Ancient Computer upgrade HP Compaq dc7600

roshanrbb on 28/06/2015 - 08:16
Last edited 28/06/2015 - 08:16

Hi

I just bought this computer cheap on ebay and it currently has following pentium 4 6300 prescott cpu and 4x512mb ram.
Here is the spec from hp
http://m.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetHTML.aspx?docname=c04284166

Looks like the max cpu it can support is pentium d 950 dual core.

I am planning to put 4x1gb ram and a pentium d 945 from here Intel Pentium D 945 3.4GHZ LGA775 SL9QQ Presler CPU Dual-Core http://m.ebay.com/itm/111546215985?_mwBanner=1

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=161728381722&al…
any thoughts on this? Will i see any noticeable performance improvement over my current specs?

My current specs are following

http://m.imgur.com/JKjeF6O,PilDHgm,rCX3S2J

Any thoughts would be appreciated
thanks !

Computing

Comments

  • freddofrog42 on 28/06/2015 - 10:34

    A dual core CPU will give a surprising boost to an old single core system. It's not just the raw CPU power, rather that it can multitask far more easily and you get less slow downs. Difficult to explain but I've upgraded quite a few single core to dual core over the years.

    A Core 2 Due CPU (C2D like E2180 etc) would be better still but most likely the HP BIOS is not compatible. Check forums.

    However, power consumption on the older dual cores is high so you might find your old 200W PSU struggles. Here's what I would do:-

    1 - Buy the dual core CPU, install it without changing anything else e.g. RAM etc and see how it goes. You'll be surprised.

    2 - Throw in a cheap SSD, e.g. the 120G Kingston V300 is about $75 and works fine in the real world where benchmarks don't matter. I've used heaps of them without issue including on some older single core devices like you own now. The SSD really speeds things up and you will be amazed despite only having 2G RAM. The SSD can always be reused in a later system whereas the CPU can't and it would be hard to use the RAM on anything new.

    3 - Finally buy more RAM, but only if required as I reckon the dual core with SSD will give massively improved day/day speed for browsing/docs/general stuff. Forget gaming. IF you really want to buy RAM confirm that the HP will take 2G DDR and just buy a single stick to up it to 3.5G in total. There's no point going higher than that if using a 32-bit Windows OS which is what I would recommend in your case.

    Finally, forget useless utilities, just do a nice clean 32-bit Windows 7/8/10 install using the built in Windows Defender for 8/10 or MSE for Windows 7. Remember that Windows 7 drivers will often work for Windows 8 and likely 10 in many cases.

    I've got customers still happily running this spec 12/7, 360 days/year.

  • roshanrbb on 28/06/2015 - 11:23
    1. As per the spec sheet from hp, that motherboard can support upto pentium d 950 which is dual core. So i think that is the max upgrade I can do to the system.
    2. Ssd would be great but it would only speed up the startup times and it would take significant cost to the upgrade as well and maybe the system won't truely benefit from the speed of ssd as well because of other limiting factor.
    3. Currently the system has 4x512mb sticks and i can add 1x2gb or 4x1gb making it either 3gb or 4gb ram and the system has x64 windows 8 installed with windows defender.

    The system is going to be used only for day to day browsing and youtube and reading some word file and pdf files. So i think that spec will still hold up ?

    • Riczter on 28/06/2015 - 14:38
      +1

      You definitely want an SSD that would be my first priority. It speeds up more than start times, every installation, every time you have to move a file, every time you load something, remember almost everything you run, is stored on the hard drive, so it makes everything faster ;)

      • freddofrog42 on 28/06/2015 - 15:24
        +1

        Totally agree re your SSD comments.

        The CPU is a dead cheap option though, so a bit of a no-brainer which is why I said do it as #1. If nothing else it will prove that the PSU is still working ok.

        It always amazes me how many people upgrade to new systems when something like a cheap SSD will have massive everyday benefits. I would easily argue that any dual core setup with SSD is more than adequate for 95% of average PC users.

    • freddofrog42 on 28/06/2015 - 15:34
      +1
        • Don't always believe the spec sheets… Some devices can actually run better hardware e.g. a Dell a came across a few years ago could run up to E4400 CPUs in practice but the spec sheets indicated D840 as the top option. Forums tend to have users who have time to play to see what's really possible. I can't comment on this PC though so perhaps the stated upgrade option really is the upper limit.

      2 - SSD. See comments from Riczter.

      3 - Honestly try to avoid any expense on DDR2 RAM. It's no longer mainstream and realistically it will only be useful in 2nd hand systems now. I tend only to use it for upgrades now and haven't actually bought any DDR2 for a 2/3 years now. That's ok if you're happy with that, i.e. 2nd hand systems. E.g. the PC I'm using right now was a Q9400, 8G DDR2 RAM and a 250G Samsung SSD. It works brilliantly, but as/when the motherboard dies it will be a full motherboard/cpu/RAM upgrade.

      • roshanrbb on 28/06/2015 - 16:34

        i went with the cpu i mentioned earlier but i Haven't Decided about ram and ssd although i will keep an eye on any cheap ssd deals that would turn my decision towards the ssd.
        Even if the motherboard dies, atleast i can use the ssd with other system unlike ram and cpu.

  • tonyjzx on 28/06/2015 - 23:08

    my attitude is computers this old arent worth running except for linux or something to tinker with and even then, Pentium 4s and Ds are just too old, esp. ddr1 machines

    eg. i had to install some new pcs for a place i consult for and they didnt want the old PCs so they asked me to just take them away

    they were old Dell Optiplexes, some running ddr2, some ddr3, mainly e8400 3.0 ghz things w. 4gb ram

    they run absolutely as fast as i'd ever want as a general Windows 7 machine even with the std. 250gb hdd

    they will not put up with heavy PS or Video capture work but I have an i7 for that

  • Nickels n Dimes on 29/06/2015 - 15:05

    I had a similar old HP computer that I upgraded the RAM, the SSD and added a cheap graphics card — a cheap new card will blitz the onboard graphics, but more importantly, a PCI graphics card will not use any of that precious and expensive DDR, unlike the onboard graphics. You should consider what kind of applications you are using to decide if 32bit or 64bit the way to go — updating from Win 7 to 8 or 10 will give you a speed and stability boost, but will take a little more RAM typically.

    • roshanrbb on 29/06/2015 - 16:03

      I have ordered 2x1gb ram (+2×512mb already in the system) and Intel Pentium D 945 3.4GHZ LGA775 SL9QQ Presler CPU Dual-Core from ebay and i will check the ssd memtioned by scrimshaw.
      It will only be used for normal web browsing and watching youtube and reading pdfs and word file.nothing much intensive.

      I hope the above upgrade makes it worth the hassle. !

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