Need help to upgrade components in PC.

Maddy25

Hi

I have a custom built PC as my primary Computer. I also have a spare one, it is a RM Ecoquiet 2 all in one PC (looks something like this).

I bought it about 2 years ago, second-hand, however it is really slooow!
My primary PC has an i5 ivybridge processor and 8GB RAM, which is absolutely fab for more heavier editing software and computing languages.

I have opened up the tower on my PC only once, to add a multi-card reader, which wasn't difficult to do.
But as the RM is an all-in-one, with the monitor attached to the PC "thing", I'm not sure where to begin.:o

Here is some information about the PC;

-- RM Ecoquiet 2
-- AO945GM
-- Celeron M 1733MHz - I was thinking either Intel Celeron G1610 or G1620 (Only because it's the cheapest on ebuyer! Never owned an AMD so have no idea about that brand.
-- 2 GB RAM - Upgrade to 4GB
-- 40 GB Hard Drive - Upgrade to at least 160GB
-- Windows 7

I just need to be able to web browse and word process seamlessly, nothing very intensive.

I have a very very low budget, approx £50, give or take 10.


So 2 main questions;

1) How do I open up the particular PC I mentioned?
and
2) Are the upgrades are mentioned good or even feasible?

Thank you for reading this, any help would be appreciated.

colin79666

Upgrading the processor isn't worth it and there would be a good chance of it not working with the motherboard and bios in place.

Upgrading the RAM might help a bit, hard drive won't make a huge different unless you need more space. You could upgrade to a SSD if it has a SATA interface and not IDE, that would make quite a difference but would use up all your budget.

Maddy25

colin79666 wrote: »

Upgrading the processor isn't worth it and there would be a good chance of it not working with the motherboard and bios in place.

Upgrading the RAM might help a bit, hard drive won't make a huge different unless you need more space. You could upgrade to a SSD if it has a SATA interface and not IDE, that would make quite a difference but would use up all your budget.

Thank you for the reply, but you lost me at Motherboard and BIOS! I have heard of them, but don't know what they are. Is there any way I can overcome this?

Yeah SSD's are way too expensive.

How much difference would the RAM make by itself?

colin79666

Maddy25 wrote: »

Thank you for the reply, but you lost me at Motherboard and BIOS! I have heard of them, but don't know what they are. Is there any way I can overcome this?

Short answer: no

RAM would make a bit of a difference, especially if you are using all 2GB at present. Keep in mind that you will likely only see 3 and a bit GB as I assume you currently have the 32 bit version of Windows 7 installed.

Prices for SSDs have taken a tumble recently so you could get a 60GB SSD and some RAM in budget if you shopped carefully but to be honest it probably be better spend saving towards something newer as that processor is a single core unit and pretty underpowered by modern standards.

You would probably get a reasonable speed boost just by giving Windows a clean install or switching to a lightweight Linux distribution (which would provide web browsing with Firefox or Chromium and Libre Office for basic Word Processing).

Maddy25

So, by the sounds of it, you're saying it's come to the end of it's life!

Okay how does this sound;

Dell OptiPlex dual core 3.0/2.99MHz
1GB RAM
150GB Hard Drive
Acer 24inch flat screen monitor
wireless keyboard and mouse
Windows 8.1

£65

I_have_spoken

Manual here - http://www.rm.com/Support/GeneralDownload.asp?cref=DWN1058737

The RAM appears to be on 200pin SODIMMs so chances are they've penny pinched and fittec 2x1Gb so you'd need to scrap these and go for 2x2Gb

Maddy25

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Manual here = http://www.rm.com/Support/GeneralDownload.asp?cref=DWN1058737

Thanks, I tried to find the manual for this model for ages!

Cisco001

I don't bother upgrade that machine
CPU won't work. Different socket
RAM - Get second hand 2 x 2GB
HDD - Get second hand HDD if you want

Maddy25

What about the other spec I listed?

Someone is selling it to me for £65.

Dell OptiPlex dual core 3.0/2.99MHz
1GB RAM
150GB Hard Drive
Acer 24inch flat screen monitor
wireless keyboard and mouse
Windows 8.1

closed

reinstall windows rather than looking at hardware

2GB of ram isn't the problem, browsing and word processing works fast on any machine

Maddy25

closed wrote: »

reinstall windows rather than looking at hardware

When I bought it, the person had just installed Windows 7.


Firstly, what would a reinstall do?

Secondly, how do I do it?:rotfl: