small/cheap upgrade to the computer

Thinking of doing some upgrades to my computer soonish.

Maybe motherboard is one thing that I have to buy anyways, this old one makes the battery deplete in day or two if I don't start the computer up. Tried with few new ones, but I think the problem is on some of my hardware....
SHIT!
This problem has been on my computer now over an week and it doesn't seem to go away.
Tried to find some help from the wonderful world of internet and I don't know if it is true, but it might the motherboard.

I have no idea what my motherboard is, but I got it from my friend few years ago, maybe 2008 or 2009.
The problem is that if I change it, do I have to buy new processor too?
I have Athlon 64 4200+. It is about the same age than the motherboard, maybe few years older (2007 or 2008?), just a guess.

What about the memories? I hope I can keep the old ones. I have no idea what kind of memory blocks I have.

What about the power? I have quite new 500W power, works fine, I like it, but is it enough? I think it is, that way I should save some money.

Any suggestions. No expensive ones please. Not going to waste all my money. Any other things I should consider?

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http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3332770
C4 Corvette, love her till my death.

Try this http://www.chip.de/downloads/AIDA64_13006279.html

It is only a demo version but you can get information about your hardware.

If I was you I wouldn't spend a single Euro on that old machine - honestly.
Simply because of the fact that no so called “upgrade“ whatsoever would
boost it in any direction in order to make capital out of that new part
...you are just wasting money. New topic same old story - you need a new computer Bio.

_________________
Deimos: His name means dread, and he was a fearsome son of Bull & Dirty the fearful gods of war. He always attended his gay fathers on the battlefield, along with his compadres.

Bionic Commando wrote:

Thinking of doing some upgrades to my computer soonish.

Maybe motherboard is one thing that I have to buy anyways, this old one makes the battery deplete in day or two if I don't start the computer up. Tried with few new ones, but I think the problem is on some of my hardware....
SHIT!
This problem has been on my computer now over an week and it doesn't seem to go away.
Tried to find some help from the wonderful world of internet and I don't know if it is true, but it might the motherboard.
Power drain on onboard battery results from a faulty mainboard or power supply or if those components are ok, from standby/hibernate usage.

I have no idea what my motherboard is, but I got it from my friend few years ago, maybe 2008 or 2009.
The problem is that if I change it, do I have to buy new processor too?
Yes. You cant get a new motherboard for a athlon 4200 these days.
I have Athlon 64 4200+. It is about the same age than the motherboard, maybe few years older (2007 or 2008?), just a guess.

What about the memories? I hope I can keep the old ones. I have no idea what kind of memory blocks I have.
New config makes you switch to another RAM standard. Probably DDR3. You probably will have to toss your old memory in the trash.

What about the power? I have quite new 500W power, works fine, I like it, but is it enough? I think it is, that way I should save some money.
500W is enough if you dont intend on using 2 graphic cards or overclocking.

Any suggestions. No expensive ones please. Not going to waste all my money. Any other things I should consider?
Getting the new AMD A8 platform. They have an intergrated graphics solution. So you dont have to pay for one.
Get a new Hard disk too, they work faster and are a bit more reliable.
Don´t try to get a cheap computer for pc gaming. Its just not possible. If you want to play new games with good fps, prepare to pay money.
I would suggest getting a stable solid solution with no "max performance" components versus a cheap "gaming" solution which breaks down all the time.

	Bionic Commando wrote:
	What about the memories? I hope I can keep the old ones.

No one can take your memories away. Do not worry about that. Razz

Otherwise I tend to agree with d3im0s. Try to find an affordable new PC.
You could buy components for your old one on Ebay but if you do not know what to exactly look for or how to assemble all this, you cannot be helped.

If you still want to upgrade your old device, you can google the information on the memory-bars (or on the chips themselves - usually letter-number combinations). You will then know what kind of memory you have and you can look for that. But that will still not be very cheap, because lots of people see their old machines getting slower and slower and try to fix it by adding memory - that keeps the price up for outdated types of memory.
The same applies to every other component inside your PC.

