Question: how can I upgrade current budget system ?

[mfenn]

I know that.

Maybe Windows has set it to PIO mode?

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/147161-45-forcing-mode-primary-hard-drive

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

 

[tommyncal]

Just got back to try and work on the computer. I went in to device manager and none of the controller say it is in PIO mode. I was going to remove this IDE HD and replace it with my external SATA 7200/RPM HDD anyway. Question though, can I install the XP OS on my backup HDD withour reformatting it and losing all the data already on it. And will I also be able to partition it for the OS?

 

[DominionSeraph]

Question though, can I install the XP OS on my backup HDD withour reformatting it and losing all the data already on it. And will I also be able to partition it for the OS?

You can just install XP; the problem is that then your OS will be at the back end of the drive, in a slower region and farther from where the heads are parked.

Partitioning with data on it would take a third-party program and there's the slight possibility that it will lose your data when it makes the new partition.

It would really be best if you could find some way to start fresh. Can you move it over to the 320GB drive?

 

[Pedroc1999]

If you could back the data up and restore it would be best. You could try to realign the partitions so your OS will be at the start.

 

[sm625]

Dont put 7 on that hardware. Stay with XP. I would try putting a video card in there. HD3200 is a little long in the tooth. Try something like a 5450. Do not spend more than $20. Go on ebay and get yourself an intel X25 80GB SSD or intel 32GB SLC SSD. Do not pay more than $65. Do not buy 1.8 inch versions, get the 2.5". Do a fresh install onto that hardware.

 

[tommyncal]

Thanks for the replys. I'll back up my data on my SATA drive and start fresh with XP on that drive, in a 20GB partition. I'll run the HD Tune benchmark tests again on that drive and post them.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Dont put 7 on that hardware. Stay with XP.

Baloney. Windows 7 (64-bit even) will be just fine on that hardware.

Plus, you can't get Blu-Ray (MKV, etc.) acceleration on XP. If you want to watch (ripped) movies on that rig, you need Windows 7. I have personal experience in this, trying to use a 780G board and a low-power AMD AM2 dual-core CPU to watch some Planet Earth MKVs. XP just wouldn't do it. Finally broke down and installed 7, and magically, everything worked.

Edit: I should mention, it wasn't a codec issue either. It would "play" in XP, if you count occasional pauses, stuttering, and audio/video de-sync over time. But it wasn't taking advantage of the UVD video decoding for 1080P MKVs in XP, due to ATI driver issues I believe. Windows 7 just has a way better infrastructure for decoding and watching video content.

 

[tommyncal]

I ran into a problem. My external thermaltake docking station doesn't except IDE hard drives, so I couldn't make the switch. I can either try to find an IDE to SATA adapter that fits down into the docking station or just make an upgrade now.
I thought about buying a small capacity SSD and pairing it with my 320GB IDE HDD. Is that possible with my existing hardware? If it is and it doesn't seem to help my sluggish PC as much as I want, I would go ahead and buy a new i3,MB & RAM. Then pair the SSD with my SATA HDD. But then would not have any HDD backup. Just trying to figure out my options....

 

[tracerbullet]

Here's what I do, and what I recommend, for what it's worth:

* SSD as my C drive, has Windows and programs all that set up on it.
* Larger platter drive as my D Drive, this is where I store data and also make backups of my operating system to. Makes it easy to restore from if needed.
* External drive as my Backups location, I copy over all of my D drive onto it on occasion.

In the end I have everything backed up (C to D and D to External) and it's all pretty straightforward (at least in my opinion).

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Here's what I do, and what I recommend, for what it's worth:

* SSD as my C drive, has Windows and programs all that set up on it.
* Larger platter drive as my D Drive, this is where I store data and also make backups of my operating system to. Makes it easy to restore from if needed.
* External drive as my Backups location, I copy over all of my D drive onto it on occasion.

In the end I have everything backed up (C to D and D to External) and it's all pretty straightforward (at least in my opinion).

Yep. That's almost what I do too. My D drive is a RAID-1 however to guard against disk failure. Backup is to a homebrew ZFS NAS.

 

[Hubb1e]

Dude, some bad advice on this thread. Some good, but some people didn't read your first post carefully.

This one in particular makes no sense at all:
"Dont put 7 on that hardware. Stay with XP. I would try putting a video card in there. HD3200 is a little long in the tooth. Try something like a 5450." Not only are you on windows XP that does only 2D rendering but your HD3200 is perfectly acceptable for displaying the desktop even on a brand new machine in 2013.

You actually don't need any new CPU or board. The X2 is a good CPU for your use case. I've seen plenty of Athlon X2 machines that run very nicely. I just built a bunch for family and friends as I upgraded my own computers and they were great machines. You have other bottlenecks.

