PC - Upgrade myself or buy new?

square_bear

Hi

My current PC is slow and old (7-8 years).
I need to change it.

Is it possible (with the help of you guys, of course) to upgrade the PC myself? (I have very little experience of computer maintenance but can learn and willing to try) or just go and buy something new?

The system information is:


Microsoft Windows XP
Professional version 2002.
Service Pack 3.
Intel (R) Core (TM) 2CPU
4300 @ 1.80GHz
1.79GHz
1.50 GB of RAM
Physical address extension.


My son uses it for Homework and to play games like Red Faction and Minecraft.
I use it to send e-mails, You Tube and general surfing.
We also have an iPad and phones which connect to the internet too.
I have a budget of around £ 650.00

Is there any other information that you need?



Thank you

S0litaire

Was the PC built for you or is it a big name Machine like HP or Dell?

If it's a big box maker then if you give us the model number we can help you more.

If it was put together then we would need to know the makes of the insides.

Download this program BelArc Advisor: (it will do an audit of your PC getting information about the motherboard and current graphics)

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

It will run and give you a web page telling you everything that's inside the PC, from installed software (including keys) what patches it's missing and details of the hardware.


Generally:

You should be able to get more RAM for the PC, that will speed things up. Try to get upto at least 4Gb (or 8Gb if the PC can take it)

You could squeeze out some extra speed by using an SSD and reinstalling XP on it. If you have access to the XP install disks that is and you'll need to backup everything on the PC first.

Any half-decent Video card will help with youtube and games for under £150

I_have_spoken

An SSD and newer graphics card could make a difference so long as you can get drivers for XP. But does your monitor have a VGA or DVI connector?

On balance, I'd be tempted to buy new, maybe even think about a laptop with i5 CPU.

square_bear

S0litaire wrote: »

Was the PC built for you or is it a big name Machine like HP or Dell?
Packard Bell
If it's a big box maker then if you give us the model number we can help you more.
CHO-CUB ID00CA ID00CA P/N PB82103001
If it was put together then we would need to know the makes of the insides.

Download this program BelArc Advisor: (it will do an audit of your PC getting information about the motherboard and current graphics)

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

It will run and give you a web page telling you everything that's inside the PC, from installed software (including keys) what patches it's missing and details of the hardware.

Do you need to know details of this report?

Generally:

You should be able to get more RAM for the PC, that will speed things up. Try to get upto at least 4Gb (or 8Gb if the PC can take it)

You could squeeze out some extra speed by using an SSD and reinstalling XP on it. If you have access to the XP install disks that is and you'll need to backup everything on the PC first.

Any half-decent Video card will help with youtube and games for under £150

Thanks, here is the info.

enkoda

I wouldn't bother spending any money upgrading your existing machine, it simply isn't worth the effort.

A newer/faster cpu and ram can only be sourced second-hand, and prices for old DDR2 memory is ridiculously expensive.

Even if you bought an SSD, I'm willing to bet the motherboard is so old that you'd have to install SATA drivers via floppy if you don't have a newer version of Windows.

You WILL regret spending any money on upgrades. My advice would be to bite the bullet and get a new machine.

NiftyDigits

Packard Bell iStart 755

Motherboard specs states a max of 2 x 1GB. Which is a shame, but one can add an inexpensive Graphics card for around £20.
You can take the RAM to the max by swapping your 512MB module for this 1GB RAM module for £3.99
enkoda has rather exaggerated the cost of DDR2.

So you can improve the performance a bit for as little as £25.

Will confirm the Motherboard details via PM.

There are uncomfirmed reports that the Motherboard can take up to 4GB of RAM. To be found here for £27.99
In this case, you should double check with the vendor that you can return them in the case of them not working with the Motherboard.

Parva

Malcolm1_50 reported for spam. Otherwise totally agree with enkoda, you are wasting money trying to upgrade what is in PC terms a dinosaur. Either buy a cheap pre-built system or post what you want to build yourself here. You are seriously wasting your time and money if you try to update such an old PC.

travellite

I had a similar age model Packard Bell up until a couple of years ago and decided buying brand new was the way forward. For your budget you will be able to get a good spec PC.

NiftyDigits

Even with that spec, it's still a viable machine. In fact, with the upgrades it will have a higher spec than my PC. That runs just about anything that I need and happily outputs Full HD material to my TV without stutter.
It certainly won't be slow anymore.

Nothing to stop the OP getting a better PC for his son for his gaming needs. But the old PC, with those simple upgrades, will handle the parent's needs with ease and can also be hooked up to their TV or via their network to create an entertainment centre.

He certainly does not need to spend as much £650 on a new PC unless he specifically wants a high performance gaming machine.

This MEDION® AKOYA® E4059 is an example of what you can get for just £265.99.

zaax

XP is the problem and I would put UBUNTU on and see.

Ianh82

upgrade yourself,. i just specced a new build for a customer for £600 based on a core i5 haswell refresh and Z97-K and 240 gig msata m.2 card. nice a quick!

2nd hand is the way forward! most stuff comes with fairly long warranties and most are transferrable or your seller will help.