Mixing two PC's into one?

Tosty55

Hi,

Ive got two old(ish) computers at home, one of which I use, and the other just sits doing nothing (it needs a new hard drive). The first PC that I use is a Dell Optiplex GX520 (win7) and the other is a Compaq Presario SR1000.

So, being the genius that I thought I was I went and had a serious look at both PC's and decided to turn them both into one better computer.

The problems start here... I tried sticking the hard drive from my Dell into the Compaq and the booting it on hoping it would just run the Windows like a good chap but no luck, doesnt even recognise the drive, then I went and tried again and guess what?, same thing happend!

I dont know if its even worth doing this, but from what I see when I open the side panel on the Compaq it looks to be a better computer, the Dell has an Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.99GHz, or so it says, but Im finding it very sluggish.

One of the main reasons why I decided to try this was becuase the Compaq can be equipped woth a graphics card, while the Delll doesnt even have a slot for it.

If you have any suggestions on what I should do, or not do please post them, I can maybe try and include pictures of how the PC's look internally if you would like to know.


Thank you very much.
~Me

Lu Tze

Tosty55 wrote: »

Hi,

Ive got two old(ish) computers at home, one of which I use, and the other just sits doing nothing (it needs a new hard drive). The first PC that I use is a Dell Optiplex GX520 (win7) and the other is a Compaq Presario SR1000.

So, being the genius that I thought I was I went and had a serious look at both PC's and decided to turn them both into one better computer.

The problems start here... I tried sticking the hard drive from my Dell into the Compaq and the booting it on hoping it would just run the Windows like a good chap but no luck, doesnt even recognise the drive, then I went and tried again and guess what?, same thing happend!

I dont know if its even worth doing this, but from what I see when I open the side panel on the Compaq it looks to be a better computer, the Dell has an Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.99GHz, or so it says, but Im finding it very sluggish.

One of the main reasons why I decided to try this was becuase the Compaq can be equipped woth a graphics card, while the Delll doesnt even have a slot for it.

If you have any suggestions on what I should do, or not do please post them, I can maybe try and include pictures of how the PC's look internally if you would like to know.


Thank you very much.
~Me

Any idea of the specs of both computers? Why do you think the compaq is better?

Tosty55

Lu Tze wrote: »

Any idea of the specs of both computers? Why do you think the compaq is better?

The Dell -
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz 2.99GHz
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows 7 professional sp1

The Compaq -
Processor: Intel Pentium D ( last time I remember it was either 2.4GHz or a bit higher)
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows vista home basic
GPU: some old looking thing, no model number on it, sitting in a PCI Express slot.

Reason I think the compaq is better is because there is a graphics card slot...

mikom

Some motivational music for those aiming to help you OP.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM

Lu Tze

Tosty55 wrote: »

The Dell -
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz 2.99GHz
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows 7 professional sp1

The Compaq -
Processor: Intel Pentium D ( last time I remember it was either 2.4GHz or a bit higher)
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows vista home basic
GPU: some old looking thing, no model number on it, sitting in a PCI Express slot.

Reason I think the compaq is better is because there is a graphics card slot...

Both sets of RAM are likely to be DDR, and compatible, though you will have to check this. If they are, and there are empty ram slots in the Compaq for additional RAM you can move it across from the dell. The pentium D would be a bit better than the pentium 4 but dont expect any miracles out of it. You will have to reinstall vista (if you have the dvd) when you put a hard drive in the compaq(everything on the hard drive will be erased), the code should be on a sticker on the computer somewhere.

I wouldnt bother spending any money on it to be honest

Tosty55

Lu Tze wrote: »

Both sets of RAM are likely to be DDR, and compatible, though you will have to check this. If they are, and there are empty ram slots in the Compaq for additional RAM you can move it across from the dell. The pentium D would be a bit better than the pentium 4 but dont expect any miracles out of it. You will have to reinstall vista (if you have the dvd) when you put a hard drive in the compaq(everything on the hard drive will be erased), the code should be on a sticker on the computer somewhere.

I wouldnt bother spending any money on it to be honest

You guys.... Thank you everyone for helping me realise I need to just build a new PC for myself.

