Fitting new hardware to an old PC.

[JAG]

I have an old (2007) Acer PC. It has an AMD 64x2 Dual Core Processor (2.10 GHz). It is on it's second (100mb) hard drive, and has 3.00GB of Ram. I am pretty sure that the graphics card is on its way out - silvery blotches on the screen when using video. I am contemplating replacing the graphics card (less than B1000 on Lazada), and replacing the hard drive with a bigger (250 GB) solid state drive. I recently fitted a SSD to my laptop and it improved it no end. The PC runs Windows 7 ( originally Vista). I don't use it for gaming, mainly for word processing, online teaching (with video) and Utube and so on.

 

I reckon for about B3000 I would have a much improved PC - ideas/suggestions/comments?

[JamJar]

100MB hard drive? Really? ???? I'm guessing you mean 120 GB.

 

You are better of just buying a more updated second hand PC.

[JamJar]

If you are going to spend as much as 3000 baht, just get a better PC.

 

Example; https://www.thailandallit.com/product/8/dell-optiplex-7010-รุ่น-top-pc-dell-มือสอง-pc-dell-ราคาถูก

 

Current PC;

 

New PC;

 

You'll also get more out of your SSD, as the new PC will have SATA III support, as opposed to SATA II.

In addition to that, you'll also have more than double the amount of faster RAM. So much more capable overall.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by JamJar

[wgdanson]

20 minutes ago, JamJar said:

100MB hard drive? Really? ???? I'm guessing you mean 120 GB.

 

You are better of just buying a more updated second hand PC.

With built in spell checker!   LOL    off

[Swiss1960]

Agree with above

 

On top, users running Windows 7 should be aware that the extended support ends in January 2020,  no more security patches from then on. 

 

Not sure the OP's specs will be able to run Windows 10 after the upgrade...

 

 

[JamJar]

If you just want to upgrade what you have, don't spend much on it; https://www.lazada.co.th/products/gigabyte-gt210-1gb-ddr3-64-bit-i401538999-s780394452.html

[JamJar]

1 minute ago, Swiss1960 said:

Agree with above

 

On top, users running Windows 7 should be aware that the extended support ends in January 2020,  no more security patches from then on. 

 

Not sure the OP's specs will be able to run Windows 10 after the upgrade...

 

 

 

Specs are just ok, but not worth spending anything like 3000 baht on that device if it already has an SSD fitted. Perhaps the graphics card will solve the "silvery blotch" issue. Move RAM to a minimum of 4GB. Installation of Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. So under 1000 baht.

But in the end you'll be pushing the device to it's limits, with nowhere else to go.

[Toosetinmyways]

Just built a Ryzen 3 computer so my old system is redundant It is the same spec as the OP except 16 GB ram The plan is to try windows 10 to see how it copes before installing a Linux variant My wife's laptop is a dual core running windows 10 and it is slooooooow           My advice to the OP would be to buy second hand.        

[JamJar]

3 hours ago, Toosetinmyways said:

Just built a Ryzen 3 computer so my old system is redundant It is the same spec as the OP except 16 GB ram The plan is to try windows 10 to see how it copes before installing a Linux variant My wife's laptop is a dual core running windows 10 and it is slooooooow           My advice to the OP would be to buy second hand.        

 

Only a couple of likely possibilities; Athlon X2 BE-2350 or Athlon X2 4050e.

 

Either of them will run Windows 10 64 bit, in conjunction with 4GB of RAM and an SSD. If you have a separate graphics card then even better.

So no major issues envisaged as a general purpose PC in conjunction with 16 GB of RAM and an SSD.

I run a laptop with a similarly capable CPU in conjunction with 4GB of RAM and an SSD. It's fine for Office and surfing.

 

 

It doesn't sound as if you have fitted your wife's laptop with an SSD. I have tested many ten year old dual core laptops, all fitted with 4GB of RAM and SSD. None of them are slow. All loaded fully and a ready for use within half a minute of pressing the power button.

 

The issue is rarely the CPU for when it comes to basic performance. The bottleneck is usually the mechanical storage in combination with software bloat. Clean install the operating system to an SSD and note the difference in performance in day to day usage.

 

[Toosetinmyways]

12 hours ago, JamJar said:

 

Only a couple of likely possibilities; Athlon X2 BE-2350 or Athlon X2 4050e.

 

Either of them will run Windows 10 64 bit, in conjunction with 4GB of RAM and an SSD. If you have a separate graphics card then even better.

So no major issues envisaged as a general purpose PC in conjunction with 16 GB of RAM and an SSD.

I run a laptop with a similarly capable CPU in conjunction with 4GB of RAM and an SSD. It's fine for Office and surfing.

 

 

It doesn't sound as if you have fitted your wife's laptop with an SSD. I have tested many ten year old dual core laptops, all fitted with 4GB of RAM and SSD. None of them are slow. All loaded fully and a ready for use within half a minute of pressing the power button.

 

The issue is rarely the CPU for when it comes to basic performance. The bottleneck is usually the mechanical storage in combination with software bloat. Clean install the operating system to an SSD and note the difference in performance in day to day usage.

 

Wife's laptop at present only has 2 GB ram with a 500 gb hard drive. Taking your advice, decided on 500 gb SSD plus 8GB ram which is a 3000 baht upgrade. Worth it I think. On checking motherboard discover it only supports 4 gb ram.

[robblok]

Sorry JAG its far too old it might not even have a good connection for the harddisk. I would certainly try to find the manual of the motherboard and see if it has serial ata and check what graphic cards it can fit. This is a really old computer like others said maybe better to buy a new second hand system or something like that. 

[JamJar]

3 hours ago, Toosetinmyways said:

Wife's laptop at present only has 2 GB ram with a 500 gb hard drive. Taking your advice, decided on 500 gb SSD plus 8GB ram which is a 3000 baht upgrade. Worth it I think. On checking motherboard discover it only supports 4 gb ram.

 

I doubt your wife needs a 500 GB capacity drive. But the best for quality and price is the https://www.invadeit.co.th/product/solid-state-drives-ssd/crucial/mx500-500gb-2-5inch-internal-ssd-ct500mx500ssd1-p034804/

 

or

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/product/solid-state-drives-ssd/crucial/mx500-250gb-2-5inch-internal-ssd-ct250mx500ssd1-p034803/

 

 

Cannot comment about the RAM, since you haven't told anything regarding the brand and model number of the laptop.