To Upgrade or not?

Bud B · 06-24-2005, 06:07 AM

Hi all,
First time poster here. I could use some advice.

I have a Gateway G6-333 Puter that came with 8GB Hard Drive.
Yea, I know 333Mhz and Pentium 2!
It Cost me 3000.00 when I originally bought it years ago and it was the Screamer at the time, friends and family, ooohing and ahhhing, but how TIME flies, now it's the Lunker, LOL!
Anyway, I have 500MB left on my Hard Drive and I am constantly deleting stuff to keep me in the 500MB to 1GB range of HD space.
My keyboard also has some dead spots, mainly in the number pads across the top so I use the Number pad on the right.

How much Improvement would a small Investment of a 40 to 60GB Hard Drive and Keyboard do for me?
I am not a big Gamer, but how much do I start to get into when replacing the MotherBoard and CPU?
I do see the local Computer Shows where you can buy Individual Components
for Building or Upgrading.
Do I opt out for the bargain Dell or Gateway, because I do not have 2000.00 to drop on another Screamer out of the box!
Or like rebuilding an old Classic Car, do I start at the Hard Drive and go forward from there, piece by piece (since I do have a working Puter) to get back to a Screamer. Rebuild a little at a time as I can afford it.
I did also get the Largest Upgradeable Tower (Extra Slots, bigger Power Supply) available from Gateway at the time.
I also have a nice 17" Sony Vivitron Monitor that still works great.
My question is, is it worth it for me to embark on Upgrading this Puter or not?
When I see Gateway's and Dell's for less than 500.00 it makes me wonder.
Opinions and options would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Bud B

bry623 · 06-24-2005, 06:52 AM

As long as you are fine with the speed of the computer, you could upgrade your RAM pretty cheap. You could also add a second hard drive (40G or higher) and use the first primarily for the OS.

crazijoe · 06-24-2005, 06:57 AM

The problem with Dells and Gateways are most of the hardware (case and PSU in particular) is proprietary. Meaning you probably cannot just buy any motherboard and stab it in there. If you opt to upgrade to a different MB/CPU combo, you may need to replace the PSU also because you factory unit is vastly underated for todays parts. All in all you could spend around more than it's worth to upgrade the case.

You can change out the hard drive and keyboard. This is pretty much an easy task to accomplish. However since the system seems to date back to around 97-98 your BIOS may not support a HDD larger than 8GB. The easiest way around this would be to get a PCI IDE controller card for a larger HDD.

You must look at the details of this $500 Dell/Gateway system. These are put together with the bare neccessities. (minimal RAM, simple read only optical drive, celeron/sempron cpu, etc.) Be prepared to upgrade as this will drive the price to double the advertised price.

Bud B · 06-24-2005, 08:46 PM

Hi again,
Thanks for the responses. A couple of follow up questions would be,
1) What is a good size Power Supply?
2) I seem to remember that you can check the Bios and depending
on the number of it, you will know if it is up-gradeable or not.
Is this correct?
Thanks,
Bud B

Nimdalive · 06-25-2005, 01:58 AM

Hi Bud B

You probably will not want to here this but in my opinion it is not worth spending money on this machine. You have the keyboard, mouse and monitor so try looking into the price of buying just the case built up.

With a machine of that spec you will probably find it cheaper and get better performance.

NimdaLive

Bud B · 06-25-2005, 07:27 AM

Hi again,
I'm not surprised at the responce of, putting my money elsewhere.
I kind of figured that, but I remember the old days when people would build their own Puter's from good quality parts.
As NimdaLive stated, look for a case Build Up. Does anyone know of a Company that does or offers just case Build Up's?
I can put my money into the case and not the Monitor and periphials.
Thanks
Bud B

~~whodat~~ · 06-25-2005, 07:53 AM

Quote:

You must look at the details of this $500 Dell/Gateway system. These are put together with the bare neccessities. (minimal RAM, simple read only optical drive, celeron/sempron cpu, etc.) Be prepared to upgrade as this will drive the price to double the advertised price.

joes right

check out some places like new egg or tiger direct
invest now for nice quality ram and a psu with an asus or msi/abit board

crazijoe · 06-27-2005, 05:53 AM

Pretty much anyplace can build you a machine. Usually it's better to build it yourself. that way you know what you have in it. But just realize you could spend upwards to $1000 for a quality machine with the right components. To save money, you could look at auctions or search the refurb lots. But this could take time and if you are not an experienced builder, the outcome can be less than pleasent.

