Need some upgrades for an old PC as a in-between

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20 Jul 2006
Posts
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I'm in-between PCs right now as I have put off building a new system until next summer. I have claimed my family's old Dell and have about 80-90 to spend on upgrades to last me until mid next year. I would like to do some light gaming, if possible light video editing, and increase the value of the system for resale. So I'm thinking of upgrading to 512-1024 RAM and a low end 9.0c card.

It's a dell 4550 with all it's original parts:

CPU-Z version 1.35.

CPU(s)
Number of CPUs 1
Name Intel Pentium 4
Code Name Northwood
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.53GHz
Family / Model / Stepping F 2 7
Extended Family / Model F 2
Brand ID 9
Package mPGA-478
Core Stepping C1
Technology 0.13 um
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
CPU Clock Speed 2524.8 MHz
Clock multiplier x 19.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 132.9 MHz
Bus Speed 531.5 MHz
L1 Data Cache 8 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kuops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 2524.8 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 256 bits

Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer Dell Computer Corp.
Motherboard model 0J0592,
BIOS vendor Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS revision A08
BIOS release date 09/23/2003
Chipset Intel i845PE rev. A1
Southbridge Intel 82801DB (ICH4) rev. 01
Sensor chip SMSC 5900
Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Status enabled, rev. 2.0
AGP Data Transfer Rate 4x
AGP Max Rate 4x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, enabled

Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 256 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 166.1 MHz
FSB:DRAM 4:5
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 7 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer 16 clocks
# of memory modules 1
Module 0 Samsung DDR PC2700 - 256 MBytes

Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version 9.0c

Any ideas?
 
I'd look for a secondhand Radeon 9700pro or 9800pro which should set you back around £40 but if you can't then this is what I would buy brand new.

MY-002-OK OcUK Value 512MB PC3200 184pin DDR Memory (MY-002-OK)
£28.95 £28.95
GX-010-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon 9550 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (R9550-TDW256-C) (GX-010-HT)
£27.95 £27.95
Subtotal £56.90
VAT £9.96
Total £66.86
 
Leave it in there for 768mb(Ram will run at the speed of the slowest stick so PC2700 in your case) or even buy 2x512mb matched kit and scrap the existing Ram however you want.
 
I just decided to check the PSU before picking a replacement GPU. It says 250W Max and I couldn't find any branding. Can this PSU cope with something like a 9800 pro? Right now it has a ATI Rage 128 Ultra in the AGP slot.
 
Relative said:
I just decided to check the PSU before picking a replacement GPU. It says 250W Max and I couldn't find any branding. Can this PSU cope with something like a 9800 pro? Right now it has a ATI Rage 128 Ultra in the AGP slot.

Hmm, I'm not sure about that but I would be more concerned if the current card is 3.3v :eek:
 
No point scrapping your 256meg RAM as the motherboard won't be dual channel anyway. Just add a 512meg stick to bring yourself up to 768meg

CPU is OK so graphics card is the next port of call. As mentioned a secondhand 9700/9800 series card would be ideal.

As for the PSU I would just try using your existing one and if it can't hack it, consider a replacement. HOWEVER, be warned that Dell tend to use pseudo-proprietary components in terms of case/psu/mobo so it may not be straightforward to replace.

In terms of resale value I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. In low end systems there isn't really much value investing a lot of money for that purpose, since either:

1) Your buyer is clued up, in which case they won't be offering much for old kit anyway
2) Your buyer is clueless, in which case they view it as 'a computer', what graphics card it has probably will mean nothing to them.
 
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