Upgrading Old Computer

**Markruh** · October 19th, 2011, 08:38 PM

Hi! I received an old (Intel Pentium 4) computer and I'm looking to upgrade it. I don't really know anything about computers except what I learn on Google. I have a few different parts for it already. It already has a 80 GBb hard drive and 1024 MB DDR Ram. CPU 2.40 GHz. Everything else I either don't know (I'm reeeally computer illiterate) or is junk that I am getting rid of (ASUS P458X-MX motherboard).

I have a Sapphire HD4670 DDR3 1GB PCIE HDMI Video Card.

I don't know how to check about my computer's other components (need some help here) but I definitely want a motherboard that will support this video card. I'm hoping the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P will work. Will it? (yes, I'm on a very low budget)

I know I'm not giving much information here, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

**RicheemxX** · October 19th, 2011, 08:48 PM

If that ASUS is the motherboard that is currently in it then you are much better off scraping the entire build and building around the 4670 you have now as nothing else (besided maybe the drives) is going to be compatible with anything that would be worth the time or money to build.

And the GA-MA770T-UD3P is an AMD based board so you'd need a new CPU, new memory, better power supply and likely even a few more things. So basically an entirely new system anyways.

As to checking components Speccy - System Information - Free Download works wells

EDIT: Just to clarify here, for compatibility with the HD4670 GPU you said you have now you need a motherboard with a PCI Express x16 slot. The GA-MA770T-UD3P is compatible with that video card, however it is not compatible with an Intel P4, nor is it compatible with the RAM that the ASUS board supports. So you'd have to replace almost the entire old PC with the possible exceptions of the case and the drives.

Upgrading an old P4 just is not cost effective no matter what your budget. For slightly more than you'd spend on compatible parts you could build something new that would be better/faster.

**JPMiller** · October 19th, 2011, 11:45 PM

I would start over...

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case
Newegg.com - Open Box: BIOSTAR P43D3 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5700 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E5700
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W ATX12V V2.31 Power Supply
Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 991769
Thats about $220 shipped

And this list can be easily tweaked if your budget is higher...
You can always Craigslist the freebie for a few extra dollars as well.

**RicheemxX** · October 19th, 2011, 11:51 PM

JP pretty sure that socket 775 chip won't work with that socket 1155 board...hehe

**JPMiller** · October 20th, 2011, 03:07 AM

FacePalm
Forgot to sort by socket before scrolling through options...
I fixed it...

**Markruh** · October 20th, 2011, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by JPMiller

I would start over...

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case
Newegg.com - Open Box: BIOSTAR P43D3 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5700 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E5700
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W ATX12V V2.31 Power Supply
Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 991769
Thats about $220 shipped

And this list can be easily tweaked if your budget is higher...
You can always Craigslist the freebie for a few extra dollars as well.

So basically I start over because it would be almost as cheap and much better performance. If I bought all those parts, and since I already have a video card, I would have a brand new computer, right? (once I put it together :P)

**RicheemxX** · October 20th, 2011, 12:53 PM

Basically yes, that would pretty much be your best option.

If you have room in our budget you might want to upgrade the hard drive at the same time. Otherwise you'll need to reuse the drives from your old system. You'll also need an operating system, which may or may not be transferable from your old system to your new one.

**ShyguyXPC** · October 21st, 2011, 01:40 AM

ignore that "mark40" Tool above, they're most likely a spammer, and have already been reported, all they are doing is copying bits of prior posts in each of the 9 threads so far they have posted in, excessively boosting their post count.