Here's your problems:
#1 your HD is slow. This sounds like the sole reason you're having trouble. Fix this and your computer will feel fine again, but there are some good upgrades to make. Try using a new IDE cable. Your cable may be nicked or you might have used a 40 pin cable instead of the newer 80 pin cables. The 80 pin cables have very very small wires. My advice would actually be to get an SSD. This will make your system fly but you'll run into a problem when trying to move to the new SSD. You're old HD operates in IDE mode and your new SSD should operate in AHCI mode. You can't just ghost your old drive onto the new SSD and boot windows. It won't boot. Which brings me to your next issue

#2 Windows XP. Windows XP is a fine operating system and if you just fix your cable you're ok on XP, but if you are upgrading to an SSD or any SATA harddrive you'll want to run in AHCI mode which means you're reinstalling your OS and damn, in this day and age I wouldn't reinstall to XP but to Windows 7 or 8 and this is becasue of reason #3

#3 RAM. DDR2 is expensive but not more expensive than a new board and CPU. You can upgrade to 4GB of ram and be perfectly happy but windows XP will only see 3.5GB and your GPU will take some of that too (make sure you've set the GPU to use at least 256MB, 512 is best). That's still enough but not optimal for the future. You will want to upgrade to Win 7 64 bit so you can use the 4GB (this is enough) or 8Gb (this is probably overkill but nice to have) and Windows 7 is just plain better. It will have the AHCI drivers for your SSD already installed (You need special drivers to install AHCI on windows XP which means a floppy drive and disk at initial OS install) and it is just better...

That's it. Upgrade to a 128 GB SSD for your OS, use the old drive for extra storage, drop in some more RAM, and upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit and you'll be loving it. But, there are still some optional upgrades you can make. That board supports Athlon II class CPUs (make sure you have a BIOS that supports it) so you can drop in one of those Athlon II X4's at 3ghz for just $75 with 8GB of DDR2 and an SSD and you'll be doing great. The PhII people recomend is fine but it's a 125W CPU vs the 95W Athlon and honestly I don't think you'll be noticing any difference between the two except that the PhII runs hot.

 

[tommyncal]

Here's what I do, and what I recommend, for what it's worth:

* SSD as my C drive, has Windows and programs all that set up on it.
* Larger platter drive as my D Drive, this is where I store data and also make backups of my operating system to. Makes it easy to restore from if needed.
* External drive as my Backups location, I copy over all of my D drive onto it on occasion.

In the end I have everything backed up (C to D and D to External) and it's all pretty straightforward (at least in my opinion).

This is the way I'm leaning right now. Although, I'm not quite sure how I set up a SSD and an IDE HD.

 

[tommyncal]

Dude, some bad advice on this thread. Some good, but some people didn't read your first post carefully.

This one in particular makes no sense at all:
"Dont put 7 on that hardware. Stay with XP. I would try putting a video card in there. HD3200 is a little long in the tooth. Try something like a 5450." Not only are you on windows XP that does only 2D rendering but your HD3200 is perfectly acceptable for displaying the desktop even on a brand new machine in 2013.

You actually don't need any new CPU or board. The X2 is a good CPU for your use case. I've seen plenty of Athlon X2 machines that run very nicely. I just built a bunch for family and friends as I upgraded my own computers and they were great machines. You have other bottlenecks.

Here's your problems:
#1 your HD is slow. This sounds like the sole reason you're having trouble. Fix this and your computer will feel fine again, but there are some good upgrades to make. Try using a new IDE cable. Your cable may be nicked or you might have used a 40 pin cable instead of the newer 80 pin cables. The 80 pin cables have very very small wires. My advice would actually be to get an SSD. This will make your system fly but you'll run into a problem when trying to move to the new SSD. You're old HD operates in IDE mode and your new SSD should operate in AHCI mode. You can't just ghost your old drive onto the new SSD and boot windows. It won't boot. Which brings me to your next issue

#2 Windows XP. Windows XP is a fine operating system and if you just fix your cable you're ok on XP, but if you are upgrading to an SSD or any SATA harddrive you'll want to run in AHCI mode which means you're reinstalling your OS and damn, in this day and age I wouldn't reinstall to XP but to Windows 7 or 8 and this is becasue of reason #3

#3 RAM. DDR2 is expensive but not more expensive than a new board and CPU. You can upgrade to 4GB of ram and be perfectly happy but windows XP will only see 3.5GB and your GPU will take some of that too (make sure you've set the GPU to use at least 256MB, 512 is best). That's still enough but not optimal for the future. You will want to upgrade to Win 7 64 bit so you can use the 4GB (this is enough) or 8Gb (this is probably overkill but nice to have) and Windows 7 is just plain better. It will have the AHCI drivers for your SSD already installed (You need special drivers to install AHCI on windows XP which means a floppy drive and disk at initial OS install) and it is just better...

