What operating system should I put on my quite old computer

HereToday

lonestarfan said:

lonestarfan said:

PC is 13 years old. It had more memory added by myself 8 years ago. It was 1GB and I increased it to 3GB. I put 1GB each in slots 2 & 4. I put the 2 x 512MB in slots 1 and 3. 

lonestarfan said:

PC is 13 years old. It had more memory added by myself 8 years ago. It was 1GB and I increased it to 3GB. I put 1GB each in slots 2 & 4. I put the 2 x 512MB in slots 1 and 3. 

Any other suggestions on what to do. Thank you. 

Fit SSD and install Windows 10. That's it. Don't over-complicate. More RAM will make a negligible difference; SSD will make a noticeable difference.
Coasting HatBox isn't quite correct about the RAM: 

The type of memory (RAM) you are looking for is: 240-pin PC6200 800 MHz DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM

He actually means: DDR2 PC2-6400 • CL=6 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-800 • DIMM

But the chances that your existing RAM is DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 • DIMM

You can mix and match, but best to just replace all, as modules are relatively cheap: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MEMORY-RAM-DDR2-DDR3-DDR4-2GB-4GB-8GB-16GB-DESKTOP-SERVER-LAPTOP-Lot/223872276673

If it's the Dimension E521(Post the Service Tag or Express Code), it can take up to 8 GB; https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=smem8bxd A whole £12. But you may not want to splash out £30 on 8 GB of RAM and an SSD. SSD first, RAM(if wanted) afterwards.

Have you not even purchased the SSD yet??

HereToday

CoastingHatbox said:

I think by the time you've found some more RAM and sprung for an SSD you have probably made half the outlay you would on a better second hand PC. You can get 4-5 year old Dell Optiplexes with SSD, 8GB RAM and an Intel i5 Processor for not much over £100 on a popular auction site. Considerably less if you are patient. Performance wise, this will be like night and day compared to the computer you currently have.

More ridiculousness? 

RAM costs no more than £3 per module. SSD £16. Stop exaggerating.

Why not link to these 4 to 5 year old Optiplex desktops for just over £100. I'm expecting between £100 and £110, otherwise what do you mean by "just over £100".
I know as I ran a search for them just recently. You can only refer to 3040, 3050, 5040 & 7040. You make out as if the standard price for them is just over £100 but it is not. If so, link to them.

I'll start you off:
3040 i5: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=optiplex+3040+i5&_sacat=0&Storage%20Type=SSD%20%28Solid%20State%20Drive%29&_dcat=179&_sop=2&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1

3050 i5: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=optiplex+3050+i5&_sacat=0&Storage%20Type=SSD%20%28Solid%20State%20Drive%29&_dcat=179&LH_PrefLoc=1&_sop=2

5040 i5: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=optiplex+5040+i5&_sacat=0&_sop=2&SSD%20Capacity=128%20GB|240GB|480GB|500%20GB|120%20GB&rt=nc&Storage%20Type=SSD%20%28Solid%20State%20Drive%29&_dcat=179

7040 i5: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=optiplex+7040+i5&_sacat=0&Storage%20Type=SSD%20%28Solid%20State%20Drive%29&_dcat=179&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1

Bargains can be had, but there is no need for hyperbole.

HereToday

poppellerant said:

Personally I would upgrade the RAM to 4GB at the bare minimum, but consider upgrading to 8GB to make life more comfortable and future proof the computer.  If you do upgrade to 4GB of RAM or more, change to 64 bit Windows as this supports more than 3.5GB of RAM.  64 bit won't cost you any money and as you're probably clean installing Windows 10 anyway, it won't cost you any time or effort!

As others have pointed out, definitely consider an SSD drive at the very least, which has no moving parts compared to hard drives (spinning rust).  The SSD on its own will make the machine feel like new and the extra RAM will improve your experience as you browse and have several things open.

Should confirm device before recommending going to 8 GB. 4 GB is more than adequate for the device, but 8 GB is the same price. So no harm in going for 8 if you can be sure that they device can accept it. If AMD, then quite likely.

HereToday

lonestarfan said:

If they’re 2 different things what do you think about it saying when I right click on computer and select properties it tells me it’s windows 7 vista home premium? I didn’t know they’re 2 separate things. Is my computer corrupt?   

Take a picture of what you see and post it here.

The fact that you have SP1, leads me to think that it is Windows 7, as there was no SP2. Vista had an SP2.

If Windows 7, the move to Windows 10 is free. If Vista, you will have to update the BIOS and install Windows 7 then use Genuine Ticket to move to Windows 10 Pro....or just buy a cheap product key.

HereToday

CoastingHatbox said:

Lonestar,

The maximum memory your motherboard will support is 4GB in 4 x 1GB DIMMs. So you could take out the 2x 512MB DIMMs and replace them with 2x 1GB DIMMs.

The type of memory (RAM) you are looking for is: 240-pin PC6200 800 MHz DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM.

You can search a popular auction site and find sticks for a few pounds. I'd suggest buying a job lot of 4 sticks as I wouldn't be surprised if some of it doesn't work. And you might find that the new RAM is clocked slightly faster than your existing RAM. What I've recommended is the fastest RAM that your motherboard will most likely support. You can keep the old RAM sticks as spares.

