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Desktop Tower - Help!

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  • 06-12-2012 6:17pm
    #1
    Hamiltonion
    Registered Users Posts: 416 ✭✭


    Hi guys,

    I want to get my parents a new desktop for xmas, they already have an LCD Screen, keyboard etc, it's just the tower is quite old and slow.

    I'm looking to get a tower 2nd hand for around the 150 mark, it will only be used for light web browsing and MS Office.

    Do you think 2gig of ram is enough or should I go for 3? Also any recommendations in regards processor speed?

    Looking at something like this http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/hp-compaq-amd-athlon-64x2-dual-core-2-30ghz-fast-processor-2gb-ram-150gb-hdd-windows-vista-ms-office/2182582

    All I really want from it is to be responsive and quick from start-up and for it to remain that way for at least 2 years, at the moment you need to wait up to 2 mins for a webpage to load


Comments

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    #2
    BENDERS LINKS
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭BENDERS LINKS


    An SSD and a fresh install of Operating System an option on current machine?


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    #3
    Hamiltonion
    Registered Users Posts: 416 ✭✭Hamiltonion


    By the time I'd bought and installed a SSD and new OS I'd nearly have a new tower.

    Old machine is old, like I'm talking 512mb ram old


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    #4
    BENDERS LINKS
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭BENDERS LINKS


    Hamiltonion wrote: »
    By the time I'd bought and installed a SSD and new OS I'd nearly have a new tower.

    Old machine is old, like I'm talking 512mb ram old
    64GB SSD is cheap and reinstall existing OS. If it's XP it's good for another 487 days and stick in gig of RAM.

    Vista in that Adverts one you're looking at, RAM hungry, get him to up it since he mentions he will or get some off memoryc, 3gig be OK, 4 be better and it'd do ya.


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    #5
    Cork24
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,663 ✭✭✭Cork24


    What OS are you looking at windows Xp can go no bigger then 2gb of ram any bigger it won't pick it up..

    Windows 7 you would need at lest 4gb of ram to have a smooth run. Why not pop down to H Normans and apply for quick crdt interest free if you pay within the 1 year


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    #6
    maki
    Registered Users Posts: 772 ✭✭✭maki


    Cork24 wrote: »
    What OS are you looking at windows Xp can go no bigger then 2gb of ram any bigger it won't pick it up..

    Windows 7 you would need at lest 4gb of ram to have a smooth run.

    I don't know where you've gotten either of those figures from, but they're not correct.

    XP x86 can address 4GB total memory, leaving you with about 3.5GB usable RAM.

    Windows 7 can run just fine on 1GB of RAM, and certainly smooth as butter with 2GB. Add some memory intensive programs into the mix and it might be a different story, but the OP said it's just being used for basic tasks so no need to worry.


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    #7
    truedoom
    Registered Users Posts: 400 ✭✭truedoom


    Cork24 wrote: »
    What OS are you looking at windows Xp can go no bigger then 2gb of ram any bigger it won't pick it up..

    Windows 7 you would need at lest 4gb of ram to have a smooth run. Why not pop down to H Normans and apply for quick crdt interest free if you pay within the 1 year


    must work for harvey norman. know's nothing about either OS lol.

    2 gb should be fine, but like others have said, fresh install (and maybe a ssd) would be great. then all that'll feck ya over is the processor.


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