Again, thanks to everyone, this thread could probably be deleted unless someone needs it.

Tosty55

mikom wrote: »

Some motivational music for those aiming to help you OP.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM

Cool, thanks, really enjoyed the song.

TerrorFirmer

I think it's completely feasible and costs virtually nothing. Pentium D is OK for general use, and the odds are that it's a DDR2 board, not DDR. You mention a video card slot, if it's gaming you're after, then yes, it's not viable, though if we knew more about your motherboard we can tell straight away what can be done.

Best case scenario - it supports Core 2 CPU's, and spending 80 euro could along the machine to get through even new titles reasonably well (E6850, 2Gb Ram, something like a 6670, all 2nd hand).

Worst case scenario - it's a dead end platform, but even at that, another gig of ram and a fresh install of Win7 on a Pentium D should be perfect for casual use, or playing older games with adding a cheapo new GPU. At the moment for example I only play Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and COD4, all of which actually work pretty well on Pentium D!

More info before we can pass final judgement. :P

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I think it's completely feasible and costs virtually nothing. Pentium D is OK for general use, and the odds are that it's a DDR2 board, not DDR. You mention a video card slot, if it's gaming you're after, then yes, it's not viable, though if we knew more about your motherboard we can tell straight away what can be done.

Best case scenario - it supports Core 2 CPU's, and spending 80 euro could along the machine to get through even new titles reasonably well (E6850, 2Gb Ram, something like a 6670, all 2nd hand).

Worst case scenario - it's a dead end platform, but even at that, another gig of ram and a fresh install of Win7 on a Pentium D should be perfect for casual use, or playing older games with adding a cheapo new GPU. At the moment for example I only play Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and COD4, all of which actually work pretty well on Pentium D!

More info before we can pass final judgement. :P

Thanks, I dont actually know what or where to find the motherboard model, or anything else about it.

TerrorFirmer

Sorry, just realised the Compaq doesn't work.

I'm sure the case must have a model number somewhere for the machine? At least, opening up the side panel, the board must have a model number on it....

game4it70

Download Cpuz and it will give you the cpu and mobo model.
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.66-setup-en.exe

Sorry misread the part about the compaq

TerrorFirmer

game4it70 wrote: »

Download Cpuz and it will give you the cpu and mobo model.
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.66-setup-en.exe

The computer doesn't have a hard drive though.

Surely if you just turn it on, the bios will tell you?

game4it70

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The computer doesn't have a hard drive though.

Surely if you just turn it on, the bios will tell you?

Actually good idea,it should or even the post before bios.

Tosty55

game4it70 wrote: »

Actually good idea,it should or even the post before bios.

Thanks, ill try that, booting it on and getting into the BIOS

Tosty55

The compaqs motherboard is a rc410-m rev 1.03

TerrorFirmer

Doesn't support Core 2 but for literally 30 quid you could put in a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, would be perfectly good for casual use. Add a 30 euro 2nd hand video card and for the princely sum of 60 euro you could be even playing older games like COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 at very reasonable settings if you wanted.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Doesn't support Core 2 but for literally 30 quid you could put in a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, would be perfectly good for casual use. Add a 30 euro 2nd hand video card and for the princely sum of 60 euro you could be even playing older games like COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 at very reasonable settings if you wanted.

Ill look into the upgrades, thanks.

Cuddlesworth

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Doesn't support Core 2 but for literally 30 quid you could put in a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, would be perfectly good for casual use. Add a 30 euro 2nd hand video card and for the princely sum of 60 euro you could be even playing older games like COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 at very reasonable settings if you wanted.

But its 30 quid into a black hole, considering the age of the hardware its simply not worth investing anything in.

A half decent AMD FM2 CPU/RAM/Mobo combo would set him back what, 180? Lob that into the Compaq case with the HD out of the GX-520 and you have a decent home pc for another 4 years.

TerrorFirmer

I don't think that's really true or justified though, given that 180 is a huge amount more than a meagre 30 euro. It's like telling someone they could have a 7870 for 150 when they've stated their budget is 50. If he's been getting by until now with a P4, I doubt he's looking to play Crysis 3, and that 30 euro upgrade would make a big difference at one fifth the cost. I wouldn't call that throwing money into a black hole, quite the opposite.

