Mixing two PC's into one?

Tosty55

Hi,

Ive got two old(ish) computers at home, one of which I use, and the other just sits doing nothing (it needs a new hard drive). The first PC that I use is a Dell Optiplex GX520 (win7) and the other is a Compaq Presario SR1000.

So, being the genius that I thought I was I went and had a serious look at both PC's and decided to turn them both into one better computer.

The problems start here... I tried sticking the hard drive from my Dell into the Compaq and the booting it on hoping it would just run the Windows like a good chap but no luck, doesnt even recognise the drive, then I went and tried again and guess what?, same thing happend!

I dont know if its even worth doing this, but from what I see when I open the side panel on the Compaq it looks to be a better computer, the Dell has an Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.99GHz, or so it says, but Im finding it very sluggish.

One of the main reasons why I decided to try this was becuase the Compaq can be equipped woth a graphics card, while the Delll doesnt even have a slot for it.

If you have any suggestions on what I should do, or not do please post them, I can maybe try and include pictures of how the PC's look internally if you would like to know.


Thank you very much.
~Me

Lu Tze

Tosty55 wrote: »

Hi,

Ive got two old(ish) computers at home, one of which I use, and the other just sits doing nothing (it needs a new hard drive). The first PC that I use is a Dell Optiplex GX520 (win7) and the other is a Compaq Presario SR1000.

So, being the genius that I thought I was I went and had a serious look at both PC's and decided to turn them both into one better computer.

The problems start here... I tried sticking the hard drive from my Dell into the Compaq and the booting it on hoping it would just run the Windows like a good chap but no luck, doesnt even recognise the drive, then I went and tried again and guess what?, same thing happend!

I dont know if its even worth doing this, but from what I see when I open the side panel on the Compaq it looks to be a better computer, the Dell has an Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.99GHz, or so it says, but Im finding it very sluggish.

One of the main reasons why I decided to try this was becuase the Compaq can be equipped woth a graphics card, while the Delll doesnt even have a slot for it.

If you have any suggestions on what I should do, or not do please post them, I can maybe try and include pictures of how the PC's look internally if you would like to know.


Thank you very much.
~Me

Any idea of the specs of both computers? Why do you think the compaq is better?

Tosty55

Lu Tze wrote: »

Any idea of the specs of both computers? Why do you think the compaq is better?

The Dell -
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz 2.99GHz
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows 7 professional sp1

The Compaq -
Processor: Intel Pentium D ( last time I remember it was either 2.4GHz or a bit higher)
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows vista home basic
GPU: some old looking thing, no model number on it, sitting in a PCI Express slot.

Reason I think the compaq is better is because there is a graphics card slot...

mikom

Some motivational music for those aiming to help you OP.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM

Lu Tze

Tosty55 wrote: »

The Dell -
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz 2.99GHz
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows 7 professional sp1

The Compaq -
Processor: Intel Pentium D ( last time I remember it was either 2.4GHz or a bit higher)
Ram: 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit windows vista home basic
GPU: some old looking thing, no model number on it, sitting in a PCI Express slot.

Reason I think the compaq is better is because there is a graphics card slot...

Both sets of RAM are likely to be DDR, and compatible, though you will have to check this. If they are, and there are empty ram slots in the Compaq for additional RAM you can move it across from the dell. The pentium D would be a bit better than the pentium 4 but dont expect any miracles out of it. You will have to reinstall vista (if you have the dvd) when you put a hard drive in the compaq(everything on the hard drive will be erased), the code should be on a sticker on the computer somewhere.

I wouldnt bother spending any money on it to be honest

Tosty55

Lu Tze wrote: »

Both sets of RAM are likely to be DDR, and compatible, though you will have to check this. If they are, and there are empty ram slots in the Compaq for additional RAM you can move it across from the dell. The pentium D would be a bit better than the pentium 4 but dont expect any miracles out of it. You will have to reinstall vista (if you have the dvd) when you put a hard drive in the compaq(everything on the hard drive will be erased), the code should be on a sticker on the computer somewhere.

I wouldnt bother spending any money on it to be honest

You guys.... Thank you everyone for helping me realise I need to just build a new PC for myself.

Again, thanks to everyone, this thread could probably be deleted unless someone needs it.

Tosty55

mikom wrote: »

Some motivational music for those aiming to help you OP.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM

Cool, thanks, really enjoyed the song.

