is it worth upgrading

crazy eyes

i have a fairly old (5 years old i think) packard bell iMedia 1604 desk top. i havent been using it properly for a while as I was using my sisters lap top but its a pain in the hole not having my own so i want this back working properly.


basicly the problem is its really slow. and after doing a few things like defrag and using a pc cleaner i reckon its down to the fact it only has 512mb of ram. i was looking in to upgrading this to 1 or 2 gbs and the ram its self seems cheap enough to buy.

i ran cpuz on it and it cam back with this

Motherboard

Manufacturer: Nec computers international
Model: MS-7069 OOA
Chipset: Intel i915P/i915G Rev.B1
Southbridge: Intel 82801FB (ICH6) Rev. 04
LPCIO: Winbond W83627THF


Ram

Type: DDR
Channels: Single
Size: 512mb

Timings

Dram Frequency: 133.0 MHz
FSB DRAM: 1:1
CAS#Latency (CL) 3.0 CLOCKS
RAS# to CAS# Delay(tRCD) 3 CLOCKS
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 3 CLOCKS
Cycle time (tRAS) 8 Clocks



i would only use it for going on the web, playing poker, using itunes, streaming a few matches so i dont need anything special.


my question is, is it to old to upgrade of would i just be better off getting a new tower from dell?

also while i'm upgrading the ram is there anything else worth upgrading while i'm doing it? the budget would be about 150-200.


thanks for any help

Monotype

crazy eyes wrote: »

my question is, is it to old to upgrade of would i just be better off getting a new tower from dell?

also while i'm upgrading the ram is there anything else worth upgrading while i'm doing it? the budget would be about 150-200.

Yeah, you probably would be better off getting a new system at this stage as it's hard to justify upgrading something that old. You wouldn't do it on a budget of €200, you might squeeze by with €400 or €350 for the system though. I'm talking about picking your own parts, not Dell.

The only thing that really brings an old system like that to life is a clean windows install (or linux even). RAM will be one of the biggest factors too though.

Jonny7

You can pick up a refurbished Dell from ebay, as long as its a core2duo should be fine - 100 to 200 euros, usually have XP installed

Otherwise what Monotype said.

Tea_Bag

OK on my mobile so this is an absolute pain to write up cause JavaScript isn't working.

Hardwareversand.de :

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30594&agid=1242

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48449&agid=1292

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38051&agid=1192

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49615&agid=1342

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49125&agid=635

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=23606&agid=1626

€230 delivered and you can reuse your old IDE DVD drive.
Best I can do for that budget and actually not bad tbh. Will last a long time. Personally, I'd find another €10 and get an athlon II x3 445 tricore. Much better value for money.

Again, I'm assuming you could reuse windows from old machine.

this is the upgrade cpu that I would definitely sacrifice 2 pints in the local for :

www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=37138&agid=1242

Monotype

^^ Good for the extreme budget, although I'd recommend slightly higher parts like an 880G board (+€15), the X3 (+€10), Bitfenix Merc Beta (+€10) and 450W amazon (+€10) + new DVD drive. It depends on whether €60 can be dug up or not, so you'd be looking at just under €300 delivered.
~€500 delivered + windows + assembled + screen.

crazy eyes

Jonny7 wrote: »

You can pick up a refurbished Dell from ebay, as long as its a core2duo should be fine - 100 to 200 euros, usually have XP installed

Otherwise what Monotype said.

Tea_Bag wrote: »

OK on my mobile so this is an absolute pain to write up cause JavaScript isn't working.

Hardwareversand.de :

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30594&agid=1242

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=48449&agid=1292

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=38051&agid=1192

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49615&agid=1342

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49125&agid=635

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=23606&agid=1626

€230 delivered and you can reuse your old IDE DVD drive.
Best I can do for that budget and actually not bad tbh. Will last a long time. Personally, I'd find another €10 and get an athlon II x3 445 tricore. Much better value for money.

Again, I'm assuming you could reuse windows from old machine.

this is the upgrade cpu that I would definitely sacrifice 2 pints in the local for :

www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=37138&agid=1242

Monotype wrote: »

^^ Good for the extreme budget, although I'd recommend slightly higher parts like an 880G board (+€15), the X3 (+€10), Bitfenix Merc Beta (+€10) and 450W amazon (+€10) + new DVD drive. It depends on whether €60 can be dug up or not, so you'd be looking at just under €300 delivered.
~€500 delivered + windows + assembled + screen.

which do you think would be the better option? getting the refurbed dell or getting the stuff that teabag linked?