I regularly buy and turn around old office PC's for gaming, it's entirely possible to build a PC for 130 euro that'll play BF3 online @ 720p, and I have done. Q6600, 3GB Ram, 6670. It's not strictly future proof, but at that price, it means you have access to a huge PC library as well as opportunities like the Humble Bundle for less than you'd pay for a 360 console new. Not everyone can afford to spend as much money as they'd like on their PC, but there's an option no matter how little you have to spend really.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I don't think that's really true or justified though, given that 180 is a huge amount more than a meagre 30 euro. It's like telling someone they could have a 7870 for 150 when they've stated their budget is 50. If he's been getting by until now with a P4, I doubt he's looking to play Crysis 3, and that 30 euro upgrade would make a big difference at one fifth the cost. I wouldn't call that throwing money into a black hole, quite the opposite.

I regularly buy and turn around old office PC's for gaming, it's entirely possible to build a PC for 130 euro that'll play BF3 online @ 720p, and I have done. Q6600, 3GB Ram, 6670. It's not strictly future proof, but at that price, it means you have access to a huge PC library as well as opportunities like the Humble Bundle for less than you'd pay for a 360 console new. Not everyone can afford to spend as much money as they'd like on their PC, but there's an option no matter how little you have to spend really.

Thank you everyone for your help, for the past few days ive been in the process of deciding whether or not to go and just try save up atleast 300 to build a brand new somewhat decent "gaming" computer, but now that you people have helped, especially TerrorFirmer, and of course anyone else Im forgetting, I have decided that it might be better to just go and upgrade the compaq with about 50-100 euro worth of stuff and things ( ram, graphics card etc) , maybe you can lead me to some hints on the best thing to do with the compaq with about that budget.

Some things like the case, power supply, dvd drives, motherboard, ( maybe cpu ) are not needed.

So for about 50-100 euro what would be the best parts to purchase in order to bring the compaq up to maybe decent standards, im not expecting to be playing games in max, or even medium settings, or rendering videos super fast, or even having an incredibly fast boot time, no, all I need is to be able to turn it on, eventually, maybe play a game or three on reasonable settings and hopefully render a video without falling asleep at it.

If you've made it this far, thanks.

Cuddlesworth

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I don't think that's really true or justified though, given that 180 is a huge amount more than a meagre 30 euro. It's like telling someone they could have a 7870 for 150 when they've stated their budget is 50. If he's been getting by until now with a P4, I doubt he's looking to play Crysis 3, and that 30 euro upgrade would make a big difference at one fifth the cost. I wouldn't call that throwing money into a black hole, quite the opposite.

I regularly buy and turn around old office PC's for gaming, it's entirely possible to build a PC for 130 euro that'll play BF3 online @ 720p, and I have done. Q6600, 3GB Ram, 6670. It's not strictly future proof, but at that price, it means you have access to a huge PC library as well as opportunities like the Humble Bundle for less than you'd pay for a 360 console new. Not everyone can afford to spend as much money as they'd like on their PC, but there's an option no matter how little you have to spend really.

There are a number of things wrong with upgrading a 6 year old pc.

Even a 30 euro upgrade would not provide close to the performance/cost ratio of newer parts in a 300 Euro build. A Pentium 4 has a fraction of the power of a newer quad core AMD, the PentiumD's were crap when they came out(being beaten around the bush by AMD at the time).

All the parts are EOL. The risk of parts failure increases year on year.

New parts are non-existent. Leaving non-traditional sales channels for second hand parts and the associated problems.

Your increasing the apparent worth of something that's close to worthless. By spending 30 Euros on a old pc, its now worth 30 Euros more in the mind of the person who invested in it. The pc isn't worth 40-50 Euros now. Its worth 70-80 if not 100. Making justification of a whole new cpu/mobo/ram combo more difficult when parts break.

Tosty55 wrote: »

So for about 50-100 euro what would be the best parts to purchase in order to bring the compaq up to maybe decent standards, im not expecting to be playing games in max, or even medium settings, or rendering videos super fast, or even having an incredibly fast boot time, no, all I need is to be able to turn it on, eventually, maybe play a game or three on reasonable settings and hopefully render a video without falling asleep at it.