TerrorFirmer

I think it's completely feasible and costs virtually nothing. Pentium D is OK for general use, and the odds are that it's a DDR2 board, not DDR. You mention a video card slot, if it's gaming you're after, then yes, it's not viable, though if we knew more about your motherboard we can tell straight away what can be done.

Best case scenario - it supports Core 2 CPU's, and spending 80 euro could along the machine to get through even new titles reasonably well (E6850, 2Gb Ram, something like a 6670, all 2nd hand).

Worst case scenario - it's a dead end platform, but even at that, another gig of ram and a fresh install of Win7 on a Pentium D should be perfect for casual use, or playing older games with adding a cheapo new GPU. At the moment for example I only play Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and COD4, all of which actually work pretty well on Pentium D!

More info before we can pass final judgement. :P

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I think it's completely feasible and costs virtually nothing. Pentium D is OK for general use, and the odds are that it's a DDR2 board, not DDR. You mention a video card slot, if it's gaming you're after, then yes, it's not viable, though if we knew more about your motherboard we can tell straight away what can be done.

Best case scenario - it supports Core 2 CPU's, and spending 80 euro could along the machine to get through even new titles reasonably well (E6850, 2Gb Ram, something like a 6670, all 2nd hand).

Worst case scenario - it's a dead end platform, but even at that, another gig of ram and a fresh install of Win7 on a Pentium D should be perfect for casual use, or playing older games with adding a cheapo new GPU. At the moment for example I only play Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and COD4, all of which actually work pretty well on Pentium D!

More info before we can pass final judgement. :P

Thanks, I dont actually know what or where to find the motherboard model, or anything else about it.

TerrorFirmer

Sorry, just realised the Compaq doesn't work.

I'm sure the case must have a model number somewhere for the machine? At least, opening up the side panel, the board must have a model number on it....

game4it70

Download Cpuz and it will give you the cpu and mobo model.
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.66-setup-en.exe

Sorry misread the part about the compaq

TerrorFirmer

game4it70 wrote: »

Download Cpuz and it will give you the cpu and mobo model.
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.66-setup-en.exe

The computer doesn't have a hard drive though.

Surely if you just turn it on, the bios will tell you?

game4it70

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The computer doesn't have a hard drive though.

Surely if you just turn it on, the bios will tell you?

Actually good idea,it should or even the post before bios.

Tosty55

game4it70 wrote: »

Actually good idea,it should or even the post before bios.

Thanks, ill try that, booting it on and getting into the BIOS

Tosty55

The compaqs motherboard is a rc410-m rev 1.03

TerrorFirmer

Doesn't support Core 2 but for literally 30 quid you could put in a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, would be perfectly good for casual use. Add a 30 euro 2nd hand video card and for the princely sum of 60 euro you could be even playing older games like COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 at very reasonable settings if you wanted.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Doesn't support Core 2 but for literally 30 quid you could put in a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, would be perfectly good for casual use. Add a 30 euro 2nd hand video card and for the princely sum of 60 euro you could be even playing older games like COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 at very reasonable settings if you wanted.

Ill look into the upgrades, thanks.

Cuddlesworth

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Doesn't support Core 2 but for literally 30 quid you could put in a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, would be perfectly good for casual use. Add a 30 euro 2nd hand video card and for the princely sum of 60 euro you could be even playing older games like COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 at very reasonable settings if you wanted.

But its 30 quid into a black hole, considering the age of the hardware its simply not worth investing anything in.

A half decent AMD FM2 CPU/RAM/Mobo combo would set him back what, 180? Lob that into the Compaq case with the HD out of the GX-520 and you have a decent home pc for another 4 years.

TerrorFirmer

I don't think that's really true or justified though, given that 180 is a huge amount more than a meagre 30 euro. It's like telling someone they could have a 7870 for 150 when they've stated their budget is 50. If he's been getting by until now with a P4, I doubt he's looking to play Crysis 3, and that 30 euro upgrade would make a big difference at one fifth the cost. I wouldn't call that throwing money into a black hole, quite the opposite.

