Adding RAM to aging computer; worth it?

[Cerb]

RAM upgrade, for now.

Used business desktop from somewhere like Tigerdirect or Geeks, in the future.

Even when the Celeron finally can't handle it, an aged business desktop with a RAM upgrade will get him by for many more years, at a much smaller expense than a new system (a new system w/o the Windows tax would be another matter, of course).

 

[BrightCandle]

Its easy to tell if more RAM would help or not. Get the machine in the state where performance appears degraded and open up task manager and look at the state of memory. It will tell you how much committed memory it has at that moment and it presumably will be well above the 256MB of physical RAM. You will also see a corresponding increase in disk activity you will also be able to get the paging count. All of this will tell you if more memory would help and how much. Its very simple to determine if RAM would help.

Modern websites can take up to 60MB alone so it doesn't surprise me even on the basics 256MB is chugging, but then a P4 is also severely down on performance compared to todays machines as well, not to mention the fact its only got a single thread. For $400 you can get an entry level machine that will outperform it in every way, so make sure the RAM is really cheap.

 

[j3SeCh6d]

I seconded adding a SSD! An SSD is a significant boost/upgrade to a legacy computer.

If no SATA ports, then use a SATA to IDE 40-pin adapter. Ebay has lots of them:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...1313&_nkw=sata+to+ide+40-pin+adapter&_sacat=0

Then buy a SATA SSD. Try to upgrade the ram to at least 1GB, too. You can transfer the SATA SSD in a newer computer later.

 

[imagoon]

For $20 plop the RAM in. Otherwise just know that there are computers that are 3-5 years newer being sold as refurbished at Microcenter for $90-$120 so take that as what you will. As for the SSD people, uh sure it will make the rig faster but bumping up in to this decade would be better rather than limiting an SSD to the ATA33/66/133 speeds of those days. If that machine happens to only be ATA33 for example, the SSD isn't going to do much since the bus is only 33MB/s peak.

 

[j3SeCh6d]

The motherboard is probably ATA 100/133 based on this wiki reference. The original hard drive is probably a 4800/5400 RPM with very slow access time. SSD even if running at a significantly reduce speed of ATA 100/133 is 10 to 30X faster than a hard drive.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I seconded adding a SSD! An SSD is a significant boost/upgrade to a legacy computer.

If no SATA ports, then use a SATA to IDE 40-pin adapter. Ebay has lots of them:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...1313&_nkw=sata+to+ide+40-pin+adapter&_sacat=0

Then buy a SATA SSD. Try to upgrade the ram to at least 1GB, too. You can transfer the SATA SSD in a newer computer later.

Does WinXP fully support SSD's?

 

[j3SeCh6d]

I have such an adapter & it works as a data drive. My 2 comps has SATA ports, so I've never tried using such an adapter/converter as a system boot SSD drive. WinXP should work & be recognize as a IDE SSD drive. The SSD will need to be re-aligned after full install, or clone process.

It won't have TRIM, but a decent SSD should have garbage collection. My samsung 830 SSD in raid-0 was working without any problems in my z77 chipset without TRIM, then I gained it with the new IRST drivers.

 

[tracerbullet]

The motherboard is probably ATA 100/133 based on this wiki reference. The original hard drive is probably a 4800/5400 RPM with very slow access time. SSD even if running at a significantly reduce speed of ATA 100/133 is 10 to 30X faster than a hard drive.

That's what I was thinking when I recommended it. Still a hige bump and can be xferred to another machine some day if needed.

But it doesn't matter since there's no SATA ports to start with.

Add RAM, let it run til it dies. Then get a new one. Given the minimal demands of the thing, this is simple.

 

[Cerb]

Does WinXP fully support SSD's?

It doesn't need to. Just disable defrag, and let'er'rip.

IMO, though, adding a SSD to such a computer is wasted money. RAM and a SSD will get you at least halfway to the cost of replacement.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...0-0001&cat=SYS
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...MAR-3R&cat=SYS
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...8-0001&cat=SYS

If you're getting close to that kind of cost (note: $20-30 s&h, usually), replace it, instead. A C2D w/ 2GB of RAM and Win 7 will be good for quite some time, and would be worth putting an SSD in, at some point.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would do the RAM, and skip the SSD. Quite frankly, Cerb is right. If you are going to drop the coin on an SSD, you might as well replace the whole thing.

The current CPU would greatly limit the performance increase of the SSD, I think. Pentium 4 Celeron CPUs were not great performers.

 

[j3SeCh6d]

It doesn't need to. Just disable defrag, and let'er'rip.

IMO, though, adding a SSD to such a computer is wasted money. RAM and a SSD will get you at least halfway to the cost of replacement.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...0-0001&cat=SYS
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...MAR-3R&cat=SYS
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...8-0001&cat=SYS

If you're getting close to that kind of cost (note: $20-30 s&h, usually), replace it, instead. A C2D w/ 2GB of RAM and Win 7 will be good for quite some time, and would be worth putting an SSD in, at some point.

Using an IDE 40-pin to SATA converter will enable the computer to run a modern SATA SSD at ATA-100/133 speed. The converter is only ~$3 at eBay. Cheap experiment, but the payoff is big.

