- Oct 17, 2011
- 3,166
- 8
- 27,115
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within next 3-6 months
BUDGET RANGE: $300-400 tops, not including rebates
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Creating a family calendar for Christmas gifts, storing digital photos, Internet/email, very old games (Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, SWAT 3 / 4, maybe Starcraft I or Age of Empires I/II/III)
CURRENT SYSTEM:
-- AMD Athlon (Thunderbird), 1.4 GHz single-core
-- MSI MS-7061 mATX motherboard (running at 266 MHz FSB)
-- 1.5GB DDR RAM (PC-3200 installed)
-- Western Digital 120GB IDE hard drive
-- 2 CD drives (1+ CD-RW)
-- ATI Radeon 9200 (AGP x4), 128 MB VRAM
-- PSU: not 100% sure, but guessing around 300-350W range
-- OS: Windows XP (SP3)
-- Case: old eMachines mini-tower
LOCATION: The PC is in Dayton, OH; I am near Columbus, OH
PREFERRED WEBSITE:: microcenter.com, but I prefer picking up parts in person..
OVERCLOCKING: NO!
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: NO
MONITOR RESOLUTION: Currently works at 1024x768 (old 4:3 ratio CRT, possibly 15-inch)
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Although I am an avid gamer (as is my brother-in-law), my in-laws are not. In fact, we currently have only 1 game installed on the PC (DF: BHD), & even it hasn’t been played in maybe 2 years. However, the system runs really slow – even pulling up Internet pages can tax the PC, let alone having multiple tabs open -- & the MGI PhotoSuite 4 she uses really chugs at times.
I have some parts I can scrounge from my old PC – possibly some RAM (the current mobo can handle 2GB maximum), video card (have a Radeon X600, just have to make sure it’s AGP & not PCIe), PSU (my old PC has a Cooler Power 550W PSU), maybe even hard drive (have some older IDE drives, but I need to check them to make sure they’re in good shape) & CPU (have to check the old PC – the mobo will take up to an Athlon XP 3000+, but not the 3200+) – & they still sell IDE drives & DDR (PC-3200) RAM at the local Micro Center. But if it comes down to it, & they need to replace the system, I’d like to make it as easy of a switch as possible – limit it to a motherboard/CPU/RAM upgrade (with maybe an add-on IDE controller for the old drive). I’m assuming one of the A-series chips would be more than sufficient, but just wanted some suggestions.
BUDGET RANGE: $300-400 tops, not including rebates
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Creating a family calendar for Christmas gifts, storing digital photos, Internet/email, very old games (Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, SWAT 3 / 4, maybe Starcraft I or Age of Empires I/II/III)
CURRENT SYSTEM:
-- AMD Athlon (Thunderbird), 1.4 GHz single-core
-- MSI MS-7061 mATX motherboard (running at 266 MHz FSB)
-- 1.5GB DDR RAM (PC-3200 installed)
-- Western Digital 120GB IDE hard drive
-- 2 CD drives (1+ CD-RW)
-- ATI Radeon 9200 (AGP x4), 128 MB VRAM
-- PSU: not 100% sure, but guessing around 300-350W range
-- OS: Windows XP (SP3)
-- Case: old eMachines mini-tower
LOCATION: The PC is in Dayton, OH; I am near Columbus, OH
PREFERRED WEBSITE:: microcenter.com, but I prefer picking up parts in person..
OVERCLOCKING: NO!
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: NO
MONITOR RESOLUTION: Currently works at 1024x768 (old 4:3 ratio CRT, possibly 15-inch)
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Although I am an avid gamer (as is my brother-in-law), my in-laws are not. In fact, we currently have only 1 game installed on the PC (DF: BHD), & even it hasn’t been played in maybe 2 years. However, the system runs really slow – even pulling up Internet pages can tax the PC, let alone having multiple tabs open -- & the MGI PhotoSuite 4 she uses really chugs at times.
I have some parts I can scrounge from my old PC – possibly some RAM (the current mobo can handle 2GB maximum), video card (have a Radeon X600, just have to make sure it’s AGP & not PCIe), PSU (my old PC has a Cooler Power 550W PSU), maybe even hard drive (have some older IDE drives, but I need to check them to make sure they’re in good shape) & CPU (have to check the old PC – the mobo will take up to an Athlon XP 3000+, but not the 3200+) – & they still sell IDE drives & DDR (PC-3200) RAM at the local Micro Center. But if it comes down to it, & they need to replace the system, I’d like to make it as easy of a switch as possible – limit it to a motherboard/CPU/RAM upgrade (with maybe an add-on IDE controller for the old drive). I’m assuming one of the A-series chips would be more than sufficient, but just wanted some suggestions.
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