Buy New vs. Upgrading Old Model

[ceo2b]

I guess I am trying to figure if I am at a point where it's time for a new system or a simple upgrade. My system is a PIII 800 Mhz, 256-Ram, 64mb vid membory, cd, cd-r/w and the "wonderful" Win 98SE. I know I have to bump up my OS soon because of the support issues, but I am not sure if I'd be better off upgrading the OS, memory and putting in another hard drive or just buying a cheap new system system. Any thoughts?

 

[Madtripper]

How much did you want to spend? I'm all for continuous upgrades but since you are eyeing up a new OS, you may be better off with a nice Dell or something.

 

[Sid59]

depends on what you do with your computer/.

 

[Amused]

RE: your sig,

The R50p. Without a doubt.

 

[ceo2b]

For the desktop no more than about 500 bucks since I'm going to be getting a notebook in the near future. But I do not want my desktop so outdated that I never use it again after getting the lappy. In many aspects, I can see myself being fine with a larger hdd, more RAM, and XP or 2000Pro but if I can get a similar system at that price, then why not?

 

[mbackof]

If you don't game or rip a lot of MP3s, I would just add another hard drive, an additional 256MB RAM, and upgrade to Windows XP Home. That would run you about $100 for XP, $45 for memory, and $50 to $200 depending on the hard drive you want.

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: mbackof
If you don't game or rip a lot of MP3s, I would just add another hard drive, an additional 256MB RAM, and upgrade to Windows XP Home. That would run you about $100 for XP, $45 for memory, and $50 to $200 depending on the hard drive you want.

Add another $60 or so and get a Slot-T adapter and a 1.4 Tualatin CPU... that would add some ZIP to your existing system too.

 

[JohnPaul]

Personally, I would build a whole new rig. That one is pretty old and a new system will show you great improvements all around. Of course, your system is still very capable to do some things, but it really depends on what you do with your rig. If you game you would be better off with a new rig.

 

[billandopus]

Your rig is still very capable for the most part depening on what you do with it - like others have already said.

I'd add another 256 or 512mb RAM and install XP home/xp.

There are many tweaks you can do to get xp to run much faster and you'll be happy with a more stable OS and that should tie you over for the next year until you are ready for an overhaul.

Believe me when I tell ya - i'm still running an AMD k6-3 400mhz with 384mb RAM and xp pro with a 16meg video card.

For surfing and nothing cpu intensive it works fine. I'm going to upgrade myself pretty soon so I can do some video editing and play some games!

 

[Overkiller]

For $500 dollars you can build a very fast system:

Abit NF7 : $82.00
Barton 2500+ : $90.00
512 MB Pc-3200 Corsair C2 (non xms) [2 x 256MB for Dual channel] : $92.35
80 GB Western digital w/ 8 MB cache: : $68.00 ( 1 day sale newegg!!!)
Toss in WinXp Home Upgrade :$90.00

Total: $422.35

That is for a very high quality system sub $500 made @ newegg.com (best online dealer IMO)

Obviously your scrapping the cd/cdrw, keyboard, monitor, 64MB graphics card, & etc from the old system.

IF you want something else, or want gaming compatibility, toss in a ATI 9600 for around 120$ i believe?

Hope I have helped

 

[poppyq]

I agree with overkiller, that's probably your best course of action and it will last quite awhile.

 

[SpeedFreak03]

I still use a Athlon 850MHz 320MB RAM 16MB Vid card 30GB HDD. It works alright, but im upgrading very soon to a P4. Anyway, since you are getting a lappy anyway, I would just buy XP and load it on your new rig for now. Some say your rig is obselete, but I have a similar setup with Windows XP and for web browsing, watching movies, and listening to music, it works fine! If you game, just use the lappy.