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Hello.
I’m thinking about installing WinXP SP-2, Office 2003, with all the latest updates on my mates PC.
It’s the following system:
Celeron 1.2GHZ
256MB RAM
GF2 MX 64MB
20GB HD
Internal 56K Modem
Will it be able to cope with WinXp & Office 2003 adequately?
How well will it work, or should I install Win2000 & Office 2000 instead?
The system will be primarily used for word processing, Web surfing, watching DVDs, playing some minor 3D games, 2D games & emulation.
Thanks in advance.
Your mate's 1.2ghz Celeron will not have any problems running WinXP and Office 2003. I've used office machines with 600 - 800 mhz processors that have had no trouble running this software. You just have to be a bit patient. Adding another 256mb memory will help enormously.
Oh I forgot to mention that I'm also planning on installing Zone Alarm Pro, Microsoft Anti-spam, Ad-Aware/Ad-Watch & McAffee Antivirus Enterprize 7.1, which will all load up on boot-up & take up resources.
So will this PC be able to handle all these & have some resources left to do the rest in WinXP SP-2?
(Word processing, Web surfing, watching DVDs, playing some minor 3D games, 2D games & emulation.)
Thanks in advance.
There is no reason why it wouldn't run them.
I pesonally would put a little more RAM in it if you are going to run all of the above all the time though
It'll need to be very minor (old) 3D gaming thou, no hope of it running Battlefield2.. Other than that the machine will do fine with that software. Definatly pop in another 256mb stick if possible, it'll make the world of difference.
Is NOD32 antivirus free? Some guy mentioned it to me... that it's supposed to take up very little resources. Is it any good?
Links?
How about I ditch the firewall all together & only use WinXP SP-2 firewall on his rig?
It seems to be fine on my PC at least with all updates & stuff... no problems yet.
NOD32 isn't free but its very good value at about £23 for a year licence. It takes up little resources and does a great job at catching virii. :)
Using Zonealarm should be fine, but for all that stuff i'd 101% put in as much extra ram as possible, Xp's minimun recomended amount is 256mb but its pretty slow.
Incidentally, if your mates PC has got the right memory (PC133), motherboard (nice BIOS) and a decent cpu cooler....that 1.2 ghz Celeron could overclock nicely to 1.6 ghz. I had two machines running these processors at 1.6 ghz a few years ago and was very happy with them. Very easy overclock without needing to push the voltage.
Definitely add more RAM.
Well, I did install WinXP PRO SP-2, Office 2003, all updates, Mcafee Antivirus Enterprise 7.1 & Ad-Aware Pro, on another PIII 1GHZ, 256MB RAM & TNT2 Model 64 32MB PC & it’s working perfectly. It boots up very fast & all applications work like a charm.
But I’m quite skeptical about my mates PC, because the Celeron 1.2GHZ CPU, is not quite as powerful since it only has 128K Cache, as opposed to the PIII’s 256K Cache.
So I don’t know how it’ll work.
I think the equivalent in “raw” processing power to the Celeron @ 1.2GHZ, is a PIII @ 850MHZ…
The office PC at work I use is a Cyrix 686 at 233 MHz with 192Mb of RAM. Using XP Pro SP1 and Office 2003.
It works fine except for Microsoft Access which brings it to its knees.
Checking on the Task Manager there are only 18 process running as compared to about 30 I normally have on my home PCs.
Just shows that if you turn off all the frills you can use a very low spec PC for XP.