06-24-2005, 06:07 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bud B Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 4 OS: Win98	To Upgrade or not? Hi all, First time poster here. I could use some advice. I have a Gateway G6-333 Puter that came with 8GB Hard Drive. Yea, I know 333Mhz and Pentium 2! It Cost me 3000.00 when I originally bought it years ago and it was the Screamer at the time, friends and family, ooohing and ahhhing, but how TIME flies, now it's the Lunker, LOL! Anyway, I have 500MB left on my Hard Drive and I am constantly deleting stuff to keep me in the 500MB to 1GB range of HD space. My keyboard also has some dead spots, mainly in the number pads across the top so I use the Number pad on the right. How much Improvement would a small Investment of a 40 to 60GB Hard Drive and Keyboard do for me? I am not a big Gamer, but how much do I start to get into when replacing the MotherBoard and CPU? I do see the local Computer Shows where you can buy Individual Components for Building or Upgrading. Do I opt out for the bargain Dell or Gateway, because I do not have 2000.00 to drop on another Screamer out of the box! Or like rebuilding an old Classic Car, do I start at the Hard Drive and go forward from there, piece by piece (since I do have a working Puter) to get back to a Screamer. Rebuild a little at a time as I can afford it. I did also get the Largest Upgradeable Tower (Extra Slots, bigger Power Supply) available from Gateway at the time. I also have a nice 17" Sony Vivitron Monitor that still works great. My question is, is it worth it for me to embark on Upgrading this Puter or not? When I see Gateway's and Dell's for less than 500.00 it makes me wonder. Opinions and options would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Bud B Last edited by Bud B; 06-24-2005 at 06:11 AM.

06-24-2005, 06:52 AM	#2 (permalink)
bry623 Manager, The Conversation Pit/Analyst, Security Team Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: NW Territory circa 1787 Posts: 11,698 OS: winxp pro sp2	As long as you are fine with the speed of the computer, you could upgrade your RAM pretty cheap. You could also add a second hard drive (40G or higher) and use the first primarily for the OS. __________________ "If you aren't a liberal when you're 20, you have no heart. If you aren't a conservative when you are 50, you have no brain"

06-24-2005, 06:57 AM	#3 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	The problem with Dells and Gateways are most of the hardware (case and PSU in particular) is proprietary. Meaning you probably cannot just buy any motherboard and stab it in there. If you opt to upgrade to a different MB/CPU combo, you may need to replace the PSU also because you factory unit is vastly underated for todays parts. All in all you could spend around more than it's worth to upgrade the case. You can change out the hard drive and keyboard. This is pretty much an easy task to accomplish. However since the system seems to date back to around 97-98 your BIOS may not support a HDD larger than 8GB. The easiest way around this would be to get a PCI IDE controller card for a larger HDD. You must look at the details of this $500 Dell/Gateway system. These are put together with the bare neccessities. (minimal RAM, simple read only optical drive, celeron/sempron cpu, etc.) Be prepared to upgrade as this will drive the price to double the advertised price. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

06-25-2005, 01:58 AM	#5 (permalink)
Nimdalive Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 4 OS: XP Pro	Hi Bud B You probably will not want to here this but in my opinion it is not worth spending money on this machine. You have the keyboard, mouse and monitor so try looking into the price of buying just the case built up. With a machine of that spec you will probably find it cheaper and get better performance. NimdaLive __________________ I will not advertise here

06-27-2005, 05:53 AM	#8 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	Pretty much anyplace can build you a machine. Usually it's better to build it yourself. that way you know what you have in it. But just realize you could spend upwards to $1000 for a quality machine with the right components. To save money, you could look at auctions or search the refurb lots. But this could take time and if you are not an experienced builder, the outcome can be less than pleasent. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

06-24-2005, 08:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
Bud B Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 4 OS: Win98	Hi again, Thanks for the responses. A couple of follow up questions would be, 1) What is a good size Power Supply? 2) I seem to remember that you can check the Bios and depending on the number of it, you will know if it is up-gradeable or not. Is this correct? Thanks, Bud B

06-25-2005, 07:27 AM	#6 (permalink)
Bud B Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 4 OS: Win98	Hi again, I'm not surprised at the responce of, putting my money elsewhere. I kind of figured that, but I remember the old days when people would build their own Puter's from good quality parts. As NimdaLive stated, look for a case Build Up. Does anyone know of a Company that does or offers just case Build Up's? I can put my money into the case and not the Monitor and periphials. Thanks Bud B