is my PC really THAT bad?

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arejay

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Ok, So i bought a Dell Dimension 8200 back in well, a while ago...Probably late '01 maybe '02.

Specs are as follows:

Pentium 3 2.0ghz
256MB RDRAM (ugh!)
nVidia GeForce 128MB
40GB internal HDD
500GB external HDD (Western Digital MyBook)
Samsung 18x external DVDRW
Internal CDRW (48x?)

Never really had any issues until I wanted to start copying and authoring DVD's. I was converting a movie (700MB AVI) to a VOB and on my PC it took OVER 24 hours. On my parents' PC (brand new Dell Dimension) it took a little over an hour. Now, could there really be THAT much of a difference in speed? My parents' PC has 1gb of ram, and a P4 3ghz (i think)...But could that really make up for that much of a difference in speeds? Should I just be looking for a new PC right now? Upgrading RDRAM is a waste of money to me when I can get a new PC for only a few hundred dollars more ya know?

Any ideas on how to improve my PC's performace would be appreciated...Or simply just say (BUY [or build ;) ] A NEW ONE STUPID!) Thanks
 
Yes, there is that much of a difference. Melt it down and salvage the gold contacts. Build a new one. You could use the current machine as a file and backup server with that nice 500gig hard drive. If your interested in building a new one there are many people here with a lot of hardware knowledge to help!
 
Yeah you're computer is really dated and underpowered for what's going in todays computing. I would definitely advise to get a new one.
 
well ok then...thanks for being short and to the point hah!

I had pretty much assumed that would be the answer I would get. Looks like a new one is coming...thanks
 
There are a lot of things more important than ghz, the different between a p3 and a p4 is rather large.

Your pc is not terrible, still could be of great use. Browse the web, email, ect..but when it comes to rendering or gaming or encoding, its going to lag very seriously behind.

Of course, as I say this, mine is the same, as is your parent's pc.

With all the dual core cpus, faster ram, faster HDs, and countless other things...the PC industry has a come a long way in the last 10 years.
 
If you tell us what you want to spend the people here can reccomend a good system. :D

MachSpeed MSNV-939 Socket 939 Barebone Kit AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ OEM 200GB IDE HDD 1GB DDR PC3200 CPU Fan ATX Mid-Tower Case with a 450 Watt Power Supply at TigerDirect.com

That barebone has everything but a CD drive, which you could pull one from your other system, since you have two. For $250, that system would run circles around both your and your parents, while riding a unicycle, baking a pie, doing its homework, and balancing on top of a fence.
 
Your computer isnt THAT bad, its just basically the RAM thats holding you back.

I would recommend at least a gig for any of todays general computer, or at the very least 512mb, especially if you are going to do anything like in the example you gave.

Also, a faster larger capacity internal HDD would also help with the same thing.
 
When encoding, a p3 will take consideribly longer than the newer lines of cpus...regardless of how much ram it has.
 
i think you mean its a Pentium 4 2.0 not a Pentium 3 cause p3s go up to only 1.4. Also, rdram first came out with the P4 line and P3s use sdram.

anyway, i think you should just build a new system. the only main thing thats holding you back is the cpu and ram and since you have rdram, i suggest you dont bother cause the mobo is a really old and upgradeable one.
 
lol it takes my pc 15 minutes to rip a dvd (and thats with my 2 drives ripping different dvds simultaneously). 1/2 the length of the film to compress and encode it to a usable file. I usually do all this in the background whilst playing a game alt tab best idea ever :D. I rarely convert file formats I just change the extension an hope it doesn't get corrupted much easier and quicker I never burn dvds so I don't know whether just changing the extension will allow you to use it the same as what ever file format you try and change it too
 
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