should i buy a new pc or upgrade?

[jasonchiu]

hey guys, my cousin pc is pretty old, its celeron 1000 ghz compuiter. i wondering if it is wiser to buy a new pc or upgrade this one.

so far we planning to add ram, but its SD so its more expensive. today i got 512MB ddr ram for just 350 bucks. while 256 SD ram will cost me bloody the same price

a graphics card for it also cost alot more.

it seems like it is better to get a new computer right? coz u can get a 2200 sempon amd chip pc with the standard 40 gb HD and 256 ram for less than 1990 hkd's

advice please!

jason

[Kip_6666]

What does he use the computer for?

[Buba]

If you wanna play shooters with it, you better buy some new stuff...

The whole platform, being still based on SD Ram seems to be really old... Not worth it...

For an office pc, get a new HD, the current one will be small and old, and off you go... Just don't install too much shit on it...

Buba

[jeffy777]

I'd buy a new one. For todays standards, that's a slow processor and he would notice a big improvement in performance if he got a new PC with a faster processor and good ram. I'm sure the video card sucks on his current computer too and the hard drive is probably not that great.

[MXM]

Why would you want to upgrade 1000GHz CPU?

If he plays - new one. If he doesn't - what's the rush? I still have PII 266MHz running 24/7 in my closet

[hokiethang]

It would depend heavily on what it is used for. My parents used a 700mhz athlon with 160MB of RAM and a 15 GB hard drive until the middle of last year, when I bought them a new 2.0Ghz Athlon with 512mb and 80GB HD. They mostly use it for Office type things and taxes, but they were beginning to have hardware failure issues. If the machine still runs fine and is going to be used for office applications, i wouldn't suggest upgrading or buying a new one. If the machine is going to be used for games though, I would suggest, starting with a new motherboard, processor and RAM. I have never been a proponent of buying complete machines from anyone (except for Apple), so I always suggest upgrading / building one yourself.

[jasonchiu]

yeah we gonna get a new computer tomz. is a amd sempon or whatever good enoguh? or what do u suggest for a cheap pc that is fast. celeron?

[hokiethang]

Originally Posted by jasonchiu

yeah we gonna get a new computer tomz. is a amd sempon or whatever good enoguh? or what do u suggest for a cheap pc that is fast. celeron?

I would avoid celerons. The Sempron is equivalent to the Athlon XP (with a little less cache). I prefer AMD because their chips usually are cheaper and faster for a lower price (at least here in the US).

[jasonchiu]

ok so a sempon right? is 2200 2.2ghz?

[TechZ]

If he's running XP, get 512mb ram. 256 is just too low nowadays.

A budget PC is Sempron based today, Celerons are over, says Intel.
Get a good bundle, a 2500 + 512ram+Mobo and a min. hd depending on his use, p2p, etc.

[jasonchiu]

whats a min?

[Kip_6666]

Games is always going to be the killer with budget systems. Well, if he wants to play the newest fp shooters a 200 euro vid card is a minimum to play everything at high.

And also the rest of the system would have to be a bit better. Maybe a socket 754 based sempron. Or a low end a64. 512mb ram in a must these days for games.

If your going to build it yourself, the above configureation would be great.
And my vid card of choice for that bundle would be a 9600pro (make sure its a pro! 400mhz core clock speed))
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...125-169&depa=0
And yes, for around 100 dollars. A fantastic buy, ati lowered the prices of this card drasticly last week or so.

Second step would be a 6600(gt) like card, which is twice as expensive.

[hokiethang]

Originally Posted by jasonchiu

whats a min?

Im going to guess, min as in minumum hard drive (as in cheapest HD available), depending on what the machine is going to be used for. 40GB is probably useless if its going to be used for P2P, but fine if it is going to be used for office type things.

[TechZ]

If its gonna be a budget gaming system, get a 9600XT 256mb model, its the best value at the moment, and if he's a heavy p2p user, I'm thinking 200-250gb is a good buy.

[krummi]

Originally Posted by jasonchiu

ok so a sempon right? is 2200 2.2ghz?

Sempron 2200 is not 2.2GHz. Its equivalent of a Intel 2.2GHz. More likely it runs at 1.2GHz clock speed or something.

Your current system is too old to be upgraded really. As for a new one its a bit hard to suggest anything without knowing how much one is willing to burn money.

[Kip_6666]

Originally Posted by TechZ

If its gonna be a budget gaming system, get a 9600XT 256mb model, its the best value at the moment, and if he's a heavy p2p user, I'm thinking 200-250gb is a good buy.

hmz, maybe, only 25 more bucks on newegg. Not a bad deal actually.

[bigfoot1942]

Originally Posted by krummi

Sempron 2200 is not 2.2GHz. Its equivalent of a Intel 2.2GHz. More likely it runs at 1.2GHz clock speed or something.

Your current system is too old to be upgraded really. As for a new one its a bit hard to suggest anything without knowing how much one is willing to burn money.

A. not true in general
B. not true.
C. absolutely true.

A sempron 2200+ is not supposed to be a equivalent of a Intel P4 2.2GHz, but of a Celeron 2.2 GHz.
So an Athlon 2000+ is better then a sempron 2200+.
And a Sempron 2200+ runs at 1.5GHz. (not that it really matters though, if i could buy a 1MHz processor that outperforms a p4 3,8GHz for a decent price i would definately buy one, eg: its the performance that matters, not the clockspeed)

and you should buy a new one indeed (if its ment to be gamed on). What part can you actually use from that old pc apart from its housing, without a performance-penalty?

[jasonchiu]

so what sempon chip should i get?

[hokiethang]

Originally Posted by jasonchiu

so what sempon chip should i get?

What is the machine going to be used for? If its going to be used for gaming, I would suggest the highest that your cousin is willing to spend.

[Andrew911tt]

for me

there are basically 4 chips(CPUs) you can get
.......................AMD..............Intel
low end.......Athlon XP = Celeron D
high end......Athlon 64 = Pentium 4


I personally would go with the Athlon 64 because they are very good chips and the equal Pentium 4 would be more expensive.

If you go with a higher end chip the performance will be better and you won't have to upgrade as so.

Also with everything going to 64 bit systems in the future your cus would be screwed if he wants to keep the computer for a long time

So spend a little more and go with an Athlon 64
AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor $146


Then for a motherboard
ASUS "K8V SE Deluxe" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU $116
ASUS "K8N" NVIDIA nForce3 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 CPU $85


Then for memory
Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 $162
Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200 $91


Then for a video card (with TV tuner)
ATI AIW RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, CATV/Video Out/Video In, 8X AGP, Model "ALL-IN-WONDER 9600XT" $196
ATI AIW RADEON 9600 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, CATV/Video Out/Video In, 8X AGP, Model "ALL-IN-WONDER 9600" w/ REMOTE $169

Then for a video card
GIGABYTE ATI RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "GV-R96P128DE" $99


so from $421- $620 for a very decent computer
but you still will need all the little things and a case


disclaimer
these are just from quick search
if others disagree with my picks
go ahead and suggest something else