Advice please

Okay ... hopefully this is the place to ask this question.

I need more memory on my computer. I started with 64mb of DIMM PC-133MHz which I'm told is SD Ram. Then last year I installed 128 mb of ram so now I'm at 192. Of course my computer is running slow again and now I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to go.

Here's my system ... not sure how much you need to know but ...

CPU = Intel P III 733 MHZ FC-PPGA OEM 133/256
Motherboard = Shuttle AV11 ATA-66 Slot 1 133mhz
RAM = 192 MB DIMM
Harddrive = Seagate 15 gb ATA-66 5400rpm
video card = Diamond V550 TNT2 16mb AGP Video Card
My operating system is windows 98
Purchased in 2000

I called the computer tech yesterday and he said I can only go as far as 512 mg ram and maybe only 256mg depending on what happens when he opens the computer.

My question is ... is it worth upgrading anything on my computer and is it even possible? Like the video card? Or is it just as well for me to go ahead and purchase a new computer? I've already spent $250.00 on it for a new cooling fan, new cd drive because mine died, and more ram. Keep spending orrrr .....................?

Oh and if I should just purchase a new computer, what's the best way to go without spending too much money but getting a decent machine?

Thanks!!!
Tanya

 

That "Old Girl" is getting a bit antiquated Tanya, I would just get another Comp, swamping out parts is way more expensive, especially if your getting a shop to do it. I would check the online deals out there, and just upgrade to a better machine. Oh and Welcome to Major Geeks Eh!.........You might try this link, http://www.canadacomputers.com/ they have given me and Mada Milty good service

 

BCGray is right; your PC is not really worth investing anymore money in. You're at a point of 'diminishing returns'- meaning the that the amount of money spent will not provide a reasonable increase in performance. So, just bear with your current setup, and start saving some dough for better system. You can get a pretty good PC custom built at a small independent PC store for under $500 US, even less depending on what features and hardware you decide on. Figure out your budget, decide on what the PC's primary jobs will be (gaming, internet, music, student/office type stuff, etc) and research some parts that fit your needs and budget... good luck!

hd2k

 

Thanks for the info!! That's what I was struggling with as well. If I upgrade my memory and my video card, and boy do I need a new one, that's pretty well enough money to start putting together a new machine. And of course the money I spent on it already.....

Now I just have to figure out what to get. Confusing!!!!

Any suggestions would be great .

Thanks again!!!

 

I'd be glad to help with some hardware ideas. What will you be doing with the new PC? Like, what is the PC's main use? Some games like World Of Warcraft, FEAR, Oblivion, and others require some serious horsepower, where most of your online games (like Yahoo! games) or card/casino/mahjongg type games can be played on almost anything. Are you going to be downloading and burning music? Video? Are you dealing with digital photography? What about office type stuff like word pocessing, spreadsheets and the like? Just as rough base, if you build a PC in the 2.6ghz to 3.0ghz range, with 1gb of memory, and a 160gb (or bigger) hard drive, and a DVD burner, you're pretty much set for anything, except the higher end games. Then you'd want a bigger hard drive (250gb min), a good video card, and at least 2gb of memory. Be sure to let us know if there's anything we can help you with. A word of warning tho', we're all very attached to our own particular brands and manufacturers. I like NVidia video cards, and wouldn't be caught dead with an ATI (unless it was free or a real good price ), and others feel the opposite. I prefer Intel CPU's, but I'm running an Athlon64 3200+ 'cuz the price vs. performance factor (at the time) was right.... I'm starting to ramble....

hd2k

 

Wow, you have an old set up. And I thought I was using some antique stuff.

Please check here often:
http://slickdeals.net/

Very good deals if you can catch them quick. I believe I saw a new Dell Desktop for like $220 once you removed a bunch of stuff, like the flat panel monitor. It was just the PC, keyboard, mouse, and OS. Ready to go.

Oh, here it was:

Dell EPP has the Dell Dimension C521 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3600+ Desktop for $219 w/ free shipping. Remove the 19" LCD monitor (subtracts $230) to get the price. Thanks Taiqui.

Specs:
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3600+
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
No Monitor
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16x DVD+/-RW Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
56K PCI Data Fax Modem

But it expired sometime ago. I guess after everybody caught on to the good deal.

 

If you follow the link I gave Tanya you will find a few like this, plus you can phone and customize your own build from one of these as a starter. You do not have to worry about "Customs", "Exchange Rate" and they have a flat shipping rate of $6.95

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/229/screenhunter2sf8.jpg

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1663/screenhunter3re2.jpg

 

hey MickeyRoush i was looking at that desktop thing, and couldent seem to find out how to make it so i didnt get a monitor. through all the options i looked through i couldent seem to find a way to tell them no monitor but i could say no mouse and stuff like that.. maybe im just looking in the wrong spot :banghead

 

I believe it's expired and that's why you can't do it. confused

But when it was working you had to keep going for a while with it, until you almost got to the end of you options before you checked out.

 

Wow, that's a lot of info. Looks like a great selection too.

Hmmm, I will probably be downloading and watching movies as well as music to my computer. My niece and nephew like to play computer games like 'feeding frenzy' and 'cake mania', but I'm not into the heavy gaming. I will eventually like to use my computer to download digital pics and stuff like that and I definitely want the option of burning movies and music. Right now I'm using a program for Home Design and I don't have enough room to save anything.

I have wordperfect office 2000 and seldom use it.

I would like to have the option of upgrading in the future, like right now the memory thing sucks big time and its useless to upgrade. But I'm thinking anything faster then what I have now will probably be a dream. lol.

Oh and I'll definitely need a new operating system because I'm using windows 98. I saw somewhere that Windows XP is the better choice between it and Windows Vista. What do you think?

Thanks for all the great info. I'm searching the sites you've all posted and trying to think of what the heck I need. Probably phoning www.canadacomputers.com and asking for what I want would be the best way to go.

MickeyRoush .... I'm laughing with ya!!! You should be here when my computer is taking ten minutes to load firefox and another ten minutes to load my homepage. Through the window!!!!

confused, Tanya

 

Do you have the AdBlock Plus extension for FireFox? If not go out there and get it. It will block advertisements and help speed the loading of pages.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865