Advice

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J

jeh

I need some advice on a computer I built about 2 years ago. The MB is
an Abit NF7 ver.2 w/an XP2200 cpu, 256 mg ram, slow generic 10 gig
harddrive, 420 PSU, old CD burner, player, XP Pro (a plus), no SATA but
an open PCI slot or two. The case is a roomy Antec atx though. It's
been ok for my uses since I put it together, but I have to either
upgrade or replace it to handle upper end business uses such as running
4 or 5 Microsoft Office/database/medical encoder/grouper type
programs simultaneously (and heavily), and large file/data transfer to
my employer's Network. I know to do the basics, ram, hard drive,
possibly CPU, but is it worth it or should I just scrap the whole thing
and start over? I'm not a heavy gamer so that's not an issue. Any
thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
John
 
jeh said:
I need some advice on a computer I built about 2 years ago. The MB is
an Abit NF7 ver.2 w/an XP2200 cpu, 256 mg ram, slow generic 10 gig
harddrive, 420 PSU, old CD burner, player, XP Pro (a plus), no SATA but an
open PCI slot or two. The case is a roomy Antec atx though. It's been ok
for my uses since I put it together, but I have to either upgrade or
replace it to handle upper end business uses such as running 4 or 5
Microsoft Office/database/medical encoder/grouper type
programs simultaneously (and heavily), and large file/data transfer to
my employer's Network. I know to do the basics, ram, hard drive,
possibly CPU, but is it worth it or should I just scrap the whole thing
and start over? I'm not a heavy gamer so that's not an issue. Any
thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
John
Click to expand...

That's a tough call. If you are looking for a significant upgrade, you are
going to have to scrap it and start over. But there's no reason I can think
of why your current setup wouldn't work ok with a HUGE RAM upgrade (beyond
1Gig), plus a new hard drive, fast and large. Maybe a new network adapter,
as well. But then, if you're going that far, you are about halfway to a new
system anyway.

I'd probably approach it like this . . .
- Cheap (but good name brand) Micro-ATX mainboard board with onboard video
plus PCI-Express X16 slot, plus gigabit ethernet onboard
- Good power supply of 400W (not much more, but no less, and enermax or
seasonic brand)
- Lower end (but current) processor with a clock speed of 2.4GHz or more,
but not much more (You don't need a lot of processor power, but avoid the
semprons and celerons)
- A full 2 Gigabytes of RAM
- 7200RPM hard drive with a large cache (8MB?) and 250Gigs or more of
storage, interface doesn't matter, but you might as well go with SATA
- Dual layer DVD burner (because they're cheap, no reason not to)

The reason I'd suggest the above is, to upgrade your current system will
cost about as much as starting over, so you might as well build something
decent. It sounds like your current case will work, but I'd probably start
with a new case anyway. I like to keep a current system running until I'm
sure that the new one is all set. -Dave
 
jeh said:
I need some advice on a computer I built about 2 years ago. The MB is
an Abit NF7 ver.2 w/an XP2200 cpu, 256 mg ram, slow generic 10 gig
harddrive, 420 PSU, old CD burner, player, XP Pro (a plus), no SATA
but an open PCI slot or two. The case is a roomy Antec atx though. It's been ok for my uses since
I put it together, but I have to either
upgrade or replace it to handle upper end business uses such as
running 4 or 5 Microsoft Office/database/medical encoder/grouper type
programs simultaneously (and heavily), and large file/data transfer to
my employer's Network. I know to do the basics, ram, hard drive,
possibly CPU, but is it worth it
Click to expand...

Yes, certainly worth upgrading the hard drive and ram.
or should I just scrap the whole thing and start over?
Click to expand...

Nope, the rest is quite adequate for what you are doing.
 
I need some advice on a computer I built about 2 years ago. The MB is
an Abit NF7 ver.2 w/an XP2200 cpu, 256 mg ram, slow generic 10 gig
harddrive, 420 PSU, old CD burner, player, XP Pro (a plus), no SATA but
an open PCI slot or two. The case is a roomy Antec atx though. It's
been ok for my uses since I put it together, but I have to either
upgrade or replace it to handle upper end business uses such as running
4 or 5 Microsoft Office/database/medical encoder/grouper type
programs simultaneously (and heavily), and large file/data transfer to
my employer's Network. I know to do the basics, ram, hard drive,
possibly CPU, but is it worth it or should I just scrap the whole thing
and start over? I'm not a heavy gamer so that's not an issue. Any
thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
John
Click to expand...

