I have a computer that is about six years old. I do not use the computer for any serious
Tasks; most of the time it’s used for internet browsing, and running some specialist applications
Related to outdoor pursuits, such as mapping and recording GPS trails.
Over time, I have noticed that the computer isn’t keeping up with modern uses for the Internet, such
as Youtube and Google Earth. I have upgraded my internet connection to broadband from a quality
provider, however the computer is still noticeably slow when performing a number of tasks.
For the most part, i hope to do much of what i already use the computer for now – just a lot more
quickly. My digital video camcorder has a Firewire output port, and I want the new computer to
be able to take video from the camcorder and create DVDs from it. Some time in the near future I
plan to buy a new, larger, flat-panel monitor. My current system has these components
Case AOpen HX-45, Midi-Tower ATX Case
Power Supply AOpen ATX Power Supply, 350 Watts, ATX12V Connector
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-7VAX
CPU AMD Athlon XP +1800
Memory 256 MB DDR RAM
Graphics Card 128 MB Graphics Gigabyte nVidia Geforce 5200 FX
Hard Disk 340 GB HDD Parallel ATA
Optical Drive LiteOn DVD+-RW Burner 16x
Special Requirements.
I must take special attention to ensure the following facilities are available on the new system:
A serial port: for connecting the GPS unit
FireWire (IEEE 1394): for connecting the camcorder
Ethernet: for connecting the broadband modem
DVI Port: for connecting a flat-panel monitor in the future
For software compatibility reasons, the upgraded system will continue to run Windows XP. (I
already have a retail boxed copy of Windows XP Home from my current PC.)
I am ONLY able to use upgrades from this following selection;
MOTHERBOARDS
Intel Socket DDR DIMM Modules
Gigabyte G41MT-S2P
Gigabyte H67MA-D2HB3
ASUS P8H61-M-LE-V3
AMD Socket
ASUS M4A88T-M
Gigabyte MA78LMT-S2
AsRock 880GM-LE
PROCESSORS
Intel CPUs
Intel E3400
Intel E6500
Intel i3-2100
Intel i7-2600
AMD CPUs
AMD AM3 Sempron LE140
AMD AM3 Sempron LE555 $
AMD AM3 X4 970
OPTICAL DRIVE
IDE DVD-Recorder
SATA DVD-Recorder
SATA Blu-Ray Reader
SATA Blu-Ray Writer
POWER SUPPLIES
Generic 500W ATX12V (24pin
Coolermaster 460W ATX12V (24pin
Coolermaster 600W ATX12V (24pin)
Topower 600W ATX12V (24pin)
GRAPHICS CARD
Nvidia / ATI Graphics (AGP)
Gigabyte 256M 6200
Powercolor 1Gb 3650
Nvidia Graphics (PCI-E)
ASUS 512M GT210
GigaByte GTS450 1GB
Gigabyte !GB GT220
ATI Graphics (PCI-E)
Gigabyte 512mb 5450
Gigabyte 1GB 5450
ASUS 5670 1GB
MEMORY
1024MB DDR-400
DDR2 DIMM Modules
1024MB DDR2-800
2048MB DDR2-800
4G DDR2 1066 $66
DDR3 DIMM Modules
2048MB DDR3-1333
4096MB DDR3-1333
DDR2 SODIMM Modules
1024MB DDR2 SODIMM
2048MB DDR2 SODIMM
PARTS
PCI) RS232 Serial Port Card $16
(PCI) Firewire/1394 Card
(PCIe-1x) Serial ATA Card
HARD DISK
Western Digital 3.5"
SATA 500GB
SATA 1 TB
SATA 2TB
Seagate 3.5"
SATA 500GB
SATA 1 TB
SATA 2 TB