Inherited Computer

I've started a thread with the same title in the malware removal section. I have a few questions that aren't malware related though. Is it possible to upgrade an emachines w3503 pc with an intel celeron 3.33Ghz and 512kb L2 cache and 533Mhz FSB, an ATI Radeon Express 200 video card, 512MB DDR SDRAM memory, and a 160GB hard drive with DVDRW optical drive so it a) doesn't suck and b) might have a chance of playing some of the newer computer games? I'm a complete n00b when it comes to computers, but want to try my hand at this because I think it looks interesting. I'm going to need a bit of hand holding I'm afraid, and would appreciate a step-by-step process. Anyway, any advice would be great.

 

http://review.zdnet.com/desktops/emachines-w3503/4507-3118_16-32178774.html?tag=ut
There's your specs ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
It looks like you can probably go with 2gb RAM, a good PCIX video card, and a better socket 775 CPU. I can't really recommend a CPU without knowing the model number of the motherboard, but you should be able to use any standard s775 Pentium or Pentium D. The hard drive and DVDRW are OK....

 

Is there anything I can do without upgrading my processor?

 

Yes, as stated before.....

PCIX means PCI eXpress, but you knew that already The PC takes 184pin DDR memory (you can NOT use DDR2). You can buy a kit of 2 x 1gb DDR400 for about $100 including shipping from Egghead http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145579 Figure on spending at least $80 for a PCI Express video card. Here's a 'no name' nVidia GeForce 8600GT 512mb PCI express video card. The 8600GT is a great card for the price; awesome price/performance ratio. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814140089 But you've got to be a bit leary of a 30day no refund warranty :rolleyes Here's a link to a quality brand 8600GT by eVGA (lifetime warranty) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085 or one by XFX (another good brand with lifetime warranty) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150229
Good luck with the upgrade!

 

I'm kinda leery of online purchasing, but there's 2 decent comp stores in my hometown; I'd rather have face2face. As for my motherboard, this is the info on it

Motherboard Properties
Motherboard ID <DMI>
Motherboard Name Intel Corporation D101GGC

Front Side Bus Properties
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 533 MHz
Bandwidth 4266 MB/s

Motherboard Manufacturer
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/index.htm
BIOS Download http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/genbios.htm

in the process of looking up what all this means

 

and... yeah.... I totally knew what PCIX stood for... no confusion there. nope! surprising how little I know about computers considering I sell them...

 

Does the brand for RAM really make a difference? One of the stores that's near me doesn't offer corsair, but they offer kingston, and ocz as well. They also offer what appears to be a no-name brand as well but I've learned not to trust that kind of stuff. Also, what does non-ecc mean, in this context

KINGSTON DDR NON-ECC PC3200 CL3 KVR400X64C3A/1G 1024MB MEMORY 400MHZ

 

and my current processor is an Intel Celeron 3.33 GHz... do you know how I would go about finding what power supply my computer was using w/o opening it up?

 

I think you will have to open it up to find out what kind of PSU is in it. Pretty simple, just take off the side panel and there should be a sticker on the PSU.

E

 

ok... I'll give it a go tonight... hopefully I don't cause my computer to blow up (I know, I know, it should be easy, but me and electronics don't get along)