Uncles PC - upgrade or replace ?

BIGBC · 3 Jul 2009 at 14:35

My uncles got a Dell Optiplex GX260 - P4 2.4GHz (non LGA775), 512MB RAM, 20GB HDD. Its got some weird modular motherboard too, the bottom most PCI slots are a seperate PCB to the rest of the mobo and connected via a PCI like socket.

He doesnt do anything too demanding (gaming, CAD etc) but is experiencing slow speeds when connecting to the internet (im using it now and it is pretty poor). Hes using a USB modem which is registering at 5.3MBPs, will the fact thats its using a USB interface be causing any speed loss or is it mainly the PC ?

Im pretty sure its the PC but not sure enough to tell him to let me build him a new one and in the end he just needs a decent router.

Best I can see being able to do on this PC is matching the RAM making it 1GB and adding another IDE HDD, old PCI graphics may be a small boost but not really great for the money and what he needs.

Any thoughts ?

user1453 · 3 Jul 2009 at 15:00

have you tried connecting a laptop to the usb modem?

If it is an old P4 it will be hard to get compatable memory for reasonable prices, I'd suggest just getting a new PC if it needs an upgrade, a 4Ghz p4 is comparable to a 2Ghz single core core2 roughly

RadioheadR6 · 3 Jul 2009 at 15:13

What OS are you running? - 512Mb RAM is not a lot if it's XP or Vista...

I doub't that the slow speeds are caused by the USB router - Seems to me you may just need to up the RAM a bit - Have you had a look at Task Mangler to see what the resource useage look like?

Also - 20Gb HDD?... Blimey - Seems so dated now... This could do with an upgrade, especially as they are so cheap nowadays...

ripped · 3 Jul 2009 at 16:22

New windows install on new HDD with more memory?

BIGBC · 3 Jul 2009 at 17:29

Remasters didnt change anything speed wise, he is pretty decent at keeping the PC clean.

We just ordered -
Asus 760G mATX mobo
AMD Athlon X2 7850 2.8GHz Black Edition
OCZ 4x1GB 800MHz DDR2
Western Digital 320GB SATAII 16MB Cache 7200 RPM
LG 22X SATA DVD±RW
Coolermaster 460W eXtreme Power Plus PSU
And a decent mATX case
£253.21

Hes looking forward to it anyway.

Indy500 · 3 Jul 2009 at 17:31

I was going to suggest getting a few used parts, but nevermind...

BIGBC · 4 Jul 2009 at 11:20

sr4470 said:
I was going to suggest getting a few used parts, but nevermind...

I had some lying around but he wanted a brand new PC, was tired of having second hand computers.

rowannew · 27 Jul 2009 at 09:43

better buying as you have done because if i am right dell are a pain to upgrade so buying/building from scratch is good

linktoinsanity · 27 Jul 2009 at 11:01

You've made the right decision. Doubling the RAM could have been a cheap way of improving performance, but you'll get lots more from a whole new system.