Upgrade & Clean out my PC or buy a new CPU & Motherboard bundle... Help..

jaspal

My pc (Pentium 4, 3GHz, Hyper threading, 1 Gig Ram running on XP Professional ver 2002, service pack 3) was running very very very slow. The fan used to come on constantly and it used to grind to a halt often... I was looking into buying a new PC (had budgeted £200 - £250 on a cpu & motherboard bundle from maplins or ebay) and use my existing hard-drive, case, etc etc } but thought I would get even more Money Saving and try some basics first... I did the following:

- Un installed all unused programs
- Defrag
- Cleaned desktop & only have short cuts on it (i have over 30 files on it before and someone told me to do this - honestly speaking I don't know if this made any difference)
- Upgraded Ram from 512 to 1Gb (now have 2 * 512) (Free as a friend gave me)
- Using Google Chrome - wow this is so much better and faster than ie or firefox. IE used to take 60 - 70 seconds to load up. Chrome is instant...
- increased Virtual memory to 4GB
- Cleared temp files

Big Big difference, My PC is now running at least 50% faster now, although the fan does come on, it does not grind to a halt any more. I use it for general pc use, internet, some graphic work and web design, minor gaming, office work etc.

But it is still not as fast as I would like it to be, so, i thought let me upgrade some more Ram... but now I am a bit confused...

Option 1
Buy 2 * 1Gb of Ram (DDR 184pin PC3200 400MHZ) Approx £55 - £60. (Ebay, mr memory etc) My motherboard has two slots in total. I was shocked at how expensive this was... looks like this old DDR ram is getting rare...

Option 2a
Buy this "cheap" motherboard bundle from maplins for £80 http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222875
This is a far better processor& motherboard that comes with 1GB ram and can be upgraded to 8Gb ram.

Option 2b
Buy this "cheap" motherboard bundle from maplins for £80 http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=223865 . This is a far better processor & motherboard that comes with 1GB ram and can be upgraded to 16Gb ram. Paying £25 or so more than option 1 makes this the best way forward...


Option 3
Buy this "advanced" motherboard bundle from maplins for £190 or go onto ebay and get a better spec one for £200
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=229200

Considering I paid over £1200 for my PC about 4-5 years ago when this Hyperthreading technology and P4 3Ghz was the best thing. I am more content with spending a fifth of that and getting a decent pc.

So some help from the professionals please...

1) Are there any other "free" ways can I improve my pc performance ?


2) Spending £80 or so on those CPU & motherboards bundles seems a better buy than spending £55 - £60 on upgrading the Ram of my current pc. Do you agree or am I missing something here..

3) Is Option 2a or 2b better ? or do you know of another "bundle" I should go for in the same price bracket...

3) Are those £80 bundles any good. I think they are (but a bit out of date with the technologies now) and by upgrading the Ram over the years i think I will be ok. Or shall i just go for the whole hog and get a £200 bundle...

Thanks

i8change

Try the Crucial website for RAM, usually cheap and mine arrived next morning! Use their memory advisor tool. It's guaranteed to work or your money back.
Also clean out the PC.
I did this for very little money on a pentium 4 and it has improved greatly, it's like a new machine!

jaspal

Hi, thanks for your note.

Yep, I agree Ram upgrade makes a difference. When I upgraded from 512 to 1Gb, it made a huge difference.

In order to upgrade to 2Gb, I need to purchase - 2GB kit (1GBx2), 184-pin DIMM, DDR PC3200 memory module

I tried crucial, they are expensive for this particular model - £70.14 inc. VAT

Thats why i am more tempted to buy that new CPU & Motherboard bundle for £80.

Basically, my issue is that I think it will cost me a bit more to buy a new CPU & Motherboard bundle rather that upgrade. But I want someone to advise me, in case I am missing something.

spakkker

Hi , vacuum out your cpu cooler , I use a small paintbrush and hold the vac near.
Can you re-install windows - this is a sure way to speed up your pc - but save anything you need first.
Increasing ram gives diminishing returns - the new intel 2 core cpu's are v. good

weegie.geek

Maplin hardware is generally horrendously expensive. Check ebuyer or scan.

will-he-payitoff

Ive just bought same memory from play.com for £18 for my sisters pc. When I upgraded ram on mine it did not seem to make much difference I then reformatted the HD and now its faster than ever, saved me buying a new pc.

Percy1983

I assume you are not interested games etc?

If so I would just start again, sell your current machine whole (wipe it first) as it does still have some value.

Get a cheap(ish) motherboard on an Intel G31 (on board graphics), a cheap core2 E2*** or E5200, buy 2GB or 4GB DDR2 ram (may aswell go for 4). New hardrive (500Gb seems the best value point) new DVD-RW, cheap case and a reasonable power supply (maybe bundle).

With that you will ahve a PC which outperforms you current one by quite a way.

barginunter

Download CCleaner - this will get rid of most rubbish. Run Ad-Aware and/or Spybot to remove other cr*p. Then defrag again. Bet it speeds up some more.