Upgrading Old Computer

[technodude]

I have an old PII 300 computer from '99. I am wondering how hard it will be to put in a new motherboard with a p4 chip maybe around 2 gighertz, give or take, and how much it will cost. Also, is it feasible to upgrade the sound and video cards with a new motherboard to get a decent gaming computer. (Both aren't integrated). I would like to spend less than if I was buying a new computer. Thanx for the help.

 

[Martin]

It's not exceedingly hard, as long as you have knowledge of how to open up the computer's chassis, removing the old motherboard and bolting in the new one. For a P4, an ASUS P4S533 (based on the SiS 645DX chipset), is extremely cheap, stable and performs pretty well. A P4 2.0 GHz will do for this situation. As for the videocard, I recommend having a GeForce3 Ti 200 at minimum (seeing as they are less than $100 now), but if you can spend the extra, a GeForce4 Ti 4200 is recommended. As for sound, if you can't live with integrated audio, a Creative SBLive! Value will do.

I also strongly recommend upgrading to a larger capacity HDD along with a DVD-ROM drive.

Prices: (according to Pricewatch)

ASUS P4S533 - $105
P4 2.0 GHz CPU - $178
GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB - $82
Creative SBLive! - $20

If the cost of a P4 is too high for you, I suggest going AMD instead:

ASUS A7V333 - $101
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 1.67 GHz - $120

 

[technodude]

Ok thanks for the input. You say that it is easy to install the hardware, but what about the difficulty of installing software and drivers for a new chip? Is this as easy or hard to do? I have windows 2000 currently. Would this OS pose a problem or make things harder than usual?

 

[Martin]

If you plan to go AMD and buy a VIA chipset-based motherboard... then downloading 4in1 driver pack from VIA Arena's site isn't too much of a drag, as drivers for all OS's are avail. Other chipsets won't require to install additional software, but rather, drivers which come on the CD-ROM the motherboard comes with isn't too big of an issue.

BTW, I forgot to mention RAM. Depending on your platform, RDRAM and DDR SDRAM are what I would use, but in the case of the motherboard's I gave you above, PC2100 or 2700 DDR SDRAM should suit well. 256 MB at minimum, 512 if you have the extra money.

 

[SePhErUm]

Don't forget some fans and heatsinks.. The fan in my 333 only moves about 12 cfm and in today's computers that isn't enough