I just built a "very old" computer, because I wanted to have one that is able to connect to the old floppy-drives of my C64 and Amiga which works best with plain old DOS and a serial port. That already wasn't too cheap. And it would have been more than twice if I had to pay 10 cent for every swear word I used. Rolling Eyes

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Finally online: TriffiD's Astronomy Page

bionic
check the old hardware first.
From your rare specs of it, this is not too old.
Only if you have a need to run very new software-games at high resolutions.

your CPU (if the spec is the right one)
is a
Dual-Core CPU up to 2.2GHz
-
for example, i have a dual-core up to 2.7GHz
and very new ones - ! and expensive ones !-
can go up to 3 to 3.5 and more.
But this is not the reason if your software is running too slow.

You have to check the kind of graphics-card
and how much memory is installed and
what kind of Operating-System you are using!

Then you have to name the software you want to run on this hardware.

It could be a better graphics-card and some more memory, including
the newer OS will do it.

But that is the problem. Check the prizes for computer-hardware
with (new) OS. Sometimes its impossible to beat such low offers
with a buy of the single compoenents.

And if you do a check about new boxes - post what you are looking at,
maybe someone already knows the backdraws of such offers (the dealers
know more ways to cheat, you might ever imagine .. ... )

_________________

only testing .... --- damn, another uncovered bug

only
cause i noticed it too late
about your
500-Watt power-supply
-
you should check the real power-consumption and
if you try to buy a new one
check for power-supplys with bronze or better silver power-supply efficiency.

I use now a
bronze 80+
power supply
and this shows a significant less power-usage.
I used a power-meter to record the power-usage (i dont believe dealer promises, but it was true)
and it showed 20% less power usage for my desktop.

In normal inactivity - only the desktop screen -
the old system had 102 Watt power-consumption
and with the new power-supply it was only
82 Watts

It depends how long you run the computer and how high the
electricity cost are, then it will be 1 to 3 years to get back
the more money to spend for such a power-supply.

_________________

only testing .... --- damn, another uncovered bug

[quote="TriffiD"]

	Bionic Commando wrote:
	I just built a "very old" computer, because I wanted to have one that is able to connect to the old floppy-drives of my C64 and Amiga which works best with plain old DOS and a serial port. That already wasn't too cheap. And it would have been more than twice if I had to pay 10 cent for every swear word I used.

Triffid,
such old floppy-drives
3.5 or 5-1/4
there is still some big differences in the formatting.
As long those were formated in stupid old MS-DOS-sector-counting
it is no problem to read those with a newer hardware.
I still have 5 1/4 drives and old 3 1/2 drives around.
But, cause i used an ATARI in those days, i know the formating
was sometimes tweaked to make the lame floppys read faster or
to store more data on them. And this may break with a new
hardware combination. The old c-64 or ATARI (and i think the AMIGA too)
had built-in chips for the communication with the floppy drives and those
chips had different options than the later standard pc-x86-hardware.
Therefore there might be formats on the storage, you can only read
with the appropiate hardware.

edit: btw. if i remember right, my brother might still have two c-64 mobos in the basement .. Wink

)

_________________

only testing .... --- damn, another uncovered bug

test-dr wrote:

TriffiD wrote:

	Bionic Commando wrote:
	I just built a "very old" computer, because I wanted to have one that is able to connect to the old floppy-drives of my C64 and Amiga which works best with plain old DOS and a serial port. That already wasn't too cheap. And it would have been more than twice if I had to pay 10 cent for every swear word I used.

Triffid,
such old floppy-drives
3.5 or 5-1/4
there is still some big differences in the formatting.
As long those were formated in stupid old MS-DOS-sector-counting
it is no problem to read those with a newer hardware.
I still have 5 1/4 drives and old 3 1/2 drives around.
But, cause i used an ATARI in those days, i know the formating
was sometimes tweaked to make the lame floppys read faster or
to store more data on them. And this may break with a new
hardware combination. The old c-64 or ATARI (and i think the AMIGA too)
had built-in chips for the communication with the floppy drives and those
chips had different options than the later standard pc-x86-hardware.
Therefore there might be formats on the storage, you can only read
with the appropiate hardware.

