The company my wife works for gave away all their old Dell GX260's to the employees since they got new ones. My mom is STILL using an old Gateway from 1998 with a Celeron 400MHz and 256MB of RAM. Even though she can afford to get a new computer she doesn't seem to be able to let go of that old computer.
Anyhow, I finally convinced her to take the Dell I got from my wifes work as a replacement. In addition, I picked up an Acer 22" LCD for her since shes still using a 17 inch CRT. Since DVI is the preffered method when using an LCD (at least for me it is. VGA with an LCD looks fuzzy to me), she'll need a new video card since the Dell only has a VGA port for the onboard graphics.
The Dell has a P4 2.26GHz and I also plan to replace the 256MB that came installed in it with 2GB which is the max it will support. I think when it's all said and done she'll be happy since she really only checks email and browses the Internet. Even so, it seems like after SP3 came out for XP, her old computer just couldn't hang at all anymore.
My main concern is the power supply that's in the Dell. It's a desktop with one of those long, skinny Dell propriatary type PSU's and it's only 180 watts. The specs for the FX5200 call for a 250 watt minimum. Will this be a problem you think? Like I said she'll never be pushing it at all, just using the Internet.
I've built a few dozen computers for myself and other people over the years as well as done upgrades but given this funky power supply, it's not easily replacable with some thing of a higher wattage. Even so, I read that older Dells such as this use a totally different pinout even on their standard shaped power supplys. In the past, if it's an old computer like this and needs a better video card, I'll just pick up a new power supply to go with it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've never tried to run a video card with the less than reccomended PSU.
Any info is appreciated.
Anyhow, I finally convinced her to take the Dell I got from my wifes work as a replacement. In addition, I picked up an Acer 22" LCD for her since shes still using a 17 inch CRT. Since DVI is the preffered method when using an LCD (at least for me it is. VGA with an LCD looks fuzzy to me), she'll need a new video card since the Dell only has a VGA port for the onboard graphics.
The Dell has a P4 2.26GHz and I also plan to replace the 256MB that came installed in it with 2GB which is the max it will support. I think when it's all said and done she'll be happy since she really only checks email and browses the Internet. Even so, it seems like after SP3 came out for XP, her old computer just couldn't hang at all anymore.
My main concern is the power supply that's in the Dell. It's a desktop with one of those long, skinny Dell propriatary type PSU's and it's only 180 watts. The specs for the FX5200 call for a 250 watt minimum. Will this be a problem you think? Like I said she'll never be pushing it at all, just using the Internet.
I've built a few dozen computers for myself and other people over the years as well as done upgrades but given this funky power supply, it's not easily replacable with some thing of a higher wattage. Even so, I read that older Dells such as this use a totally different pinout even on their standard shaped power supplys. In the past, if it's an old computer like this and needs a better video card, I'll just pick up a new power supply to go with it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've never tried to run a video card with the less than reccomended PSU.
Any info is appreciated.
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