Hp pavillion t430 memory upgrade

[wolfman72]

A member of the family has a hp pavillion t430 it has an intel 2.7ghz processor and 512MB running xp home 32 bit. It's only used for the internet and a few photos.

Would a memory upgrade to 1GB give it a little more breathing space and 2GB would be a waste of money. They don't want to spend too much, but are looking to get a laptop in about 2 years.

I do have a sempron 140 with a DDR2 motherboard I have offered them this but would need a fresh windows and would be windows 7. The sempron 140 will not unlock and the motherboard doesn't have the unlocking feature in BIOS. Also the motherboard is the ASUS M3N78 pro.

What would be the best option keeping the celeron or going AMD sempron AM3?

 

[Raiddinn]

I am surprised anyone can get by on 512 MBs of RAM right now. I haven't ran a computer on under 4 GBs in half a decade and my wife's computer was crashing in productivity apps with only 2 GBs until I pushed her up to 4 GBs. I use 8 myself and generally suggest that to everybody.

That being said, this hardware is cheap and may not be able to hold too much.

I would expect if they wanted to get RAM this old through HP it would probably be $50 a stick which is just unsatisfactory.

2x 1 GB is all the system will take.

If they have an OEM license of Windows 7 it won't move to your motherboard, and the cost to get a retail license for your parts will almost certainly be more unacceptable than just getting new RAM for the Celeron.

I checked the HP website and HP won't even sell the RAM that goes in the computer anymore. For that matter, the only thing they will still sell that would work with this computer is replacement power cords.

The RAM for this is 184 pin DIMM PC3200 DDR400 2.6v CL3 - edit - as near as I can tell, anyway. That is what it says for t430.uk

On Crucial.com you can get a 1GB stick of this part number CT540217 for $31 to use with the motherboard.

If you do want to get a RAM upgrade, I would suggest you take that one. It is the most likely to work with this motherboard, I think.

Now that I picked something out that may actually work, what sort of problems are these people having that make them interested in upgrading in the first place?

It may be that the RAM gives them little to no improvement or it could give them tons of improvement, it depends on what their issue is.

 

[wolfman72]

Mcafee seems to be the main draw, but once started up its ok and maybe getting the RAM upgrade would keep them going a bit. I also have 8GB in mine. I would have to get a windows 7 licence which would cost £74, the memory would cost £20. Memory would be cheaper alternative but is the sempron 140 much quicker than the celeron.

I am surprised anyone can get by on 512 MBs of RAM right now. I haven't ran a computer on under 4 GBs in half a decade and my wife's computer was crashing in productivity apps with only 2 GBs until I pushed her up to 4 GBs. I use 8 myself and generally suggest that to everybody.

That being said, this hardware is cheap and may not be able to hold too much.

I would expect if they wanted to get RAM this old through HP it would probably be $50 a stick which is just unsatisfactory.

2x 1 GB is all the system will take.

If they have an OEM license of Windows 7 it won't move to your motherboard, and the cost to get a retail license for your parts will almost certainly be more unacceptable than just getting new RAM for the Celeron.

I checked the HP website and HP won't even sell the RAM that goes in the computer anymore. For that matter, the only thing they will still sell that would work with this computer is replacement power cords.

The RAM for this is 184 pin DIMM PC3200 DDR400 2.6v CL3 - edit - as near as I can tell, anyway. That is what it says for t430.uk

On Crucial.com you can get a 1GB stick of this part number CT540217 for $31 to use with the motherboard.

If you do want to get a RAM upgrade, I would suggest you take that one. It is the most likely to work with this motherboard, I think.

Now that I picked something out that may actually work, what sort of problems are these people having that make them interested in upgrading in the first place?

It may be that the RAM gives them little to no improvement or it could give them tons of improvement, it depends on what their issue is.

 

[Raiddinn]

What is their budget?

 

[wolfman72]

No more than £150, they are retired there budget is spent on holidays. The laptop is on hold for 2 years, I would push for them to let me build a budget sandybridge (personally I will not go Intel because I am real world not synthetic benchmarks) or llano. There Hp is 7 years old, £140 will buy me a Pentium G840, H61 mobo and 4GB of DDR3 RAM which I think this would be better than a laptop and cheaper but I still need the software. Ive noticed the athlon II gone up in price which is a blow.

What do you think putting my sempron 140 in a budget AM3/AM3+ mobo removing the ddr2 board and buying some value DDR3?

Or crucial RAM for £20 the HP has firewire on the front panel with a slider draw to keep the dust out. My case is a coolermaster 330, I have a card reader its terrible for dust.

What is their budget?

 

[Raiddinn]

Their situation would be ideal for an A6 or A8, but you just aren't getting an A8, an FX motherboard, RAM, and an OS for 150 GBP.

It is the new OS that will kill you every time.

About all I can really think of is just taking the RAM if they experience a lot of thrashing or find/buy some refurbished office PC 3 years old coming off its lease for the 150 GBP. Maybe they could sell the old one and combine that with the 150 GBP to get up towards 200 GBP.

Refurbished is also a possibility.

With a budget as small as this, you really have to scrape the bottom of the usability barrel, as sad as I am to say it.

 

[wolfman72]

Yes thank you im going with the RAM, I gave them a price of £230 to £300 for bits + I would need to find a case as well and motherboard with firewire or expansion card i will fresh it up with a reinstall.

 

[Raiddinn]

I wish I could give you a case of mine laying around for cheap, but international shipping costs wouldn't be pretty.