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12/25/2006 05:46:10 PM · #1 |
well my brother just bought a brand spankin new computer so my little sister gets his old one, here are the specs:
p3 733
ram: 256mb
has windows xp
20gig
nothing spectacular but she doesn't do alot with it. Im just trying to get the most out of it for her, heres all ive done thus far:
Got firefox + did the about: config update to make it run faster, updated service pack, added a bunch of codecs for her videos etc. I need some ideas for how she can get more out of it, she doesn't play many games, more are 2d and stuff, any thoughts? Would ps: cs2 run at all on this or not? she likes doing artsy stuff for fun so i was gunna load a copy of it on here. |
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12/25/2006 05:51:18 PM · #2 |
prob the two best things to do here unfortunately cost a little.
Better video car with either 128 or 256 meg of ram onboard and inrease the system ram 512meg ok 1 or 2 gig way better, depends tho on what your motherboard will support |
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12/25/2006 05:58:28 PM · #3 |
| ya shes an old buggar, cant support anymore. But my sister doesn't play games, she just listens to music, watches youtube, and chats on msn. Im trying to find a volume booster cuz these speakers are crappy so even with the volume at max there fairly quiet. Im mostly looking for add-ons/downloads to get more out of it for free. |
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12/25/2006 06:02:22 PM · #4 |
CS2 isn't gonna do well with 256mb of RAM, PS7, however will run great.
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12/25/2006 06:19:00 PM · #5 |
its pro got onboard audio which can be great, but with the age of her machine looking for a better soundcard to add on will vastly improve the music, look on ebay etc as some of the addons will be quite cheap.
Alternatively, you should be able to connect it up to an old amplifier and from there onto some better home speakers |
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12/25/2006 06:21:27 PM · #6 |
| I'm not sure if you have a decent thrift store near you, but where I am there's a thrift store that is decently known for carrying a lot of old computer parts. I used to work with a guy that would go buy old harddrives and see what people had left on them just for kicks. It sounds like the computer your sister got is pretty far behind as far as RAM and harddrive space. It might be worth looking in a thrift store. People that work at those stores generally don't have a clue what they're selling so you might even be able to talk them down on prices, though I doubt the price would be marked higher than 15 bucks to begin with. |
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12/25/2006 06:41:31 PM · #7 |
Ubuntu
Can run a bit of software. Other options require more knowledge but could whack on some large drives and use it as a RAID box.
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12/25/2006 07:41:43 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by robs:
Ubuntu
Can run a bit of software. Other options require more knowledge but could whack on some large drives and use it as a RAID box. |
Absolutely! Just give linux a try.
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12/25/2006 08:48:19 PM · #9 |
If sh'es into music...a good set of speakers like any of these, would be an asset. On most of these, the big speaker has an amplifier.
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12/25/2006 09:01:52 PM · #10 |
ya shes got some fairly good speakers, i found an old surround sound system i had in my garage, the sub is nice lol, sounds pretty good. She cant have it TOO loud cuz we live in a complex :P What good would linux do might i ask? Shes not into anything that it would be good for i wouldn't think. I just dont know much about it.
Message edited by author 2006-12-25 21:03:46. |
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12/26/2006 12:09:18 PM · #11 |
Linux tends to run on these old machines better then windoze. There are lots of useful bits of modern software running under Linux rather than staying with the older widows versions. The dist I pointed at is a fairly friendly one but it's still going to take some work - with a chance of turning the box into a door stop :-o).
If you want to use it as a MP3 boom box then stick with what is there and just add an external drive for the music (makes it easier to copy from another machine also) with the speakers and your in business.
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12/26/2006 02:18:46 PM · #12 |
If it's a P3 then the motherboard should be able to run at least 512 megs of Ram. You might have to get two 256 meg sticks if the motherboard can only hold two sticks of memory. I had a Gateway 1gig machine for a long time that could only use 512 meg of memory. When I upgraded to CS2, I was forced to upgrade to a computer that would let me put more memory in. But even XP itself will run a lot better if you can move up to 512 meg of ram.
Mike
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12/26/2006 04:00:51 PM · #13 |
| yeah, it'll be the 256M of ram that's holding this machine back more than anything else. Try to find out what sort of ram it takes and get some more - crucial at www.crucial.com have a thingy you can download to find out, if you're not sure. |
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