advice with upgrading pc

  • Thread starter Thread starter David
  • Start date Start date
D

David

hi

i have a ''tiny'' pc which is 5 years old. it is a p4- 1.7ghz. 512mb ram,
80gb hd, 64mb graphics card, 5.1 card and speakers, etc...

I want to upgrade the ram, graphics card, hard drive, and install a network
card.

i wanted to know how many ram slots are usually available on this kind of
mother board. will have to buy a 256 mb card, or a 512mb and take the other
256 out?

is there any advice any1 can give me? i think the graphics agp socket is a
'x4'. so will a x8 card work in it? e.g. gf6200. (256mb).

thank you

dave
 
David said:
hi

i have a ''tiny'' pc which is 5 years old. it is a p4- 1.7ghz. 512mb ram,
80gb hd, 64mb graphics card, 5.1 card and speakers, etc...

I want to upgrade the ram, graphics card, hard drive, and install a
network
card.

i wanted to know how many ram slots are usually available on this kind of
mother board. will have to buy a 256 mb card, or a 512mb and take the
other
256 out?

is there any advice any1 can give me? i think the graphics agp socket is a
'x4'. so will a x8 card work in it? e.g. gf6200. (256mb).

thank you

dave
Click to expand...

Not enough information. There is no format called "tiny". What you are
talking about could be a SFF (small form factor) system, or it could be a
micro-ATX mainboard in a small case. Either way, nobody can advise you on
what to purchase until we know the exact model number of the motherboard, or
the SFF system (including the motherboard). It would also be helpful to
know what power supply (exact make and model number) is powering your
system.

BUT, after you post the specs needed to analyze your current system, I think
anyone who knows anything about hardware would probably advise you that it's
best to start over, at this point.

You might be better off going with a 'barebone' system for your upgrade.
You can get one with a micro-atx mainboard (with 5.1 sound and LAN and video
built in). Example for ~200 bucks:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2204129&Sku=B450-2303 A

Note the mainboard has Geforce 6100 graphics, which will be OK to start
with. But it also has PCI-Express graphics slot for a future upgrade. It
also has FOUR RAM slots, only one of which will be filled when the system is
delivered. It also has 5.1 sound and 10/100 LAN built in. Just add your
current hard drive and a new hard drive. -Dave
 
I suppose that's a "Tiny" PC, as sold in the UK.

You might try downloading a utility like SiSoft Sandra:

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_3264&langx=en&a=

The "lite" version of it is free. It ought to give you the information
you'll need about your DIMM slots, etc. A PC of that vintage may use PC133
SDRAM. That's not the happiest combination with a P4 for performance, but it
works.

If you wish to use a hard drive larger than 137GB, it would be best if your
mainboard supports LBA48. If you're running WinXP, see:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303013/en-us

Some older mainboards have BIOS updates that make LBA48 addressing
available. Perhaps you could benefit from one.

I believe that most AGP 8X graphics cards are backwards compatible with AGP
4X slots. The main issue is the slot voltage. You may find this interesting:

http://www.directron.com/15agpguide.html

It's getting to be easier to find PCI-Express cards (completely incompatible
with your system) than AGP ones, but there are still lots of AGP cards
available. There are even some newish models out there, like those that use
the ATI Radeon X1300 and X1600 chipsets. (There are higher-performance cards
available, like the nVidia 7800GS, but they're expensive, and probably would
benefit from a CPU newer than a 1.7 GHz P4.)

I'm dubious about spending significant funds upgrading a 5 year old PC. I
suggest that you do a little hunting and discover what you could get in a
new system for the same funds. (Disclaimer: my PCs have been home assembled
for the past 9 years, and I pine away if I can't swap in a new mainboard
once a year or so.)

Address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
Good luck.Upgrading by just keeping the motherboard? Waste of time man. A
decent motherboard can be had for less than $100.
 
hi

i have a ''tiny'' pc which is 5 years old. it is a p4- 1.7ghz. 512mb ram,
80gb hd, 64mb graphics card, 5.1 card and speakers, etc...

I want to upgrade the ram, graphics card, hard drive, and install a network
card.

i wanted to know how many ram slots are usually available on this kind of
mother board. will have to buy a 256 mb card, or a 512mb and take the other
256 out?

is there any advice any1 can give me? i think the graphics agp socket is a
'x4'. so will a x8 card work in it? e.g. gf6200. (256mb).

thank you

dave
Click to expand...
You'll have to take a look to see how many slots, if any, are
available. The Crucial dot com website takes much of the guesswork
out of buying the proper memory, fast delivery too.
 
Back
Top