Help: Upgrading 10 year old rig but step by step

[speedyguy]

Hi All,

I'm into this situation because I need time to save funds for a complete upgrade. Here is what I assembled by myself back in 2004-

Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz 256MB - Socket 478
Gigabyte Intel 845GV Chipset (with AGP Slot), Intel Extreme Onboard graphics (unused)
512 MB DDR2 Ram (256 * 2 slots)
128 MB ATi Radeon 9200 Pro SE Graphics Card
Frontech ATX Cabinet

This rig was shutdown for a good time until I suddenly happen to pick it up from my parents, unassembled every bit of it, cleaned dust, heatsinks, fans etc and plugged them back to see it runs my Windows XP SP3 ultrasmooth.

However, I am aware this ultrasmooth will go off if I get it to load present day websites in chrome, windows 7, new MS Office, Adobe etc. So here are my choices-

1. Sell off "all at once" or "component-wise" at a decent price and wait to add bux to by mobo, cpu, cabinet all once at a time.
2. For the time being, upgrade to 1GB ram, buy an ethernet wireless card, install Win7 (or stick to Win XP) and carry on till I save for an upgrade.

So, here's what I need from you-

For point 1, What prices can I expect? Any leads to sell these online or in Bangalore. It's difficult to find buyers for an old rig.

For point 2, What immediate cost effective upgrades can I do to run present day websites, applications smoothly (MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, Download Managers, Web Browsers etc). I don't mind sticking to XP (w/o Microsoft support) if Win 7 not feasible. No gaming requried.

Also, can I upgrade my CPU (socket 478 supports only Pentium 4 upto extreme edition)? Buying DDR2 RAM is also a catch, 2 slots are packed with 256MB modules each. Even after doing this, will I get desired results?

Waiting inputs. Thanks in advance.

Enjoy~!

 

[dashing.sujay]

No way sticking to this rig. It'll succumb when heavy apps are loaded.

Sell it off (I really wonder if you can find a buyer), and get a new one.

Not to forget, any spare parts for this rig like RAM, etc, will cost way over the board as compared to general cost.

 

[quicky008]

1.If you attempt to sell it off all at once,i don't think it will fetch you anything more than Rs 2000-4000,provided all the components are in good working condition.Selling each component individually is also not advisable as the prices you'll get for them will be even lower as this rig is pretty old.

2.If you need just enough computing power to run productivity apps and browse the internet then adding 1gb ram will yield a significant improvement in performance(dont go for new DDR2 RAM as it is quite expensive,try searching for used ram modules on olx/ebay-i've seen a lot of people selling 1 gb ddr2 memory for around Rs 400),as long as you stick to the older versions of these apps and use windows XP.Newer OSes like vista/Win 7 dont work smoothly unless you have atleast 2 gb ram.You can also consider upgrading to a 2.4/2.8/3 ghz p4 cpu(socket 478) which will also improve its performance to some extent-these cpus are pretty cheap and are widely available on sites like ebay and olx for about Rs 300-400.But before you buy them please make sure that they are compatible with your existing motherboard.

3.Please note that even after making the aforesaid upgrades,your rig won't be able to handle cpu intensive tasks like HD video decoding/encoding etc-for such uses you'll need atleast a dual core cpu and 2gb ram.Therefore you should only upgrade your older rig if all you wish to do with it is office work and internet browsing-for anything more this computer just wont suffice.

 

[Hrishi]

This config is way too obsolete per current standards. If you have a decent budget , build a new system from scratch.
There isn't much to scavenge from your current PC either. Selling it won't get you anything considerable as the configuration is pretty monolithic. Maybe donate it to some non-privileged kids around the block ?

Building a new system from scratch with standard config will cost you upwards 15k INR.
A system built per current market norms ( apps and OS ) should have at least a Dual-Core Intel I series processor and a Memory of 4GB along with 120GB of storage and a good iGPU at least. Getting this config will cost you less than a mainstream smartphone.

 

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

low end phones are faster.

 

[speedyguy]

Yea my phone is quad-core 2gb

Trying to post it up for sale. I missed out another point that I would also need HD videos to run on VLC. I don't think that would happen with any upgrade to this rig. Will keep you posted.

Thanks.

Enjoy~!