My friend Vanessa called me the other day. She had this old, Dell desktop computer system that she wanted to upgrade to give to her daughter Chelsea while she is finishing high school. Vanessa doesn’t know anything about what goes on inside a computer—she just knows how to work with the applications, write some MS Word docs, surf the web, and do email. All Vanessa wanted was to make her old Dell desktop system run like new.
I’ve been building desktop computer systems for around 15 years, where I’ve watched the industry change from the old x386 and x486 systems to the latest multi-core systems that you can purchase today—think Intel Dual-Core Pentium computers. Walk into a Best Buy store, and you can purchase a complete desktop package, with monitor, for around $300. But even as you can purchase new computers for such low prices, you can still breathe life into your older desktop system. You just have to know a few tricks to upgrade your desktop system’s performance. And I can show you those tricks. Many of the recommendations that I will give here will work for a desktop system running the Windows XP operating system. If you have a desktop system that is running a Windows operating system which is older than XP, say a Windows 95 or 98, you may be better off purchasing a newer computer. The hardware upgrades in such Win 95 or 98 machines may be obsolete, and difficult to find in today’s computer retail stores.
Memory—Like the corners of a computer mind
Probably the cheapest and easiest way to improve your desktop computer’s performance is to upgrade its memory. A computer uses memory to hold temporary instructions and perform some basic tasks. In writing a Microsoft Word document, a computer uses memory to both load the MS Word application, and to temporarily store your written document for as long as the computer is running. Memory is like a scratch pad. Reboot the computer, and the memory is wiped clean, giving you a new scratch pad.
Adding more memory to your computer will allow you to see a greater performance upgrade. Applications will run faster, web pages will load easier, and you can run more programs simultaneously on your system. How much memory should you add? That will depend on both how much memory your motherboard will support, and your operating system. If your system is running a Windows XP operating system, the maximum amount of memory that XP will recognize is 4 gigabytes. However, older motherboards may not support the 4 gigabyte maximum amount of memory that Windows XP may be able to handle. Vanessa’s computer had Windows XP installed, but the motherboard itself could only support two 512 megabyte DDR PC2700 memory modules for a maximum 1 gigabyte of memory. Vanessa had one 512 megabyte, and one 256 megabyte memory module. We swapped the 256 megabyte memory module for a new 512 megabyte memory module, purchased from Fry’s Electronics, for only $23.00. A 1 gigabyte DDR PC2700 memory module would probably cost around $45.00. So memory is very cheap.
Video—When you really want to see what is going on
A second, inexpensive way to upgrade your computer is to replace your video card. Video cards are used to generate images from the computer to the display monitor. For desktop systems running Windows XP, your video display adapter could be integrated directly into the motherboard, which you would see a video graphics array (VGA) port located on the motherboard in a rectangular area of an ATX computer case. When a motherboard has an onboard VGA display adapter, that VGA display adapter is using the computer’s memory to produce the images on your display screen. This is memory that the computer could be using for other applications, thus slowing your computer down. To free up this memory, you could purchase a separate video display card—either an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) card, or a PCI video card. PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect, and are a standard series of expansion slots which will allow you to connect network cards, sound cards, modems, and VGA cards to the motherboard. The Accelerated Graphics Port is a dedicated slot to connect an AGP video card directly into the motherboard without having to use a PCI expansion slot. Both AGP and PCI video cards will have their own video memory, freeing up your computer’s memory. Depending on the speed of the video chipset, the amount of memory on the cards, and any other features that the video card may have, you can purchase an AGP or PCI video card for as low as $30.00. If you have an AGP slot, check your motherboard specifications for the type of AGP card that your motherboard will support. As the AGP card has evolved, with improving transfer speeds between the card and the motherboard, and different voltage requirements for different card slots, you will have to check which type of AGP card your motherboard’s AGP slot can handle. Vanessa’s desktop system already had an AGP card installed, so we left the card there as is.
Hard drives and DVDs—It is all about data storage
Finally, there is the option of replacing either the hard drive, or the optical drive on your computer. Chances are, your older desktop computer has a compact disk (CD-Rom) drive installed. Why not replace the CD-Rom drive with a DVD writer? DVD stands for a Digital Video Disk. It is the same disk size as a CD-Rom disk, but uses a different laser technology to save data on smaller tracks than a CD. This allows a DVD to save 4.7 gigabytes (or 4.7 billion bytes) of data, over that of a CD’s 700 megabytes (or 700 million bytes) of data. Current DVD writers will support a multitude of DVD disk formats, and will read and write CD-Rom disks. You can play your favorite DVD movies on your computer as well. A good DVD writer can cost anywhere from between $30-$50.00. Vanessa had two old CD-Rom drives that couldn't be recognized by the computer. I replaced both CD-Rom drives with a new DVD writer for around $50.00.
Upgrading your hard drive will allow you to store more files and data to your desktop computer. For hard drives, you can consider replacing your current C drive with a new hard drive and reinstalling the software—a time consuming process, but it will bring your computer back to its original condition. However, for both hard drives and optical drives, there is a matter of changing industry standards. These older drives used a storage interface connection known as Enhanced Integrated Electronics, or Enhanced IDE cable. This cable was a long, thin, gray computer cable with plastic 80-pin connecters on both sides. This cable looked like an oversized floppy drive cable. You connected one end of the cable to the drive, and the other end to the motherboard. In 2007, the Enhanced IDE interface has been replaced with the new Serial ATA, or SATA connection. SATA cables almost look like an Ethernet cable with two oversized USB connectors on each end. This is the new standard, and manufacturers are adapting their hard drives and optical drives to the SATA connection. You can still find DVD drives with the enhanced IDE connection in retail computer stores, but the enhanced IDE hard drives have just about disappeared, as computer retailers are selling the new SATA hard drives. To purchase an enhanced IDE drive, you may have to go to a store that sells used computer equipment, or try searching for one on eBay. An even better option is to add an external hard drive. External hard drives connect to your computer via a USB device, which most Windows XP computers will have, freeing you from the older enhanced IDE technology for the newer SATA external drives. And these newer external SATA drives will have tremendous storage capacity, going to around one terabyte in size—that is a storage capacity of one trillion bytes of information! A one terabyte external SATA hard drive will probably cost around $100.00. The beauty of an external hard drive is that you can copy your data from your C drive to your external drive, protecting your data from any potential crashes from your C drive. Once your data is off the C drive, you could still take the time to reformat your old C drive and reinstall your Windows OS and applications, bringing your computer back to its original condition. And an external hard drive can work with both your older desktop system and your newer laptop. My friend Vanessa is shopping for a new, external hard drive. Once she decides on an external drive, I can copy the data from old C drive to the new external drive, reformat the old drive, and reinstall the Windows OS and applications to the original Dell factory condition.
These are just a few suggestions for bringing new life into an older desktop computer. While prices on desktop systems have dropped, and people are touting the latest and greatest, these older Windows XP systems can still nicely perform the basic applications of MS Office, email, and even web surfing. You just have to improve some components, and your old desktop computer will continue running for a couple more years.