In short, I would class that as a Win98SE computer.
Still usable and with right setup and proper programs, can work well.
Setup wrong and it will suck. It depends on what you put in it for programs.
It's not worth upgrading it, in IMO. But it can still live, using Win98SE
compatible software. Remember to backup your information, always.

2100man
 
jeh said:
I need some advice on a computer I built about 2 years ago. The MB is
an Abit NF7 ver.2 w/an XP2200 cpu, 256 mg ram, slow generic 10 gig
harddrive, 420 PSU, old CD burner, player, XP Pro (a plus), no SATA but
an open PCI slot or two. The case is a roomy Antec atx though. It's
been ok for my uses since I put it together, but I have to either
upgrade or replace it to handle upper end business uses such as running
4 or 5 Microsoft Office/database/medical encoder/grouper type
programs simultaneously (and heavily), and large file/data transfer to
my employer's Network. I know to do the basics, ram, hard drive,
possibly CPU, but is it worth it or should I just scrap the whole thing
and start over? I'm not a heavy gamer so that's not an issue. Any
thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
John
Click to expand...

I guess my first question would be, do you consider this system
to be "for fun" or "for profit" ? Is this how you make your living
(the above listed activities) ? If it is, there must be some way to
justify a significant upgrade, especially if you currently sit around
waiting for some computing activity to finish.

I've worked with a machine with only 512MB of memory in it, and
256MB must be pretty tough to work with. Even a modest upgrade
on the RAM will help (2x512MB).

You could think in terms of a two step upgrade. You could
buy a couple matched sticks of RAM. Insert them in the current
machine. If you aren't happy with the results, go and get an
Athlon64 S939 motherboard and a S939 processor before they are
gone. If you find the right motherboard, you could reuse your
video card. So it would be a CPU and motherboard upgrade.
This is an example of an incremental upgrade (since supplies of
S939 are limited, these choices may not be available for much
longer). The following is something you might try, if you were
funding this yourself, and didn't have a large budget:

OCZ Premier 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227069

EPoX EP-9NDA3I Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 250 ATX AMD Motherboard $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123263
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813123263

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 2.4GHz S939 Processor ADA3800BPBOX $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103531

You could also look for a current generation solution, with
either AMD socket AM2 or an Intel LGA775 Conroe/Allendale
system. The majority of boards would use DDR2 memory and
PCI Express video, so you might end up spending more.

I guess it really depends on what performance multiplier
you are after. Do you want your improved system to be 30%
faster, or 500% faster ? How much do you have to spend
doing it ? You won't get the 500% from a RAM upgrade.

According to the Epox support page, the above motherboard can
use a dual core processor. I don't know if you want to spend
$200 on one of those or not (the dual cores could be useful to
you - what I don't know is if you have the budget for a $200
processor). Also, another note about Nforce3 250, is that using
Nvidia 6800 family video cards with it is not recommended -
the stuttering problems with 3D rendering were not fixed by
Nvidia as far as I know.

http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/faq.php?serno=9

Paul
 
jeh said:
I need some advice on a computer I built about 2 years ago. The MB is
an Abit NF7 ver.2 w/an XP2200 cpu, 256 mg ram, slow generic 10 gig
harddrive, 420 PSU, old CD burner, player, XP Pro (a plus), no SATA but
an open PCI slot or two. The case is a roomy Antec atx though. It's
been ok for my uses since I put it together, but I have to either
upgrade or replace it to handle upper end business uses such as running
4 or 5 Microsoft Office/database/medical encoder/grouper type
programs simultaneously (and heavily), and large file/data transfer to
my employer's Network. I know to do the basics, ram, hard drive,
possibly CPU, but is it worth it or should I just scrap the whole thing
and start over? I'm not a heavy gamer so that's not an issue. Any
thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
John
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. Seems the most logical thing to do is to keep the
case and replace everything in it, except maybe the power supply, oh it
does have a linksys wireless card that's new. What's really aggravating
though is just about as soon as I do, it'll be outdated again. But tell
me this. It will hold up to 3 gig of ram. I'm thinking 1 (one) would
probably do. Adding to that a pci sata controller with the appropriate
drive--not having to be raid I presume--yeah, seems more cost effective
to just do the motherboard too. Thanks for bouncing ideas.
John
 
You could first upgrade your RAM to 2 gigs and see if that helps your
applicatioins run smoother. And if it doesn't, that ram you bought(make sure
its PC 3200 Dual channel) will fit right into a socket 939 system. That
would be the most economical, if your truly not interested in playing games
at all. But if your interested in playing any future games, then upgrading
to AM2 dual core would be your cheapest/best option. Make this decision
before buying 2 gigs of PC3200 DDR because AM2 requires DDR2 memory.