Later, upon getting a newer computer when the time comes, then migrate the SSD with Windows 7 for TRIM support.

 

[tracerbullet]

*nevermind*

 

[Cerb]

Using an IDE 40-pin to SATA converter will enable the computer to run a modern SATA SSD at ATA-100/133 speed. The converter is only ~$3 at eBay. Cheap experiment, but the payoff is big.

$140-170 could get RAM and a SSD (cheaper not buying new RAM, of course). Meanwhile, it's still got the old OS, and still has a CPU that's only saving grace is being faster than a Raspberry Pi. The cost is relatively high, and the payoff is not big at all, because it will still be stuck with a Northwood Celeron.

$160-200 can get a whole used business desktop, with a Core 2 Duo or Athlon II, Windows 7, IGP that can handle Youtube and Hulu, if not necessarily at high res (probably Netflix, too, but haven't tried with the Intel ones I see available), 2GB of RAM, and a CPU as fast as what I'm typing on right now.

$30-60 will get 1-2GB of RAM (probably cheaper for the OP to get some from his friend), depending on whether you want to go for the sure thing (Crucial or Kingston OK'd for that PC), or just similar RAM (cheap good brand from Newegg). That should give it some life. If money is tight, go for it. Keep used business-class PCs in mind, when the opportunity to replace it comes up, though, because the Windows license, combined, with decent amounts of RAM, can make them really good values.

 

[j3SeCh6d]

$140-170 could get RAM and a SSD (cheaper not buying new RAM, of course). Meanwhile, it's still got the old OS, and still has a CPU that's only saving grace is being faster than a Raspberry Pi. The cost is relatively high, and the payoff is not big at all, because it will still be stuck with a Northwood Celeron.

$160-200 can get a whole used business desktop, with a Core 2 Duo or Athlon II, Windows 7, IGP that can handle Youtube and Hulu, if not necessarily at high res (probably Netflix, too, but haven't tried with the Intel ones I see available), 2GB of RAM, and a CPU as fast as what I'm typing on right now.

$30-60 will get 1-2GB of RAM (probably cheaper for the OP to get some from his friend), depending on whether you want to go for the sure thing (Crucial or Kingston OK'd for that PC), or just similar RAM (cheap good brand from Newegg). That should give it some life. If money is tight, go for it. Keep used business-class PCs in mind, when the opportunity to replace it comes up, though, because the Windows license, combined, with decent amounts of RAM, can make them really good values.

The OP said he/she can get RAM for ~$20. Add converter ~$3 & SSD 64GB to 128GB for ~$50 to ~$80. Total ~$100 upgrade for a possible big gain.

In fact, I may even skip the RAM or just bring it to 512mb [~$10] & use the SSD for virtual/page file. This will feel like a rebuilt car for minimal cost.

 

[tracerbullet]

$140-170

Half that. $20 for RAM, $50 for a 90GB range SSD. You mentioned used, so let's talk used. ebay prices, possibly F/S here as well. SSD could xfer to a different machine later on, too. It'd boot quickly, cache pages, do what it needs to do.

I think people are forgetting dad's uses. Exactly how much CPU is needed to browse the internet?

The OP said he/she can get RAM for ~$20. Add converter ~$3 & SSD 64GB to 128GB for ~$50 to ~$80. Total ~$100 upgrade for a possible big gain.

Exactly. I had this open and walked away to grab a beer, I think we're saying the same thing.

Maybe an SSD isn't the best idea, but the requirements here are a whole lot lower than people apply to themselves.

 

[Cerb]

The OP said he/she can get RAM for ~$20. Add converter ~$3 & SSD 64GB to 128GB for ~$50 to ~$80. Total ~$100 upgrade for a possible big gain.

If you can find SSDs worth buying that cheap (I'm seeing $70 as a minimum, $85 for nice ones, at 64GB), that's still half or more the cost of replacing the computer, for little gain.

Turns out I overestimated replacement cost, too, by only going to one source:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...097&CatId=2628

So, I can get one for $131 shipped to my door, with a Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, and Windows 7. I might just have to snag one of those to have a small-case spare computer handy.

There is no big gain to be had, beyond not paging so much. Once that's taken care of, it will be CPU-limited, doing even the most basic web browsing and email reading, today, whether it has an SSD or not.

I think people are forgetting dad's uses. Exactly how much CPU is needed to browse the internet?

An Atom, Athlon XP, or Pentium 4 B >=2GHz would be good starts. Then, pair with a GPU that won't hog CPU time left and right.

 

[j3SeCh6d]

Staples had sales of Kingston V300 SSD 120GB for ~$73 & Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSD for ~$90 which ended Saturday. I bought this one for my new laptop. There are always sales of SSD.

I have a similar computer at work & it feels slow without a SSD. The HD LED is always lighting up whenever I'm using IE. Since I've had comps running at 2ghz, I don't feel being cpu-limited. It is always the mechanical/diskdrive-limitation that is the bottleneck.

Nice suggestion for a Win7 computer for $131. Am looking 1 for my niece. But I will still upgrade this to an SSD & relegate the spinner to a data drive only.