Not sure if a P4 could play a modern game without investing in a recent graphics card.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

There are a number of things wrong with upgrading a 6 year old pc.

Even a 30 euro upgrade would not provide close to the performance/cost ratio of newer parts in a 300 Euro build. A Pentium 4 has a fraction of the power of a newer quad core AMD, the PentiumD's were crap when they came out(being beaten around the bush by AMD at the time).

All the parts are EOL. The risk of parts failure increases year on year.

New parts are non-existent. Leaving non-traditional sales channels for second hand parts and the associated problems.

Your increasing the apparent worth of something that's close to worthless. By spending 30 Euros on a old pc, its now worth 30 Euros more in the mind of the person who invested in it. The pc isn't worth 40-50 Euros now. Its worth 70-80 if not 100. Making justification of a whole new cpu/mobo/ram combo more difficult when parts break.



Not sure if a P4 could play a modern game without investing in a recent graphics card.

Alright so screw upgrading anything and just ditch the computer and go and actually invest in something worth while? I understand maybe pouring money into old junk isnt worth it, but in the situation where i am, having not much dough, nothing better, and no idea what the heck im doing, i think putting 50 euro worth of stuff into it is great, even if it is useless third-hand crap from the bottom of a rubbish bin, i still dont think leaving the computer to rot in the wardrobe is a good idea, when i could maybe add a few "upgrades" and get the most out of it while it still holds in one piece.

Even if i dont end up spending money on the compaq, it could be interesting to see what could be achieved with it, and that tiny budget.

Again thanks for contributing.

Cuddlesworth

If you don't have the cash, keep the GX-520 running as long as possible. Its a better machine then that Compaq and will happily do day to day tasks. Just don't expect much from it in terms of gaming.

Edit: And don't invest money in it. You can buy entire machines that are better for small sums of money second hand.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

If you don't have the cash, keep the GX-520 running as long as possible. Its a better machine then that Compaq and will happily do day to day tasks. Just don't expect much from it in terms of gaming.

Edit: And don't invest money in it. You can buy entire machines that are better for small sums of money second hand.

Alright, thanks, I guess I'll end it at tthat then.

TerrorFirmer

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

There are a number of things wrong with upgrading a 6 year old pc.

Even a 30 euro upgrade would not provide close to the performance/cost ratio of newer parts in a 300 Euro build. A Pentium 4 has a fraction of the power of a newer quad core AMD, the PentiumD's were crap when they came out(being beaten around the bush by AMD at the time).

All the parts are EOL. The risk of parts failure increases year on year.

New parts are non-existent. Leaving non-traditional sales channels for second hand parts and the associated problems.

Your increasing the apparent worth of something that's close to worthless. By spending 30 Euros on a old pc, its now worth 30 Euros more in the mind of the person who invested in it. The pc isn't worth 40-50 Euros now. Its worth 70-80 if not 100. Making justification of a whole new cpu/mobo/ram combo more difficult when parts break.

I think you are looking at this in a strange way. Spending 30 euro on upgrading an old PC like this is worthless because something that costs 300 euro is agreeably five times faster? That's bizarre logic.

Let's look at it this way. PC as it is, a P4 with 1GB of Ram would be a mediocre although functional Windows 7 experience. PC with a Pentium D 3.4Ghz and 2Gb of ram would be a huge improvement for basic desktop use - browsing, media, etc. You're telling me that for a measly 30 euro that would offer a vastly improved desktop experience, it's not worth it because of the price : performance ratio comparative to current gen processors?

The guy has said he doesn't have the money. If he doesn't have the money, he doesn't have it, not much way around it. The option I gave was

1) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. Cost - about 30 euro. There would be a huge increase in day to day performance.

2) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, and a 6570/6670. This would cost about 60 euro and while playing the likes of Crysis, Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3 et al is simply not possible in any world on a Pentium D, here are some games that would work very well on this combination at ultra settings : Call of Duty 4, Left4Dead, Company of Heroes, Bioshock, Fallout New Vegas, etc. Obviously there are loads more and plenty of newer games that would still struggle by on a Pentium D, but sticking to the ones that I know run well. I don't think anyone was coming into this with Crysis 3 in mind.

