i have an old gateway gp6-300 (p2 300Mhz) w/ 80 mb ram sitting around. and my little sister said she could use a machine to do school work/email/surfing on. i want to do so very CHEAP upgrades to make that a functional pc. the mobo i know can't be upgraded and i have thought about ebaying some parts, but can you help w/ some suggestions. i think i need a cheap cpu/mobo, an old gfx card, some memory and i think the hdd can spin some more (although i think it's only a 6 gig).
trying to do a favor upgrading pc for family member
- Thread starter techiecool
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If she's just doing school work/email/surfing on it, what's so terribly wrong with the machine as-is?
Otherwise, you could probably find a socket 370 mobo plus CPU (ie, P3 or so) for about $50 ... I think that P2, however, uses PC66, so you'd need to get some new RAM for it as well ... $25 for a good amount.
For an "old" graphics card, a TNT2 or thereabouts should be plenty fine ... approx $15 or so. Of course, if you get a mobo that has onboard video (which can be pretty likely) you shouldn't need an add-on video card.
With system specs like that, you'd probably be better off going with Win98 rather than XP.
HTH
Otherwise, you could probably find a socket 370 mobo plus CPU (ie, P3 or so) for about $50 ... I think that P2, however, uses PC66, so you'd need to get some new RAM for it as well ... $25 for a good amount.
For an "old" graphics card, a TNT2 or thereabouts should be plenty fine ... approx $15 or so. Of course, if you get a mobo that has onboard video (which can be pretty likely) you shouldn't need an add-on video card.
With system specs like that, you'd probably be better off going with Win98 rather than XP.
HTH
I agree, just use the existing machine though try and upgrade the RAM to at least 128Mb if possible.
My dad uses a PII 266 with 128Mb ram for surfing and typing letters in Word. The machine runs Win98 and its perfectly adequate for him.
My dad uses a PII 266 with 128Mb ram for surfing and typing letters in Word. The machine runs Win98 and its perfectly adequate for him.
If you got a Frys I beleive they have a 1800+/K7s5apro for 59 this week - that should hold her over for a LOOOOOOONNNNNGGGG time unless Microsoft somehow bloats their Operating Systems even more . Get 256 megs of ram, some cheap case for 29.99 with a PSU (I got the 2200+ [after I found it was a tbredB I gave them my 1700+ Tbred A ] and k7s5apro for 69 and 512 pc2700 {my dad insists somehow he'll use all 512 but since it was only 50 i didn't care...then the next day he came to me thinking that he needs another 512 stick to be safe} stick of ram for 50 and a case with an allied psu for 19.99 AR )
Then just use the old HDD and floppy and cdrom and you should be set....
Though you'll notice if the hdd is old you can "feel" the speed but once you access the HDD you'll see the computer slow down...
So then i'd tell you to get a 40 gig maxtor/wd for 39.99 when they have those deals
59+39+29+50 = 177
Not bad....
or you could save some money by going to the FS/FT forums and getting a stick of 256 pc2100 ram for cheaper....but remember that the k7s5apro is a qualityram whore so get something brand name (though suprising the ram i got from frys was some no name "Patriot RAM" with an american flag on it and it worked great)
^_^
. Get 256 megs of ram, some cheap case for 29.99 with a PSU (I got the 2200+ [after I found it was a tbredB I gave them my 1700+ Tbred A ] and k7s5apro for 69 and 512 pc2700 {my dad insists somehow he'll use all 512 but since it was only 50 i didn't care...then the next day he came to me thinking that he needs another 512 stick to be safe} stick of ram for 50 and a case with an allied psu for 19.99 AR )Then just use the old HDD and floppy and cdrom and you should be set....
Though you'll notice if the hdd is old you can "feel" the speed but once you access the HDD you'll see the computer slow down...
So then i'd tell you to get a 40 gig maxtor/wd for 39.99 when they have those deals
59+39+29+50 = 177
Not bad....
or you could save some money by going to the FS/FT forums and getting a stick of 256 pc2100 ram for cheaper....but remember that the k7s5apro is a qualityram whore so get something brand name (though suprising the ram i got from frys was some no name "Patriot RAM" with an american flag on it and it worked great)
^_^
Originally posted by: magomago
If you got a Frys I beleive they have a 1800+/K7s5apro for 59 this week - that should hold her over for a LOOOOOOONNNNNGGGG time unless Microsoft somehow bloats their Operating Systems even more
So then i'd tell you to get a 40 gig maxtor/wd for 39.99 when they have those deals
59+39+29+50 = 177
I wish I could get a cheap bundle like in the UK....could do with another basic machine as an ftp/web server :brokenheart:
Gateway uses non-standard cases, so you might not be able to swap-out the MB. I distinctly remember having to use a different case when upgrading my neighbor's PC because the new PS wouldn't fit. Good luck!
My Pentium 150 MHz ThinkPad with 48 megs of ram runs win98, an anti-virus, MS-Office XP, and Mozilla just fine.... a little slow when things need loaded, but it still runs ok-ish for light use.
I suspect the term "MP3" is going to show up on her "I WANT" list shortly. You might want to keep that in mind when upgrading.
Although it shouldn't be much of a worry, you'll want to make sure your motherboard can handle a large hard drive if you get one. Also, if you add a new video card (which it doesn't sound like you need to), make sure the motherboard can disable any onboard video, and make sure it has an AGP slot or a free PCI slot. Also, you'll need to make sure the Power supply can handle any new additions.
I think your best bet is to add memory to that rig. However, I thought some of the Pentium 2's used PC100 memory. Try the www.crucial.com memory configurator to figure that out.
It could be PC100, but that would put it as a multiplier of 3x100, which doesn't make that much sense. If it's PC66, then it's 4.5x66=297, which makes more sense. But just to be sure, I did just now go to the crucial configurator, and it is 66MHz memory for that machine.
Also note that the max. memory for that particular computer is 384MB, (3x128MB), so keep that in mind as well.
08/07/2003 2:47 AM
If she's just doing school work/email/surfing on it, what's so terribly wrong with the machine as-is?
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