I regularly buy and turn around old office PC's for gaming, it's entirely possible to build a PC for 130 euro that'll play BF3 online @ 720p, and I have done. Q6600, 3GB Ram, 6670. It's not strictly future proof, but at that price, it means you have access to a huge PC library as well as opportunities like the Humble Bundle for less than you'd pay for a 360 console new. Not everyone can afford to spend as much money as they'd like on their PC, but there's an option no matter how little you have to spend really.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I don't think that's really true or justified though, given that 180 is a huge amount more than a meagre 30 euro. It's like telling someone they could have a 7870 for 150 when they've stated their budget is 50. If he's been getting by until now with a P4, I doubt he's looking to play Crysis 3, and that 30 euro upgrade would make a big difference at one fifth the cost. I wouldn't call that throwing money into a black hole, quite the opposite.

I regularly buy and turn around old office PC's for gaming, it's entirely possible to build a PC for 130 euro that'll play BF3 online @ 720p, and I have done. Q6600, 3GB Ram, 6670. It's not strictly future proof, but at that price, it means you have access to a huge PC library as well as opportunities like the Humble Bundle for less than you'd pay for a 360 console new. Not everyone can afford to spend as much money as they'd like on their PC, but there's an option no matter how little you have to spend really.

Thank you everyone for your help, for the past few days ive been in the process of deciding whether or not to go and just try save up atleast 300 to build a brand new somewhat decent "gaming" computer, but now that you people have helped, especially TerrorFirmer, and of course anyone else Im forgetting, I have decided that it might be better to just go and upgrade the compaq with about 50-100 euro worth of stuff and things ( ram, graphics card etc) , maybe you can lead me to some hints on the best thing to do with the compaq with about that budget.

Some things like the case, power supply, dvd drives, motherboard, ( maybe cpu ) are not needed.

So for about 50-100 euro what would be the best parts to purchase in order to bring the compaq up to maybe decent standards, im not expecting to be playing games in max, or even medium settings, or rendering videos super fast, or even having an incredibly fast boot time, no, all I need is to be able to turn it on, eventually, maybe play a game or three on reasonable settings and hopefully render a video without falling asleep at it.

If you've made it this far, thanks.

Cuddlesworth

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I don't think that's really true or justified though, given that 180 is a huge amount more than a meagre 30 euro. It's like telling someone they could have a 7870 for 150 when they've stated their budget is 50. If he's been getting by until now with a P4, I doubt he's looking to play Crysis 3, and that 30 euro upgrade would make a big difference at one fifth the cost. I wouldn't call that throwing money into a black hole, quite the opposite.

I regularly buy and turn around old office PC's for gaming, it's entirely possible to build a PC for 130 euro that'll play BF3 online @ 720p, and I have done. Q6600, 3GB Ram, 6670. It's not strictly future proof, but at that price, it means you have access to a huge PC library as well as opportunities like the Humble Bundle for less than you'd pay for a 360 console new. Not everyone can afford to spend as much money as they'd like on their PC, but there's an option no matter how little you have to spend really.

There are a number of things wrong with upgrading a 6 year old pc.

Even a 30 euro upgrade would not provide close to the performance/cost ratio of newer parts in a 300 Euro build. A Pentium 4 has a fraction of the power of a newer quad core AMD, the PentiumD's were crap when they came out(being beaten around the bush by AMD at the time).

All the parts are EOL. The risk of parts failure increases year on year.

New parts are non-existent. Leaving non-traditional sales channels for second hand parts and the associated problems.

Your increasing the apparent worth of something that's close to worthless. By spending 30 Euros on a old pc, its now worth 30 Euros more in the mind of the person who invested in it. The pc isn't worth 40-50 Euros now. Its worth 70-80 if not 100. Making justification of a whole new cpu/mobo/ram combo more difficult when parts break.

Tosty55 wrote: »

So for about 50-100 euro what would be the best parts to purchase in order to bring the compaq up to maybe decent standards, im not expecting to be playing games in max, or even medium settings, or rendering videos super fast, or even having an incredibly fast boot time, no, all I need is to be able to turn it on, eventually, maybe play a game or three on reasonable settings and hopefully render a video without falling asleep at it.

Not sure if a P4 could play a modern game without investing in a recent graphics card.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

There are a number of things wrong with upgrading a 6 year old pc.

Even a 30 euro upgrade would not provide close to the performance/cost ratio of newer parts in a 300 Euro build. A Pentium 4 has a fraction of the power of a newer quad core AMD, the PentiumD's were crap when they came out(being beaten around the bush by AMD at the time).

