Cheapest upgrade for P133

[Lamoni]

I have a co-worker that bought a game or two for his kids (preschool games, not UT2003) and can't install them because his computer is too old. I wanted to recommend an upgrade to him.

I was thinking the following...

$72 Asus A7N266-VM (nForce chipset with onboard video)
$70 Athlon XP 1700+
$32 128 MB PC2100 DDR RAM (Kingston)
$60 ATX case with 350 watt PSU

$234 total

This would mean he would use his current hard drive, floppy, CD-ROM, mouse, keyboard and monitor.

Would this cause problems if he was running Windows 95? I know that Windows 95 doesn't support USB, but would it cause problems if the USB was just deactivated in the BIOS? Would the chipset drivers support Win95? If not, I would need to add in the price of a new Operating system and most likely a new hard drive to go with it. I was just wondering if that looked good. He obviously doesn't need a fast computer because he has been happy with his Pentium 133 up until now.

 

[slickstaa]

I would put a duron and cheaper case in it and use the money you saved for a new hard drive. Im guessing the hard drive that came with a p133 system is going to be pretty small (this could be an issue if hes installing games, and you never know when it could die. Surely you have a windows 98 cd lying around he could "borrow"...

<font color=blue> If it ain't broke, don't fix it...tweak it.</font color=blue>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Good picks!

<A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=26708#26708" target="_new"> Go to my CPU Vendor Poll </A>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Also try to get more than 128Mb ram... 256mb minimum.


<b><i>The Very Hungry Caterpillar</i> - George W. Bush's favorite childhood book.
Note: This book was first published a year after Mr Bush graduated from College.</b>

 

[Crashman]

Well, the cheapest thing would be a K6-2 500, but anyway, you've made some good choices.

Now, Windows 95 DOES support USB, you just need the USB update. Even with the update, it doesn't have built in drivers for things like USB mice though. And you could disable USB if needed.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Quetzacoatl]

I can sell you an Enlight 7237 case for $10 if you pay shipping ($7-15 depending on state), and there's plenty of of PSU's on <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com</A>. I'd suggest an Antec truepower 330 watt for $60, or if you need a cheaper one, an Enligh 360 watt for $38. If you want, I can also send you a copy of windows 98se (i've an extra one laying around when I upgraded to windows 2k)

Instead of Rdram, why not just merge 4 Sdram channels...

 

[o1die]

I suggest an L&C 350 watt power supply from Dealsonic for only $17.95 shipped. Running my p4 at 150 fsb (2700) with no problems.

 

[dhlucke]

You will need more than 128MB of memory today.

<font color=red>
<A HREF="http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?dhlucke" target="_new">Forum Assassin</A></font color=red>

 

[Lamoni]

Thanks for all the replies. I think that I will recommend a new hard drive with Win98se. I would like to recommend a lot better things for him also, but moving from a P133 with 16MB of RAM makes anything look great. I think that I'll price Duron's also. A new hard drive would just allow for a clean install and a lot more room for the future. He probably is running pretty low on space also.

Crashman, that is good to know about Windows 95 so it would be possible to just use his current hard drive. I'll let him know that is also an option, but I always prefer to do a fresh install of Windows with any big upgrade.

Now I have to get back to Homework.