@tea bag are u a pc builder or is this something i could try build myself? also i wouldnt mind spending a little extra here and there for an overall but package.

if was going down this route what would i be keeping internally off my own pc as i havent got windows or anything else really on disks.


thanks for all the replys btw.

Monotype

Buying a new system will be a bit more powerful, have higher quality parts, last longer and be more upgradable.
The refurbished dell is better for low hassle and low budget.

You could build it yourself. It's good, interesting experience and is easy enough if you take care and follow instructions. Give yourself a day for it though. Otherwise, there's people who are willing to build them for you/help you or you can get that site to assemble the parts for €20.

crazy eyes

Monotype wrote: »

Buying a new system will be a bit more powerful, have higher quality parts, last longer and be more upgradable.
The refurbished dell is better for low hassle and low budget.

You could build it yourself. It's good, interesting experience and is easy enough if you take care and follow instructions. Give yourself a day for it though. Otherwise, there's people who are willing to build them for you/help you or you can get that site to assemble the parts for €20.

i've never done anything like this before but i'd like to try it myself as i'm trying to learn about upgrading computers. i'm finding it very interesting lately.

would i need any parts from my old computer apart from the monitor mouse and key board. i mean is the list of parts above a complete package?

Daniel S

crazy eyes wrote: »

I mean is the list of parts above a complete package?

Yes Definatly build. You could always go second hand for a SATA hard drive and/ or graphics card.

Monotype

If you're willing to give it a go, then certainly go ahead.
Everything you need is in Tea Bag's post except the DVD-RW drive (as these haven't changed a whole lot) and windows. If you were to go with my adjustments, you would need the DVD-RW drive as it's a newer board and no longer takes the old IDE drives.
You should get all the cables you need and just really need a screwdriver.

Windows is about €80 from that site but you can get it elsewhere at student prices if you or your kids go to school/college.

If you want me to write up a more complete list of the parts, let me know.

crazy eyes

Monotype wrote: »

If you want me to write up a more complete list of the parts, let me know.

if u could do that it would be great.


will any dvd/rw drive work once ts sata format?


is there much difference between windows 7 and vista?

would 7 be worth the extra cash?

Tropheus

I would go with Win7 if you can afford it. It has a smaller footprint and is faster than Vista. It's what Vista should have been.

Monotype

Item|Price
Total build cost: €351.02 + €30 shipping
LiteOn iHAS122-18 schwarz SATA|€16.94
MSI 880GMA-E35 (FX), Sockel AM3+, mATX, PCIe|€61.34
AMD Athlon II X3 450 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3|€62.92
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, SATA II (HD502HJ)|€36.57
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.96
4GB Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9|€19.11
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit (SB-Version)|€79.68
BitFenix Merc Beta|€33.50


A few things to note. That site only takes bank transfers and paypal as credit cards are not as popular in Germany. They're quite reliable and you can search through posts to see. The copy of windows is German, but you can use the key that you get as long as you have an English disc. You can download the disc and burn it to DVD or a large enough USB drive. I can give you a link later.

Your questions:
Any SATA DVD drive will work.
I don't think 7 is any dearer than Vista. Vista fully patched up isn't bad, but you'd be better off going with windows 7.

Tea_Bag

get windows 7 here instead. its called an upgrade edition but it installs perfectly fine on a formatted HDD. its just the licence you need anyway so you could use any professional x64 (or x32 but don't) ISO or disk.

I would obviously recommend Monotypes build over mine. the motherboard in particular, but I tried to make mine as close to €200 as possible to stop you buying a refurbished dell, which I couldn't agree with.

with a higher budget we can get better stuff for you obviously. what's the Max you're willing to spend?

the GPU onboard that 880G would be flawless for HD video or even a bit of half life or any source engine based gaming.

building a PC isn't difficult. your 1 tool would be a screwdriver, and patience. that website will build it for you for €20 or many of us would help you do it for free. if you're in Limerick area ill walk you through the entire process in exchange for a cup of tea