We bought our computer in Jan of 03, so it is about 9 years old now. We didn't get the very top of the line but had it built with the best stuff we could afford. Since then, we have had it upgraded about 3 years ago.
Near as I can tell, it has a pentium 4 2400Mhz, RAM I had maxed out last time we upgraded. We also had the video card upgraded but I have no idea what it is.
Usage: 3 users, usually always logged on. Powerpoint, word documents, pictures, video, email, internet, and the kids do a few internet games but nothing serious. It is getting sloooooowwww, and squirrelly. I recently bought an optimizer from PCpitstop and that helped. but it is still quite slow. What do you reccommend?
Options:
1) Upgrade again
2) Buy a new computer that will handle what we do
3) Buy 2 or 3 computers, one for everybody, or one for the wify and me and one for the kids
What brands, if we need a new puter, and what attributes should we look for?
Thanks in advance
I was wondering what size CPU (central processing unit) you had. But I'm assuming thats what you meant by 2400 mhz ram
You might have a 2400 mhz processor but you dont have 2400 meg of ram, and if you did you certainly wouldn't be complaining about performance. Translated, that'd be 2.4 gig and that's some pretty good ram.
The trick is to get something with a large enough CPU to handle plenty of ram. One is kinda useless without the other.
RAM is a data storage device, and CPU is a data processing device, So if you bought 5000 meg of ram which is 5 gig, but only have a 2400 mhz CPU, you wont even notice a difference because the processor cannot process it all.
If you truely have a 2400 mhz pentium 4, you should be able to up your ram to at least 2 gig and be setting pretty good. If you added the pentium 4 during your last upgrade, then you'll be better off starting over. Because if the motherboard your syncing it to can't run it optimally, you dont gain much.
As far as what machine to get, the choices today are of great plenty.
I'd look for something that came with a minimum of 1.5 gig of ram, 2.0 would be the ultimate for simple family things and just about anything else you might get into.
Walmart has some great deals on great machines, and so does Tiger Direct. Just dont get an E-machine, ah maybe I shouldnt say that, they might have gotten better.
Or you could go to Dell.com
If you know what your doing, you can build your own like I do for about half the price. Tiger Direct and New Egg will sell any part for any purpose.
The machine I use here most often, I built for around $900 bucks 2 years ago I believe, and to buy it outright with the compensates I used, it'd retail fro around $4000 :sneer:
QuoteNear as I can tell, it has a pentium 4 2400Mhz, RAM I had maxed out last time we upgraded.
I guess I should have worded that different. I meant that I had the ram maxed out the last time we upgraded. It is a 2400Mhz Pent. 4. I am THINKING that it was added the last time we had the computer worked on.
I don't know what I am doing, but there is a computer geek young man at church that gets components from new egg. I guess I could spot him some cash to build a high speed low drag unit for us.