrading is probably cheaper than running an old P4. They were power hogs.

[mips]

7XXX nVidia cards are only avaible 2nd hand now.

Actually found a few new ones online in the UK but expensive at close to £90-100 for the 7950, ouch!

[cascade9]

Actually found a few new ones online in the UK but expensive at close to £90-100 for the 7950, ouch!

Beyond ouch.

You can get a GTX460 for that, a 7950 isnt even in the same class....

[Gremlinzzz]

If you can afford shell out for a new box.
Not because of your crappy old computer!
because new machine will make ya happier and ya only live once 'maybe:popcorn:

[mips]

Wonder what happened to the OP.

[cascade9]

Wonder what happened to the OP.

Disappeared into the ether? Just in case they do come, I knew I forgot something.


Sounds okay for running Ubuntu, or WinXP, and should run Vista/7 well. I have a computer similar to yours and it has served me well.

No, it wont run Vista/Win7. They need a DX9 video card, the 9200 is DX8.1.

[murderslastcrow]

Honestly, even if you're using KDE there's no software you could use that would be pushing that 1 GB of RAM over the edge if you're not gaming or video editing (even 3D modeling and somewhat powerful games would run comfortable next to other programs with compositing on, even in KDE 4). It sounds like the real issue here is your graphics card- get a well supported one and 1 GB is all you'll need for what you're talking about. Unless somehow your standards for patience are worse than mine (hard to get any more impatient than me with computers- if anything takes more than 1 second to happen, I start losing my mind).

[as2000]

Other than more ram and a better video card. The hardware is decent. I have a very simualar setup running solo 24 hrs in the garage crunching numbers for World Community Grid. It's kind of erie though stepping into a dark garage with just the sound of the fans and the occasionl click from the water heater. :wink: