need help upgrading!!

[tariqadkhan]

i have had a dell dimension 4100 for about 5 or more years.

systen specs :
win 98
cd-burner
intel p3 9330mhz
128mb ram
17inch monitor
scanner printer
16mb ati rage pro graphics card

upgraded to:
384mb ram
128mb nvidia geforce 4000 mx

i want to know what are the best upgrades possible for this system, an what i can do to amke it top of the line without having to buy a new pc, already have a great laptop, so just want to upgrade the desktop to play good (high quality and most recent games). so plz help!!!

thanks.

 

[bonehelm]

tell us what your motherboard is.

 

[Trotter]

P3 CPU, max of 1.1GHz.
AGP x4
Five PCI slots
PC133 RAM, max of 512MB
2 5.25" bays
3 3.5" bays
2 internal bays for hard drives
200W PSU

Not a lot to work with.

 

[Shannon]

If you really don't want to start fresh, I'd say your best bet is to add as much RAM as it supports. That won't make it top of the line, nothing will really. You can't expect a 5 year old computer to act like new. But I think adding some RAM is probably the best thing you can do to help the performance.

 

[bonehelm]

my advice is to build a new pc and get a mobo that has pci-e slots if you are into gaming

a decent gaming pc is around 570 USD

 

[mike4realz]

If you really don't want to start fresh, I'd say your best bet is to add as much RAM as it supports.

not for win98. win98 is limited to 2gb ram but it's bad at handling too much ram. 192mb is preffered (stable and it's at its bestest performance) 256mb is ok too but anything higher than that might be either good or bad. exept for applications that requires huge amounts of ram such as photoshop

 

[tariqadkhan]

i have win xp now and the mobo can only support 512mb ram another system spec is 40gb of harddrive. how much of an influence does the hardrive have on the performance of the pc?

 

[mike4realz]

just depends on what kind of hard drive u have. SATA will gives the best performance cuz it's the new generation of hard drives

 

[Trotter]

The drive would be ATA.

40 gig can be a pretty tight squeeze at times. I know, as that is what I have.

If you plan on keeping your system, here's the main things you ought to look into...

Buy two sticks of 256MB RAM. NewEgg has pqi 256MB 168-Pin SDRAM Unbuffered PC 133 System Memory... two for $70.50 , including shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141205

Get an additional hard drive, either to add storage space, or to replace the one you have now. NewEgg has the Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JB 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive for $55.99, including shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144122

Go for a better graphics card. NewEgg has the VisionTek VTK 9250128A Radeon 9250 128MB DDR AGP 2X/4X Video Card for $60.99 including shipping, and it has a $10 mail-in rebate right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814129045

All that comes up to $187.48. It would give you a system with a 1.1GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 120 GIG hard drive space, and a 128MB Radeon 9250 graphics card.

While that may not be top-notch, it is cheaper than buying a new one. Of course, it won't be able to do what a new one can do, either. Best thing is do it as you can afford it. Be sure to get the RAM first, as it will make the biggest difference.

 

[tariqadkhan]

thanx alot that last msg will definetly help me, make the pc as best as possible, its the detailed response that i needed, thanks alot