Upgrading a cheap computer

[kjander]

I got day after thanksgiving door buster computer last year for $200 bucks and was wonding about the feasability to upgrade the computer.

I pretty much want to start a new build but salvage the operating system, case, CDRW/DVD drive, hard drive, power supply, case and RAM. So what i will have is an eMachines midtower case with CDRW/DVD drive, I have a sony DVD burner, a Ge Force AGP 128 MB video card, Western digital 160 with 9200 RPM. I would like to get a new mother board and cheap P4 processor with HT or an AMD 64 to go with this stuff, and then upgrade to 1.5 gigs of RAM Is something like that possible?

Does anyone have any advice as to how to do this as cheap as possible.

[wonderwes]

First, buy the parts online. Pricewatch.com is a good source. You can buy combo bundles that come with the processor, motherboard, and ram all put together. They sell those on mwave.com. Its really great because you can plop it right into the case and just hook up the cables. They will even test it before they send it so you are certain not to get bunk parts.

I would not try to throw it in the same case as your emachine. That e-machine probably doesnt have the power supply to handle a p4 chip. My advice, if you are going to do all that work, might as well just put it in a brand new PC case. You don't have to get an expensive one, just get one with a 350W+ power supply.

So take that new procesor/mb/ram combo, new case, then throw in that cdrom, video card, and anything else from the emachine. Most motherboards now already have a soundcard built in. Also you got a nice video card, but if you play high end games (like Halflife2) it will get very hot. A $20 exhaust fan to put right next to the video card wont hurt.

It will be a chore to put all this together, but the overall satisfaction of putting together your own box to your specifications will pay off in the long run.

Oh yeah, make sure you take the HD and do a fresh install of windows on it when putting in the new hardware.

Some of the Dell models are only around $300-350 esp with the coupon codes out there. So you might not save that much from building it yourself.

More video cards are going now from AGP to Pci Express, so make sure you read that it has an AGP port.

If it's an E-machines, throw it out and buy a Dell. The cards are often welded into place.

Sincerely,
A former Best Buy tech

[flatline]

[ QUOTE ]
If it's an E-machines, throw it out and buy a Dell. The cards are often welded into place.

Sincerely,
A former Best Buy tech

[/ QUOTE ]

I have an emachines computer. None of my cards are welded into place. I would suggest checking before throwing it out.

[Rick Nebiolo]

If the older machine had a registered/validated copy of WinXP you won't be able to use it on the newer board since Windows XP is a one machine per license OS. Microsoft is probably OK with upgrading disk drives and so on but not motherboards.

Also most cheaper machines come with a "restore disk" of WinXP, if you lose the hard disk you are usually screwed.

I'd start fresh. Go with a two hard drive system, partition so that your data is separate from WinXP and programs. A guy who goes by Radified has a good tech blog on building a stable system, using Norton Ghost to image the operating systems and programs on a separate hard disk partition and keeping data safe.

First post for me in a while, I've been in computer breakdown hell but my system didn't lose a bit of data following Radified's advice. I may still buy a new machine and salvage a few parts, but even in 20 months many of my parts are hardly worth salvaging.

~ Rick

[Nomad84]

[ QUOTE ]
If the older machine had a registered/validated copy of WinXP you won't be able to use it on the newer board since Windows XP is a one machine per license OS.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that may be technically true, but you can still use it on a new machine. You should be able to activate it if it's just the second machine you've used it on. Just tell it you don't want to register. Speaking of which...I've got 18 days left to activate mine...I should get on that......

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If the older machine had a registered/validated copy of WinXP you won't be able to use it on the newer board since Windows XP is a one machine per license OS.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that may be technically true, but you can still use it on a new machine. You should be able to activate it if it's just the second machine you've used it on. Just tell it you don't want to register. Speaking of which...I've got 18 days left to activate mine...I should get on that......

[/ QUOTE ]

Regarding the second machine, is this a relatively new Microsoft policy? When Win XP came out (I sort of kept up with the issue/controversy over activation for about a year) it was definitely a one machine license. At that time they were even balking over relatively minor upgrades (e.g., video cards).

If so, will a copy of WinXP Pro I bought for this machine two years ago re-install on a second machine (or my current machine with a new motherboard) if in fact I need to replace it?

~ Rick

[Nomad84]

All I know is that a friend of mine has installed her copy of XP Home on more than one machine at once. I think it's on several. I borrowed it, but I was the lucky on that pushed that key over the limit. It's an old copy from shortly after it came out, so it's possible that there is a limit of perhaps once per year or something like that, I suppose. I'm not really sure what the actual policy is, but I do know that this copy was installed on more than one machine.