Memory Upgrade for such an old PC worthwhile?

[julielou2]

Hello there

I am waiting until April for the new intel chips to come out before I buy a brand new desktop. After my laptop broke I dug out my old desktop circa 2005 to play Wow on (albeit very limpingly).

This old desktop has a 939N68PV-GLAN motherboard, an AMD Athlon 64 3500 processor and currently 1 Gb of RAM of which 250 Mb is being used for the onboard graphics of the mboard. I'm running XP Home SP3 as the operating system.

Would it make a noticeable improvement/difference (particularly in constant hard drive and processor activity) to install another 2 Gb of RAM into this poor old desktop of which I'm asking so much.

Thanks in advance.

Jules

 

[farrengottu]

it will make open programs be more responsive.
it will allow for your graphics ram to be set higher which might make wow run better.
but dont expect nothing spectacular. if you get a even super slow graphics card in there it will help a lot since you will no longer be using memory bandwidth on your graphics. plus a radeon 5450 is a decent step up from any motherboard graphics.

 

[farrengottu]

i forgot to imply that you should get the ram and graphics. you should be able to do it for under $50.

 

[jaquith]

Windows XP works best with 2GB minimum, as it is right now you're probably running particularly slower using Virtual Memory i.e. the HDD for 'RAM'. So yes the system should be noticeably faster with 2GB.

As far as it being 'Worth It', IMO yes I'd get another 1GB matching stick or best 2X1GB set until you can build your new Ivy Bridge system.

ref - http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview.asp?Model=939N68PV-GLAN
- 4 x DDR DIMM slots
- Supports DDR400/333/266 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 4GB*

Crucial -> http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=939N68PV-GLAN&Cat=RAM
$59.99 CT2KIT12864Z335

 

[julielou2]

Thank you for your quick response Farren. I do actually have a spare graphics card - a GeForce 4MX which was in a previous computer I think. (I did think I had a GeForce 6800 something too but can't seem to find that one which was in the old PC's original motherboard before the replacement 939N68PV-GLAN I got in 2008)

Would that GF4 MX graphics card be better than the motherboard's integrated graphics and secondly, would it fit with the 939N68PV-GLAN motherboard?

I will buy the extra 2Gb of RAM - this is £47.99 from Crucial memory. Buying a Radeon card is another £25 though.

 

[farrengottu]

that old GF4 isnt worth playing wow on. I know that but it and your motherboard graphics are so old i cant remember how they compare. so you should get a new one. a radeon 6450 would be a big upgrade and they get crazy cheap. a 5450 is really the same card btw, it might be cheaper, just a different video decoder, and bios.

this will get your system limping through another year at low settings.
you should save up for a new build.
max settings, high res gaming is happiness made manifest.

 

[julielou2]

Best answer selected by julielou2.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr