I have an Intel Pentium II(r), 4.01GB, Fat 32, 32-bit, 128MB RAM computer. How do I upgrade? With what?

Question

Would like to keep this computer a while if I can upgrade w/out spending a fortune.

Answer 1

The money you'd spend upgrading it could easily pay for a new computer.

What are you running? 98? XP? XP will really WANT 512 MB of RAM - it's quite possible that your computer will support a maximum of 384 MB - which isn't awful, but not great either. 4 GB is a bit on the small side - especially if you want to install programs beyond XP.

You MIGHT be able to upgrade the Processor to as fast as 550 MHz - MIGHT. Depends on the make and model. Upgrading the RAM is the easiest thing, but will only help so much - to upgrade, visit http://www.crucial.com or http://www.kingston.com and put in the make model of the computer or motherboard and it will tell you how much RAM you can get. You can upgrade the hard drive, probably to as large as 120 GB... but you should be prepared to buy a controller card in case the motherboard doesn't support a drive that large or if you want a larger drive.

Considering that you can get a new computer for $400 and upgrading this would probably cost at least half that, I would strongly recommend the new computer. Or look on ebay for a $150-200 used computer - you can get something 5-10x faster than what you have for about that much.

Answer 2

The Athlon will run 32 bit just as well as 64 bit, and it can use linux and it is excellent at gaming. There are actually two model 4000, the athlon 64 and atlon 64 x2, which is dual core. The single core version is 2.6ghz and the dual core has dual 2.2ghz cores. I looked through all the benchmarks at Toms hardware charts for you and I found that in almost every case both of the 4000s beat the crap out of the pentium d. I would definitely go with the amd over the intel in this case.

Answer 3

If that computer has a PC100 bus you can effectively upgrade it to 1.4Ghz and up to 768mb of RAM, if PC66 bus you can go to 933Mhz but only 384Mb of RAM. In the link I have provided you can use a PowerLeap Slot 1 CPU adapter to install up to a 1.4 Celeron proccessor, for about $75*. I have done the on more than a dozen computers.
You can pick up a econmy hard drive for $35**, and $128mb memory for $15 per chip***. There is no need to buy brand new top of the line parts.
I you decide to buy a new copy of windows go for Windows 2000 Pro****. It is lite on resources and every bit as stable as XP.

Answer 4

Ok, let's see:

add 1 GB of RAM- $99
add 80 GB Hard Drive- $87
New Graphics Card 128 MB- $99
New Motherboard and processor- $250

New motherboard would be most effective, but RAM would be the cheap alternative. Graphics card is necessary if you want to play games. Hard drive is good because 4.01 is not nearly enough.

Answer 5

Getting a new processor would be good, but it's more expensive than just getting more RAM. Get 512 RAM. If you can afford a new processor, get a good, fast, efficient one, like the Intel Core 2 Duo. A new motherboard would also help.

Answer 6

You put your old computer in the dumpster and go buy a new one. You can get so much more computing power now for much less money in relative dollars than you could even five years ago. It makes no sense to throw good, 2006 dollars at a dinosaur.

Answer 7

Donate that one to a senior center or the like, and just get yourself a new e-machine. Trying to upgrade the one you have will be a hassle, and probably cost you what a new one would cost anyway.

Answer 8

Intel and hp.com,etc. They have some uprgrades that are just little things. If your looking for something big, thats big money.

Answer 9

It's cheaper to just buy a new pc. Dell has some deals for under $500 if you watch for them. (no I dont work for dell) just check it out at dell.com

Answer 10

u dont, throw it away and buy a new one :)