Helping out Mother In Law's E520

[Kharlkuhlinayn]

A couple of years ago my now 73 year old mother-in-law ordered a brand new Dell Dimension E520. Stats are below.

 

Processor - Pentium D805 2.66GHz - 533MHz FSB

Memory - 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 @ 533MHz (Should be PC2-4200 right?)

Graphics - nVidia GeForce 7300LE 256MB

OS - Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (not sure why we ended up not going Pro)

 

So I play World of Warcraft and stay out there periodically and while it does play WoW, it has some noticably slower reactions from my home system which is even older than hers. My system I built with a 2.4GHz single core P4 back in 2003 on a ViaP4PB400 MB that has leaking capacitors around the CPU and is running a 128MB Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT (AGP) with 2GB of generic system RAM. I would expect hers to be much better than mine so I am looking at doing a few modifications to hers.

 

Running the Configurer here it only comes up with the 1GB Value Select (VS1GB533D2). Seems to me there should be a LOT more options.

 

I was thinking that since she currently is running two 512 sticks that I would either fill the other 2 slots with 512s just to make them even but without seeing the sticks I am not sure what Dell uses. My other option was going to be buying either FOUR 1GB sticks or perhaps two 2GB sticks.

 

I have two 1GB sticks of PC2-6400 (CM2X) I thought about maybe trying out there and then buying new for the system they came from since it is over an hour to her house. Timing is 4-4-4-12 on them and I would expect them to simply clock down from 800 to 533.

 

I had considered a new video card as well but not sure how much of an upgrade I would get out of it.

 

Any thoughts or experiences?

 

Thanks!

 

Todd

[Wired]

Stick with what the Corsair Compatibility Site says. The XMS series isn't compatible.

[Insomniack]

I'm not surprised her PC doesn't run as well as yours.

 

A 7300 LE is only suitable for basic use or as a Media Centre PC, not gaming.

 

Your 6600 GT is a LOT better, regardless of whether it's AGP or not.

 

The 6600 GT's were a very good card in their day, and they're still better than a 7300 LE (Whenever you see LE or SE in a video card, you know it's a budget model).

 

For your mother's PC to handle average games, it would need a bit more RAM, but especially a better video card.

 

However, you would have to seriously consider if spending that amount of money is justified on an ageing system.

 

Have you tried basic maintenance?

 

Like getting rid of all the unneeded Dell rubbish installed and running in the background etc?

 

As well as updating drivers etc.

 

 

If you want to go the upgrading path, use a program like Everest or Belarc etc to see what the Dell's specs are, and if there's any free RAM slots.

 

Dell sometimes use proprietary parts, so you need to check and make certain.

[Kharlkuhlinayn]

I'm not surprised her PC doesn't run as well as yours.

 

A 7300 LE is only suitable for basic use or as a Media Centre PC, not gaming.

 

Your 6600 GT is a LOT better, regardless of whether it's AGP or not.

 

The 6600 GT's were a very good card in their day, and they're still better than a 7300 LE (Whenever you see LE or SE in a video card, you know it's a budget model).

 

That is very good to know, not terribly surprizing but good to know. I know that the next series usually starts out with cards that aren't much better than the low end of the previous series.

 

For your mother's PC to handle average games, it would need a bit more RAM, but especially a better video card.

 

However, you would have to seriously consider if spending that amount of money is justified on an ageing system.

 

RAM was the simple one and it was the first though I had so I checked the order to see how it listed it out (she had us order it with her credit card since she was clueless). Since it lists 1GB Dual Channel and says 2 DIMMS that told me that it was two 512 sticks. The MB has 4 slots which is why I was looking at either basically getting a couple more 512 for the other 2 slots or maybe even a couple of 1GB to fill them but I am not a big fan of mismatched RAM.

 

Make no mistake, I am not looking at trying to turn her system into a gaming machine, just make it a little better for when I am out there or when my stepson and other kids are out there playing the various FPS games they like to play.

 

As for spending the money on an "outdated machine"? You need to realize that when she got this machine back in 2006 we were replacing a Pentium 2 system LOL. They funny part was when her tenant (a professor at a local community college) wanted to get broadband in. They agreed to split the cost and she was AMAZED at how fast pages displayed :) THat happens when you go from a 28.8 modem to cable LOL. So I will likely just watch for an inexpensive upgrade for the video card. Since hers is PCIe it is easier. Spending $30 on RAM and another $50 or so on a better video card would be a worthwhile upgrade in my eyes.

 

Have you tried basic maintenance?

 

I did the obvious stuff. Defrag, error checking, virus scan, spyware cleanup, etc. I would love to get rid of a lot of the crap she has on there but I don't know what she uses. She has a couple different search bars up in IE, AOL, etc. I have pared it down to what I can.

 

I did update the drivers for video and sound when I was there last time as well.

 

Dell sometimes use proprietary parts, so you need to check and make certain.

 

This was my biggest concern. I know it has come a long ways from the days of the Compaqs and Packard Bells and such where everything was proprietary or hardwired but ...

 

Thanks

 

Todd