Upgrading a P3 500Mhz

anthonymcg

Hi folks,

I think this is in the right forum but mods please feel free to move it. I'm thinking about upgrading my machine in about 2 months and want to spec out what'd be required in terms of cash etc. At the moment I have:

• P3 500Mhz
• 189 Mb of RAM (thereabouts, dunno what type, is 3 years old at this stage)
• 28x CDRW Drive
• 24x DVD drive
• ****ty graphics card
• 20 Gig portable USB drive
• 10 Gig HD (Win XP)
• 3 Gig HD slave (Win 98)
• 100Mb ZIP Drive via Parallel Port

Basically, I'll be looking to salvage some of the kit I already have. My aim is to upgrade to a PC that'll run Half-Life 2 and provide facilities for broadband which I hope to get by the years end. I suppose that'll mean a bigger HD too.

I'd like to go Intel if it matters but am open to ideas if its AMD with a decent spec. Hopefully be around 3 gigahertz for the processor anyway. All suggestions and comments are most welcome. Cheers.

rabbitinlights

Is it a dell?

You will have to scrap most of it apart from:

28x CDRW Drive
24x DVD drive
20 Gig portable USB drive
10 Gig HD (Win XP)
3 Gig HD slave (Win 98)

I had nearly the same Pc as this 6 months ago and upgraded to the following:

Mobo:
Abit IC-7 (Dual DDR, 800Mhz FSB)

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=34602&t=1403&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=10&GrpID=10&s=pl

CPU:
P4 2.4Ghz 800Mhz FSB

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=34351&t=1401&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=4&GrpID=10&s=pl

RAM
2 x Matched 512Mb Corsair PC3200 DDR400

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=36877&t=&l=&AvdID=1&CatID=17&GrpID=9&s=sr

Case:
Skyhawk + 350W PSU

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=29533&t=589&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=13&GrpID=6&s=pl

GFX:
Creative 3DBlaster GeForce4 Ti4800 128MB

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=30788&t=278&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&s=pl

The rest was used from my old dell:
120Gb 8Mb WD Hard Drive
80Gb Maxtor Hard Drive
CD-RW/DVD

You may want a bigger CPU but 2.4 seems to do me just fine and save me a few quid, also you can get better ram but i spent the extra i saved on a new GFX card

You could also use the old PC as a gateway/firewall for you broadband, just an idea?

Dr Bolouswki

You're gonna need minimum of

motherboard
processor
memory
video card

if you want broadband most providers give a USB modem - some use RJ45 in which case you'll need a network card

this is what I have, which will totally do what you want

Asus A7N8x - €100 approx
AMD XP1800 - €60
2x256DDR - €120
Sapphire Atlantis 9100 128mb - €120

the mobo will not need changing - 400mhz fsb, dual channel memory, USB 2, AGPx8, integrated sound and network card - the CPU you can upgrade when you have the bread - same with graphics - the above is probably the best budget video card you can get at the moment

dump win 98 from the 2nd hard drive - why are you dual booting? Might as well free up the space... you'll prob eventually need another hard drive anyway...

you'd be pushed to find a game that won't run on the above - and it's totally upgradeable - happy shopping!