Is it good enough?

[tullyganny]

Hello all,
I hope someone can help me with this. A friend of mine has asked me to upgrade his machine for him. He wants a new DVD ROM drive as well as a CD writer, memory and a new graphics card. The thing is I'm not sure if his machine will be able for this?

He's running a Compaq Win 98 machine with an AMD K6-2 processor that runs at 350MHz, FSB 100MHz and at the moment a pitiful 28MB of RAM. I know software DVD decoding is pretty demanding so thought it may not work at all? As regards the CD writer I'm not sure?

As far as I can see there would be no point in getting a very fast/new graphics card because the processor is so slow, I thought maybe a Geforce 2MX 400 would do? His kids want to play some of the new games.

Can anyone give me some advice?
Thanx

 

[tullyganny]

Hey guys, surely someone can give me some advice?? Pretty please

 

[GhostKat]

Many of the newer video cards do the DVD decoding now a days. May want to try and find a board that can do this for him to alleviate CPU usage from DVD decoding.

might be able to save some money by getting a DVD-rom/CD-writer combo. Unless he wants to pop for a DVD writer.

GK

Yes, I made it past newbie w00t.

 

[orbz]

Might consider adding more ram and a burner should be fine, but maybe just not burning at top speed.

<i><font color=blue>There is no failure when you believe in success.</font color=blue></i>

 

[elzt]

Depending on what type of games you want to play, but many new games require a graphics card that's better than GF2 MX400. Also check if the motherboard has AGP slot.

 

[tullyganny]

Motherboard has no AGP slot :-( Will have 2 be an ISA job. U guys sure a CD writer will work with a 350MHz AMD K6-2? What about sodtware DVD playback, will it be able for it?

Many thanks to all who replied

 

[sturm]

I have a k6-2 300 that i upgraded to a 550 (for the kids)
used a cd-burner on the 300 and it worked fine. Burner is now in my newer computer.\
As far as the graphics go, GOOD LUCK finding an isa video card. Might try a flea market. Think i saw a 2mb card at one a couple of months ago.
If he has the money I would just build a new one that you know will be able to do everything. Except for the dvd burner u should be able to build a decent machine for less than 600 bucks if u dont go highend on the video card

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by sturm on 03/20/03 10:37 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[elzt]

Yes, any new CD writer will work on a slow machine like your friend's. But make sure his hard disk is faster that the CD writer, or he will have to lower the burn speed.

Also, for DVD playback, he should get a hardware DVD decoder which I think is hard to find now. Try the 2nd hand market.

 

[tullyganny]

Glad to hear the CD writer will work I'm getting him a Gainward PCI GeForce4 MX440SE 64MB DDR card, with this will the DVD playback be good and not slow? When I said ISA before I meant PCI!! Also how is this card for playing new games?

Thanx for all you patience and information so far. Much appreciated.

 

[elzt]

I can't seem to find much info about the Gainward PCI GeForce4 MX440SE card.
Does it got onboard mpeg2 decoder for DVD playback? As I said, you need hardware decoder in order to get decent DVD playback.

Not sure how this card performs in gaming? But most of today's cards for playing new games have got at least AGPx4 interface. PCI cards just won't match the demanding speed required by those games.

 

[tullyganny]

So would I be better off not to get that card at all? He does not have an AGP slot so I don't have much choice. I don't want to get stuff and the DVD playback be very slow from the get go. Maybe I should just upgrade the RAM and CD Writer and leave it at that?? If the DVD palyback is going to be too slow there is no point, I won't be able to find a hardware decoder here in Ireland I don't think?

 

[elzt]

The GF4 MX440SE upgrade won't give your friend much improvement for playing new games. In fact, both the GF4 MX440SE and the PCI interface are a "no no" for gaming.

As for DVD playback, perhaps he can upgrade to the fastest CPU that his mobo can support. A 600MHz processor should be fast enough for software decoding. But then again, such AMD processors, like the hardware decoders, are hard to find now.

So I suggest your friend to just get a CD writer and some RAMs.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

yep. his system is just too far behind to upgrade effectivly.

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