Is that worth it? The chance to play a huge library of still popular games for 60 euro? It would be to me.

He can get along with that and then after saving for a few months, look at buying a true budget PC for fully modern use. And whilst I didn't agree with the throwing money into a black hole in the first place, even less so when you consider the 6670 can be carried over to a new budget build in, say, six months, and will get through titles like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 with a better CPU, so really the only, again agreeably, irrecoverable cost is the 30 euro on a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. But I still maintain it is not a waste.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I think you are looking at this in a strange way. Spending 30 euro on upgrading an old PC like this is worthless because something that costs 300 euro is agreeably five times faster? That's bizarre logic.

Let's look at it this way. PC as it is, a P4 with 1GB of Ram would be a mediocre although functional Windows 7 experience. PC with a Pentium D 3.4Ghz and 2Gb of ram would be a huge improvement for basic desktop use - browsing, media, etc. You're telling me that for a measly 30 euro that would offer a vastly improved desktop experience, it's not worth it because of the price : performance ratio comparative to current gen processors?

The guy has said he doesn't have the money. If he doesn't have the money, he doesn't have it, not much way around it. The option I gave was


1) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. Cost - about 30 euro. There would be a huge increase in day to day performance.

2) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, and a 6570/6670. This would cost about 60 euro and while playing the likes of Crysis, Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3 et al is simply not possible in any world on a Pentium D, here are some games that would work very well on this combination at ultra settings : Call of Duty 4, Left4Dead, Company of Heroes, Bioshock, Fallout New Vegas, etc. Obviously there are loads more and plenty of newer games that would still struggle by on a Pentium D, but sticking to the ones that I know run well. I don't think anyone was coming into this with Crysis 3 in mind.

Is that worth it? The chance to play a huge library of still popular games for 60 euro? It would be to me.

He can get along with that and then after saving for a few months, look at buying a true budget PC for fully modern use. And whilst I didn't agree with the throwing money into a black hole in the first place, even less so when you consider the 6670 can be carried over to a new budget build in, say, six months, and will get through titles like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 with a better CPU, so really the only, again agreeably, irrecoverable cost is the 30 euro on a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. But I still maintain it is not a waste.

So I should buy the Pentium D 945, remove the old cpu and install it into the compaqs rc410m motherboard, and then add another gig of ram (2gb is the max for that motherboard i heard), and then finally a 6670 graphics card into the PCI Express slot.

If so would I be able to take the hard drive from the Dell, with the win7 on it, and place it nto the compaq?, because I do not have the windows installation disk as far as I know, maybe could have a look around but I doubt it, its been a while since the compaq was bought.

Cuddlesworth

Tosty55 wrote: »

So I should buy the Pentium D 945, remove the old cpu and install it into the compaqs rc410m motherboard, and then add another gig of ram (2gb is the max for that motherboard i heard), and then finally a 6670 graphics card into the PCI Express slot.

If so would I be able to take the hard drive from the Dell, with the win7 on it, and place it nto the compaq?, because I do not have the windows installation disk as far as I know, maybe could have a look around but I doubt it, its been a while since the compaq was bought.

Do what you want, I don't think me or terrorfirmer will ever agree on this. But the Compaq is a dead duck, leave it alone. It looks like its rocking a athlon xp proc and agp graphics slot. Its worth keeping as a case for future upgrades, other motherboards won't go into the dell. But not as a current platform.

Is the gx520 full size?

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Do what you want, I don't think me or terrorfirmer will ever agree on this. But the Compaq is a dead duck, leave it alone. It looks like its rocking a athlon xp proc and agp graphics slot. Its worth keeping as a case for future upgrades, other motherboards won't go into the dell. But not as a current platform.

Is the gx520 full size?

The gx520 is not full size, its the same height as the compaq, but its not as wide.

Cuddlesworth

Tosty55 wrote: »

The gx520 is not full size, its the same height as the compaq, but its not as wide.

Its mid tower, low profile then. I'm pretty sure that the GX620 had the better psu, the gx520 low profile was 180-200 watt if I remember correctly.

