PC Upgrade Help

[i22foosh]

Hey, i have a really old compaq computer.. year 2003 i think lol, and its getting pretty old on me so i want to upgrade it.

The model is Compaq Persario 6370US

Everything is stock except my hdd which is a 40gb now..

What upgrades can i do to make it better?

I was thinking of getting a new 7200rpm hdd with 16mb cache
1gb of ram (max i think)
new graphics card

Is it possible to get a new processor also? maybe a intel core 2 duo or something good..

[loganbyers07]

what you should do is see if it has a pci express 16 slot for your video card. then find out what chipset your processor is and look it up.
it should be something like socket 775 or am2 or something like that then look up processors that use that chipset and see what is available.

[MattZani]

buy a new PC, far easier.

[i22foosh]

well i dont really have an income

i have $1000.. about 500GBP
i was gonna get a macbook, 4gb ram and stuff since my cousin works at apple and i get a 15% discount.
but i thought upgrading my pc is cheaper and better..

or can i build a decent pc for $1000?

[PspKicks316]

You're gonna have a :censored:ing hell of a time upgrading an old computer. I'm telling you RIGHT NOW, you won't be able to use a good graphics card that uses PCI-E x16, it's not gonna be on your board. Check the system specs online at Compaq's site, it will tell you the MAX amount of RAM your board can handle, and what kind. If it's 1GB, you're gonna want 2 sticks of 512MB RAM. Something old like that's probably SDRAM or DDR. On some computers there's a max amount of HDD space you can have. I've got an old computer here and the system specs say it can only handle 80GB. I'll tell you now, you're NOT getting a C2D or C2Q. You might even be stuck with what you've got. Check what socket it is, and then find a CPU that goes in that socket and will work with the specs you have (FSB, etc.). You're better off buying a whole new computer like Matt said. It's gonna be one :censored:ing hell of a time trying to upgrade that old thing.

[i22foosh]

well it came with a 120 gb
and i have 2 ram slots, DDR 2100. i heard 1gb was the max amount, i dont know if its 1gb per slot or 1gb total (512 each)

From HP/COMPAQ's Site:
Processor      Intel ® Pentium ® 4 processor - 2.53GHz
System Bus    533MHz System Bus
Cache    • 8KB data cache with 12,000 Micro-Ops trace cache

• 512KB L2 (secondary-on chip) cache
System Memory    512MB 133MHz DDR SDRAM

• 2 Total DIMM Slots

• Upgradeable to 1.0GB (DDR SDRAM DIMM required)
Hard Drive    120.0 GB UltraDMA Hard Drive
Optical Drive(s)    • CD-RW (40x max write/10x max re-write/40x max read)

• 16x max speed DVD-ROM
Communications    56K ITU V.90 Modem and 10/100 Fast Ethernet Networking
Diskette Drive    3.5" 1.44 MB Diskette drive
Graphics    64MB DDR GeForce4 MX420 graphics card with TV out
Audio/Speakers    
Mouse    Internet Scroll Mouse
Keyboard(s)    Compaq PS/2 Internet Keyboard
Power Requirements    100-127V - 4.0A (50/60Hz)
Drive Bays    • One (1) 3.5" internal for hard drive

• One (1) 3.5" external for 1.44 MB diskette drive

• One (1) 3.5" external open for expansion

• Two (2) 5.25" external for optical drives
Expansion Slots    • One (1) PCI slot with modem installed

• One (1) PCI slot with IEEE-1394 interface installed

• One (1) PCI slots open for expansion
I/O Interfaces    • Six (6) USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 back)

• Two (2) IEEE-1394 ports (rear)

• One (1) Serial RS-232C compatible, DB9 connector (16550)

• One (1) Parallel EPP/ECP standard centronics-compatible interface (DB + B3225 connector)

• Two (2) PS/2 ports (mouse, keyboard)

• Two (2) RJ-11 phone jacks (1 input, 1 output)

• One (1) RJ45 Ethernet Port

• One (1) VGA monitor connection

• Three (3) Audio ports (1 line-in, 1 line-out, 1 microphone-in)

[noah03ark]

kicks already made the point..to difficult for older stuff
make a new one

[PspKicks316]

That's 2 sticks of 512MB because it's 1GB max.

By the way, why the hell did you swap out the 120GB for a 40GB?

[i22foosh]

well... my 120gb was broken, it stopped reading or something, and since i had a cousin who worked at maxtor at the time, i asked to buy a hdd for cheap, but i guess he just found me a free one.. i dont use lots of space either.. lol

i should buy the new imac or whatever with 32gb of ram and like tri 300gb sata 1500rpm's

[PspKicks316]

32GB of RAM. You're an idiot.
I'm hoping to God that was a typo. 1500rpm? If that's true, that things as slow as

[noah03ark]

i mean snow leopard, the next OSX supposedly can theoretically suppord 16 TB...
but the most right now is 16 GB and thats a mac pro, and that is far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far out of your price league

1500 is really really slow
5400 is kinda standard
7200 is a more baller kind

but the 10000 rpms are sweeeet, fast, etc.

[i22foosh]

pspkicks it wasnt a typo

32GB of ram
why dont you go here
http://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/configure/MA970LL/A?mco=NzQ3Njkz
was talking bout mac pro sorry
i built a $24,000 computer
:] never gonna get it though
 
i meant 15,000 rpm sorry lol wtf 1500 prolly is slow as

but back on topic.. what can i do to upgrade my computer? im not getting a new one

[psp339]

Only thing you can upgrade is RAM for better performance. Socket 478 CPUs aren't made anymore so you can't upgrade unless you get a used one. Graphics card can be upgraded with better PCI one but it isn't worth it.

[PspKicks316]

HOLY ! I didn't know everyday Macs could have 32GB!! I thought only servers could. Holy crap!


Er...as for upgrading, get new RAM, and a PCI graphics card. Nothing else you can do.