Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Hi
I want to upgrade my old system and am thinking a new CPU, more Ram and a
new graphics card. But the shops keep pushing a new box onto me, which I
don't want. I just want to give the old darling a boost untill I have some
more $$ to build a new system. I know whats inside but I want to find out
what I can upgrade to on the CPU. Hope someone can help.
I have
a HP Pavillion 8960
AMD Athlon Tunderbird 1.3GHz CPU, Socket A???
2 x 128MB 133MHz SDRAM (upgradable to 2 x 512MB) sockets are 168pin DIMMs
40 & 80 GB harddrive (80's brand new)
AGP 4x Graphics Card, nVidia TNT2 M64, 32MB SRAM (not upgradable)
3 PCI slots, 2 free
1 AGP slot

Thanks

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

jasper wrote:
> Hi
> I want to upgrade my old system and am thinking a new CPU, more Ram and a
> new graphics card. But the shops keep pushing a new box onto me, which I
> don't want. I just want to give the old darling a boost untill I have some
> more $$ to build a new system. I know whats inside but I want to find out
> what I can upgrade to on the CPU. Hope someone can help.
> I have
> a HP Pavillion 8960

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc [...] =en&cc=us&

> AMD Athlon Tunderbird 1.3GHz CPU, Socket A???

With something that old, you will have to buy second hand. The computer
shops no longer stock CPUs that the board can handle. However, I can't
find information about the motherboard brand and model that's in your
computer, so I really can't say if it even can be upgraded. You may have
to carefully open the case and report back on the manufacturer and model
of the motherboard (printed on the board). I can find that it's a VIA
KM133 chipset. According to:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/ [...] acy/km133/

it can take CPUs with 200MHz FSBs. I think that ended with the Athlon
1.4, as all the Athlon XPs were 266MHz (starting at the 1500+).

> 2 x 128MB 133MHz SDRAM (upgradable to 2 x 512MB) sockets are 168pin DIMMs

Well you've answered your own question there. Are you using windowsXP?
If so, I'd recommend 512mb of RAM as a good starting point. If you're
doing heavy graphics or video editting, you may like to have 1GB.
However, I seem to recall PC133 being disproportionately expensive
compared to modern DDR memory.

> 40 & 80 GB harddrive (80's brand new)
> AGP 4x Graphics Card, nVidia TNT2 M64, 32MB SRAM (not upgradable)

Is it onboard or is this what's in your AGP slot? If it's a 4x AGP slot
you should be able to put in any of the modern generation of 4x/8x
cards. I wouldn't bother with anything too fancy, though, as you won't
see the improvement with that system. However, an ATi 9200 type card
with 128mb of memory is quite cheap and should suit fine for an upgrade.
What do you need the video upgrade for, specificially?

> 3 PCI slots, 2 free
> 1 AGP slot
>
> Thanks

New computers can be had fairly inexpensively from both local shops and
the big international companies. I agree with the salespeople: given the
expense of the memory upgrade and the ambiguity of whether or not you
can even upgrade your CPU (and you'd have to buy a second hand CPU off
ebay or similar), you might as well get a new system.

Cheers,

Ari

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

spodosaurus wrote:

>> AGP 4x Graphics Card, nVidia TNT2 M64, 32MB SRAM (not upgradable)
>
>
> Is it onboard or is this what's in your AGP slot? If it's a 4x AGP slot
> you should be able to put in any of the modern generation of 4x/8x
> cards. I wouldn't bother with anything too fancy, though, as you won't
> see the improvement with that system. However, an ATi 9200 type card
> with 128mb of memory is quite cheap and should suit fine for an upgrade.
> What do you need the video upgrade for, specificially?

A Geforce mx4000 based card would be an inexpensive upgrade choice, too,
for about the same price. Not that they're great cards (very entry
level) but they're better than what you have now.

Cheers,

Ari

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

In article <BM28e.12858$5F3.9182@news-server.bigpond.net.au>, jasper
says...
>
> Hi
> I want to upgrade my old system and am thinking a new CPU, more Ram and a
> new graphics card. But the shops keep pushing a new box onto me, which I
> don't want. I just want to give the old darling a boost untill I have some
> more $$ to build a new system. I know whats inside but I want to find out
> what I can upgrade to on the CPU. Hope someone can help.
> I have
> a HP Pavillion 8960
> AMD Athlon Tunderbird 1.3GHz CPU, Socket A???
> 2 x 128MB 133MHz SDRAM (upgradable to 2 x 512MB) sockets are 168pin DIMMs
> 40 & 80 GB harddrive (80's brand new)
> AGP 4x Graphics Card, nVidia TNT2 M64, 32MB SRAM (not upgradable)
> 3 PCI slots, 2 free
> 1 AGP slot
>
Don't waste anymore money on it. Whatever you upgrade, it'll be
hampered by the RAM speed and CPU speed.

By the time you've bought a new CPU, RAM and graphics card, you're
pretty much most of the way towards 512MB DDR400, Socket 754 and a
Athlon64 3200+.


--
Conor

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." O.Osbourne.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Conor" <conor.turton@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1ccb1f4fbdddf9c989809@news.individual.net...
> In article <BM28e.12858$5F3.9182@news-server.bigpond.net.au>, jasper
> says...
> >
> > Hi
> > I want to upgrade my old system and am thinking a new CPU, more Ram and
a
> > new graphics card. But the shops keep pushing a new box onto me, which I
> > don't want. I just want to give the old darling a boost untill I have
some
> > more $$ to build a new system. I know whats inside but I want to find
out
> > what I can upgrade to on the CPU. Hope someone can help.
> > I have
> > a HP Pavillion 8960
> > AMD Athlon Tunderbird 1.3GHz CPU, Socket A???
> > 2 x 128MB 133MHz SDRAM (upgradable to 2 x 512MB) sockets are 168pin
DIMMs
> > 40 & 80 GB harddrive (80's brand new)
> > AGP 4x Graphics Card, nVidia TNT2 M64, 32MB SRAM (not upgradable)
> > 3 PCI slots, 2 free
> > 1 AGP slot
> >
> Don't waste anymore money on it. Whatever you upgrade, it'll be
> hampered by the RAM speed and CPU speed.
>
> By the time you've bought a new CPU, RAM and graphics card, you're
> pretty much most of the way towards 512MB DDR400, Socket 754 and a
> Athlon64 3200+.
>
>
> --
> Conor
>
> "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." O.Osbourne.

He's right. Not really worth it. Anyway, what's the main function of your
computer? If it's games then anything but a video card won't be noticeable.
You could get a jump in performance by adding a new video card,but it looks
like you don't have an AGP slot,am I right?It's onboard video with PCI slots
on the motherboard?
If you just use it for internet and office apps nothing you do will really
help.It's fine as it is for those things.
Take a look at Dell or e-machines. You can get a decent starter system for
around $400 U.S.