Any graphics card you get needs to be "low profile". And I don't think you can upgrade your cpu and add a graphics card without putting the psu under a large amount of stress. You can add the ram from the Compaq for a quick boost though.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Its mid tower, low profile then. I'm pretty sure that the GX620 had the better psu, the gx520 low profile was 180-200 watt if I remember correctly.

Any graphics card you get needs to be "low profile". And I don't think you can upgrade your cpu and add a graphics card without putting the psu under a large amount of stress. You can add the ram from the Compaq for a quick boost though.

Thing is, there is no slot on the gx520 for a graphics card, unless im missing something

Tosty55

Here is a picture of the gx520



It is a foxconn ls-36 rev a01 motherboard

the_syco

Tosty55 wrote: »

Here is a picture of the gx520



It is a foxconn ls-36 rev a01 motherboard

2nd from the right is an AGP card slot, if I'm not mistaken?

By the way, where abouts are you located?

Cuddlesworth

Tosty55 wrote: »

Thing is, there is no slot on the gx520 for a graphics card, unless im missing something

Ahh, I remember now, the GX620 had the better psu and a PCI-ex slot. The GX520 has the slot, with no plastic or soldered connections. Same board though. You can see where it should be on the pic. They also didn't bother attaching the second set of ram slots. You can also see where they should be.

The odd looking slot is a PCI-X port. Double the speed of a pci slot. Still crap though.

Think you might be out of luck with this.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Ahh, I remember now, the GX620 had the better psu and a PCI-ex slot. The GX520 has the slot, with no plastic or soldered connections. Same board though. You can see where it should be on the pic. They also didn't bother attaching the second set of ram slots. You can also see where they should be.

The odd looking slot is a PCI-X port. Double the speed of a pci slot. Still crap though.

Think you might be out of luck with this.

Yea, suppose so, guess I'll call it a day then.

TerrorFirmer

Where are we getting that the compaq has an XP and AGP from? I was under the impression it's the compaq that has the S775/Pci-E motherboard.

@Tosty you haven't really specified what you want to play. I indicated the sorts of games that are playable at high settings on the 945 with a low end card like the 6670 - can't stress enough that if you decided a few weeks down the line you wanted to play Battlefield 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, whatever - these games will not run properly on a 945, or even close. Unintensive modern games like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops will still run passably enough, but the whole point though was that it would allow you to play some games - not that it would be a modern gaming machine or capable of being one to any extent. I would think of it as a cheap and temporary fix. 30 euro on a Pentium D and another gig of ram is hardly criminal, and the 6670 will hold most of its purchase price indefinitely and can be reused down the line in a new computer.

Some people think it's a waste of money, I most certainly wouldn't if I could go from having a useless computer to being able to play a host of still popular titles for the paltry sum of 60 euro. Really only you can decided whether or not that's a sound and worthwhile investment for you.

You said 50-100 euro - don't spend more than 60 euro. If you were really going to spend 100, it would actually be cheaper to buy a 2nd hand Core 2 based Optiplex and 6670 altogether that'd kill the Pentium D for that money and be far more passable for more modern games to boot. As outdated as Core 2 is, all but the most intensive new titles run generally OK on the faster Core 2 CPU's with a decent card.

I have a Spare Pentium D here you're more than welcome to take on a test run for the Compaq - it's a slow Pentium D though, think it's the 820, which is a lot slower than the 945. Would make a nice boost though for day to day casual use over the P4 though.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Where are we getting that the compaq has an XP and AGP from? I was under the impression it's the compaq that has the S775/Pci-E motherboard.

@Tosty you haven't really specified what you want to play. I indicated the sorts of games that are playable at high settings on the 945 with a low end card like the 6670 - can't stress enough that if you decided a few weeks down the line you wanted to play Battlefield 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, whatever - these games will not run properly on a 945, or even close. Unintensive modern games like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops will still run passably enough, but the whole point though was that it would allow you to play some games - not that it would be a modern gaming machine or capable of being one to any extent. I would think of it as a cheap and temporary fix. 30 euro on a Pentium D and another gig of ram is hardly criminal, and the 6670 will hold most of its purchase price indefinitely and can be reused down the line in a new computer.

