Im buying a HP Pavilion a210e desktop and it has amd athlon xp 2000+, 256 pc2100 ram , 40 gig HD, cd rom,built in video(available AGP slot).I would like to know what i should upgrade considering im going to be using it for gaming.
What Should I Upgrade
- Thread starter JuneBug17
- Start date
Jeff7181
Lifer
- Aug 21, 2002
- 18,368
- 11
- 81
What do you consider really expensive? You could get 1 GB of PC2100 (no need to get anything higher for an XP2000) RAM for about $100 or less... and an ATI 9800 non-pro for about $270.
*EDIT* You might also consider upgrading the hard drive... I'm betting that's a crappy 5400 RPM drive... so maybe say, a Western Digital Caviar SE 80 GB drive would be a good choice. You can get them for about $80-90 online, or local stores sometimes have sales where I've seen them as low as $60 after mail in rebates.
**EDIT** That processor is also going to limit your gaming performance... at least, it's slower than I would want for a gaming rig.
*EDIT* You might also consider upgrading the hard drive... I'm betting that's a crappy 5400 RPM drive... so maybe say, a Western Digital Caviar SE 80 GB drive would be a good choice. You can get them for about $80-90 online, or local stores sometimes have sales where I've seen them as low as $60 after mail in rebates.
**EDIT** That processor is also going to limit your gaming performance... at least, it's slower than I would want for a gaming rig.
The best option performance-wise, needless to say, would be to forget about HP and get something custom built. Buying a brand new system today that uses PC2100 RAM and the 266MHz FSB is not the best way to achieve longetivity. If you're new to building computers perhaps you should know that you can build a powerful new system (the box itself, without monitor, printer, etc.) for around $500 that would blow all but the $1500 HP's out of the water. If you would like to consider that option then I'm sure plenty of fellow posters will be glad to recommend configurations.
If you're set on the HP, though, you'll undoubtedly need another 256MB stick of RAM ($40 to $50) and a good AGP video card (ranging from ~$80 to ~$450 depending on how much performance you need in games).
If you're set on the HP, though, you'll undoubtedly need another 256MB stick of RAM ($40 to $50) and a good AGP video card (ranging from ~$80 to ~$450 depending on how much performance you need in games).
Never buy one of those computer brand systems. They're just boooooohoooooo!!!! Custom built is the way to go, and if you need help, there's plenty of us here to help you build it.
I looked up the HP model you were talking about (a210e) and saw that it's their "budget" system for only $350, so I assume you're looking to spend very little on this system. Still, once you take into consideration the cost of adding RAM and video, you could do better with custom-built. Here's a quick example (prices from NewEgg):
Antec 3700 case w/ 350W PSU - $64
Epox 8RDA+ - $83
AMD Athlon XP 1700+ - $50 <--- to be overclocked to 333FSB and at least ~2.0GHz with a good heatsink/fan
Heatsink/fan - ~$20
2x 256MB Crucial PC2700 - $96
Western Digital 80GB SE - $88
ATI Radeon 8500LE 64MB - $65
LiteOn 52x24x52 CD-RW: $44
Total: $510
While this is a bit more than the HP, consider not only the large performance gain you'll see (comparable to a $1000 HP most likely), but that both the case and hard drive will probably last you for several years... that cannot be said for any of the garbage inside the store-bought models.
Antec 3700 case w/ 350W PSU - $64
Epox 8RDA+ - $83
AMD Athlon XP 1700+ - $50 <--- to be overclocked to 333FSB and at least ~2.0GHz with a good heatsink/fan
Heatsink/fan - ~$20
2x 256MB Crucial PC2700 - $96
Western Digital 80GB SE - $88
ATI Radeon 8500LE 64MB - $65
LiteOn 52x24x52 CD-RW: $44
Total: $510
While this is a bit more than the HP, consider not only the large performance gain you'll see (comparable to a $1000 HP most likely), but that both the case and hard drive will probably last you for several years... that cannot be said for any of the garbage inside the store-bought models.
I'd vote to have the hard drive evaluated also. If you do get another one, use it in addition to what you have, and reinstall windows to it and keep games there. If you dont get one @7200 rpm and with an 8MB cache, your not improving much. The WD SE has those specs, but it becoming dated and its transfer rates of middle 40MB/sec cant touch the new Hitachi 180GXP and Seagate 7200.7 which are just barely under 60MB/sec. Ofcourse, get ram and a videocard first.
ive never built my own computer and i dont know step by step what to do and could i use the OS i have now on a computer i build
It's a lot easier than it seems... I was 14 when I built my first computer last summer, and really had no clue at first, but really it just takes common sense and help from the manuals when needed. There are plenty of online articles as well.
For the OS, it depends on what you have right now. Do you have a real Retail or OEM copy of Windows 2000 or XP, or just some "rescue CD" from a store-bought model (I would assume the latter if you haven't built before)? Those Rescue CD's won't work on any other hardware so you'd have to spend about $90 for an OEM copy of Windows XP Home Edition.
Yup, I agree...if you're not looking to dish out the $$ for building a custom system (almost ALWAYS the best option...
) I'd say vid card, mem and HD are your biggest areas of concern...fix those up!moogs
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