Well, for those of you that might be Technical Geeks, like I am (but hey, that's who everyone runs to for help, right? :mrgreen: ), here is the stuff that I bought to upgrade both me and my wife's computers. Should be here by Wednesday:
MotherboardsECS 945GCT-M/1333 Motherboard - v3.0, Intel 945GC, Socket 775, MicroATX, Audio, Video, PCI Express, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA.
Cost: $59.99 each, got 2 of 'em
What we have now are P4M800's, Socket 478, MicroATX, AGP 8x, PCI, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA, FSB 533 MHz, 2 DDR RAM @ 333/400 MHz, 2 EIDE slots.
CPU's (Da Brains.....BRRAAAAAAAIIIIINNNNSSSSSSS)Intel Pentium E2160 Processor BX80557E2160 - 1.80GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB, Allendale, Dual Core, Retail, Socket 775, Processor with Fan
Cost: $79.99 each. Got 2 of 'em.
Comes with the cooling fans, yay!
What we had was:
Intel Celeron D345E, Prescott, Socket 478 mPGA, 3.06 GHz, 533 Mhz FSB, 256 KB Cache
I can't complain really. What we have had has lasted us well over 2 years now, without too many problems. Mostly any problems were due to overheating or DIRT getting into the cases! Extra fans for the cases and opening up the computers and blowing them out with canned air always fixed these things!
But they have faithfully ran every single program that they've been handed, with no problems.
I plan on giving them a home (one for Josh, so he's got a computer to play his pre-school games, and will finally leave his mom's computer alone!).
Onward! More stuff!
MemoryWhat we had was:
Me: One stick of DDR 512 MB, 333 MHz
Wife: 2 sticks of DDR 256 MB, 333 MHz.
What I bought:
Patriot Signature 1024MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory.
Cost: $24.99 each. I bought 2 of 'em. One for her, and one for me.
Video CardsWhat we had were two different things. I've had a Nvidia GeForce FX5500, AGP 8x, 256 MB DDR. The fan looks different than mine on the pic below.
I've had this card for almost 4 years now. It's run every game and video intense program that I've ever asked it to run.
Alas....it's headed for the trash bin as the fan has gone out. The only reason that the processor on it has not burned out is that I have a HUGE case fan blowing directly on it right now!
My wife has a ATI, Radeon 9250, AGP 8x, 256 MB DDR. It's been a good card for her for over 2 years.
What I've bought:
XFX GeForce 8500 GT Ultra Silent Cooling / 256MB DDR2 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / (Dual Link) DVI / VGA / HDTV / Video Card
Cost: $64.99 each. I bought 2 of 'em.
Last but not least:
I also ordered a internal DVD Burner for my computer. I'm going to move the DVD Rom that I have from mine to my wife's computer. She doesn't have one, and so any Games or software that's on DVD can't be loaded on her computer. Now it can. The other thing is that I can now burn some of the home movies from our video cam to DVD easier. It's SATA interface, and the cost was $39.99.
Total cost after shipping was $554.73, but considering this makes almost 2 brand new computer systems, I don't think it was too bad of a deal.