All the parts are EOL. The risk of parts failure increases year on year.

New parts are non-existent. Leaving non-traditional sales channels for second hand parts and the associated problems.

Your increasing the apparent worth of something that's close to worthless. By spending 30 Euros on a old pc, its now worth 30 Euros more in the mind of the person who invested in it. The pc isn't worth 40-50 Euros now. Its worth 70-80 if not 100. Making justification of a whole new cpu/mobo/ram combo more difficult when parts break.



Not sure if a P4 could play a modern game without investing in a recent graphics card.

Alright so screw upgrading anything and just ditch the computer and go and actually invest in something worth while? I understand maybe pouring money into old junk isnt worth it, but in the situation where i am, having not much dough, nothing better, and no idea what the heck im doing, i think putting 50 euro worth of stuff into it is great, even if it is useless third-hand crap from the bottom of a rubbish bin, i still dont think leaving the computer to rot in the wardrobe is a good idea, when i could maybe add a few "upgrades" and get the most out of it while it still holds in one piece.

Even if i dont end up spending money on the compaq, it could be interesting to see what could be achieved with it, and that tiny budget.

Again thanks for contributing.

Cuddlesworth

If you don't have the cash, keep the GX-520 running as long as possible. Its a better machine then that Compaq and will happily do day to day tasks. Just don't expect much from it in terms of gaming.

Edit: And don't invest money in it. You can buy entire machines that are better for small sums of money second hand.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

If you don't have the cash, keep the GX-520 running as long as possible. Its a better machine then that Compaq and will happily do day to day tasks. Just don't expect much from it in terms of gaming.

Edit: And don't invest money in it. You can buy entire machines that are better for small sums of money second hand.

Alright, thanks, I guess I'll end it at tthat then.

TerrorFirmer

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

There are a number of things wrong with upgrading a 6 year old pc.

Even a 30 euro upgrade would not provide close to the performance/cost ratio of newer parts in a 300 Euro build. A Pentium 4 has a fraction of the power of a newer quad core AMD, the PentiumD's were crap when they came out(being beaten around the bush by AMD at the time).

All the parts are EOL. The risk of parts failure increases year on year.

New parts are non-existent. Leaving non-traditional sales channels for second hand parts and the associated problems.

Your increasing the apparent worth of something that's close to worthless. By spending 30 Euros on a old pc, its now worth 30 Euros more in the mind of the person who invested in it. The pc isn't worth 40-50 Euros now. Its worth 70-80 if not 100. Making justification of a whole new cpu/mobo/ram combo more difficult when parts break.

I think you are looking at this in a strange way. Spending 30 euro on upgrading an old PC like this is worthless because something that costs 300 euro is agreeably five times faster? That's bizarre logic.

Let's look at it this way. PC as it is, a P4 with 1GB of Ram would be a mediocre although functional Windows 7 experience. PC with a Pentium D 3.4Ghz and 2Gb of ram would be a huge improvement for basic desktop use - browsing, media, etc. You're telling me that for a measly 30 euro that would offer a vastly improved desktop experience, it's not worth it because of the price : performance ratio comparative to current gen processors?

The guy has said he doesn't have the money. If he doesn't have the money, he doesn't have it, not much way around it. The option I gave was

1) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. Cost - about 30 euro. There would be a huge increase in day to day performance.

2) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, and a 6570/6670. This would cost about 60 euro and while playing the likes of Crysis, Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3 et al is simply not possible in any world on a Pentium D, here are some games that would work very well on this combination at ultra settings : Call of Duty 4, Left4Dead, Company of Heroes, Bioshock, Fallout New Vegas, etc. Obviously there are loads more and plenty of newer games that would still struggle by on a Pentium D, but sticking to the ones that I know run well. I don't think anyone was coming into this with Crysis 3 in mind.

Is that worth it? The chance to play a huge library of still popular games for 60 euro? It would be to me.

He can get along with that and then after saving for a few months, look at buying a true budget PC for fully modern use. And whilst I didn't agree with the throwing money into a black hole in the first place, even less so when you consider the 6670 can be carried over to a new budget build in, say, six months, and will get through titles like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 with a better CPU, so really the only, again agreeably, irrecoverable cost is the 30 euro on a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. But I still maintain it is not a waste.

