Help for an aging PC

[bowen43]

I know this is a wimpy question for this board, but I also know this is where the best advice is.....I have an older PC and wanted to squeeze another year out of it. I was hoping if I listed some of my specs, I could get some suggestions on easy-to-do upgrades. My 13-year-old is nagging me to by a new PC so he can get some new games, but it?s not in the budget this year. So far I?m usually able to change the reduce the game options so they can at least run. I really don't want to use this PC as a paper weight quite yet.

Here?s what my Gateway G6 has:
Pentium II 233 MHz
30 GB Maxtor HD (ATA 100 card) plus my old 4 GB drive
112 RAM
New CD Drive & CD-RW
STB Velocity 128 3D AGP (Nvidia Riva 128)
Cable Modem
Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0
Windows ME

Of course my son suggests that I upgrade the processor and video card. However, I don?t want to screw something up. Replacing the drives and increasing the memory was just about all I felt comfortable doing myself.

TIA

 

[DSTA]

I'm pretty sure your Gateway has an Intel AL440LX motherboard so you should be able to run any slot 1 Celeron after a BIOS upgrade. Socket 370 PPGA Celeron on an adapter card should work as well. Here's a Link to a site specialised on upgrading the AL440LX.

I'd try to find a cheap celeron 400 or 500, complete with slot 1 adapter card a an fan that should cost less than 50$ US and will a lot faster than the PII 233 you have.

 

[Enigma]

I would think of upgrading the vid card as well. Nothing fancy, perhaps a ATI RAGE 128 PRO 32 or Nvidia TNT2 32 should provide great 3-D.

 

[VBboy]

Even with a new CPU, that videocard will hold you back a lot. In order to get significant improvement in games, you will also need to upgrade the videocard (to a GeForce2-MX at least, or a GeForce2 Ti preferably).

I also hope you are running the OS off of the 30-GB HD (which is a lot faster than that old tiny drive).

 

[VBboy]

Shopping info:

Lowest prices: www.PriceWatch.com
Ratings of sellers: www.ResellerRatings.com

 

[bowen43]

Thanks for the info. and the links. That is the motherboard I have, so I have quite a bit of reading to do. I know I tried to update the BIOS once, but couldn't figure out how to do it using Windows ME. I think that site will give me the info. on what I did wrong.

I am running the OS off the larger drive.

I can't wait until my kid can do this stuff for me (or at least be able to fix my errors)! Sounds like we have an Xmas vacation project.