Upgrading Hardware (1 Viewer)

[StGeorgeDragons]

i have a pentium 3, 300mb ram 10 gigs, pretty old

can i upgrade by changing the cpu to p4 and adding 512mb of ram, new graphics card, would that work, or do i also have to get a new motherboard?

also would it be as reliable as one u buy from dell or something?

 

[Templar]

You have to get a new motherboard since PIII are socket 370 while older P4 are socket 478 and new ones are LGA775. Your computer has no upgrade option except more RAM and bigger hard disk, although you could get a new AGP graphics card but your CPU would be the limiting factor.

 

[SashatheMan]

yes what the guy above said. ull need a pentiuum 4 or generastion 5 motherboards.
then a new CPU thats compatible with one of those motherboards. youll need DDR2 Ram i think for the LGA775 motherboard i am not sure if u can still use the same ram for the other motherboard. And most liekly youll needa graphic card otherwise its kinda pointless upgrading without getting a graphic card

 

[Enoch]

i would seriosly recommend getting a new system if ur gonna use it to play games..an ok system these days would set u back about 2k...cos thing is...ur basically replacing everything..wait U r replacing everything cos u wont be able to use that same mobo..

 

[breaking]

get a mac mini

 

[Collin]

Like others have implied, with those specs.. don't bother upgrading.

Dell makes reliable desktops, however due to them outsourcing their customer service department almost exclusively overseas to minimise business costs, I heard that their customer support is kinda shoddy.

 

[Enoch]

NEVER get stuff from dell or woteva prepackaged companys...they just feed off computer illiterates...ie. " u get 1gb of memory" and then u end up with like shitty 333mhz or something and prolly generic brand...wot im saying is basically those companies they sorta rip u off thats just in teh areas of desktops....umm their laptops and PDAs MITE be ok cos there are no easy alternates...i would rather jsut make a list and then goto a shop (preferably asian cos their cheaper but offer shitter help) to buy it...if ur looking for a place to get deadset cheap parts but VERY long waiting lines and perhaps crappy service MSY near silverwater is good, if ur looking for just a tad bit expensive ie few bux..but better service and no waiting lines and ok service id reccomend CUSTO in parramatta ...and if ur willing to pay a bit more extra ie. few more bux...then AUSPAC r VERY friendly ppl and will help u out HEAPS and their service is very good and no waiting lines cos there mainly a wholesale place and there in silverwater.

 

[StGeorgeDragons]

ok wat about building the system. buying each of the parts seperate and paying a proffessional to put them together? it turns out alot cheaper.

is the quality as good as buying a dell? does all the hardware have to work together in sync?

 

[Collin]

ok wat about building the system. buying each of the parts seperate and paying a proffessional to put them together? it turns out alot cheaper.

is the quality as good as buying a dell? does all the hardware have to work together in sync?

Of course it can be cheaper. Dude, Dell aren't some almighty brand who uses computer parts laboured by God himself. Like building it yourself, Dell simply purchases the same components from different companies (e.g processor off Intel etc.) and them assemble them. That's why many people refer to these companies simply as hardware assemblers.. except there are always minor differences like a Dell case, perhaps slightly modified motherboard etc. So to answer your question, of COURSE building a PC has the same quality as a Dell, it's not like the parts from one method have higher quality than the other.. if anything you can ensure building it yourself has even higher quality assurances than from Dell since you know exactly what parts are going in.

As for 'does all the hardware have to work together in sync'.. I don't really know what you mean there. Yes, obviously all the components in the computer have to work.. since erm, otherwise there wouldn't be a point having it there.

 

[...]

building it your own is definately cheaper, although you might want to learn how to build one yourself, intead paying a "professional" to do it. Cos next time you want to get a second computer, you know how to build one and you can save that money for something else.

I remember building computers, it is not as hard as some people think, although you need to be very careful.

 

[StGeorgeDragons]

wat i mean by in sync, is why i thought getting from dell is better. i thought dell gets hardware that works well together, eg some brand of harddrive and RAM work best together, so then if u build it urself, u might buy brands which arent best together. or does dell just get any hardware?

 

[SashatheMan]

never heard dell trying to do that.

 

[insert-username]

wat i mean by in sync, is why i thought getting from dell is better. i thought dell gets hardware that works well together, eg some brand of harddrive and RAM work best together, so then if u build it urself, u might buy brands which arent best together. or does dell just get any hardware?

Generally, Dell computers rank middle to last in benchmarking and tests as compared with other, usually smaller manufacturers. So no, probably not.


I_F

 

[Jayphen]

Putting together the computer yourself has both the advantage of costing less, and the satisfaction of creating a masterpiece once you're done The only really tricky bits are the processor and the little cables that connect to the mobo for LED lights and pwr button and such and such (though the trickiness can usually be overcome by examining the mobo manual carefully/utilising google search)

 

[Collin]

Maybe he was referring to the optimisation of the parts.. e.g getting the critical components right so that there's minimal bottleneck. In that case, I'd say most big companies which sell packages tend to be terrible in that respect.. usually giving the powerful 3.x GHz Pentium 4 with crappy 256MB of RAM and integrated video. But again, that totally depends on what the user wants to do of course. If you're using it for business/education purposes, it's not totally bad. But don't buy these packages if you're a gamer.

If this is what he's talking about, then it shouldn't matter too much anyhow since Dell offers customisation of the specs.. (guess I'm mainly taking a cheap shot at computers like pre-assembled HP Pavilions etc.).

wat i mean by in sync, is why i thought getting from dell is better. i thought dell gets hardware that works well together, eg some brand of harddrive and RAM work best together, so then if u build it urself, u might buy brands which arent best together

Not really, it's mostly to do with the hardware specs themselves rather than the brand. In that respect, like I said before Dell gives you customisation. And if you're given customisation option, why buy from Dell? Just choose them yourself and build it.. you'll end up with something less expensive.
The only reason why Dell might be a good option for you is that you sound like you don't know much about computers.. so building it yourself might seem a bit unfeasible right now. Dell desktops in my opinion atleast are certainly cheaper than pre-made packages from other brands (due to their online business paradigm) and plus you get customisation ability.

 

[LMF^^]

I suggest you go to them Chinese computer shopz to buy, they don't cost too much nowadayz and you can have em assemble it fo you.