PC Upgrade

[Super Tele]

Hi
This is my first attempt at doing a pc upgrade so would be grateful for any advice.

I have an ANCIENT desktop (socket A type cpu 908 mhz, 256 gb ram) running XP Home.

I want to reuse the case and PSU (ATX) and the 80 gb HDD which is IDE.
I am assuming a mATX mboard will fit in an ATX case?

Therefore I think I need:
New mboard, CPU and ram.
Molex to sata power cables to use the exisiting PSU.
Bi directional sata to IDE converter to use the old HDD.
Going to buy a new DVD writer as the old rig does not have one.
The rig does not have to be high spec as it will only be used for browsing, email and office type apps.

Put a list together as follows:
http://www.ebuyer.com/342571-amd-bundle-with-amd-sempron-145-oem-processor-and-cooler-patriot-signature-145oem-4gb-m5a78lmlx
Xenta LP4 Molex MALE to Serial ATA SATA Power Adapter | Ebuyer.com
StarTech Bi-Directional SATA IDE Adapter Converter | Ebuyer.com
LiteOn iHAS124 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA.. | Ebuyer.com

Have I missed anything? Would be grateful for any ideas.

Thanks

 

[little_pob]

To be honest, and depending on your budget, you might be better going for this: Zoostorm Desktop PC - Desktops | Ebuyer.com

or this: Zoostorm Desktop PC - Desktops | Ebuyer.com

If you can stretch to £220, and can wait, this is often on offer for this price: Zoostorm Desktop PC - Desktops | Ebuyer.com

If £250 is possible, take a look at the builds in my blog entries:
http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/blogs/little_pob/58-payday-computer-build-feb.html
http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/blogs/little_pob/57-payday-computer-build-jan.html

 

[Super Tele]

To be honest, and depending on your budget, you might be better going for this: Zoostorm Desktop PC - Desktops | Ebuyer.com

or this: Zoostorm Desktop PC - Desktops | Ebuyer.com

If you can stretch to £220, and can wait, this is often on offer for this price: Zoostorm Desktop PC - Desktops | Ebuyer.com

If £250 is possible, take a look at the builds in my blog entries:
http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/blogs/little_pob/58-payday-computer-build-feb.html
http://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/blogs/little_pob/57-payday-computer-build-jan.html

Thanks for your reply Pob,
I could probably stretch to one of the systems in your post and save myself the bother of cobbling old components to new ones.
However I would not want to install XP from scratch because the update to SP3 takes forever.

I have tried to take a disk image of the old machine using acronis but cannot get the program to work. (Is it because the old machine has such small amount of ram?)
Any guidance on how to image the old disk would be appreciated.

 

[M3NTAL]

However I would not want to install XP from scratch because the update to SP3 takes forever.

Does it? :err:

 

[little_pob]

Because of drivers, XP doesn't carry well between systems. Sometimes you'll get away with just having to reinput the key, others a repair install is needed, but most of the time a full reinstall is needed anyway.

I have a feeling the slowness to install SP3 is down to your current system. (On Tuesday I watched two Win 7 systems install the same update, one an Intel Q6600 based system with 2 SSDs in RAID0 install in half the time of an unknown dual core AMD X2 based system with mechanical drive.) As such download SP3 in advance, have it on USB and do a fresh install of XP. An AMD X2 6850e based system I built 2 years ago had XP Pro installed from disc in to desktop in 19 minutes.

However, for what it's worth, any components released in the last 3 years should be good enough to run Win 7.

 

[Super Tele]

Because of drivers, XP doesn't carry well between systems. Sometimes you'll get away with just having to reinput the key, others a repair install is needed, but most of the time a full reinstall is needed anyway.

I have a feeling the slowness to install SP3 is down to your current system. (On Tuesday I watched two Win 7 systems install the same update, one an Intel Q6600 based system with 2 SSDs in RAID0 install in half the time of an unknown dual core AMD X2 based system with mechanical drive.) As such download SP3 in advance, have it on USB and do a fresh install of XP. An AMD X2 6850e based system I built 2 years ago had XP Pro installed from disc in to desktop in 19 minutes.

However, for what it's worth, any components released in the last 3 years should be good enough to run Win 7.

Thanks Pob,
New machine it is then - Maybe even Win 7 as well if my pocket can stretch to it.

 

[little_pob]

Thanks Pob,
New machine it is then - Maybe even Win 7 as well if my pocket can stretch to it.

I'm not recommending you pirate software, but Win 7 is easy enough to crack with "Daz Loader".

 

[oneman]

I would say that judging the age of your system by the components that I would look at replacing the whole lot except the case as the PSU and HDD are both probably nearing end of life and could die at any time.

And yes, mATX motherboard will fit in ATX case.