Upgrading my Dad's PC

[anastasis14]

Alright, my dad wants to run windows 7 on his 12 year old PC, currently running XP.

Current pc parts are:

Motherboard: Asus P4S333

CPU: Intel Pentium 1,8ghz northwood something, single core

GPU: Nvidia geforce mx 400 

RAM: 256mb from the start, added 1gb ram 3 years ago

The others dont really matter i think.  Will this be able to run windows 7?

Also im thinking of getting intel pentium T4400. it has a PGA478 socket, while motherboard's is m-pga478. Does this m really matter or the cpu can work.

 

[Guest]

I doubt it'll be a good experience with one core. How about a lightweight linux distro like lubuntu?

[ForsakenLive]

tbh you are better of building a new machine. The current one has pretty much no upgrade path, the ram you will have to purchase is more expensive that current DDR3 memory, and while you could upgrade the CPU you are being hold back by the rest of the system (GPU, etc).

 

nowadays you can buy notebooks with windows 8.1 for like $200, and build a desktop with the OS for a very similar amount.

[SkilledRebuilds]

I've been building Single and Dualcore W7 machines for a while now...

 

Single core @ 2.4Ghz-3.2Ghz or more is fine, anything under that is pretty pointless for W7/8.1

^These barely work in themselves, saved by GPU offloading and HW accelerations, SSD's help, but are no cure for 100% CPU Usage that you'll see a LOT.

 

Your at 1.8Ghz... it wouldn't be any more than a stress inducing adventure.

[qwertywarrior]

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.
•  

you can but it doesnt mean you should

its gonna be slow !

[hotcarsforlife]

to be honest i would go with a new system, you can build decent system for $400

[Trik'Stari]

Agreed, new system. I use my 4690k system and it's nice, I use my moms oooold ass dual core (I think) dell and it's like *click something*................I'm waiting.............come on......you can do it?

[i_build_nanosuits]

not worth upgrading sell it for 40$ and go to best buy and get a 199$ machine it will be 6 times as fast.

just buy this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-desktop-intel-celeron-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive/5858051.p?id=1219165148215&skuId=5858051&st=categoryid$pcmcat212600050008&cp=1&lp=1

[anastasis14]

I doubt it'll be a good experience with one core. How about a lightweight linux distro like lubuntu?

 

 

tbh you are better of building a new machine. The current one has pretty much no upgrade path, the ram you will have to purchase is more expensive that current DDR3 memory, and while you could upgrade the CPU you are being hold back by the rest of the system (GPU, etc).

 

nowadays you can buy notebooks with windows 8.1 for like $200, and build a desktop with the OS for a very similar amount.

 

 

I've been building Single and Dualcore W7 machines for a while now...

 

Single core @ 2.4Ghz-3.2Ghz or more is fine, anything under that is pretty pointless for W7/8.1

^These barely work in themselves, saved by GPU offloading and HW accelerations, SSD's help, but are no cure for 100% CPU Usage that you'll see a LOT.

 

Your at 1.8Ghz... it wouldn't be any more than a stress inducing adventure.

 

 

 

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.
•  

you can but it doesnt mean you should

its gonna be slow !

 

 

 

to be honest i would go with a new system, you can build decent system for $400

 

 

Agreed, new system. I use my 4690k system and it's nice, I use my moms oooold ass dual core (I think) dell and it's like *click something*................I'm waiting.............come on......you can do it?

 

 

not worth upgrading sell it for 40$ and go to best buy and get a 199$ machine it will be 6 times as fast.

 own

just buy this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-desktop-intel-celeron-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive/5858051.p?id=1219165148215&skuId=5858051&st=categoryid$pcmcat212600050008&cp=1&lp=1

 

 

Thanks for all the answers guys. Buying a new PC wouldn't be an option as he really wants to keep the investment under 100 euros.. 

Intel Pentium T4400 is sold for 49 euros here and its double core with 2.2ghz so I guess it should be fine, but can someone explain me the thing I asked in the OP, what does the m means in my motherboard's socket. Also someone mentioned DirectX 9. I suppose this graphic card doesn't support it, so I'm gonna need a new one right? 

I was thinking of getting him a 32gb ssd because all he does is browsing and some light office applications, but if I have to get a new GPU I'm gonna have to drop it.

[Trik'Stari]

Thanks for all the answers guys. Buying a new PC wouldn't be an option as he really wants to keep the investment under 100 euros.. 

Intel Pentium T4400 is sold for 49 euros here and its double core with 2.2ghz so I guess it should be fine, but can someone explain me the thing I asked in the OP, what does the m means in my motherboard's socket. Also someone mentioned DirectX 9. I suppose this graphic card doesn't support it, so I'm gonna need a new one right? 

