Upgrade advice wanted

G

geegee

Guest
I have a 5 year old PC with the following spec:

Windows 98 SE
Pentium 3
450 MHZ
64mb RAM
CD Rewriter
8.4Gb Hard Disk Drive

I want to upgrade it to a higher spec. as easily and cheaply as possible. I also want to make it "Broadband Ready" and I have been told that Windows 98SE is not really able for Broadband.

Any advice on this would be gratefully received.
 
.

Just up the memory (Total 128Mb will be enough), add a network card and install winXP or win2000. That'll make it 'broadband ready'
 
Re: .

If you're really only interested in Internet connectivity the machine you have is well capable. Windows 98 doesn't really make use of anything greater than 64MB so I don't know if you'll benefit. Apart from that, depending on the motherboard you might have some trouble sourcing RAM as they are many types around.

Maybe just a reformat and a re-install of Windows 98 might do the trick. You'd be suprised how much clutter accumulates over time and slows things down. The biggest factor is file's fragmenting and, over time, it takes longer to access things.

Keep in mind that the bottleneck in surfing is almost always the internet connection itself and not the machine. Even the lowliest of PC's transfers data at a speed which is a multitude of the Internet connection - hard disk data to memory and video memory to video display transfers operate in the order of megabits per second whereas domestic Internet connections are still limited to kilobits per second.

So before reaching for your flexible friend, re-format and re-install and leave it a while before plumping for an upgrade.

If you're using your PC for other stuff and that's when you're feeling the pinch, well that's a different matter.
 
Re: .

> Windows 98 doesn't really make use of anything greater than 64MB

That is incorrect. Windows 9x/Me will generally perform better with more memory - specifically more than 64MB which is a bit tight these days. If you're thinking of DOS then that's a different matter...

> Apart from that, depending on the motherboard you might have some trouble sourcing RAM as they are many types around.

The Kingston memory chooser is useful when looking around for memory upgrades:

www.kingston.com/

> So before reaching for your flexible friend, re-format and re-install and leave it a while before plumping for an upgrade.

I would agree with that. Make sure to backup any important user data first though and make sure that you have install images for all important components (OS and applications) before destroying anything!
 
..

Much as I'm not fond of recommending anything from PC-World they occasionaly have a reasonable bargain. I picked up an e-machines PC from them for €450 last week for my mother. 2.8Ghz Celeron, 512 Ram, 80 Gb HD, DVD/CD-RW, XP-Home (shudder).

No real disadvantages except if you want it as a games machine it has no AGP port on the motherboard so you can't put a really good graphics card in.

Otherwise it seems a grand machine and looks well too.
 
XP

I wouldn't recommend running Win XP with just 128 Mb RAM. 256 Mb is a more realistic minimum.

Conflict of Interest: Microsoft employee & shareholder
 
I really am not that genned up on computers. Could someone possibly give me a spec. based upon the one I submitted initially and tell me what I should expect to pay and whether it is worth it?

Thanks,

gg
 
NEW PC

geegee

go here

www1.euro.dell.com/conten...l=en&s=dhs

and the 1st model is €620.00, that will do what u want.

but think of the future so u should get a PC with a separate video card and a separate sound card, also XP needs loads of memory so get min of 512mb.

however if money is tight get that 620 one

noah
 
Re: NEW PC

Noah,

Thanks for your reply. I really don't want to buy a complete PC - just upgrade my existing one. When I bought it in 1999 the shop told me that it was upgradable.

Would it be viable to upgrade my existing system to the same spec as the one in the link? How much should I expect to pay?

gg.
 
Re: NEW PC

Would it be viable to upgrade my existing system to the same spec as the one in the link? How much should I expect to pay?
Click to expand...

Are you comfortable with fitting replacement components (or do you have access to someone who is)? If not, the costs of buying and fitting new components are likely to exceed the costs of replacement.

It is not really clear why you want to upgrade? Your current PC meets the minimum spec for UTV broadband
 
Re: NEW PC

I'd agree — I've a 5-year old laptop of similar spec; I spent about €70 on eBay, upgraded the 3.4Gb hard drive to 10Gb and stuck in an extra 64Mb of RAM (giving 96Mb in total), and it chugs along very nicely now under Win98SE. And I don't have to download Windows critical updates every second time I go online! (most of the "bad stuff out there" targets Win2K and later — or so I'm told...)
 
NEW PC

geegee - I have a P.C. of that range and vintage from Tiny (the highstreet chain which liquidated). When I began to experience huge delays in booting-up etc. I was advised to buy and install a new memory strip of 128mb. I was terrified. However it simply involves buying a metal component the size of a cigarette-lighter, unscrewing a plate on the casing of the hard-drive, and slotting the new memory-strip into place. The computer then ideally "recognises" there is more memory available and incorporates it. HOWEVER Tiny had very naughtily been selling P.C.'s which were practically obsolete and wouldn't take upgrades. So that's the first thing to establish - is the P.C. you've got one which can be upgraded?

As other posters have mentioned, sometimes the slow running of the P.C. is due to defragmentation. For example I had a problem with W98E and for years had to switch off at the socket as the dratted thing would not close down from the screen. All these stresses on the hard-disk scatter its potential a bit. That can be remedied on a regular basis by running a programme called "Disk Defragmenter". You click "Start", go up the menu to "Programmes", Click "Accessories", then "System Tools", then it gives you an option of "Disk Defragmenter". Click that, you get a window on your screen and the tidying-up takes up to 80 minutes and just runs along by itself.