Tosty55

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I think you are looking at this in a strange way. Spending 30 euro on upgrading an old PC like this is worthless because something that costs 300 euro is agreeably five times faster? That's bizarre logic.

Let's look at it this way. PC as it is, a P4 with 1GB of Ram would be a mediocre although functional Windows 7 experience. PC with a Pentium D 3.4Ghz and 2Gb of ram would be a huge improvement for basic desktop use - browsing, media, etc. You're telling me that for a measly 30 euro that would offer a vastly improved desktop experience, it's not worth it because of the price : performance ratio comparative to current gen processors?

The guy has said he doesn't have the money. If he doesn't have the money, he doesn't have it, not much way around it. The option I gave was


1) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. Cost - about 30 euro. There would be a huge increase in day to day performance.

2) Install a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram, and a 6570/6670. This would cost about 60 euro and while playing the likes of Crysis, Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3 et al is simply not possible in any world on a Pentium D, here are some games that would work very well on this combination at ultra settings : Call of Duty 4, Left4Dead, Company of Heroes, Bioshock, Fallout New Vegas, etc. Obviously there are loads more and plenty of newer games that would still struggle by on a Pentium D, but sticking to the ones that I know run well. I don't think anyone was coming into this with Crysis 3 in mind.

Is that worth it? The chance to play a huge library of still popular games for 60 euro? It would be to me.

He can get along with that and then after saving for a few months, look at buying a true budget PC for fully modern use. And whilst I didn't agree with the throwing money into a black hole in the first place, even less so when you consider the 6670 can be carried over to a new budget build in, say, six months, and will get through titles like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 with a better CPU, so really the only, again agreeably, irrecoverable cost is the 30 euro on a Pentium D 945 and another gig of ram. But I still maintain it is not a waste.

So I should buy the Pentium D 945, remove the old cpu and install it into the compaqs rc410m motherboard, and then add another gig of ram (2gb is the max for that motherboard i heard), and then finally a 6670 graphics card into the PCI Express slot.

If so would I be able to take the hard drive from the Dell, with the win7 on it, and place it nto the compaq?, because I do not have the windows installation disk as far as I know, maybe could have a look around but I doubt it, its been a while since the compaq was bought.

Cuddlesworth

Tosty55 wrote: »

So I should buy the Pentium D 945, remove the old cpu and install it into the compaqs rc410m motherboard, and then add another gig of ram (2gb is the max for that motherboard i heard), and then finally a 6670 graphics card into the PCI Express slot.

If so would I be able to take the hard drive from the Dell, with the win7 on it, and place it nto the compaq?, because I do not have the windows installation disk as far as I know, maybe could have a look around but I doubt it, its been a while since the compaq was bought.

Do what you want, I don't think me or terrorfirmer will ever agree on this. But the Compaq is a dead duck, leave it alone. It looks like its rocking a athlon xp proc and agp graphics slot. Its worth keeping as a case for future upgrades, other motherboards won't go into the dell. But not as a current platform.

Is the gx520 full size?

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Do what you want, I don't think me or terrorfirmer will ever agree on this. But the Compaq is a dead duck, leave it alone. It looks like its rocking a athlon xp proc and agp graphics slot. Its worth keeping as a case for future upgrades, other motherboards won't go into the dell. But not as a current platform.

Is the gx520 full size?

The gx520 is not full size, its the same height as the compaq, but its not as wide.

Cuddlesworth

Tosty55 wrote: »

The gx520 is not full size, its the same height as the compaq, but its not as wide.

Its mid tower, low profile then. I'm pretty sure that the GX620 had the better psu, the gx520 low profile was 180-200 watt if I remember correctly.

Any graphics card you get needs to be "low profile". And I don't think you can upgrade your cpu and add a graphics card without putting the psu under a large amount of stress. You can add the ram from the Compaq for a quick boost though.

Tosty55

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Its mid tower, low profile then. I'm pretty sure that the GX620 had the better psu, the gx520 low profile was 180-200 watt if I remember correctly.

Any graphics card you get needs to be "low profile". And I don't think you can upgrade your cpu and add a graphics card without putting the psu under a large amount of stress. You can add the ram from the Compaq for a quick boost though.

Thing is, there is no slot on the gx520 for a graphics card, unless im missing something

Tosty55

Here is a picture of the gx520



It is a foxconn ls-36 rev a01 motherboard