Breathe New Life Into an Old PC

Many people are looking into buying a new computer but don’t have the money to do it. Very few people do not consider upgrading your current computer because it’s just too hard and cost too much. Actually it is quite easy to upgrade your computer to today’s standard inexpensively and quickly. 

The computer that I’ve upgraded to today’s standards is a 4 year old Dell Dimension 3000. The Dell Dimension 3000 has:

• 2.29 Gigahertz Processor
• 1.2 Gigabytes of DDR2 Ram
• 70 Gigabyte hard drive
• No Graphics card
• 3 PCI slots
• A CD read/write drive
• Windows XP home edition

The first step to upgrading an old computer is knowing your exact computer spec’s. When looking at the specs they may seem very scary and, may turn away people who want to upgrade their pc. Don’t be afraid they are actually very simple. You can find your computer’s specs by calling your computer manufacturer or by simply looking into your owners manual.

The second step to upgrading your old pc is knowing what you want and where to get it. Ask your self some questions like

• What do I use my computer for
• Do I like entertainment (i.e..music, TV, movies)

I have created this chart to help you better determine what you want:

What do I do with my pc?	What you need to do it
Work (i.e.. Browsing the Web typing documents). Business Class	Windows XP or Vista, 1.5 Gigabytes of ram, 120 Gigabyte Hard Drive 2.20 Gigahertz PC, 156 Megabyte graphics card, CD/DVD drive
Entertainment (i.e. Music downloading, TV, watching movies playing mid-range games.)	Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, HD TV Tuner Card, 256 megabyte Video Card, 2.20 gigahertz processor, 2 GB of ram, 250 GB Hard Drive CD/DVD/Blue Ray
High Range Gaming	Windows Vista Ultimate, 1GB Graphics Card, 3.5 Gigahertz Quad Core processor, 4GB Ram, 500 GB Hard Drive, CD/DVD/Blue Ray Drive.

Now that you have chosen what you want, it’s time to go shopping. I recommend that you go to a whole sale computer store (not future shop or similar stores) because they often sell OEM (A fancy way of saying computer manufacturer) products. OEM products often have a 30%50% discount to them. Most whole sale computer stores hide the OEM products away so the average Joe can’t get it so be sure to ask for the OEM version and tell them you’re a PC manufacturer.

I have Chosen to buy:

Product:	Cost:
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 OEM	$254.99
EVGA e-GeForce 6200 256MB	$62.99
Pioneer DVR-216D SATA 20x DVD-Writer OEM	$31.49
Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 Unbuffered DIMM (KVR533D2N4/1G)	$15.99
KWorld PlusTV HD PCI 120 (ATSC 120) - High Definition	$52.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue (WD5000AAKB) 500GB	$99.99
Total:	$518.44

I bought this from a local store called Canada Computers. In the end it only cost $518.44, much less than buying a brand new PC with the same specs.

Now that you have bought that it is time to install the products into the PC. Every PC is different but you can find out how to install cards from the owners manual or manufactures website. I recommend you install your computers latest drivers from your PC makers website.

REMEMBER: UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER  AND UNPLUG ALL DEVICES BEFORE YOU CONTINUE.

After you are finished installing reconnect all devices plug in the power and start up your PC to make sure everything runs fine.

If you bought a new operating system restart your computer and when your BIOS (the logo that appears when you first start your computer) appears access the boot menu (usually the F12 key) and choose CD/DVD drive. Follow instructions that the disk gives you and the new Operating System will be installed.

After all that you are done, your computer is faster and runs like new.