Reassuring advice for owners of older computers

[canetoad]

This is from the 'Ask Jack' blog, Technology section of the Guardian. He generally has pretty solid advice in easy to understand terms.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/askjack/2009/nov/04/ask-jack-05-november

Old PC is slowing fast

I am using a Dell Dimension 4700, which has become sluggish in operation and occasionally freezes. I understand from our friend Google that it could be a registry problem and that there are programs available to help.
Brian Thomas

Jack Schofield replies: The Dell Dimension 4700 was launched in 2004 but its 3GHz Pentium is more than fast enough to run today's Windows XP SP3, if it has enough memory. At launch, XP ran in 128MB, so the Dell's 512MB was generous. Today, the practical minimum is 1GB, so you may need to add more. Crucial's website has a system scanner that will advise you – and sell you the memory. Running out of hard drive space has an even more catastrophic effect, so make sure you have at least 1GB free – not counting the Windows swap file, pagefile.sys.

Otherwise, your PC's memory has probably been eaten up by big-name companies who want to make their programs launch faster, or want to keep updating them for you, but have little thought for what happens when everybody pulls the same selfish tricks. Unfortunately, there is no non-technical way to stop this, but Mike Lin's free Startup Control Panel provides a simple way to block the worst offenders.

I generally don't recommend that inexperienced users run cleanup suites because the results can be catastrophic, and I don't believe registry cleaners make any practical difference in most circumstances. However, CCleaner – which is only available in a free version – is one of the safer options, and it includes a registry cleaner.

The best solution is to reinstall Windows XP from scratch on a clean hard drive. However, with such an old PC, this will require a long series of Windows updates, and you will also have to reinstall your applications and transfer all your data. If you take that route – or pay someone to do it– then you may as well run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. The 4700 isn't listed as compatible, but I'd expect it to work if you installed a new graphics card – look for one that supports DX11. Of course, if you have to buy more memory, a new graphics card and a copy of Windows 7, you'd be better off buying a new PC …

[ohheckyeah]

1. I have a Dell Dimension

that is 2.4GHZ which was faster than many of the new Dell's I've seen lately. I just had a 500 GB hard drive installed and I have 2 GB of RAM. I upgraded my video card when I got my 22" wide screen HD monitor. I'll use this one until it dies or I have enough money to get this:

AMD Phenom™ II X4 945 (3.0GHz, 8MB)
8GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs edit
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
nVidia GeForce GT 220, 1024MB
Dell 1505 Wireless-N PCIe Card
1394a High Speed AV Port

[BlueJazz]

2. I run the AMD Phenom II 945 on an Asus AMD3 board (6 Gig)

and a fairly high end video card...Runs Great!

You're right though..those Dimensions like the 4600 and 8400 will run just fine with a memory upgrade.

[ohheckyeah]

3. I started my super computer savings fund.

I wonder how long it will take to save enough to buy that computer? Meanwhile, I'm not really unhappy with the desktop I have now. My laptop doesn't get used a whole lot but it's great when the electricity goes out.

[canetoad]

6. You could always start buying components bit by bit

Grab a good case, power supply, then optical drives, video card.

Leave the CPU, motherboard and RAM until last.

[ohheckyeah]

7. If I knew how to build it I would, but I wouldn't know where to start. n/t

[canetoad]

8. You could

find an old clapped out machine, doesn't matter if it works or not, and practice pulling it apart and seeing how things fit together.

About the only tool you need is a smallish to medium Phillips screwdriver (magnetic is good) and a bench covered with a dark coloured sheet so you can see all the little bits. Then do as my Dad always said. 'Pull anything you like apart but make sure you line up all the parts in the order they came out - then you can't go wrong putting them back!'

Plenty of hardware guides on the net, this one for example. It's outdated, but interesting.
http://www.pcguide.com/byop/index.htm

[ohheckyeah]

9. I do have an old custom built computer in the closet.

I've been meaning to open it up to see if the hard drive I took out of this computer will fit in that computer. No particular reason why, just curious.

[SKKY]

10. This is THE guide I would recommend, if you are interested in "rolling" your own...

...so to speak. Read each of these pages very carefully. Spend some quality time with them. Print them out and keep them in the bathroom, on your night stand, where ever you read. If you follow the guides here, you will have no problem at all building your own pc.

(Part 1) http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-part-1,1364.html
(Part 2) http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/choosing-the-right-vender,1374.html
(Part 3) http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/how-to-build-a-pc-part-3,1382.html

[canetoad]

11. They are terrrific guides SKKY

I've used them in the past but couldn't remember the link.

Ohheckyeah, you can't go much wrong if you follow these :)

[SKKY]

13. I loves me some Tom's Hardware!!!

[ohheckyeah]

12. Thanks very much.

I will definitely read those and give it some thought.

[RoyGBiv]

4. What motherboard?

I'm putting together a new system for myself, and that's the processor I'm going to use.

But I still haven't decided on a board. That's always the hardest decision for me. I don't need/want Crossfire/SLI, but all the good boards seem to come standard with that these days. There's one out there I really like except it's built so it can utilize *four* GPUs and has no PCI slots. I need a couple of those and have no use for a quad-Crossfire system at all.

[BlueJazz]

5. The one i'm using is the Asus M4A76T-E

More info is here:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/motherboards/review/2009/04/09/Asus-M4A78T-E/p1