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New desktop or not?
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muzer
Posts: 95 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
Hi all. I hope one of the many knowedgable folks on here can help with my dilemma. I currently have a desktop pc which is getting on for ten years old. It's been upgraded and updated over the years but it is beginning to feel like it would be quicker for me to walk to Amazon's warehouse, put in a written order and pay them in cash rather than try and buy online!
The machine is generally running very slowly and the main issue is with multi-tasking (an absolute no go), and viewing video (particularly hd). My machine currently has a 120gb hard drive, 1gb ram and (according to the spec on "my computer" has a Pentium 4(R) processor (2.50ghz).
I basically only use the machine for browsing, video / photo editing and music (i'd like to play games like Football Manager but at the moment that is not possible). I'm not a gamer so don't require a real mindblowing machine.
Should I buy a new machine or is there anything I can do to improve mine into the twentieth century?!
The machine is generally running very slowly and the main issue is with multi-tasking (an absolute no go), and viewing video (particularly hd). My machine currently has a 120gb hard drive, 1gb ram and (according to the spec on "my computer" has a Pentium 4(R) processor (2.50ghz).
I basically only use the machine for browsing, video / photo editing and music (i'd like to play games like Football Manager but at the moment that is not possible). I'm not a gamer so don't require a real mindblowing machine.
Should I buy a new machine or is there anything I can do to improve mine into the twentieth century?!
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Comments
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Well if it is 10years old then I would say upgrading it would be a waste of money. The graphics card will be out of date, way too little RAM etc etc. You may be able to improve perfomance a little by regularly running programs like ccleaner and defrag but as soon as it comes to spending money, dont, just buy a new one/build you own.YNWA
Target: Mortgage free by 58.0 -
You could probably tweak your current PC to regain some speed simply by doing some basic maintenance and updating but I agree at 10 years old it's getting a bit long in the tooth.
Just looking at Football Manager 2011 min specs it requires a Dual Core processor and 1.5GB of RAM and more importantly a decent graphics card to cope with the 3D match rendering.
There are plenty of mid-range desktop PCs around that will meet your requirements, state a budget and the suggestions will start flowing.0 -
Thanks for the replies so far. They seem to confirm what I was already thinking (time to ditch this one). I use CC cleaner and defrag but as you say that can only do so much. OK my budget would be somewhere around 350-400. So what could I expect to get for that? I've been looking at an Acer on Misco (i5 with 640gb hard drive and 3gb ram but am put off a little by the onboard graphics - would that be sufficient for my uses or should I be looking at something with a better graphics card?)0
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as ever my usualy reference system would be this one http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=935 at £399 + 25 for delivery, ok so the CPU will not be as fast and the hard drive is smaller but the important thing is that it comes with a reasonable graphics card - ok so its not a blisteringly fast enthusist card but it will stand up to most games no problem and strangly the quad CPU is actually cheaper than the duel core so would be worth changing to that
please note however that i have never used this company before so do not know what the service is like!Drop a brand challenge
on a £100 shop you might on average get 70 items save
10p per product = £7 a week ~ £28 a month
20p per product = £14 a week ~ £56 a month
30p per product = £21 a week ~ £84 a month (or in other words one weeks shoping at the new price)0 -
post a hijackthis log, commit charge, peak commit, from task manager/performance, it shouldn't be slow. Replacing your security software with avast 5 free, malwarebytes free, and windows firewall will probably help to start with.!!
> . !!!! ----> .0 -
With a budget of £400 you would be able to build yourself a reasonable machine. if you 'recycle' some parts such as mouse, monitor etc you have a little more to spend on RAM, CPU etc. I have used e-buyer int eh past for parts and it is reasonalby priced with timely delivery. If you want info on building your own I dont think this site can be beaten http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/ .YNWA
Target: Mortgage free by 58.0 -
It might be worth trying to dual boot it with a free linux os - Ubuntu perhaps, as it will be quicker than the present set up even if you cure all the problems, and it will do everything you do now as well. HTH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsJL9tPrzGo&feature=relatedPeel back your baby's eyelid to find no nationality or religious identity mark there. Peer at your baby's eyes for them to reflect back just people-throw away your flags and religious symbols...0 -
You don't really need a new PC - a better graphics card may help though.
My PC is P4 2.4 ghz running Vista with 2 gig ram and it handles video fine (I use a full HD monitor as well). It oly has a 40 gig hard drive as well.
I did spend £45 on a better graphics card (will be AGP on a 10 yr old comp) - computer was only £40 off ebay!
probably need a defrag and startup cleanup (use CCleaner)
People get taken in by sales talk - most people have no need for the latest PC's unless they are running powerful applications or games
:beer:0 -
I have to say, your initial specs seam to be all ok.
My recomendations would be:
goto crucial<dot>com and run a memory check, this will allow you to buy more ram. (2-4GB will be Max).
then, Purchase a second HDD (around 250GB would be fine) use this as your new main drive and install windows onto this CLEAN, whilst doing so split the drive into 2 virtuall drives so that all your personal data can go on one and then windows and programs on the other, that way if you get a virus or need to install windows you wont loose all your data.
The rest will be fine, you wont be able to watch HD DVDs but it will run much faster.0
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