Upgrade Computer or Buy New?

[HalcyonSpirit]

I'm pretty sure I can guess the answer to the question, but I figured I may as well ask, since it's been years since I've been up-to-date on computer hardware news.

Basically I have an old desktop computer sitting at home collecting dust and I want to know if it's worth it to upgrade some of the components, or whether just buying a new computer would be more cost-effective. As far as how much of an upgrade I'm looking for, I need it to be at least as powerful as my current laptop (which is also showing its age), otherwise it'd just be a waste of time. I'm not looking for a high-end computer (I KNOW that's out of the question), but being able to split my workload between the computers might prolong the life of my laptop. Not to mention that if my laptop does die in the relatively near future, it'd be good to still have a computer to do my engineering work on.

Here's the basic specs of the two computers:

Desktop:

ASUS P4S8X-MX Motherboard (specs here)

Pentium 4 2.40GHz

512MB DDR SDRAM

NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420

Laptop:

Inspiron 9300, Y4694 Motherboard

Pentium M 2.00GHz

1GB RAM (unknown type)

NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800

Remember, the desktop would need to be at least as powerful as the laptop, preferably more, but I know that's unlikely. If getting a new desktop would be better, what's possible when on a fairly tight budget (I don't have a set limit right now) if I build it myself (I'm looking at YOU, prophet of mephisto!)? I wouldn't need anything besides the computer itself, just to be clear on that.

[SoulinEther]

Hum. You're better off getting a new motherboard. DDR1 ram has gone out of date, and besides, DDR2 ram is much cheaper.

So that means you'll need to buy:

-A new mobo.

-New CPU.

-New RAM.

-Probably a new license for Windows, unless you bought Win XP like in a box (in other words, not OEM, which should mean that you can install it on the new system without trouble) once upon a time. Or you have Win2k or older. Or you do some illegal activity (which I absolutely do not condone (anymore)). Or you get Linux, or some other free OS.

-New graphics card, though if your new motherboard has an AGP card, or an ok built-in one that you won't mind using, you won't need to. (though that card is really kind of dated... not sure how it compares to say Intel's latest dedicated graphics card)

-Possibly a new power supply unit, if your current one will not handle the new motherboard + cpu + other new components.

I haven't checked out prices in a few months (was computer shopping for school lately), but... you can probably get a good deal on an Intel CPU+mobo combo at tigerdirect.com or newegg.com. I've read pretty positive reviews about that one cheap dual-core Celeron (i've heard it's pretty overclockable) but you'd probably work best with at least a Pentium D or Core 2 Duo. There's this new CPU thing from Intel coming out... not so sure about it.

Expect to spend anywhere from $80-200 for a motherboard + cpu. (even more if you want more high-end leetness)

On the issue of ram. 2GB should be plenty (2 sticks; 1GB each), and can be pretty cheap, like $10-$20 ($10 here). If you need 3 or 4 GB... well, that could run you $20-$40. Shop around. Try to get the fastest ram that you can find (like 800 mhz).. although there's this whole CAS timing/latency thing that, while rather confusing, is also important on speed. I doubt you'll be complaining though with whatever build you make in comparison to what you have now.

Windows XP Home OEM can be less than or around $100. Vista Basic OEM can run that much too.

A new graphics card... well, almost anything now should be faster than what your old computer had. So, you can be looking at anywhere from FREE (Fry's occasional sales comes to mind) to $200 depending on what you get. I just know nvidias: the 7 series kinda sucked (7xxx), and the 8800 was pretty popular, a while ago. If you're using CAD, this ... might be important, so definitely research this a little bit.

And then newer Nvidia 2xx series cards can cost more; like 400-500. So.. yeah.

PSUs can be pretty cheap. I'd estimate $20-$50.

I'll let you do the math, mr. engineer (lol)

ps don't forget to put speedholes into the side of your case. it makes the computer go faster!

[Dafydd]

Is a Pentium M@2GHz faster than a P4@2.4GHz? I had no idea.

I agree you need a new motherboard, since you need to upgrade your ram, or at least get more of it (512MB isn't a lot these days). Unfortunately I don't think the processor will work with a newer motherboard even though they use the same socket... but a new, low-range dual core processor is cheap, especially the AMD ones. I don't think they're all better than the one you have though.

And you definitely need a new graphics card if you do anything graphics-intensive, such as cad. Your old card is probably AGP (and thereby incompatible with newer motherboards) anyway. But like has already been said, it doesn't need to be expensive at all.

I think you should be able to pull together something decent for less than $400. And by that I mean something that will last until you graduate. You haven't really given any real indication about how much you can afford to spend... I managed to build a pretty sweet rig for about $1000 (partly out of used parts), which is probably too much for you.

Technically, I suppose you could say that by getting a new cpu, motherboard, ram and graphics card you've effectively gotten yourself a new computer... but if you buy "a new computer" you'll be getting stuff you don't need and not the stuff you want and you'll be paying extra for it too. Sometimes there are "upgrade packages" that come at nice prices though (i.e. the stuff previously mentioned, no chassi or windows).

[SoulinEther]

Sorry, I meant Pentium Dual-Core... I don't believe Pentium D is the same thing.

Alternatively, you could probably get a Phenom X4 processor + mobo for around 200, too. Don't know if the four cores will really redeem it; Intel seems to have the upper hand on processors.