On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 03:38:41PM +1100, Erik Christiansen wrote:
I'm actually surprised there's enough memory in the machine to run a modern desktop environment and web browser. A 2004 era machine probably only has between 0.1 and 0.5 GB of RAM. I think?
It's now a bit newer (VIA C7), and has a whole 1 GB, so no drama there.
that's a 32-bit CPU from Sep 2006, nearly 9 years old. are you aware that you can upgrade to a modern machine for under $170? e.g. the cheapest current parts combo i can find at MSY today is: AMD A4-7300 64-bit dual-core CPU + GPU $58 ASRock A58M-HD+ motherboard $65 4G Kit DDR3-1333 RAM (2x2GB) $46 if the RAM in your current mb is DDR3 (it probably isn't), you could put off buying the new ram for a while, but 1GB isn't really adequate for a modern desktop any more. the machine will likely be swapping to disk by the time it finishes booting and you login even with a "light" desktop like xfce or lxde, let alone start running memory hogs like iceweasel or chromium. you've already got yourself a new drive but if you hadn't, you can get a 64GB SSD for $56 these days. small but much faster than any mechanical drive. FYI, comparison of the A4-7300 with the C7: http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/887/AMD_A4-Series_A4-7300_%28JA%29_vs_VIA_C... note that the max power usage of the A4-7300 is 65W versus 20W for the C7 - but the A4-7300 includes a built-in Radeon R3 graphics processor. if your current graphics card is as old as your mb and cpu, then it probably uses at least 30-40W anyway, and isn't anywhere near as good as the R3....9+ years is a LONG time in the evolution of GPUs. also, FYI, the Intel G1840 (a dual-core 64-bit celeron with built-in graphics) costs $55 but the cheapest Haswell Refresh motherboards start at nearly twice the price of the cheapest AMD FM2+ motherboards....and Intel, as usual, sucks at upgradability. once again you have to discard your old m/b if you want to upgrade to the new generation of CPUs. AMD OTOH generally keep the same socket for at least two generations so you can keep upgrading your CPU without having the expense and waste of a new motherboard. (the asrock m/b above can take any FM/FM2+ CPU up to the current A10-7850K CPU, a quad-core 4Ghz CPU with Radeon R7 graphics for $199, and probably several future CPUs too) this upgradability issue is the main reason I haven't switched back to Intel CPUs. the latest Intel chips are undeniably better than the current AMD CPUs, but the initial expense of switching (new mb and new CPU, maybe new RAM) is much higher and intel's history with socket changes tells me I'd have the same high expenses in future every time i upgraded. my current machine is good enough for now, so i'll just wait until AMD releases an upgraded CPU i can swap in. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>