Upgrading a friend's PC

[Jrod]

Hey guys, I need your help. A friend was gonna blow a bunch of money paying a company to upgrade her comp...so now I'm doing it. The problem is her comp is pretty old and crappy and her budget is low. She wants a new processor and a new vid card if possible. And her budget is $150..

Here's what she has now:

proc: AMD Duron 800mhz
mobo: MicroStar 6330
gpu: Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 Pro (i think)
ram: 640mb sdram (133mhz)
hd: 19gb (lol)

Ok, so what's the best you can to it with $150??? I was thinking maybe a cheap processor/mobo combo deal, but then the ram might not work and 640 seems like a lot to throw away. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jeveryday]

Sad to say but her best option is probably to save up her money and invest in a new computer.


He memory is quite decent for an old computer but for newer apps and hardware it might suffer a bit.

If she has a standard ATX or micro-ATX, you can probably get a nice Sempron bundle, which might be OK for that price.

 

[Jrod]

Yeah that's what I was afraid of. Would a sempron even run on that?

Can anybody else think of any possible options? I don't wanna have to tell her she's S.O.L. yet. Someone here must know old computers

 

[ricanflow]

Well, i would get this mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185073

This ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231078

This video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121538

Total: $157 but worth it because that chip is fast..... especially compared to an 800mhz duron, its the same one i have except my mobo is only agp and socket a. Also you can sell the sdram on here.

 

[Jrod]

on where, here? or newegg?

 

[maroon1]

This video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121538

For $5 more she can get 7300LE which is much better than X300SE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145138

 

[ricanflow]

For $5 more she can get 7300LE which is much better than X300SE

But the 7300le uses turbocache, which takes away from the system memory.

 

[maroon1]

But the 7300le uses turbocache, which takes away from the system memory.

The one that I posted doesn't use turbocache

Some of them use turbocashe, some of them don't

 

[Jrod]

k, the gpu looks good. but about the motherboard. is PC Chips any good? i've never heard of them.

 

[ricanflow]

The mobo is manufactured by ECS, but its branded as pc chips. Ive had mine for a year, running stable. Just make sure all drivers are up to date and you wont have any problems. Also the cpu fan is pretty loud, i would recommened you change the fan if you get it.