An Old Dell PC Gets Loud and Hot

[Discusman]

Hi All,

I have a Dell P4 2.66GHz and 640 MB Ram PC that is almost 10 yrs old. It gets very hot and loud (I believe when the fan turns on or maybe the HD?) I play online game alot (sometime play all day long on weekends). The computer gets very loud and hot, I noticed the green plastic strip HD hoders literly started to melt, the plastic turned whiteish color and very soft after I opened the computer. I also burned one of the HDs a few weeks ago.

I also notice the computer started running much slower than used to (I experienced a lot of lags during online games as well as locally). Could this be the HD is going bad or do I need to get more memory (currently I have 640MB ram, SDRAM?)

I have been mainly running this pc for games and I thought about buying a new computer, but I've heard alot bad things about Windows Vista and not sure how would I install Window's XP on a brand new Dell. So it is holding me back from getting a new PC.

If you guys recommend me buy a new PC. What is good for game playing? I think my budget would be around $500.


I appreciate any inputs.

 

[Muffin Man]

it could be overheating from dust build up. when's the last time you cleaned it out?

if you were to get a new pc, would you be up to building it yourself? and, regardless of whether you buy it pre-built or build it yourself, we would not suggest vista, definitely skip that and get win7.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Windows 7 is the only way to go now! It looks sorta like Vista and re-uses most of Vista's interface but they fixed most of the problems people had with Vista.

 

[Discusman]

I cleaned it two months ago and I dont normally clean it. Is there way I can replace the fan with a better one? I think the fan makes a lot of noise.

I just looked at Dell website and those gaming machine i5-75 2.66 ghz are at least $680. I think Dell machine is getting more expensive. Or did I look in the wrong category?

I remember Dell PC used to be around $400 (P4 2.80GHz). What's going on?

 

[redfish]

As the standards for performance rise, so does the price. You can't compare a $400 P4 system from the middle ages to an i5-750 modern machine, it's like comparing a donkey to a mercedes. Unfortunately, as programs advance, they begin to require such expensive computers and an old P4 machine is no longer adequate. I suggest that you build your own PC.

 

[Discusman]

As the standards for performance rise, so does the price. You can't compare a $400 P4 system from the middle ages to an i5-750 modern machine, it's like comparing a donkey to a mercedes. Unfortunately, as programs advance, they begin to require such expensive computers and an old P4 machine is no longer adequate. I suggest that you build your own PC.

I have never build a PC from scratch myself. I'm a bit of hesitant to do so unless there are step by step build guide available. I know building my own PC may save me some money vs buying a high end machine. I'm sure it will require alot of research and posting on this forum. Would you guys still recommend me to build one?

 

[NoNameNY]

I agree that its time to buy something new. And what is recommended depends on the types of games you play. You could replace the fan, or even the entire cpu heatsink/fan but at this point buying a newer system is more recommended

 

[redfish]

I would recommend that you build one, as I have already said. I was hesitant my self, as I had never done anything on this scale before and I have had some complete failures when it comes to electronics. I am happy to say that even with minimal guidance and without any sort of a step-by-step guide (although there are many out there) my build went perfectly. I have to say that the hardest part was selecting components.

 

[Abstract Hero]

The best building guide out there The animated guide to Building a PC. Learn to build a PC from scratch with PCitYourself!

 

[Discusman]

Thanks for the input guys. So how much do I really save by building my own PC? For example, I am buying the same exact system at Dell would cost me $1200, how much do I need to spend if I buy every hardware myself and put everything together myself? I just want to see whether it is worth the time and effort of building my own PC.

BTW, I opened my PC this morning and I realized I have two Memory sticks, they are 512 MB DDR 333MHz CL 2.5 and 128MB DDR 166MHz CL2.5. The inconsistant of MHz may slow down the pc? What's the max MB of ram can my Dell P4 2.66GHz handle? (1GB or 2GB?) I was also having hard time taking off the fan, I couldn't take it off. So I guess the fan can't be upgraded if I can't even take it off?