Given Old PC, Worth Upgrading it?

[BrianS]

Hi,

I just got given a Compaq SR1539UK

Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2 GHz
1 GB (2 x 512) PC3200 184 pin, DDR SDRAM
NVidia GeForce 6200 64 MB DDR memory (256MB TurboCache)
MSI MS-7184 Motherboard
320 GB (2 x 160) SATA 7200 rpm Seagate 7200.7
Bestec ATX-300-12Z PSU


I was going to give it to a friend but he's wanting to do *some* gaming on it, which obviously isn't really suitable as it stands considering it has a nVidia GeForce 6200 TC.

For just over £100 I could get an ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB + AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ to put in it... but I'm not sure if:

A) It would be worth it?
B) If I would have to upgrade the PSU if I did that, I'm guessing that cheapo generic 300W PSU wouldn't cut it... and would most likely explode
C) Do all coolers that would fit on the Athlon 64 also fit the AMD Athlon 64 X2? Otherwise I'd have to buy another CPU cooler. (That X2 for £38 is OEM)


I'd appreciate any opinions! If you don't think it's worth upgrading I'll just give it to him as-is.

[Koolpc]

Give it to him as it is. He could always buy a better Graphics card and PSU if need be. (C) Yes.

[frazered]

see how he gets on first - no point spending if he does not need to

[Pob255]

Umm it's probably AGP not PCI-e so I doubt you can get a x1950pro that cheaply, it'll be £100-120 on it's own new, unless you're going 2nd hand, in which it'll be hard to find a top end AGP card.

Depending on what games he wants to play it would be ok as it is with a better graphics card.
The compaq are ok PSUs that are made by Bestec spiciffically for the pc they are going in so any upgradeing is probably going to need a new PSU.
Esp as it's an older model ATX psu so only havs a single +12v rail rated at 19a Bestec ATX-300-12Z

[Agent]

Umm it's probably AGP not PCI-e so I doubt you can get a x1950pro that cheaply, it'll be £100-120 on it's own new, unless you're going 2nd hand, in which it'll be hard to find a top end AGP card.

If its a Turbocache card as the OP says, it has to be PCI-e, It was never on AGP.

[tigerboyce]

Yep, give it to him as it is, If he really needs it you could get it upgraded. and also consider what he is actually going to be playing, as it seems slightly pointless getting a pretty high end card if he is playing some current-old games that something like a 6800 would handle fine

[Pob255]

If its a Turbocache card as the OP says, it has to be PCI-e, It was never on AGP.

Well that's an onboard graphics it's got (not sure if this would effect it.
But After a bit of digging yes the motherboard is PCi-e
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...product=502339

My bad

[scrandman]

Not really worth upgrading the CPU for a dual core - the single core CPU will cope with every game on the market to be honest. Upgrading the graphics will be necessary unless he is planning to stick at very low resolutions.

[Mithrandir]

Give it to him as it is. He could always buy a better Graphics card and PSU if need be. (C) Yes.

Exactly as I would have put it.

[dfour]

You could always offer to do the upgrading for him but he will have to pay for them first. Just the graphics card upgrade will be enough at the moment.

[BrianS]

He is wanting to play games such as Doom3/Quake4, etc - they aren't even playable on 800x600 on that card (doom3 kind of is, quake4 isn't at all).

Well that's an onboard graphics it's got

It's a separate PCI-E card not onboard.


I would have liked to upgrade the graphics for him but since I gather I'd definitely need to upgrade the PSU too I think I'll just give it to him as-is. Thanks for the replies!

[Pob255]

a antech 380w earthwatts and a 7600gs
cost = £78 and it's a go should be able to cope with 1280x1024 with out much hassle

[Behemoth]

Just slap a new GFX card in there and PSU and it will be fine. Those Compaq PC's are really stables systems actually

[Zak33]

track down a second hand 7800 GT or similar....the cpu is perfectly ok

then, if it's possible, reinstall XP so that it's all new, and fast

[Behemoth]

Should be childs play on that model of Compaw as they usued to just give you an XP install CD that you didn't need to enter a CD key for and a sepearte CD with all the drivers and such like on