Some people think it's a waste of money, I most certainly wouldn't if I could go from having a useless computer to being able to play a host of still popular titles for the paltry sum of 60 euro. Really only you can decided whether or not that's a sound and worthwhile investment for you.

You said 50-100 euro - don't spend more than 60 euro. If you were really going to spend 100, it would actually be cheaper to buy a 2nd hand Core 2 based Optiplex and 6670 altogether that'd kill the Pentium D for that money and be far more passable for more modern games to boot. As outdated as Core 2 is, all but the most intensive new titles run generally OK on the faster Core 2 CPU's with a decent card.

I have a Spare Pentium D here you're more than welcome to take on a test run for the Compaq - it's a slow Pentium D though, think it's the 820, which is a lot slower than the 945. Would make a nice boost though for day to day casual use over the P4 though.

The only game that I would play as of now is Minecraft, but as you say for 100 euro it would be better to buy a new second-hand pc.

Because the gx520 still powers on and can run decently if I do not open over two programs at a time, I think I will leave them as is and start saving up for a cheap laptop... mainly because of the portability.

Anyway, the compaq I think will just do its job as a door stop for now, maybe for spear parts some day, or even the case can be reused.

the_syco

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Where are we getting that the compaq has an XP and AGP from? I was under the impression it's the compaq that has the S775/Pci-E motherboard.

I'd be assuming the same thing.

=-=

I was asking your location, to check if there were any good deals for your area, but unfortunately there wasn't really. Something like this would be great if they had the low-profile bracket if the GX-520 was the low-profile machine. Lots more choice if it isn't, though.

If you have a car, this (it's in Mullingar) may be an idea? If you knew that the RAM you have now would work, you could slot it in, and the Dell harddrive should also work (although you may need some soundcard and motherboard drivers). If you still have the Dell XP cd's, any hard-drive (such as the Compaq one) will suit it.

Tosty55

Ok, ditch the idea of a laptop (bad idea ) I decided to buy a new computer, and what do you guys think of this? :

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ASUS-K5130UK006S-Desktop-PC/315445/307

Could I add upgrades to it in the future? (Graphics card, ram)

uberpixie

Tosty55 wrote: »

Ok, ditch the idea of a laptop (bad idea ) I decided to buy a new computer, and what do you guys think of this? :

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ASUS-K5130UK006S-Desktop-PC/315445/307

Could I add upgrades to it in the future? (Graphics card, ram)

Hard to say: a lot of prebuilt PCs are not built to be upgradeable, they are built to be disposable to be sold to folk who never open their PCs.

http://www.asus.com/ie/Desktops/K5130/#specifications

From what I can tell from the spec sheet: the PC should come with a spare pci express x16 slot and has a 350W power supply of some sort.

However the PC is based on an intel h61 chipset meaning you can only use older Intel Sandybridge (gen 2), which will be harder to track down as intel are currently on gen 4 Core. You are buying into a pc that is 2 generations behind what intel currently sell.....


http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/H61_Express.html

Best guess: as it is an Asus PC, you could potentially get away with it as they will be using standard parts. But tracking down a replacement cpu could be difficult and you will prob need to go the 2nd hand route.

As people have already suggested (Cuddlesworth): might be a better idea and pick up a 2nd hand gaming rig from adverts.

Tosty55

uberpixie wrote: »

Hard to say: a lot of prebuilt PCs are not built to be upgradeable, they are built to be disposable to be sold to folk who never open their PCs.

http://www.asus.com/ie/Desktops/K5130/#specifications

From what I can tell from the spec sheet: the PC should come with a spare pci express x16 slot and has a 350W power supply of some sort.

However the PC is based on an intel h61 chipset meaning you can only use older Intel Sandybridge (gen 2), which will be harder to track down as intel are currently on gen 4 Core. You are buying into a pc that is 2 generations behind what intel currently sell.....


http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/H61_Express.html

Best guess: as it is an Asus PC, you could potentially get away with it as they will be using standard parts. But tracking down a replacement cpu could be difficult and you will prob need to go the 2nd hand route.