That's it. Upgrade to a 128 GB SSD for your OS, use the old drive for extra storage, drop in some more RAM, and upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit and you'll be loving it. But, there are still some optional upgrades you can make. That board supports Athlon II class CPUs (make sure you have a BIOS that supports it) so you can drop in one of those Athlon II X4's at 3ghz for just $75 with 8GB of DDR2 and an SSD and you'll be doing great. The PhII people recomend is fine but it's a 125W CPU vs the 95W Athlon and honestly I don't think you'll be noticing any difference between the two except that the PhII runs hot.

Actually, I appreciate all the responses, because I know everybody has their own way of solving problems. I'm just trying to keep the cost down right now, since I don't need the newest and fastest.
Concerning #1: It is an IDE cable from 2009, kinda old. I wouldn't mind buying a SSD. Is there a setting to change to AHCI mode where I could install a fresh copy of XP on the new SSD? Then boot from there. And then install, somehow, my old 320GB IDE HD as data storage?
Concerning #2: Why not reinstall XP, I own it. I don't want to go out and buy a new operating system.
Concerning #3: If my system is slow because of the IDE HD, do you think with a new SSD that the @GB of RAM would be sufficient for my usages? Also, I'm using the onboard graphics, no GPU. What special drivers do I need for AHCI? I have to download them onto a floppy?
Thanks for all your help

 

[Mloot]

Tommyncal, check your private messages.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Reinstalling Windows on an SSD will make a world of difference. There's nothing else you can do short of building a new system that will have more of an impact on overall system perofrmance and feel.

Anything else you do tinkering around is just wasting time and energy, IMO.

 

[mfenn]

Concerning #1: It is an IDE cable from 2009, kinda old. I wouldn't mind buying a SSD. Is there a setting to change to AHCI mode where I could install a fresh copy of XP on the new SSD? Then boot from there. And then install, somehow, my old 320GB IDE HD as data storage?

Your SATA controller should let you choose between AHCI and Legacy (IDE) modes. AHCI is required to get the best performance out of an SSD. You will have to bust out a floppy disk or slipstream drivers on to get XP to install in AHCI mode though. (See point 2.)

Concerning #2: Why not reinstall XP, I own it. I don't want to go out and buy a new operating system.

Windows XP will be celebrating its twelfth birthday later this year. SSDs were a plaything of the ultra high-end enterprise market at the time (think $100K each) and XP was simply never designed to handle it. XP is also limited to less than 4GB of usable memory, which is the bare minimum today.

XP is also horribly insecure, almost by design, and does not get nearly the security attention that Windows 7 and 8 do.

Concerning #3: If my system is slow because of the IDE HD, do you think with a new SSD that the @GB of RAM would be sufficient for my usages? Also, I'm using the onboard graphics, no GPU. What special drivers do I need for AHCI? I have to download them onto a floppy?
Thanks for all your help

Your HD3200 onboard graphics are fine for your uses. Side note: it's funny how Intel's new IGP models overlap with AMD's old ones. The upgrades you mentioned would give you quite a noticeable increase in performance. I would strongly urge you to pick up a copy of Windows 7 for the reasons that I mentioned above.

 

[tracerbullet]

Yep. That's almost what I do too. My D drive is a RAID-1 however to guard against disk failure. Backup is to a homebrew ZFS NAS.

Heh, actually my D is also a pair of drives mirrored, and my backup is a NAS. Just didn't want to confuse things w/ too much detail.

This is the way I'm leaning right now. Although, I'm not quite sure how I set up a SSD and an IDE HD.

In XP, you just right click "My Documents" on the desktop and in the properties you type in D_:_\ (without the underscores, that's just to keep the forum here from converting it to a frowny face), and that's about it. Windows 7 is different but similar, just remapping a handful of folders. This of course is assuming windows is installed on an SSD that is acting as a C Drive.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

In XP, you just right click "My Documents" on the desktop and in the properties you type in D_:_\ (without the underscores, that's just to keep the forum here from converting it to a frowny face), and that's about it.

You mean like this? D:\

 

[qzyxya]

Just a comment on ram, look at the samsun 'wonder' ram, hte 1.35v 1600 8gb stuff

 

[tommyncal]

Wow, a lot to let soak in. From what started as a simple upgrade has gone to a change in OS. Just deciding how much of an upgrade I want to do. My usage is fairly minimal. I appreciate all the replys.

 

[Hubb1e]

You have to reinstall the OS anyways. Using windows XP today is like remodeling your home, and yet building the family room entertainment center around a CRT TV. It's workable, but it's certainly not something I'd recommend. Windows 8 is like $40. Go with that and an SSD and another 4GB of memory to hit 6GB and you've spent only $150 which is way less than you expected to shell out. XP was developed 15 years ago. That's a long time ago and your computer will last you another 5 years especially if you decide to upgrade to a quad core eventually.