I am sending a computer to my relatives back in my homeland and I need some suggestions on upgrades.
We are thinking to send an HP 7917 http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=ae&docname=bph07034 (ouch)
So basically, the specs are:
Windows XP SP2
Intel Celeron 1.1 ghz
128mb RAM
40gb Hard drive
We've used this computer since 1999 up untill 2005, and it worked worked fine up until after when things started to get laggy. Programs started to be more memory hungry, and I soon found it frustrating having to wait for a page to load on the internet just to download some PDF documents, let alone opening Adobe Acrobat (BTW I had ADSL so internet speed was not the problem). Games on this rig weren't even considerable, getting around 20 fps at 800x600 for counter-strike 1.5.
Anyway, some serious upgrading needs to be done before I can send this bad-ass rig over to my cousins.
First things first, I'm definitely going to add the maximum amount of memory which is 512mb of PC133 RAM. Secondly I'm going to slap on an 80gb hard-drive.
After those upgrades, I'm thinking that the Celeron is going to be the main bottleneck, so I thought adding a PCI video card could somewhat compensate for the lagging cpu.
Would that be sufficient?
I know adding a decent video card to a rig with windows vista installed increases performance by a big margin, about a 60% increase, which is apparent on my current rig.
I'm thinking about getting a Geforce FX5500 256mb PCI, but I'm afraid that that could even be bottlenecked, but then again, I want this computer to last for at least another couple of years. This computer will only be used for internet, checking email, just general use, and maybe a possibility of a little gaming, cause' I might add the sims 2 since they have kids.
Any suggestions?
We are thinking to send an HP 7917 http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=ae&docname=bph07034 (ouch)
So basically, the specs are:
Windows XP SP2
Intel Celeron 1.1 ghz
128mb RAM
40gb Hard drive
We've used this computer since 1999 up untill 2005, and it worked worked fine up until after when things started to get laggy. Programs started to be more memory hungry, and I soon found it frustrating having to wait for a page to load on the internet just to download some PDF documents, let alone opening Adobe Acrobat (BTW I had ADSL so internet speed was not the problem). Games on this rig weren't even considerable, getting around 20 fps at 800x600 for counter-strike 1.5.
Anyway, some serious upgrading needs to be done before I can send this bad-ass rig over to my cousins.
First things first, I'm definitely going to add the maximum amount of memory which is 512mb of PC133 RAM. Secondly I'm going to slap on an 80gb hard-drive.
After those upgrades, I'm thinking that the Celeron is going to be the main bottleneck, so I thought adding a PCI video card could somewhat compensate for the lagging cpu.
Would that be sufficient?
I know adding a decent video card to a rig with windows vista installed increases performance by a big margin, about a 60% increase, which is apparent on my current rig.
I'm thinking about getting a Geforce FX5500 256mb PCI, but I'm afraid that that could even be bottlenecked, but then again, I want this computer to last for at least another couple of years. This computer will only be used for internet, checking email, just general use, and maybe a possibility of a little gaming, cause' I might add the sims 2 since they have kids.
Any suggestions?