Aging system ... is it time for an upgrade?

[Immunoboy]

I would really appreciate some opinions. I have a rig that I built 6 1/2 years ago that continues to handle everything I throw at it (non-gamer, some light photoshop work, primarily multiple, concurrent program work with custom software). Most of the work I do involves data manipulations that the software logs for legal purposes, so keeping a faithful record (ie stable system) is most important. This system has never frozen, never hung up, and because of the data I work with, I'd like things to stay that way. I am becoming concerned that after all this time, I'm tempting fate by not building a new system. Suggestions? A friend suggestion I just but 2 GB of RAM and let her go for another 2 years. I was an early adopter of the dual CPU system, and it took some effort to tweak this system.

Short specs on Current system
Tyan Tiger S2460 with 2x Athalon MP 1800+
512 MB Crucial Reg ECC Ram
2 x 80 GB Maxtor HDs
vanilla graphics card
Lian Li PC-68 case with Enermax 431 W PSU
WinXP SP2

My only concern about putting together a new rig is the time to get to a new stable system, and with job and kid duties, that is a tall order these days. However, if I am tempting fate with a 61/2 year old system, then upgrade I will.

Thanks for your input.

 

[boomerang]

My major concern would be Hard Drives. They're all going to fail eventually, it's just a matter of when.

If you have a backup plan, and stick to it, I see no need to upgrade.

 

[DSF]

As boomerang said, your hard drives should be the area of greatest concern. If anything else fails you can still probably recover your data. If your hard drive(s) go down, data will be expensive or impossible to recover. A hard drive that would have plenty of space for you would be at most $100.

 

[Immunoboy]

Thanks ... I have made small upgrades over the years ... a USB 2.0 card to upgrade USB capabilities. My primary drive is 6 1/2 years old, and if I am going to go through the time of replacing that, then I guess it might as well be time to replace the whole system. In addition, this board only supports old IDE HDs.

Thanks for the input. My next post will probably be for the new build.

 

[Roguestar]

Get an external USB hard drive caddy and an SATA hard drive, then copy all your important data onto it. Also, when your computer finally gives up the ghost entirely, you can slap the SATA drive into a new PC.

 

[Immunoboy]

Thanks for that suggestion ... I have a 1 TB western digital USB HD (Costco special) that I use for a file backup.