Upgrading an ancient desktop

sshake1 · 05-28-2008, 10:18 PM

I was recently given a very old desktop (it was going to be thrown away) but I think it may have some slight potential to be a decently functioning computer with only a little money spent upgrading it. It's an old ABS Computers tower running a 1.0Ghz Athlon. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-7DX, uses a Socket A processor. So I looked into upgrading the processor. The motherboard can support up to the Athlon XP 2600+ with a 266Mhz Bus (but not the much more common 333Mhz bus), but it seems the best value would be an Athlon XP 2400+ which are very common and very cheap on ebay. I've also read that these processors can be overclocked simply and with great success. I have never overclocked a processor before but it is something I would like to try. I don't want to put a lot of money into this but from what I've read so far it seems that for no more than $100 this could at least be a significant improvement over my current computer (a 3 year old Sempron powered laptop). Would I need to upgrade anything else to make this work? The power supply is rated to 300W max so that should be fine right? The system runs plenty cool enough as it is and from what I've read the 2400 doesnt have significant heat problems. I'm not completely computer illiterate but this would be my first time doing any significant upgrades to a computer so I would like any advice I can get. Like I said, I'm not looking to make a major investment but I'll gladly listen to other recommendations if theres something better out there. Thanks in advance.

BlackCat944T · 05-29-2008, 02:04 PM

The Best advice I could give you is.....

You Can Never Have enough RAM or HD space....

You should really think of what kind of software this computer will be running, then upgrade the componets as needed.

**peterhuang913** · 05-29-2008, 03:11 PM

Yes, you can have enough ram.

**Doby** · 05-29-2008, 08:02 PM

The 300W psu could power it if you are using onboard video and the 300w is from a decent manufacture, its close but should work.

You will need a heatsink to go along with the 2400+ because I suspect you are currently running a duron processor and I don't think the heatsink thats on that will be adquate with the 2400.

You should be able to overclock that cpu providing the motherboards bios ha options to do so, I did not look up that gigabyte board but most gigabyt boards have options to do so, problem is the 300w psu might not be up for that

Since this is your first time upgarding its problably a good system to learn on, any other questions just ask

05-28-2008, 10:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
sshake1 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 4 OS: winXP media center	Upgrading an ancient desktop I was recently given a very old desktop (it was going to be thrown away) but I think it may have some slight potential to be a decently functioning computer with only a little money spent upgrading it. It's an old ABS Computers tower running a 1.0Ghz Athlon. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-7DX, uses a Socket A processor. So I looked into upgrading the processor. The motherboard can support up to the Athlon XP 2600+ with a 266Mhz Bus (but not the much more common 333Mhz bus), but it seems the best value would be an Athlon XP 2400+ which are very common and very cheap on ebay. I've also read that these processors can be overclocked simply and with great success. I have never overclocked a processor before but it is something I would like to try. I don't want to put a lot of money into this but from what I've read so far it seems that for no more than $100 this could at least be a significant improvement over my current computer (a 3 year old Sempron powered laptop). Would I need to upgrade anything else to make this work? The power supply is rated to 300W max so that should be fine right? The system runs plenty cool enough as it is and from what I've read the 2400 doesnt have significant heat problems. I'm not completely computer illiterate but this would be my first time doing any significant upgrades to a computer so I would like any advice I can get. Like I said, I'm not looking to make a major investment but I'll gladly listen to other recommendations if theres something better out there. Thanks in advance.

05-29-2008, 02:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
BlackCat944T Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Somewhere Out There Posts: 1 OS: Win 2.7, 3.1, 3.11Workgroups, NT, Win95, Win98, Win98SE, XP-SP2, No-Vista :)	Re: Upgrading an ancient desktop The Best advice I could give you is..... You Can Never Have enough RAM or HD space.... You should really think of what kind of software this computer will be running, then upgrade the componets as needed.

05-29-2008, 03:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
peterhuang913 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 819 OS: XP Home SP2	Re: Upgrading an ancient desktop Yes, you can have enough ram.

05-29-2008, 08:02 PM	#4 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 7,150 OS: XP sp2/ Vista	Re: Upgrading an ancient desktop The 300W psu could power it if you are using onboard video and the 300w is from a decent manufacture, its close but should work. You will need a heatsink to go along with the 2400+ because I suspect you are currently running a duron processor and I don't think the heatsink thats on that will be adquate with the 2400. You should be able to overclock that cpu providing the motherboards bios ha options to do so, I did not look up that gigabyte board but most gigabyt boards have options to do so, problem is the 300w psu might not be up for that Since this is your first time upgarding its problably a good system to learn on, any other questions just ask __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF Last edited by Doby : 05-29-2008 at 08:04 PM.