Moving on to the requirements for internet access, I have Broadband internet access on this old P.C. When I had dial-up the connection was unreliable and stuff took a long time to download. However I then bought an Ethernet USB connector and find this - with Broadband - gives me fast and troublefree internet access and very fast download.

Hope this is helpful. Incidentally I got brave enough through learning so much on this forum to purchase (a) new hard-disk and (b) new flat-screen monitor through e-Bay and when the latter arrives will have a go at transferring the data I need to move over from the old P.C. (enabled by the advice from the folk on this forum).

Sometimes the jargon used by people who know a lot about computing is impenetrable to newcomers but it's really worth persisting.
 
Thanks for your replies, folks.

Rainy day, I want to upgrade it because it seems to be so slow at opening up programmes etc.

Marie, I have tried disk defragmentation and registry clean up but it seems to have made little difference. How do I establish whether my PC can be upgraded?

gg.
 
geegee - I suppose in that case you need to bring either the P.C. or the specification to the place where you bought it and they will establish if you can upgrade it (and put in a memory strip for just a few quid). If you look at earlier threads you'll see there are dozens of gizmos including small relatively cheap components which can be connected into the USB ports (the slots on the back of the hard-disk case) to give more capacity.

Another thing that slows down a P.C. is having a lot of "cookies" from old downloads and deleting these will make it more efficient.

You could also make sure you're not saving hundreds of old e-mails; deleting these regularly and "compacting" your e-mail filing cabinets can help.

You might look at the earlier thread (sorry I still don't know how to provide these links!) on turning off the many programmes which automatically run at start-up (icons of which you see along the toolbar across the bottom of your screen) and closing some of these down releases capacity.

Hope this helps.
 
Marie,

Thank you for your detailed replies but I still need more!

As explained earlier, my motivation to upgrade is to increase the speed that my PC carries out tasks and to ensure it can cope with Broadband.

If you look at earlier threads you'll see there are dozens of gizmos including small relatively cheap components which can be connected into the USB ports (the slots on the back of the hard-disk case) to give more capacity.
Click to expand...

Could you possible provide a link to any of these?


Another thing that slows down a P.C. is having a lot of "cookies" from old downloads and deleting these will make it more efficient.
Click to expand...

How do you do this? I have used Disk Cleanup to delete Temporary Internet Files but cannot find any cookie deleter.

You could also make sure you're not saving hundreds of old e-mails; deleting these regularly and "compacting" your e-mail filing cabinets can help.
Click to expand...

I really do have loaaads of emails, which I need to keep, in seperate folders. How do do I "compact" them?


Finally, my PC shop has come back with the following:


You would be better off purchasing a new PC rather than
upgrading.....the cost to upgrade your PC wouldn't
be too far from the price of a new one - then you
you probably sell your old machine locally to help
with the cost of a new one.

Typical spec PC.......

Intel Celeron 2.66GHz Processor
256Mb Memory, 80Gb Hard Disk Drive
CD ReWriter & DVD ROM Drive
Floppy Disk Drive, 56K Internet Modem
Mini Tower Case
17" Monitor, Keyboard & Mouse
Windows XP Home Operating System
BROADBAND Ready

€699.00


What do you reckon?


Regards,

gg.
 
geegee - you need to let go of the upgrade thing. Just because your machine is upgradable doesn't mean you *have* to upgrade it.

As pointed out above it may well cost you more to upgrade than to buy a whole new machine *AND* the upgraded machine will still be constrained by something and still be slower than a new machine.

Think of a new machine as a complete upgrade. Then think backwards and think about what doesn't need to be upgraded. You could do without a new keyboard or mouse, but that's about it. You could possibly do without a new monitor, but new monitors are cheap and old monitors are (generally speaking) of a lower quality and harder on the eyes. After that and there's nothing in your old (5 years is a long time in IT) machine that would be worth keeping.

Maybe the CD player, but again it will be a lot slower than modern ones (only relevant when installing software).

It's not a very green approach, but given the cost of materials and the cost of labour it is cheaper to go down the mass produced route than the custom built one. Custom building makes sense where someone is looking for a super-whizz-bang machine that it pushing the limits. For a workaday machine mass produced is the cheapest.

z
 
Ok, I admit defeat. I am going to buy a new system. However, I'm going to keep my other PC as a second computer and was wondering if there is an economical way to upgrade the RAM and processor spec. to make it work faster?

The following is the current spec:

Windows 98 SE
Pentium 3
450 MHZ
64mb RAM
CD Rewriter
8.4Gb Hard Disk Drive

Thanks in advance.

gg
 
back up your .pst files and word/excel documents with your cd writer

if you got a restore cd with the pc , stick it in, boot up and follow the instructions. this will revert the pc back to its as bought state.
you could get some pc-100 memory if you can find it and upgrade that but i wouldnt bother doing anything else. as others have stated here the spec is more than adequate for anything other than playing the latest games. if thats what you want to do, youll have to buy a new machine with a geforce or radeon video card which you will typically not get on a 699 pc
 
you could get some pc-100 memory if you can find it and upgrade

In many cases PC-133 (and possibly even faster) memory is backward compatible with motherboards that expect PC-100 memory DIMMs. Which is handy seeing that PC-100 memory is rarer and consequently more expensive than equivalent PC-133 DIMMs!
 
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