Upgrade worth it?

So a buddy of mine got an HP Pavilion 541c from a mutual friend (I hope for free!)... anyway, it's stock everything. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to increase the RAM to 1GB (from 512MB), which would be ~$50, and possibly add a cheap video card (it's got an AGP slot, probably looking at another ~$50).

I'm also wondering... will I need to get a bigger PSU for it if I add the video card? And does HP use proprietary power supplies? If so, can I modify a regular PSU, or do I need to buy an HP PSU?

I know he won't want to spend a ton of money upgrading this thing, but as far as I've been able to tell, the onboard graphics won't support Windows 7 (which he wants on it), and I highly doubt Windows 7 will like 512MB of shared DDR RAM. It's currently got Windows XP Home SP2 on it.

 

As to the upgrades being worth it.... it really depends on what the PC will be used for. If it will be for basic home use (internet, email, music, home office), then the upgrades are probably not necessary. The RAM would definitely help, but the video card is completely unnecessary for basic home use. If you plan on gaming with it, I think the PC will NEVER be a decent gamer, and therefore the money will be better saved towards a brand new rig. Windows 7 is happiest with at least 2gb RAM. So, once you look at all the pricing (~ $100 for 2gb old RAM; ~ $75 for decent AGP video card for low level gaming; ~ $120 for Windows 7 32bit, the 64bit won't run on the old PC; ~ $75 for a quality 500-600w PSU; $370 total), you're well on your way to building a MUCH better modern PC. So, IMHO, don't spend the money upgrading the old HP. Install SP3 for Windows XP, and if you can score the RAM for cheap, upgrading to 1gb would be a good idea, but other than that, I'd leave it as-is.

(some models of older HPs use "short" PSUs; the mounting holes and the height and width are standard ATX, but the depth on some of these PSUs is almost half that of 'normal' units which makes fitting a regular PSU more-or-less impossible)

 

Well, first off, as I said the only reason to add a video card would be to make it compatible with Windows 7... it wouldn't need anything fancy. A PSU that would handle the system would be under $50. Either way, I'll just reinstall XP for him and see how he likes it that way for now. Question, though... does XP SP3 need/want more RAM than SP2? I had a machine that ran SP2 okay but didn't play well with SP3.

 

Post editing expired! Anyway, I'd still like to know if HP uses proprietary PSUs or not.

 

Well, I've been messing with this ancient desktop for a few hours and I'm about to tell him that it'd be worth more as scrap silicon... I installed XP SP3 (format, fresh install), and having ONE window open (Control Panel) and moving it causes the display to lag (even with "show window contents while dragging" disabled). Also, it won't connect to the internet (LAN ethernet to my router)... stuck on Limited Connectivity (with one of those 169.x.x.x IPs). I even tried manually configuring it for 192.168.1.x, and all that jazz. Also tried installing/enabling IPv6. No dice. I know this falls into Software though... but either way, yeah this thing is seeming worthless.

I think I'll see if he's interested in something like this.

 

Thanks for the link. It's a 541c, not 514c. Either way, there's no way it'd be worth it to upgrade any hardware on this machine for it to run Windows 7.

 

I kind of answered this above in post #2:

On such an old PC, (personally) I'd forget about running Win7. The additional cost required to simply run Win7 does not make sense, and this would be to simply run the basic version of Win7 w/o all the optimizations and "eye-candy" that Win7 has become famous for. I think the money would be better spent on stuff like food, rent, beer, electricity, car insurance, more beer, etc.

WinXP SP2 or SP3 will run decent on 512mb if the PC is maintained (keep the junk files/temp files/cookies cleaned, don't install resource hungry crapola like Norton, McAfee, AVG2011, keep the toolbars out, run defrags monthly, etc); the PC won't be fast with 512mb, but it will be useable w/o being frustrating. 1gb obviously would be better, but, again, following a regular maintenance schedule will help keep the PC running well (read this guide for more info).

(I'm not trying to be an a-hole, but the PC in question is so old that it really is a waste of money to try to force Win7 to run on it)

 

First, I somehow missed what you said about the PSUs.

Secondly, I didn't realize HOW old this thing was... a motherboard that maxes out at 1GB RAM? Heh. Either way, apparently he PAID for it too... let's just say my buddy doesn't know a heckuvalot about computers. I'm going to try and convince him to get his money back for this old piece of junk, and see about building him something... likely nothing grandeur, as his primary activities are YIM and web browsing. I think I could easily get a decent desktop built for around $400 or less that would suit him perfectly.

EDIT: He also bought a 17" 3:4 LCD for it...:crybaby