PC Upgrade Dilemma... Real BIG One!

[ugh]

Hi folks,

I'll be upgrading my dad's and my wife's PC. But I'm not sure what systems I should upgrade and how I should go about doing so. Before I continue, below are the PCs specs:

Dad's Rig
---------------
ASUS P2B
Celeron 266 @ 400
192MB RAM
5GB HDD
S3 Trio 64
Current use: Surfing net and solitaire
Intended use: Surfing net and solitaire
Use period: 9-10 hrs per day

Wife's Rig
-------------
MSI BX Master
P3 550
256MB RAM
10GB HDD
SB Vibra 128
GeForce 2MX
Main use: Editing docs and net surfing
Intended use: Editing docs, net surfing, games (secondary rig) and perhaps video encoding
Use period: At most 1 hour per day

My Rig
---------
Epox 8KHA+
AXP 1600+
256MB RAM
80GB HDD
SB Vibra 128
GeForce 4 Ti4200
Main use: Everything under the sun
Intended use: Still everything under the sun
Use period: 10-14 hrs per day

Now on to some spare components I have which makes things a bit more complicated:

- MSI EPT-Pro (S370 mobo that supports Tualatin CPUs)
- 20GB HDD

A friend of mine has already made an offer to buy the MSI BX Master mobo. So that leaves one thing out. The 20GB HDD will be placed in my Dad's rig. Will be purchasing a 80GB HDD to replace the puny 10GB HDD in my Wife's rig and replace it with an existing 40GB HDD in my rig. Will also need to get 1 DVD drive since my wife's rig's CD drive is dead.

Now on to the questions:

1. Should I purchase a Celeron Tualatin processor and make use of the MSI EPT-Pro board I have to replace my Dad's rig? Or is there a better alternative w/o spending too much? As much as possible, I wouldn't want to get any new PSU/casings.

2. Am thinking of purchasing a Shuttle SN41G2 for my wife (ahem, and myself ). Is it feasible (cost and "upgradability" wise) to purchase an AXP 1700/1800/1900 and place it in the Shuttle box.

Any help on this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[DaveSimmons]

Your wife's and dad's Case/PSU should both easily support a Tualatin 1.0 - 1.4. Before I upgraded to an Antec SLK3700 my music server with 1.3 + 3 hard drives (30,120,250 GB) + gf2mx was running with just a 250watt PS.

For $40-50 your dad would have a great surfing machine, especially if you harvest some RAM and the Geforce form your wife's computer.

Actually it might make the most sense to
1. set up wife's new system
2. set up dad's new system using wife's case & parts except mobo (I guess you'd need a CD drive -- steal dad's or get a cheap one in FS/FT?)

Doing 1 then 2 lets you take your time with each build, neither of them has to do without a computer.

 

[ugh]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm just worried that I can't upgrade anymore if I get a 1.3 Tually Celery compared to an AMD system. But I still need to take care of thermal issues

Do you think the Shuttle cube is feasible?

 

[TimeKeeper]

seriously, you might want to tell us how much you willing to spend.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: TimeKeeper
seriously, you might want to tell us how much you willing to spend.

I was starting to think that as well....

 

[ugh]

In USD300.

 

[bigshooter]

Your dad web surfs and plays solitaire 9 - 10 hours a day?

 

[Acanthus]

not much you can do with 300usd... not to mention for what your dad does, it doesnt need upgraded at all.

 

[ugh]

bigshooter: He turns it on for the share market. That's like 8 hours a day. Additionally, he leaves the PC on and plays solitaire when he feels like it. I spose 9-10 hrs is a good approximation

Acanthus: Unfortunately that's all I can spare right now. I need to do it fast as my dad's PC seems to be going. Most of the time when the PC boots, the mobo can't find the hard disk. Guess this is HDD related eh?

Also makes a good time to upgrade my PC as well