That is perfectly right. The formats of those old disks are fundamentally different from those used today or even 10 years ago. The PC-hardware cannot read the c64 disks. And this is not only a problem of encoding but principles. Good to see that these antique devices have some fans. Laughing

But I did not want to read/write the old floppy disks directly in a pc. I made myself a cable to connect the pc directly (via serial port) to the 1541 floppy-drive of the c64. That way you can load the images, available onto or from the internet to those old 5 1/4 inch disks.
But this only works if you don't use modern hardware with its adapters or hardware emulations - you need good old cablework and interfaces.

I have 2 c64 and one of them still lives. Even the disks still work (most of them). My Amiga500 has a problem with its keyboard driver chip. I will attend to that when I have more time. Those are hard to get.

_________________

Finally online: TriffiD's Astronomy Page

Back on topic, a good tool to gather substantial system data Bio is Sisoft Sandra. Anyways I persist on
my statement, you need a new computer to stay up to date. I don't know about the situation in Finland
but you'll get good quadcore systems with decent graphics cards and a sufficient amount of memory
for about 600 bucks in Germany. peanuts.

_________________
Deimos: His name means dread, and he was a fearsome son of Bull & Dirty the fearful gods of war. He always attended his gay fathers on the battlefield, along with his compadres.

Today I tried my mainboard on my friends computer and the same errors occured, so I'm pretty sure it is indeed wasted, good thing is that also he now knows what was the problem on his computer.
Very Happy

Anyways, so if I consider buying NEW (not used) mainboard, what kind of would be good for the future?
That means new processor too, so is there any good around that arent too expensive, but still enough for my needs (no need to run any brand new games). Maybe something that would run TCE flawlessy?

I think that RAM is quite cheap, it is the processor prize that worries me. I don't want anything that is worse than I have now, but I don't think that there is anything like this in stores nowadays anyways....

_________________

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3332770
C4 Corvette, love her till my death.

Bionic Commando wrote:

Today I tried my mainboard on my friends computer and the same errors occured, so I'm pretty sure it is indeed wasted, good thing is that also he now knows what was the problem on his computer.
Very Happy

Anyways, so if I consider buying NEW (not used) mainboard, what kind of would be good for the future?
That means new processor too, so is there any good around that arent too expensive, but still enough for my needs (no need to run any brand new games). Maybe something that would run TCE flawlessy?

I think that RAM is quite cheap, it is the processor prize that worries me. I don't want anything that is worse than I have now, but I don't think that there is anything like this in stores nowadays anyways....

Trottel.

_________________
Deimos: His name means dread, and he was a fearsome son of Bull & Dirty the fearful gods of war. He always attended his gay fathers on the battlefield, along with his compadres.

d3im0s wrote:

Bionic Commando wrote:

Today I tried my mainboard on my friends computer and the same errors occured, so I'm pretty sure it is indeed wasted, good thing is that also he now knows what was the problem on his computer.
Very Happy

Anyways, so if I consider buying NEW (not used) mainboard, what kind of would be good for the future?
That means new processor too, so is there any good around that arent too expensive, but still enough for my needs (no need to run any brand new games). Maybe something that would run TCE flawlessy?

I think that RAM is quite cheap, it is the processor prize that worries me. I don't want anything that is worse than I have now, but I don't think that there is anything like this in stores nowadays anyways....

Trottel.

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"One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." Uncle Bionic

Some progress.
I have actually been checking out my local stores for parts.

Been thinking i5 as an processor. Isn't too expensive (like i7) and it should be enough for me for years (if it lasts).

Now the model is harder, should I go good one, like 2500K, or does it really matter?
I mean the ACTUAL frames in games or the speed how fast the computer works/starts up?
If the difference is small, 2500K isn't worth it.

About the motherboard...

I have to go with cheapest model or close. Otherwise I have to take worse processor.

I saw this one:
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Intel Z68 LGA1155 ATX. It has that important LGA1155 support for i5, and costs only 100€.
It has only 4 USB ports and such, but I have to say that the prize sounds good.

________________________

But yeah, mostly I need some help from you guys, have you ANY knowledge from i5 processors?
What is the difference between... say i5 2300, 2400 and 2500?

And the second thing, would AMD Athlon II X4 say would be better choice or maybe Phenom?
My local stores have mostly Intel, but are they good?

Thanks for any bits of information.
Very Happy

_________________

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3332770
C4 Corvette, love her till my death.

the K version has lower power consumption... its better
and dont buy asrock mainboards... go for gigabyte