Upgrade OS? + Ram stuff

[.:Mega:.]

Alright, folks. Here's the deal. I run on a Pentium 3 computer designed for Windows 98. Now, what I ask is: is it possible to upgrade to XP without causing any comp problems? And, the other question I must ask concerns RAM. You see, I have about 330 MB of RAM, but, I have a suspicion that this isn't enough to run programs such as Movie Maker, which I plan on getting once I upgrade. So, I ask, what is a decent amount of RAM for a standard computer? I may buy more, but I don't want to spend too much money at the same time. If anyone could help, I'd appreciate it.

~Mega

 

[The Midnighter]

Pentium 233 is the minimum speed requirement for XP, so yes you can upgrade.
Get MORE RAM!!! 512 is okay for the average user, 768 is pretty good for a medioker gamer / designer, a gig is always nice, 4 gigs is wonderful, and the new dual cores with 10 gigs would be superb

 

[.:Mega:.]

Well, I'll have to buy some more. But, what is the typical proce for RAM sticks?

~Mega

 

[Azurith]

Pentium 233 is the minimum speed requirement for XP, so yes you can upgrade.
Get MORE RAM!!! 512 is okay for the average user, 768 is pretty good for a medioker gamer / designer, a gig is always nice, 4 gigs is wonderful, and the new dual cores with 10 gigs would be superb

Exactly...

Just one small thing I'd like to point out:
1: 233Mhz (0.233Ghz) means it will take a while for XP to actually load.
2: Don't even plan on gaming on this mahine.. period. Maby old.. er.. 'ancient school' games.. (You won't even be able to run UT '99 on that thing without atlot of problems..)
3: Make sure the software you plan to add supports your current processor specs.

(330MB Ram should be fine to run XP, when you first decide to upgrade. XP is configured to work with even 128MB.. really horrible configuration, but XP is *shudder* 'usable'. 256 is the 'bare minimum' recommended system memory for running XP. 512MB is the 'sweet spot' currently for anyone running XP. 1Gb is 'elite' for XP.. although if you are going to try to upgrade to vista later... I would just scrap this machine..)

Actually.. I'd just scrap it anyways.

Only good thing to do with a 233 & 330MB pc is either put the machine out of its misery..
Or turn it into a server for whatever you need.. fileserver, ftp server, webserver, firewall, router, game server, misc. server... Endless possibilities.

..then again, you could always overclock it, and see how far you could go, before it fried..
(Not recommended!!!!)

~~Azurith

 

[.:Mega:.]

Well, the thing is, I don't have enough cash to buy a new computer yet. So, this is all I got for now. At least it runs Photoshop 7.0 without problems, etc. But, can you reccomend any decently priced machines? I just wanna consider it for the future.

 

[The Midnighter]

That depends on where you live, normally the smaller PC store with the tech geeks in it sell for less, not brand name places like Futureshop or "The Source!", we have one here called GreenLyph, it's where I built my PC ^_^v

 

[.:Mega:.]

Built, eh, impressive? So, how much RAM do you think I could get for around 20 bucks?

 

[square-enix]

128MB at most. It should be around $17-18. I think a 256 one is only a couple of dollars more.

 

[The Marauder]

If $20 is your budget, then you should be thinking about buying candy, not PC components. In any case, these online vendors may help with your search... though Upgrading really won't be worth it. :/

www.newegg.com
www.tigerdirect.com
www.zipzoomfly.com

Happy "upgrading".

 

[.:Mega:.]

Well, I may or may not upgrade. I don't know yet. Either way, I need more RAM. And, the only real reason I wish to upgrade is so I can use Windows Movie Maker. -sigh- Everything else, like Photoshop 7, runs fineon my 98. I just have a real low budget until mom can get this house appraised, and I still gota raise $60 for KH FM and a swap magic and then $45 for the Sakura con... so, all in all, it'll be a while before I can buy too much more comp stuff. -sigh-

 

[The Midnighter]

Good thing life isn't that short.