please help with my first major upgrade

[zenmamajen]

I've done minor upgrades before but never swapped out a motherboard & CPU, so I'd like some confirmation as to whether I'm on the right track here.

Now I'm not trying for anything great, just upgrading from a 7 year old (secondhand!) pentium 3. My goal was to keep it around $150 since that's about all I can spare. My plan is to replace parts in an hp pavilion tower, leaving the hard drive, DVD/CDRW, floppy drive (not that I ever use it!) and power supply. I understand that I may have to re-install OS'es, which is fine as I was planning to do a clean install in the near future anyway... dual booting Win XP and Kubuntu, if that's relevant.

I've come up with the following from Newegg, looking for the combination of best reviews, reputable brands, lowest prices, older products:

GIGABYTE GA-945GCM-S2C LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $50.99

Intel Celeron 430 Conroe-L 1.8GHz 512KB L2 Cache LGA 775 35W Single-Core Processor - $42.99 heatsink & fan included

Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $39.99

That RAM is probably more than I need, but I figured better more than less. Also not sure if it's the right type, I picked it based on the motherboard specs but not sure if I interpreted info correctly.

Adding a 20-to-24 pin power adapter at $3.99, the total including shipping came to $150.01 which is exactly where I wanted to be price-wise. But I'm not sure if I'm missing something, if maybe spending a little more is worth it. Can anyone provide tips, suggestions, or just validation that I'm going about this right?

Thanks

 

[Luke]

well yeah the stuff looks good but that really isn't going to be that great of an upgrade. Instead of upgrading the current hp you have you might be better off spending about $600 on a new budget build. Well depends what you are using it for.........what are, you using it for?

and yes you will have to re-install the os. Sometimes you don't but it is highly advised that you do...and since you were planning on doing a fresh install its all good.

 

[Peter.Cort]

well seeing as how she's on a freaking p3 thats one **** of an upgrade IMO. granted it isn't super huge, but its definitely a step in the right direction for her computer.

i'd say thats good, but if you wanted you could get a different mobo, perhaps an open box if you wanted and maybe a celeron e1200 which is a dual core and is 50 including a heatsink and fan.

Newegg.com - DFI 662-TMG/G LGA 775 SiS 662 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards 43 bucks.

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Celeron E1200 1.6GHz 512KB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors

so basically just a cheaper board that has onboard GFX, don't know if you need it or not, but it has it. and putting a bit more into the cpu.

 

[zenmamajen]

Thanks Luke... like I said, $150 is about all I have to spare at present. Maybe $200 but that's really stretching my budget. I've looked at buying used but you really never know what you're gonna get.

What we use it for is basically your standard internet stuff... email, news, research, message boards, blogs, flash games, youtube video, uploading pictures etc. No serious gaming or video editing and such.

I know it doesn't sound like "that great of an upgrade" but it is for me, considering my current computer is over 7 years old.

ETA: thanks Peter, I will look at my options again. And I'm a she.

 

[Luke]

no prob....well seeing what your using it for it would be a good upgrade... the stuff peter recommended looks like a better choice so definitely check it out.

lol funny i actually pictured your name as a she (well something a girl would use)

Welcome to t-f...you should become a reg because we have very few girls on here.

 

[Peter.Cort]

well... don't i feel a bit embarassed.. well i have to say you are without a doubt the most technilogically advanced woman i have ever held a conversation with. a thousand apologies. (not being sarcastic, just like how that always sounds . haha.)

also, welcome to Tech-Forums!

 

[S0ULphIRE]

well seeing as how she's on a freaking p3 thats one **** of an upgrade IMO. granted it isn't super huge, but its definitely a step in the right direction for his computer.

missed a bit

Ok, first thought is you NEVER, EVER want a celeron. ever. They are, quite possibly, the worst processor type I've ever used. In fact, my nickname used to be 'Celeron' because I failed at most things

You can get a p4 2.8Ghz for 30 bucks off ebay! And buying used computer parts is a GOOD thing, because most electrical items fail within a few months of being purchased. So odds are that if someone's owned this cpu for a couple of years, it's fine. Yes, if it has been overclocked it's life span might have decreased from over 9000 years to only 8000, but I'm sure it won't affect you.

 

[Peter.Cort]

yeah but a celeron dualcore beats the living daylights out of a pentium single core...

 

[Puddle Jumper]

A Celeron Dual Core is just a Core 2 Duo with less cache.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

yeah but a celeron dualcore beats the living daylights out of a pentium single core...

Hmmm, I haven't tried overclocking an celeron dualcore before, but my experiences with the p4's have been pretty good. And just normal celerons, well you'd be lucky to get any sort of decent increase. Meh, I'm probably prejudiced because of the nickname thing.