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse.
No such thing as Bad Kids. Only Bad Parents.
Friends don't turn friends on to drugs.
The path often thought about and sometimes chosen by abused children as
adults is Suicide. Be a real friend.

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939,AIW 9800 128mb
MSI 550 Pro, X-Fi, Pioneer 110D, 111D
Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire,2 Gb Dual Channel OCZ
2XSATA 320gb Raid Edition, PATA 120Gb
XP MCE2005, 19in Viewsonic,BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, winSPWW2, winSPMBT
 
jeh said:
jeh wrote:

Thanks for the tips. Seems the most logical thing to do is to keep the
case and replace everything in it, except maybe the power supply, oh it
does have a linksys wireless card that's new. What's really aggravating
though is just about as soon as I do, it'll be outdated again. But tell
me this. It will hold up to 3 gig of ram. I'm thinking 1 (one) would
probably do. Adding to that a pci sata controller with the appropriate
drive--not having to be raid I presume--yeah, seems more cost effective
to just do the motherboard too. Thanks for bouncing ideas.
John
Click to expand...

John, I know you have received a multitude of advice. This is,
indirectly, why are started 'planning ahead', way back in 1998. For the
past 6yrs., I have been running:

Case: Full-Tower ATX-Style Case
Mobo: Soyo SY-VBA133(will be upgrading to Epox EP-8RDA3+ for slots)
CPU: P-III 933Mhz(will be upgrading to to AMD Applebred 1.8Ghz)
OS: Windows(98SE till 2004 when I upgraded to XP Pro)
RAM: 512MB(will be upgrading to 3GB)
HA: AHA-19160(will be upgrading to the AHA-39320A-R)
HD: 147GB 19320 SCSI(upgraded from 16 n' 17GB will be adding 5 more)
CD: LG Electronics 16/12/10 CD-R/W(no upgrade planned yet)
Sound: Creative Labs Audigy 2ZS(upgraded from Sound Blaster)
Video: ATI Radeon 9600SE(no upgrade planned)
Speakers: Logitech Z2200 200W(upgraded from 10W PC speakers)
Headphones: Aiwa HP-CN5 Noise Canceling headphones
Add-On: USB/FireWire 8-Port(5 USB/3 FireWire; no upgrade planned)
NIC: Linksys LNE100/TX 10/100
Router: Linksys Cable/DSL 4-Port Switch(other router died)

The point of telling you the specs of what I have, is that, the size of
my case has never changed and, I only upgraded when, I felt it was time
to, not when the industry told me to.

Christopher
 
VanShania said:
You could first upgrade your RAM to 2 gigs and see if that helps your
applicatioins run smoother. And if it doesn't, that ram you bought(make
sure its PC 3200 Dual channel) will fit right into a socket 939 system.
That would be the most economical, if your truly not interested in playing
games at all. But if your interested in playing any future games, then
upgrading to AM2 dual core would be your cheapest/best option. Make this
decision before buying 2 gigs of PC3200 DDR because AM2 requires DDR2
memory.

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse.
No such thing as Bad Kids. Only Bad Parents.
Friends don't turn friends on to drugs.
The path often thought about and sometimes chosen by abused children as
adults is Suicide. Be a real friend.

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939,AIW 9800 128mb
MSI 550 Pro, X-Fi, Pioneer 110D, 111D
Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire,2 Gb Dual Channel OCZ
2XSATA 320gb Raid Edition, PATA 120Gb
XP MCE2005, 19in Viewsonic,BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, winSPWW2, winSPMBT
Click to expand...
For the uses stated, a 120Gb 7200 HD with 8Mb cache and 2x 512Mb of RAM
will work wonders. 256Mb and a slow HD are what is killind your performance.
Check Task Manager, performance tab, bottom left, commit charge, peak
value. If it is larger than 256, you are swapping to the slow HD when
working.
Mike.
 
jeh wrote:

<snip>

Thanks guys. I'm in total agreement and sort of came to the same
conclusion after some afterthought just after my previous post. I
didn't agree that this is only a 98SE computer, although it used to be.
It's running XP Pro (as is) pretty damn good IMO for my uses. First to
go will be the hard drive. I'm going with that SATA controller with
hard drive I mentioned. Along with the ram suggestion, both will at
least be usable when the time *does* come to change the MB. My case,
also full tower, PS, and wireless card are all almost new and will hold
anything--I have this one and another computer (wife's) networked--my
video card is sort of cheap though. And thanks Chris for that little
bit of insight. You're so right when we listen and follow blindly along
with what the "industry" thinks we need, when really it doesn't make
that big of a difference anyway.
John
 
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