Topic: upgrading pc - advice needed

[computer_user]

Hi,

I want to upgrade my PC a little to keep it going for another year or
two.

The current system is AMD K62 300 mhz, 64mb ram, 4gb hard drive, 16mb
voodoo graphics card.

I use it mainly for 2D graphics work, but find newer versions of
photoshop, dreamweaver etc run too slow now.

I was going to put in another 64mb or 128mb ram, perhaps find a 2nd
hand 32mb graphics card, and try find a faster processor.

I was wondering:

1) If I get an old K62 500mhz processor (I think thats as high as they
went??) will it be okay to use it, or would it need a different fan or
anything?

2) Is there any point in putting 128mb ram in or will the processor be
too slow feeding it stuff - would it be a wasted investment?

3) not sure what kind of a hard drive it is, but I'll need a bigger one... can I buy a new one, or will I need an old 2nd hand one?

any advice or warnings much appreciated !!

cheers

[Sandra]

Hi comp User, Welcome to Pals  

To be honest I think you would be wasting your time and money doing anything with that setup other than possibly increasing the ram to whatever you can afford.
Personally I wouldnt even like to think of spending any money on more ram for it even.
If you add the cost of a CPU and a fan and more memory and a better graphics card and another hard drive you are probably in the same region, pricewise that you could get a secondhand tower for which would hopefully be around the 1Ghz cpu or possibly faster.
Have a look in your local paper and some supermarkets now have customers ads, there is bound to be something better than what you could upgrade your system too for less money.
Good luck :doggie:

[Tony]

Personaly, I would not spend any more money on a machine of that spec, it would be just a waste of money IMHO. If you increase the memory and put in a bigger K6 CPU, you are putting the day before yesterdays technoligy in it so to speak[dead money] Ok a new bigger hard drive can be put in a newer machine later on, and of course that is your choice.

Look so we can see exactly what you have got spec wise [Motherboard etc]go here http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html download and run the program, and post the results back here.

Don't worry it wont tell us if you subscribe to the 'Spankers weekly' wedsite, though I can recommend it  


Beat me to it Sandra Lass  

[computer_user]

thanks..

was going to buy a new base unit, then thought I might squeeze a bit more life out of this one.

will take a look at 2nd hand base units.

cheers for the prompt responses

[Tony]

Best idea really, if you dont want to spend much.

For instance last September I sold a Compaq Presario with a 10GB HDD, 256MB Memory, with a K6 2 533MHz CPU Plus a brand new 15" monitor. Tower and monitor where complete with 3 years on site parts and labour warranty. Plus a Epson colour printer and a scanner and stacks of software for £250.

Good hunting

[princeofdarkness]

i agree, though i am only 13 years old i do know quite a bit, but... i am still getting my experience, i often take apart old pcs and fix school pcs when broken but.. i am not as good as most of you probably are so if any of you have any advice on how to get my experience please post back

[Sandra]

Hi PoD  
Unfortunately experience only comes with age and trial and error.
Just keep at it, read as much as you can prior to trying something new and try and learn as much from your mistakes as from your successes :doggie:

[princeofdarkness]

yea i guess now this is gonna sound really bad but how do i upload a display picture on to this forum lol im sure that sounded like im a real beginner but i hav never really thought about doing it  :-[

[Sandra]

It needs to be either a .jpg or a .gif and has to be 100 x 100 pixels.
Upload it to your webspace and put the url for it in the bit in your profile where it says I have my own pic and tick the box  

[princeofdarkness]

ok thanx for the help i will let you no if it dnt work

[Simon]

 PoD.  Hope you find it useful and educational here.  No one is ridiculed here (except me!) for not knowing as much as others. We're all on a learning curve, and that never ends.  

[Tony]

Pod, I'm not ridiculed as much as Simon, only because I get Simon to ask most of the dumb questions  

[princeofdarkness]

thanx i just hate it when i dont know some of the simplist things and then i look like i dont know anything when i ask but.. i suppose every1's gotta learn thanx for the help i think this forums brilliant

[Sandra]

 No one is ridiculed here (except me!)

Thats because hes fat, old and bald though, hopefully none of which you will have to worry about for a few more decades yet PoD  

[princeofdarkness]

lol