Looking for a new pc .. Help!

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Anyone?

What's wrong with it that you feel it needs to be replaced? I looked up the specifications and it seems to have aged well.

A new video card, 4GB RAM, and a faster hard drive would be much cheaper than a new PC. And, it may also help to reinstall the OS.

Hi rdunnill .. thank you for responding

The pc is very slow (or seems so to me) and it is  virtually impossible to open 2 applications at one time.

It hangs multiple times during any day, has quirky problems .. in this example, MS related, I can't retain changes to word set up (for instance paragraph markers will not stay on).

Yesterday, out of the blue,  the monitor screen (contents) rotated 180 degree's.

I would have to admit that I don't know what a new video card would do - so don't understand what would change if I replaced it.  I tried to look up how much RAM I currently have and couldn't find it and I thought a hard drive was space related not speed related? (and I have 84% free space so didn't see that as a problem)

In terms of reinstalling the OS, I wonder if XP might be part of the overall problem?  Thought that a newer OS and version of Office might improve things.

I believe I don't know enough to judge the origins of my problems, thus understand, specifically what I might change in this pc to resolve them.

 

d

 Hi Fireberd:

Thank you for your suggestions...

I question Vista as an OS .. maybe I am just buying into propaganda, but I have not heard anything but bad reports on Vista ... Do you like it .. say better than System 7?

Home built is so not an option for me - I am pretty much a take it out of the box and plug it in type of person!

Your third suggestion .. I didn't really understand .. sorry .. very much an end user .. not technical!

d

 

 duffield

Yes, I enjoy using Windows 7, that's the reason for upgrading all our desktops to W-7 from XP and Vista, with one exception a old 1999 L Series using 98se

Windows 7 is way superior to Vista, especially the 64-bit version.

Bev.

 

Hi rdunnill .. thank you for responding The pc is very slow (or seems so to me) and it is  virtually impossible to open 2 applications at one time.

It may be that some rogue process, spyware, or malware is consuming your CPU cycles. Unfortunately, the easiest way to deal with this is to reinstall XP. It may also be that your CPU is overheating due to internal dust buildup (likely if you have never cleaned the internals) or a malfunction in its cooling system (unlikely but possible).

It hangs multiple times during any day, has quirky problems .. in this example, MS related, I can't retain changes to word set up (for instance paragraph markers will not stay on).

This is sounding more and more like spyware or malware.

Yesterday, out of the blue,  the monitor screen (contents) rotated 180 degree's. I would have to admit that I don't know what a new video card would do - so don't understand what would change if I replaced it.  I tried to look up how much RAM I currently have and couldn't find it and I thought a hard drive was space related not speed related? (and I have 84% free space so didn't see that as a problem) In terms of reinstalling the OS, I wonder if XP might be part of the overall problem?  Thought that a newer OS and version of Office might improve things. I believe I don't know enough to judge the origins of my problems, thus understand, specifically what I might change in this pc to resolve them.

If malware is the problem, installing a newer OS will almost certainly fix it. I'd recommend Windows 7 (64-bit if you have a 64-bit CPU) as Vista has been deprecated. Vista is still a solid choice; although it was buggy in its early days, after two service packs it has become very solid, and Windows 7 is really Vista with a slightly different user interface.

My suggestion for a new OS is Windows 7 Home Premium OEM, available for about $100 at online sellers like Newegg. There's no need to reformat the hard drive; the installer will safely archive your XP so that your data is still available. (You will need to reinstall your applications, like MS Office.) You will need 1gb of RAM for the 32-bit version and 2gb RAM for the 64-bit version. I think your video card is good enough for the enhanced (known as Aero) Windows 7 user interface. If not, you can buy one like the Sapphire 4650, available at Newegg for under $40 (before a $15 mail-in rebate).

A more modern video card can speed up video playback and other tasks by taking over processing from the CPU.

Great information, thank you rdunnill ..

 

I will give Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware a try right now and move on from there!

 

d

Thanks, Bev .. I will try

 

d

LawrenceSoCal .. thank you ... you have given me a lot to think about.

I am, as I suspect you have guessed, out of my element in terms of reinstalling my OS.

I appreciate all of the info you provided

 

d

 

If you aren't familiar with OS re-installs, then be careful.  I've done many hundreds of OS installs.  Between the OS install, driver verification and updates, application installs, security updates, data restoration, etc - an OS re-install can easily be a 4-8 hour task (clock time, a bunch of that will be waiting around, working on other tasks (not on the PC being rebuilt).  This can be shortened if the hard drive was partitioned in advance, all data on a separate partition, and pre-downloading required drivers, etc - but that is rearely the case.

Can it be done quicker - yes.  But you will spend that much time in total, and there are the things that need to be done (like seperate admin and user accounts) that if not done will simply reduce system stability.  The actual OS install portion only takes an hour or less (depending on hardware).  Is it hard - no.  Dell has plenty of docs and articles on the process.  It is much easier if you have a 2nd computer to look up the process, research any questions, etc while doing the re-install (or a techie friend who is willing to help you along).

On the other hand, if you simply want something newer, faster, then by all means go get a new computer.  But you will still have a bunch of the setup steps to do anyway, app re-installs and updates, data transfer, etc.  My point is only that getting a new PC won't eliminate having work to do.  If purchasing new, I recommend patience and using the technical deal web sites to save yourself some money.  As for what to get, presuming you want many years of service from the new PC, get at least a Core i5 (or equivalent AMD).  Any new low-end system will suffice for your current needs, but woudln't count on that 4 years from now, hence my recommendation of a decent CPU now.  I got a i7-930 system, but I have specific needs (running numerous virtual machines) that dictated my choice.  If your budget supports it, the i7-8xx CPUs are high speed and higher value that the 9xx models (and would meet your needs as described).

Intel has a new chipset and CPUs to be released early next year - roadmap here (subject to change) http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/intel/sandybridge/preview/roadmap.png   with the new CPUs, there will be deals on the generation of chips being phased out.

Good luck and best wishes for the holidays

If you aren't familiar with OS re-installs, then be careful.  I've done many hundreds of OS installs.  Between the OS install, driver verification and updates, application installs, security updates, data restoration, etc - an OS re-install can easily be a 4-8 hour task (clock time, a bunch of that will be waiting around, working on other tasks (not on the PC being rebuilt).  This can be shortened if the hard drive was partitioned in advance, all data on a separate partition, and pre-downloading required drivers, etc - but that is rearely the case.

A way to avoid an OS reinstall that usually works for me is to let reuse the existing Windows install, and let Windows update itself. More often than not, it works well.

As for what to get, presuming you want many years of service from the new PC, get at least a Core i5 (or equivalent AMD).  Any new low-end system will suffice for your current needs, but woudln't count on that 4 years from now, hence my recommendation of a decent CPU now.

I collect PCs, and in my experience the low-end machines from four years ago that suffer today are the ones that were blatantly obsolete and non-future-proof in 2006, like the Dell Dimensions 3000 and 4600. The Athlon 64 boards I bought then aged much more gracefully; they have PCIe slots, take 4gb of RAM, and have four SATA-300 posts. They work well with Windows 7 x64 and have plenty of service life left.