# upgrade or replace?



## jarrod (Jan 31, 2009)

i've got this funny notion that when you pay a few hundred dollars for something it should last a long time.  as a result i have a very slow computer which is about 6yrs old. 

it has a pentium II, lots of storage (can't recall exactly how much) & 256mb of sd-ram.  should i slap in some more ram, & maybe upgrade the processor?  or is it time to bid the old girl a fond farewell?  i just surf & run basic apps, & do a fair amount of video/media type stuff.  i don't need a high end gaming machine or anything.  

jf


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## Steve (Feb 1, 2009)

Dude...  a pentium 2?  At this point, my opinion is that you're ready to upgrade.  I'm not even sure you'll find RAM that will work with your motherboard at this point.  

If you do any media/video work, you'll be AMAZED at how much faster things work with at least a dual core chip, 1 gb of RAM and a decent video card.  You don't need to go crazy and by the latest and greatest, but for well under $500 you can get a computer with at least 10 times the computing power that you currently have.


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## jarrod (Feb 1, 2009)

that's what i was afraid of.  what should i do with the old machine, keep it for data storage?  i hate to throw things away if they still work...

jf


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## Bob Hubbard (Feb 1, 2009)

Keep it as a back up system, donate it to  charity, give it to someone who has simple needs.

Right now, it's unlikely that you'll easily find ram, faster cpu, and many other components to upgrade it with.  The guts of currect systems are a huge change.  SATA drives, pinless CPU's, etc.   A new system will run $300+ (depending on what you go with), and be 10x faster. I'd go with replace.

Reminds me, I need to do the same. Time to add another TB or 2 to my storage net.


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## Grenadier (Feb 2, 2009)

jarrod said:


> i've got this funny notion that when you pay a few hundred dollars for something it should last a long time. as a result i have a very slow computer which is about 6yrs old.


 
Computers change a lot in six years.  What was considered somewhat adequate back then isn't so adequate anymore.  

A well-built system from that era should still be able to handle today's apps, though, but I'm talking about something like an Athlon XP 2.0 GHz system with 512 MB of RAM...  



> it has a pentium II, lots of storage (can't recall exactly how much) & 256mb of sd-ram. should i slap in some more ram, & maybe upgrade the processor? or is it time to bid the old girl a fond farewell?


 
Any amount you spend in upgrades would not be worth it.  Just to put it this way, you can get refurbished systems for under 200:

http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=SYS

or any number of really nice brand new systems, for under 400:

http://www.xpbargains.com/best_deal.php/desktop_deals.htm


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## jarrod (Feb 2, 2009)

nice links, thanks.  good thing tax rebates are coming.

jf


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## Shicomm (Feb 3, 2009)

Stepping up to a Pentium 3 would be veen cheaper then a nice upgrade for that P2 system  

Try to get your hands on one of these: 







They're simple and not really that fast but the quality is awesome and they're great for doing light work.
You should be able to get a good one for 50 bucks or less.

( currently selling those with a 17" monitor , mouse and keyboard for less then 80 euros so....  )


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## Dao (Feb 8, 2009)

jarrod said:


> that's what i was afraid of.  what should i do with the old machine, keep it for data storage?  i hate to throw things away if they still work...
> 
> jf



If that computer has a cd  drive  you could use puppylinux on it.  Puppylinux is a fast live disc that loads into memory.  You probably have to use 2.x version since you don't have that much ram.

If you look at my signature below there's a link for puppylinux.


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## jarrod (Feb 8, 2009)

Dao said:


> If that computer has a cd drive you could use puppylinux on it. Puppylinux is a fast live disc that loads into memory. You probably have to use 2.x version since you don't have that much ram.
> 
> If you look at my signature below there's a link for puppylinux.


 
could you describe what a fast live disc that loads into memory does exactly? i'm only moderately conversant in computerese.

i've clicked on the puppylinux link twice now & it keeps crashing my browser (i'm on my work cpu, not my home machine)

jf


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## Sukerkin (Feb 8, 2009)

The advice that everyone's given you is the right step to take, *Jarrod*.  I too stubbornly refuse to throw stuff away that still works - which is why I have a benchful of 'retasked' machines on my network .

If you're not doing any gaming then you don't need anything spectacular and PC's now are very much cheaper than they used to be (as has been noted above).  You can buy a compete system probably for less than I pay for a graphics card (as I'm a gamer).


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## jarrod (Feb 8, 2009)

what?!?!?! a iaido guy who's a gamer?!?!?!  :xtrmshock

i hope that's still humorous on your side of the pond.  every japanese sword stylist i've met (& many of the western ones) in my area have been IT professionals & gamers.

jf


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## Sukerkin (Feb 8, 2009)

.  My dojo group must buck the trend a little on that score - tho' we do seem to be a bunch of professionals in one way or another (mostly engineers of various 'stripes').


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## Cryozombie (Feb 8, 2009)

Im actually looking for an old P2 for a project.  Wanna deal?


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## crushing (Feb 8, 2009)

If you are interested in checking out linux on the old pc, another good low requirement distro is Xubuntu.


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