You can also upgrade the CPU. The fastest CPU your motherboard most likely supports is most likely an AMD Athlon 64x2 5600+. Unfortunatly those listed in the UK on that popular auction site are going for silly money right now, but there are models abroad for comfortably less than £10. This is a very old CPU and a second hand one isn't worth much .. it might be worth setting up an alert for any that crop up under £10. It's probably going to be around a third faster than your existing CPU ... but that's really not much by today's standards. If you change the CPU, don't forget you will also need a small tube (2ml) of fresh thermal paste/thermal compound which you put sparing on top of the CPU before re-fitting the heat sink.

For the SSD, you might as well go as cheap as your can as you won't get the fastest performance from it - still much better than a spinning disk HDD though. Looking at the smaller sizes, I'd probably recommend a Crucial BX500 120 GB because it has 3D NAND, although I'm aware of a firmware bug on them which makes it look like they erroneasly report that they are reallocating a single bad sector. This can be safely ignored. I recommend these because they use 3D NAND. Cheaper one-dimensionsional TLC SSDs have terrible performance and a batch I used were all dead after 6 months continuous use.

In terms of getting a legit Windows 10 License, the chances are your computer has a Microsoft sticker on it with the OEM license key. If it has that, and it is for Windows 7 or later, you may be able to install and crucially, activate Windows 10. And it is a maybe - some OEM Windows 7 product keys work and others do not. If the key doesn't automatically activate, there is a phone service you can call which may also work. Otherwise, I would recommend trying Linux. As a desktop operating system has matured a long way. And there are two main benefits of using it on your computer.

1) You don't need to pay for a license, if it turns out you need one

2) Linux is more efficient than Windows and it quite often gives a new lease of life to an older computer. If it turns out you don't have a Windows 7 or later OEM key, then you have nothing to lose by trying it out.

There are user manuals, service manuals and specification/data sheets available on-line for your PC. You have probably seen them before, but they can be relatively helpful in terms of the upgrade process.

Finally, and probably most importantly, that 4GB memory limit probably means that this computer has a fairly limited shelf life. Rather than spending the money and taking the time to upgrade it, you could instead spend £100-£150 on a second-hand 3rd/4th/5th Gen Intel i5 PC will give you in the region of 3-5 times the performance and it will probably last you a lot longer, giving you a much better return on investment if you can stretch to it.

What ever you decide to do, good luck.

Hmmm...a long one.

I'll work backwards and succinctly.

You just assume 4GB; it might be 8 GB. Either way, it has no effect on the shelf life.
Upgrade costs including 8GB of RAM is under £30. Upgrade time is in minutes. 

You mislead with your stories concerning Windows 7. All genuine Windows 7 installations will work. ALL. Not some, but all. If she has a pirated copy, it's not an issue to fix it so she has a genuine DELL installation that can be upgraded.

3D NAND is not better than having DRAM in the first place.I would choose a model with DRAM all things considered. There is no one dimensional TLC. If you are referring to Planar NAND; that is 2D.

No need to consider upgrading the CPU. With an SSD it will be fast enough for the OP., considering that they have suffered sub-normal performance until now.

RAM already priced up at up to £12 for 8 GB(if the device can accept it). 

Already commented on your typographical error with the RAM. Not an issue and not a bad idea to make sure all are DDR2-800.

Will see when the OP comes up with the Service Tag; if the device can accept 8 GB of RAM.

HereToday

CoastingHatbox said:

Lonestar,

The maximum memory your motherboard will support is 4GB in 4 x 1GB DIMMs. So you could take out the 2x 512MB DIMMs and replace them with 2x 1GB DIMMs.

For the SSD, you might as well go as cheap as your can as you won't get the fastest performance from it - still much better than a spinning disk HDD though. Looking at the smaller sizes, I'd probably recommend a Crucial BX500 120 GB because it has 3D NAND, although I'm aware of a firmware bug on them which makes it look like they erroneasly report that they are reallocating a single bad sector. This can be safely ignored. I recommend these because they use 3D NAND. Cheaper one-dimensionsional TLC SSDs have terrible performance and a batch I used were all dead after 6 months continuous use.

Here is an example of DRAM(Patriot Burst) vs 3D NAND with no DRAM(Crucial BX 500) for your perusal:
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Patriot-Blast-120GB-vs-Crucial-BX500-120GB/m34732vsm576784
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Patriot-Blast-240GB-vs-Crucial-BX500-240GB/m33423vsm578496

Chino

HereToday said:

Where is the piracy? Please don't post nonsense. If the software works without a product key, using it does not amount to piracy nor illegal usage.

Using software for which you don't have a valid licence or other authorisation from the copyright owner is piracy. Regardless of whether the software works.

poppellerant

@lonestarfan

You really need to find out if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7.  You can confirm this by typing winver into the Start menu and pressing enter.  One of the below windows  should appear, making it obvious what you currently have installed:

or

HereToday

Chino said:

HereToday said:

Where is the piracy? Please don't post nonsense. If the software works without a product key, using it does not amount to piracy nor illegal usage.

Using software for which you don't have a valid licence or other authorisation from the copyright owner is piracy. Regardless of whether the software works.

I asked for people to stop posting nonsense; wasn't it enough for you?

Of course you can just make up your own definition of piracy and then post it here to make it look like you at least have a clue.

Sadly, you don't: https://www.nortonlifelock.com/us/en/legal/anti-piracy/types-piracy/

Now please....I asked nicely.

unforeseen

It's not piracy but against Microsoft Licencing conditions (that most people don't read anyway)