Upgrading an old HP Pavilion 8770C

[Osteole]

My 8 year old son uses this computer for gaming (WOW, internet games) and it needs to be severely overhauled.

I've already upgraded to a GeoForce FX 5500, but the memory cannot be upgraded past 256 MB

Its got an AMD Athelon 856 Mhz, I dont know what kind of motherboard.

How do I go about upgrading this machine to allow for 1G of RAM?

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Osteole
My 8 year old son uses this computer for gaming (WOW, internet games) and it needs to be severely overhauled.

I've already upgraded to a GeoForce FX 5500, but the memory cannot be upgraded past 256 MB

Its got an AMD Athelon 856 Mhz, I dont know what kind of motherboard.

How do I go about upgrading this machine to allow for 1G of RAM?

Build fresh or buy a bare bones system.

 

[Osteole]

Both of those options are not possible at this time.

note.....I made a typo...current RAM is 256 and cannot be upgraded past 512.

 

[Blain]

If your MB is limited to 512MB of memory, you can't upgrade it to 1GB.
I know that sounds simplistic, but...

 

[Osteole]

Could the motherboard be upgraded to allow for more memory slots?

 

[furballi]

Dump the old DOG or build another PC. Those HPs are NOT designed for extreme upgrade!

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

whats wrong with 512mb ram? You're not going to play games that NEED 1gb of ram on that 800mhz processor and fx5500 anyway.

 

[Osteole]

Playing WOW on 512 mb is similiar to iceskating on cardboard skates.

If no one can make any alternative suggestions, perhaps Ill buy the boy a system in a year or two.....

 

[RebateMonger]

You aren't going to be able to easily replace the motherboard in any name-brand PC (like HP, Dell, Compaq, etc.). Either replace the PC or get some games that are suitable for a PC built in 2000-2001. There are lots of great games from that timeframe. They are cheap, totally debugged, and should keep him busy until you can afford a new PC.

 

[Osteole]

Thanks for your comments. We'll be looking to buy a new PC since WOW is the family passtime activity.

The whole damn family plays!

 

[furballi]

Check out the Sempron 3100/ECS posts at the HOT DEAL forum. Currently $70 at your local Fry's. Add a new case, PSU, CPU cooler, 1GB RAM and you've got a very nice gaming rig for less than $230. Cicuit City has a Kingston 512MB PC3200 for $30 after rebate. Use your neighbor's address for the 2nd stick of RAM. The Antec SLK3000B is around $50. The HEC PSU was on sale last week for $20 (now $29). You may need a new OS (about $30 to $50 after rebate) and a new video card ($70).

Re-use the optical and HDD from the old HP.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA22243

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1796551&enterthread=y

 

[Osteole]

THANK YOU! This was exactly the type of response I was looking for.

Mind if I email you with any questions later?

 

[furballi]

No problem, but the open forum may be best since you can also obtain inputs from others.

I have a very similar rig, NF4 board with AMD 64 3000 CPU overclocked to 2.68GHz. It's equivalent to a stock A64 3800 CPU. Paid $99 for the combo.