New to Forum and need a bit of help

[Shauk25]

Let me preface im not a computer expert but i can do some things, ram, and video card and sound cards. I can do fans but i cant do all things.

So my buddy has this old computer than runs very badly so i look and see and he has only 256 ram and he is running xp so i know xp is eating alot of that memory.

So i have told him i can upgrade the ram, little did i know how old the board was he has rimm chips 2 128 chips and 2 little green chips that i guess are there jus so it will work.

I dont know how to tell the board and such, he has a pentium processor and i want to also install a new video card.

He said stay around 300 bucks, soo im figuring he news a whole new mb for the 2 gigs of ram i want to get him, ddr and a bit of other things.

I looked up rimm and its WAY more expensive than ddr, so what suggestions would you do

Thanks in Advance

 

[Toryn]

If your looking to upgrade the mobo (looks like youd have to) then theres little we can do without knowing the other computer components.

However, I can take a guess and say if the mobo needs upgrading then in all likely hood so will everything else. In which case $300 wont cover it and your basically left needing to build a new computer.

So save some more, try for a ball park of $600 and that'll give him enough to run a decent computer, not top of the range but undoubtedly a huge upgrade to what he is currently using

 

[Shauk25]

I see that, would this computer be any good

Dell P4 2.8GHz 1.5GB 2x120GB (240GB Total) CDRW/DVD XP - B Dell Precision 360

 

[SapperX]

Welcome to the forum!
It's usually smarter to build your own system then buy a prebuilt. It is much cheaper and a lot easier then you think. If you would like, I (or someone here) can set up a parts list for you to look at. Although your friend might need to raise a couple hundred more $$.

 

[Capricorn]

It's funny, but I just went through this same exercise when visiting my in-laws over Thanksgiving. She works at home and her PC is an old Dell Dimension 8200 (I think) with RIMM memory. She also had 256 MB RAM. She has Windows XP on there and after booting, it's using 320 MB of RAM before she loads her first app. That means it's already swapping memory to/from disk even before she does anything. It takes a full 15 minutes for the computer to just boot.

You are correct that those "filler" boards in the memory slots are just there to make it work. You'd replace them with a pair of real RAM RIMMs (PC800 in her case) to increase the ram. I thought, 1.25 GB should do it. I looked up the cost of adding 1GB of RIMM memory ... and nearly soiled myself. It was over $500. The problem is this memory was only in use for a relatively short time. It may not even be in manufacture any more with memory manufacturers just selling off stock.

We bought her a (Black Friday special) laptop while I was there and I transferred all her data over. I bumped that from 1 to 2 GB for $50. The whole thing was about $600. It's a dual core Athlon running Vista premium, bigger hard drive, better graphics .. pretty much everything was better.

 

[Phase-Six]

What Are the normal things your friend uses his Computer for? The dell you posted would be decent for the everyday browsing and email, But graphics wise for gaming. Its a little iffy and used agp, Not many companies still support agp, or just normal pci really anymore. But Try looking for something like a pci-e slot for better v. card upgrades if your friend wants to get into general gaming.

 

[Shauk25]

He doesnt game to much uses it for work and such, no online gaming or anything so im thinkin i can get that one for cheap and transfer over and already have some left over 512 ddr chips so get to about 2.5 ram as well.

Only game he really played was myst and im sure that game could run all the mysts pretty well.


Correct?

 

[Phase-Six]

He doesnt game to much uses it for work and such, no online gaming or anything so im thinkin i can get that one for cheap and transfer over and already have some left over 512 ddr chips so get to about 2.5 ram as well.

Only game he really played was myst and im sure that game could run all the mysts pretty well.


Correct?

Correct, I was looking at the lowest priced dell on dell.com and that pc that you listed is better than that. Yeah if Thats all he uses it for is myst and general work it should work out perfectly.

 

[Shauk25]

Okay im thinkin of ordering it but im confused by what it says, i realize its refurbished, it says it had windows xp preloaded but then at bottom says


Includes

Dell Precision 360 Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Tower
Microsoft Windows XP Professional pre-installed w/COA
Power cord

Refurbished System Grades
Grade B
System is in very good condition - may have minor scratches on case
May be missing manual, drivers, operating system

does this mean it doesnt have windows xp, or drivers or it doesnt have manuals for drivers and operating system.

anyone have an idea?

 

[Redmo0n]

Comes with XP Professional pre-installed but it may be missing?

dodgey.


Hes saying the OS may not be installed and same with the drivers, and for some reason he says it "May" be missing the manuals =.=.

In my opinion he hasn't stolen the computer yet and his informative is giving sketchy info