As people have already suggested (Cuddlesworth): might be a better idea and pick up a 2nd hand gaming rig from adverts.

I get what you mean, but im not sure if second hand computers can be trusted?

TerrorFirmer

That isn't a bad price at all for a machine bought from retail. Upgrade ram to 4GB, add a card like the 7750, and you'd be able to play most modern games at very respectable settings for under 300 overall. The G1610 really isn't that bad at all, and it'll be reasonable down the line to get a 2nd hand CPU to replace it when you feel it's not doing what you want it to do. You could always order a new PC using budget parts either online, the advantage being able to use newer hardware and widen your upgrade prospects down the line, but really the PC World machine is good value for money and the platform is still viable for several years into the future easily, if you prefer to buy a pre built system.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That isn't a bad price at all for a machine bought from retail. Upgrade ram to 4GB, add a card like the 7750, and you'd be able to play most modern games at very respectable settings for under 300 overall. The G1610 really isn't that bad at all, and it'll be reasonable down the line to get a 2nd hand CPU to replace it when you feel it's not doing what you want it to do. You could always order a new PC using budget parts either online, the advantage being able to use newer hardware and widen your upgrade prospects down the line, but really the PC World machine is good value for money and the platform is still viable for several years into the future easily, if you prefer to buy a pre built system.

Only reason I looked at it is because its only 190e, for about that price I dont think i could build a better pc myself with parts ordered online.

TerrorFirmer

No, but if you want to play modern games, you still need a video card and more ram. So really your total budget is, say, about 300. It's still possible to build a brand new machine for in and around that price, but that machine @ 190 with another 100 spent on another 2gb Ram and a video card is good value. If you buy the machine for 190 and don't add a video card or more ram it'll be perfectly good for everyday use but it will not be good for games, I don't think Minecraft plays particularly well with Intel Integrated video.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

No, but if you want to play modern games, you still need a video card and more ram. So really your total budget is, say, about 300. It's still possible to build a brand new machine for in and around that price, but that machine @ 190 with another 100 spent on another 2gb Ram and a video card is good value. If you buy the machine for 190 and don't add a video card or more ram it'll be perfectly good for everyday use but it will not be good for games, I don't think Minecraft plays particularly well with Intel Integrated video.

I used to be able to run minecraft on my gx520 @ super low settings and got about 10-15fps, as long as I can achieve something higher than that im happy.

the_syco

Ah here... if you're going down that route, fill out the below as a new topic. The lads will build some very nice systems for ye, and some of the places will put it together for ye!

1. What is your budget? [€xxx]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing/3D Modelling/HTPC/Internet] (If gaming include which games)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] [Yes/No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.]

Examples;
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057017864
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057009711

the_syco

As for the existing Dell, does anyone know if any of the below would be of any use to the OP, if the GX520 port that he has is an AGP port?

the_syco wrote: »

A
fastware ag240d (8MB on board) - the manual says it's a 3D PRO 740. possibly 8MB

B
rage pro turbo agp 215r3bja33 - low profile card - has 4 vg3617161dt chips on it, so I'm guessing it has 64MB on it)

C
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB AGP VGA Video Card S3 QCE2HC

D
Creative Labs CT7260 - ports; line out, spdif out, tv out, vga out (blue 3*5 vga connection), vga in (round 3/4/2 connection). has four m11b416256a chips on it, so I'm assuming it's 16MB.

A, B, and C were in static bags. D wasn't. Unknown if any of them work.

Tosty55

the_syco wrote: »

Ah here... if you're going down that route, fill out the below as a new topic. The lads will build some very nice systems for ye, and some of the places will put it together for ye!



Examples;
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057017864
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057009711

Thanks, I went and started a new thread where I filled out that form.

TerrorFirmer

Any of those cards would be a massive downgrade from the integrated video of the Gx520, which would be the GMA900 or 950. The Rage Pro would have been all the rage....about 15 years ago now I'd say. Those are actually relic's of a long past era

The Gx520 doesn't have an AGP port anyway.

the_syco

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The Gx520 doesn't have an AGP port anyway.

Oh I'll blame the interwebs for falsely telling me otherwise.