Combining old computers and what to use and what to buy

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jonahg

Honorable
Dec 21, 2014
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10,510
I want to improve my parents PC for them for christmas. I have an old PC i can throw into the mix as well as a 240GB SSD.

My parents PC:
AMD Phenom 9150 Quad-core 1.8ghz
LiteOn 300watt
4GB unknown DDR2 ram (forgot to look)
windows vista 64bit preinstalled no cd's
motherboard: unknown.. i could find no markings
640gb HD (forgot to look)

My old PC:
4400+ amd athlon 64x2
dynex dx-400watt
320gb hard drive (forgot to look)
8gb ddr2 ram (forgot to look)
ht2000 motherboard
windows vista preinstalled no cd's
ASUS EAH6670/DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 GDDR5 128-bit 1 GB


Iv'e also got this:
Corsair Neutron Series GTX 2.5-Inch 240GB 6Gb/s SATA 3 Exclusive LAMD LM87800 Toggle SSD CSSD-N240GBGTXB-BK

What combination of these could i use and put into my parents current box for the best performance. I also want to spend up to 100 and maby 200$ to buy upgrades. 90-100 of that would go to a new operating system since im unsure of how to go about a clean install of either of those vistas onto a new drive.
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
If you have a valid installation key you can usually download a legal ISO copy of the OS from either the Microsoft website or the website of the OEM that built the unit, like HP or Dell, and use your legitimate key with it.
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
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The first thing I'd do, honestly, is throw both those power supplies away and buy a new one. An Antec VP-450 which is fairly inexpensive and easily meets the requirements of the HD 6670 should be a good replacement. Both LiteOn and Dynex are bottom of the barrel cheap PSUs. If you want the system to be fairly reliable, start at the core with a decent PSU.
 
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J

jonahg

Honorable
Dec 21, 2014
18
0
10,510
Ok, that looks good for 33$ on amazon which is where i prefer to buy if possible. The old computer with the crappy dynex did run fine with that graphics card though are you sure its not good enough to keep and use for the new computer? Really they don't even need a graphics card, i was just gonna throw it in cus why not. I was thinking if i should put money somewhere it should be in the cpu maby or something?

 
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J

jonahg

Honorable
Dec 21, 2014
18
0
10,510
Man they really put a lot of junk in those retail sytems don't they... the psu is in the shopping cart. What else should i get and what all should i combine and use for the new system?
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,411
7,631
176,790
My recommendation, if you didn't need to buy the OS, would be to go with a new CPU, motherboard AND RAM, as none of those old components are likely to be worth spending the good cash on an OS and PSU for. But that's just me. If you could find either a recovery partition on one of those drives for reinstalling the OS or the installation disks, OR, if the product key sticker is still present and readable on either of those towers, you could probably save yourself from having to purchase the OS. Windows 7 would certainly be an improvement over Vista though.

You could do all three of the hardware items like this and still be MUCH improved over the hardware you salvaged:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($77.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus A78M-E Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $161.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-22 03:39 EST-0500
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,411
7,631
176,790
The case and drives are probably ok to reuse. Use the SSD to install the OS on and wipe the others and use them for storage. Salvage one or both optical drives from the old rigs and find the best fans out of the three.

Even with the OS you would be looking at this, which I know is more than you want to spend, but with those old boards who knows if they will last very long and then your investment might be a waste. Or, they might be ok, it's very hard to say with old hardware.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus A78M-E Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $252.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-22 03:46 EST-0500


But, if that's not an option, it might be best to just use the 4400+ with the ht2000 board, the 8GB of RAM and get the new PSU and use the GPU you have along with the OS.
 
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