Help with reconstruction my PC

[CODER]

Hi everyone!




just after Christmas, i will be rebuilding (or modifying, or whaterverising) my PC. Its running XP, and am not sure whether to upgrade it to 7 ( my home network is XP and my mother will not let me do anything to her PC, which is the main one). I am hoping to spend around $1000 (AUSD) inclusive of labor costs.

After briefly looking thru the device manager, I was able to get these hardware specs:

Graphics card: NIVIDA Ge Force 8800GT
ACPI Multiprocessor pc
two Genuine Intel (R) CPUs 2160 @ 1.8 GHz (whatever that means)


uhhh... what other info would be useful? I'm sorry that I dont really know what I'm looking for, I am just trying to get some opinions.

Thanks

 

[Kabutos]

Well, the 8800 and the e2160 are both good parts, albeit somewhat outdated. It would help if you could include other things like your motherboard, RAM, PSU, etc. Try downloading Speccy [http://www.piriform.com/speccy].

 

[Patrick Dare]

Do you have the computers networked? What I mean is can they access content on each other? last I knew vista could see xp computers but not vice-versa so I'm assuming it's the same for windows 7.

Edit: I'd recommend the OS upgrade unless the above is true and it's absolutely necessary for you. There may be some way around it as well but I'm not sure because I never share content between PCs.

 

[TheComedown]

If you've got a grand there, I would build new. For $1000 AUD you can get some pretty decent specs. Your in Australia so i shall recommend this site for parts http://pccasegear.com/ and a bit of research and it shouldn't take you too long to know what will work in your budget.

 

[Wintermoot]

you could cut labor costs by building it yourself (its easier then it looks) and you can set your new PC as the main one (I,m pretty sure 7 is backwards compatible)

 

[CODER]

thanks Madnezz

Ok,

ram: 2.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 332MHz (5-5-5-15)

motherboard:
Model 945GMF-DS2
Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Chipset Model i945P/PL/G/GZ

PSU: ... uhhh, I cant find it

(dose this actually mean anything to you, am I giving you the right info?)


Oh, Patrick Dare yeah, some files can be shared, but thats about it.
Thanks.

 

[Kabutos]

Well, first off, I'd recommend getting another 2GB of RAM, but seeing as you have a $1000 AUD budget, (which is around $950 USD? correct me if I'm wrong) I'd also recommend a GPU and CPU upgrade, which would mean you'd also have to upgrade your Motherboard, and PSU. So, like The Comedown said, I'd recommend starting from scratch and saving the CPU and throwing the 8800 in your new PC for PhysX or something.

 

[MrTub]

I would recommend that you build a completely new computer, since your ram is quite slow and cpu isnt the best either

 

[zidine100]

im going to give you some advice and say to build it yourself, its just like making a puzzle with the instructions on how to build it already there, sure the motherboard will be a bit tricky if you have to change that (just read the manual and you'll be fine), but if your changing that and your cpu and gpu and ram, why not just go all out and make a new one, it'll be a hell of alot easier than figuring out what's compatible with your hard drive, and if your going to be needing a new psu due to power consumption and the like, mind you thats not a problem usually unless your overclocking.

also i wouldn't recommend windows 7 on just 2 gig of ram, id recommend vista or xp.

also keep in mind if you do decide to do this yourself, buy a anti satic wrist cable, sure some people claim its unessential those people would also be liars btw, but if you dont want your newly bought hardware to go down the drain a £5 (at least thats what i got mine for) is the least of your worries.

 

[Kabutos]

also keep in mind if you do decide to do this yourself, buy a anti satic wrist cable, sure some people claim its unessential those people would also be liars btw, but if you dont want your newly bought hardware to go down the drain a £5 (at least thats what i got mine for) is the least of your worries.

Um, as long as you keep yourself grounded, then you'll be fine. Anti-static wristbands aren't really that necessary.

 

[zidine100]

also keep in mind if you do decide to do this yourself, buy a anti satic wrist cable, sure some people claim its unessential those people would also be liars btw, but if you dont want your newly bought hardware to go down the drain a £5 (at least thats what i got mine for) is the least of your worries.

Um, as long as you keep yourself grounded, then you'll be fine. Anti-static wristbands aren't really that necessary.

your body creates static, most floors aren't grounded from my understanding, see my point here. Unless your planning on leaning on the box. My point is that its one of the easiest ways to get grounded and that its damn near essential.

 

[Kabutos]

your body creates static, most floors aren't grounded from my understanding, see my point here. Unless your planning on leaning on the box. My point is that its one of the easiest ways to get grounded and that its damn near essential.

Just plugging in the PSU (not switching it on) and touching the case will keep you grounded. As long as you aren't building on a shag rug wearing wool socks or something, you'll be fine. It is in no way essential.

 

[zidine100]

your body creates static, most floors aren't grounded from my understanding, see my point here. Unless your planning on leaning on the box. My point is that its one of the easiest ways to get grounded and that its damn near essential.

Just plugging in the PSU (not switching it on) and touching the case will keep you grounded. As long as you aren't building on a shag rug wearing wool socks or something, you'll be fine. It is in no way essential.

oh really, well sweet.