Wondering what to do with my slightly aging PC.

[Loony BoB]

I've been wanting to buy a second PC for quite some time but money is not something I have in abundance, at least not enough to afford the kind of PC I want. So I'm trying to downscale the "what I want" to "what would be good enough for a while to come"...

Right now I have a Compaq Presario 6140EA if my memory serves me correctly. It has the following...
1x 40GB HDD
256MB DDRAM
32MB nVidia GeForce 2 MX
AMD Athlon 1.8GHz
Windows XP Home.
DVD ROM
1x Duff CDRW (it can read CD's okay, but it constantly has all sorts of problems doing pretty much anything else)

Lately my hard drive has been getting a bit noisy and the fan, while running smoothly, does seem to struggle when it comes to things such as running mIRCStats (the chat stats for #eoff) which I do on a daily basis. It does make me wonder how long it will be before my PC falls over on itself, despite being up and running 24/7 for almost three years now.

My question is - what would you do in my position? Just wait for it to fall over, buy some new parts and make some upgrades or look into buying a completely new system?

The reason I ideally want to buy a new system is so I can have one system for XP and one system for Linux. I need my PC to be on 24/7 for ChatStats as well as other more personal reasons, such as receiving messages from Sarah at all hours.

However, if it's a far better idea to just go with the upgrades, then I guess I'll have to consider that route.

I also wouldn't really mind being able to play some half decent games, since my PC doesn't really run anything new these days.

[Flying Mullet]

If you decide to buy a PC from Dell, Gateway, etc... I suggest that you wait until a good coupon comes up for the company: http://www.dellasdeals.com/. For example you can typically get at least %30 off a Dell if you wait for the coupon.

[Shoeberto]

Just upgrade bit by bit. Your CPU will last you some time. Maybe get a second hard drive and a stick of 512mb DDR. Maybe go for a nice 8xDVD+/-RW, since those are really on the cheap these days.

I'd say take out the fans and replace them with newer ones, since they're probably going on you. If you do get a second HD, start backing stuff up since that one seems to be going, too.

The other parts should last you a good time.

[CloudSquallandZidane]

1x 40GB HDD
256MB DDRAM
32MB nVidia GeForce 2 MX
AMD Athlon 1.8GHz
Windows XP Home.
DVD ROM
1x Duff CDRW (it can read CD's okay, but it constantly has all sorts of problems doing pretty much anything else)

Ok heres my build for you

1x40gig HDD
1x80gig HDD
512 DDR Ram
nVidia Geforce 6200 or if u want to spend $200 Geforce 6600 256MB
SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW-D26A BLK - OEM

I dont know if ur motherboard can handle the 2 HDD or if ur powersupply can... If not i suggest u get a new motherboard to, which would pretty much call for a new computer, can u build it by hand? I always build by hand, as long as the parts are compatible, its like a game of tetris.

Oh and if ur thinking about a new board may i suggest, GIGABYTE GA-K8NS Ultra-939 ATX AMD Motherboard , very powerful, and wicked awesome. Plus isnt that cpu on a 939 socket??? maybe not i didnt look it up.

[rubah]

First thing I would do is take your fan out and wipe off all the dust and crap that's probably on it.

I did that to mine the other day, and there was like a cm of dust all over it. xD

But then, start with these guys real suggestionsxD

[Shoeberto]

1x40gig HDD
1x80gig HDD
512 DDR Ram
nVidia Geforce 6200 or if u want to spend $200 Geforce 6600 256MB
SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW-D26A BLK - OEM

That's a good build, though I'd take off the GeForce 6200 - as far as I know, he doesn't do any hardcore gaming so, unless he plans on doing some, it's just spending a lot of cash on something he'll never really use.

[Endless]

If you decide to overhaul the tower part, I'm quite sure Skwoowy is still looking to buy such a config. I had pretty much the same but sold it to my dad.
Now I have an athlon64 3000+, an asus a8n-e mb, a geforce 6600 256MB pci-e and a new tower and kept the rest (ram, hds, cd/dvd drives and screen)

[Loony BoB]

1x40gig HDD
1x80gig HDD
512 DDR Ram
nVidia Geforce 6200 or if u want to spend $200 Geforce 6600 256MB
SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW-D26A BLK - OEM

That's a good build, though I'd take off the GeForce 6200 - as far as I know, he doesn't do any hardcore gaming so, unless he plans on doing some, it's just spending a lot of cash on something he'll never really use.

While not being a hardcore gamer, it would be nice to actually have the chance to play some strategy games that are being released. 32MB doesn't seem to cut it for any games they release these days. I'm just waiting for the day where the new Minesweeper has a minimum requirement of a 64MB video card.

[Shoeberto]

Then go for one of the GeForce FX series, which are really cheapening up. The 6xxx line is still really high end, and therefore expensive. GeForce FX 5200 are in the sub-$50 range right now. I've been running one for a few years and have been able to play Half-life 2 with barely any hitches. Doom 3 is another story, of course, but new RTSes aren't quite as intensive as those games are. You could even go higher up in that line and spend a bit more if you want something that'll still hold up for a few years even in the market of the high-end games like Doom 3 and such.

[CloudSquallandZidane]

Then go for one of the GeForce FX series, which are really cheapening up. The 6xxx line is still really high end, and therefore expensive. GeForce FX 5200 are in the sub-$50 range right now. I've been running one for a few years and have been able to play Half-life 2 with barely any hitches.

Actually the 6200 is a pretty cheap card, it only has 64MB, so the are 50-60 bucks, and provide built in DX9 and Open GL 1.5, they arent powerful by any means and u wont be running games on High, BUT it will work well enough for todays RTS. Personally i'd bite the bullet buy a 6600 or Radeon X700(i hate raedeon though), so u get a card that'll have lasting functionality. nVidia cards will last, i know people still running Geforce 4MX to play HL2 and Doom 3.

[Yamaneko]

If you're getting a video card don't get anything less than a 6600 GT. Buying something inferior will not help you out in the long run.