I was thinking of getting him a 32gb ssd because all he does is browsing and some light office applications, but if I have to get a new GPU I'm gonna have to drop it.

A 32gig SSD would be almost filled up by a windows installation, and if you aren't putting the OS on the SSD but keeping it on an HDD you won't see much improvement.

[i_build_nanosuits]

Thanks for all the answers guys. Buying a new PC wouldn't be an option as he really wants to keep the investment under 100 euros.. 

Intel Pentium T4400 is sold for 49 euros here and its double core with 2.2ghz so I guess it should be fine, but can someone explain me the thing I asked in the OP, what does the m means in my motherboard's socket. Also someone mentioned DirectX 9. I suppose this graphic card doesn't support it, so I'm gonna need a new one right? 

I was thinking of getting him a 32gb ssd because all he does is browsing and some light office applications, but if I have to get a new GPU I'm gonna have to drop it.

there has got to be a way for you to get a new more up to date machine for around 100euros these days upgrading this machine you have is a money pit, keep looking.

[qwertywarrior]

Thanks for all the answers guys. Buying a new PC wouldn't be an option as he really wants to keep the investment under 100 euros.. 

Intel Pentium T4400 is sold for 49 euros here and its double core with 2.2ghz so I guess it should be fine, but can someone explain me the thing I asked in the OP, what does the m means in my motherboard's socket. Also someone mentioned DirectX 9. I suppose this graphic card doesn't support it, so I'm gonna need a new one right? 

I was thinking of getting him a 32gb ssd because all he does is browsing and some light office applications, but if I have to get a new GPU I'm gonna have to drop it.

32GB just for the OS will be fine + a few other applications

yes u need at least a DX9 card

 

also u could get windows 7 for cheap if u look around

[harrynowl]

Just buy an AM1 motherboard/CPU or one of the Intel J1900/1800 celeron things + 4gb of ddr3. You'll spend a little more but have a much, much much better experience.

[anastasis14]

Just buy an AM1 motherboard/CPU or one of the Intel J1900/1800 celeron things + 4gb of ddr3. You'll spend a little more but have a much, much much better experience.

 

Actually I found an Asrock motherboard with j1900 celeron for 63 euros and a 4gb ddr3 for 37 euros. So it should be alright.

I'll have a talk with my dad and I'll get you all guys updated with his decision and our questions!

[harrynowl]

Actually I found an Asrock motherboard with j1900 celeron for 63 euros and a 4gb ddr3 for 37 euros. So it should be alright.

I'll have a talk with my dad and I'll get you all guys updated with his decision and our questions!

I was close to picking one up for my home server project, but I got a Dell tower for £19 instead. They got a decent amount of horsepower.

[ForsakenLive]

Thanks for all the answers guys. Buying a new PC wouldn't be an option as he really wants to keep the investment under 100 euros.. 

Intel Pentium T4400 is sold for 49 euros here and its double core with 2.2ghz so I guess it should be fine, but can someone explain me the thing I asked in the OP, what does the m means in my motherboard's socket. Also someone mentioned DirectX 9. I suppose this graphic card doesn't support it, so I'm gonna need a new one right? 

I was thinking of getting him a 32gb ssd because all he does is browsing and some light office applications, but if I have to get a new GPU I'm gonna have to drop it.

 

You can build a dirt cheap rig that will be a lot more faster than your current one for the price.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XKP2rH

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XKP2rH/by_merchant/

 

CPU: AMD 5350 2.05Ghz Quad-Core Processor  (£39.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: Asus AM1M-A Micro ATX AM1 Motherboard  (£22.92 @ Ebuyer) 

Memory: G.Skill Value 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£28.98 @ Ebuyer) 

Total: £91.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-07 17:58 BST+0100

 

You already got the case, PSU, hard drive, etc. For the SSD, don't go any smaller than 120GB, the GB per $ is just not there. Also, the less the capacity the less the performance, a 32GB SSD is not far away from a HDD. Sandisk, Kingston, Crucial and Corsair have pretty cheap 120-128GB SSDs that perform pretty decently.

[SkilledRebuilds]

You could pick any dualcore or better laptop up off craigslist (or your countries alternative)

 

A Cheap $100 or less Dualcore Laptop that has SATA, Clone that drive to a new cheapo 64GB SSD, and you have a snappy computer twice as fast if not more than his last one.

Much less cost than a new dual core potato, and he can run any external drive via USB port if he needs to save bigger files, so a 64GB SSD would fit the bill for Windows + Ample space for leftovers.