The $125 Upgrade - Is It For Real?
- 6
- Add a Comment
Over at PC Magazine there is an article in which the writer states that, for $125, you can upgrade a four-year-old system and have it running with the newer bad boys. The article shows how the replacing of the video card with a faster one, adding more RAM, upgrading to a DVD recorder, a wireless card & 1,000G network card will make your system fly off your desktop. But my questions is this: is it for real?
When I first read this article my first thought was how about the power supply? By adding this new stuff to an older system, is the old power supply going to be able to handle the load? The unfortunate thing is that most OEMs [in this article a Dell Dimension 8300 was used] normally install power supplies that are on the weak side. The system shown in this ad here came with 200 or 250 watt power supplies. Though they were enough to supply the unit when it came out of the factory, some have found when they added on equipment that the units could not handle the load or failed completely.
The writer also went to great lengths to find the most inexpensive pricing using no less than four vendors to buy five parts. No mention was made about the cost of shipping or applicable sales tax. Most of us are aware that even light parts such as RAM still require some type of shipping costs. So the $123 price quote may not be entirely accurate.
This statement also caught my attention:
A new fully equipped PC may cost as much as $2,000
The days of using the $2k benchmark have long past. This was used maybe 15 years ago when the starting price of a PC was in the $1500 to $2000 range. But when you can buy a brand new dual-core system minus monitor for $299, that will run circles around the older Dimension 8300 no matter how much you upgrade the unit, you decide what the best option is. Updating a older system for $125 [with shipping & sales tax the price could be closer to $150] or using that $150 to buy a new system.
Comments welcome.
PC World article is here.
6 Comments
the oracle
May 20th, 2008
at 10:03am
I have always worked on the side of upgrading , rather than replacing - it’s more than a green thing, it’s a matter of generating waste.
But that aside, with careful shopping, you can get most of what they talked about for $125 or less - although you are right about the PSU - my Dell 8200 is badly in need of a bigger PSU, simply so I put a decent (not anywhere close to SOTA) video card. A quality PSU for many Dells can only be had from a vendor such as PC Power and Cooling, as the older Dells used oddball size supplies, and some, non-standard wiring (I know you know that, this is for everyone else).
The thing is, the person who would be reading that article (or so I think) would be able to recognize the value of purchasing quality parts, over a CHEAP PC. Let’s face it, the build quality of Dells, or almost anyone else, is not that great. They are meant to get through the warranty period, and then quietly be replaced.
We usually agree about things, but I disagree about a $299 new PC being able to run circles around a good older PC - this of course, will not hold true for every example, but I am working on a machine I pieced together for very little. Less than $200 as a matter of fact.
A 2.8A Pentium 4 ($30 at Computergeeks with Intel HSF), Intel D845FGVN (bought new a couple of months ago for $5 - in the box, with all seals unbroken), 2GB of PC-3200 DDR ($50), a couple of Lite-On DVD-RWs ($23 ea at Newegg, free shipping), and a quality mATX case from PCClub, for $24, again free shipping. Topping it off was a 160GB Seagate drive from an OfficeMax sale (8MB cache, 5 yr. warranty) for $47.
Well, my original math was wrong, I am over 200 by a couple of bucks, but I have a better machine than I could ever find for $202 plus tax - even comparing to those deals for $299. My case is quality like not found in most (1.0mm thick steel), with a good, if not great 350W PSU. I have twice the memory of the $299 cheapies, a larger hard drive, not 1, but 2 DVD drives, which write as well, and have Lightscribe. Oh, and my memory is G Skill, with Lifetime Warranty, not some no-name stuff.
The system will never be a gaming rig, because of the poor quality Intel onboard graphics, but then that is what most of the $299 cheapies have, and when I got the motherboard for $5, I really could not complain.
the oracle
May 20th, 2008
at 10:19am
Sorry, 2 things - if I can build something like the above from scratch, a pretty good job of upgrading could be done, considering most people would not be replacing case and motherboard, or buying 2 DVD-RWs. Also, there are many places to get quality used parts such as CPUs, memory, or HDs with decent, if not spectacular warranties. By judiciously mixing older with new, a great machine isn’t that expensive.
Ron Schenone
May 20th, 2008
at 10:21am
Hi Marc,
Thanks for the comments and for sharing your expertise. The circle running I was thinking of was the CPU power. I’m not exactly sure what the Dell Dimension in the article came with, but I would guess that it was a P4 of some type. Even the cheapies now come with dual-cores for $299. Anyway, that was my thinking.
the oracle
May 20th, 2008
at 11:35am
Ron, after writing that, I looked at the cheapest Dell I could find on their website today. It was $379 (inspiron 531s - very cheaply built, at my last long job, I replaced the extremely poor PSUs on more than a few), and featured a 2.0 GHz Celeron. True, it has Windows XP at that price, but again, I can add XP for $79 too. And I think my p4 2.8A (the one with 1MB cache) will outdo the Celeron.
Not to add to an argument - I know there are sales, but this happened to be what was available today.
Ron Schenone
May 20th, 2008
at 12:20pm
Hi Marc,
We are not arguing. We are sharing opinions.
I did find the 530 with a Pentium dual core here:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?CS=19&kc=6VAFF&oc=dddwfg2&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643
I guess I am looking at this through the eyes of a repair person - client situation. Most people do not have the skills to complete a repair as suggested by the author. Like yourself, I build my own systems from scratch. I do understand your position.
Just my 2 cents.
Ron Schenone
May 21st, 2008
at 8:00am
Heh Marc,
I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring your posts. I couldn’t understand why my comments were not coming through. I just found the above comment and a few others in my askimet spam files! It must of happened during the update to the new theme[s].