Improve speed of p3 Dell?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a 7200 RPM
MB with XP Home installed (the config is attached below). had not used it
in some time and ....

It is slower the mollasses!

I thought it was slow HD as it seems to spend of lot of time accessing the
drive. So I bought a 7200 RPM drive but now see it had one of that RPM
already and did not install the new drive. I thought 256M of memory was
adequate.

Is there a way to help speed up the thing?

YOU think the new 120MB 7200 RPM drive I got will be a lot faster then the
20G 7200 RPM drive thats in it now?

Any tips appreciated.




1 0441T PROCESSOR MODULE, 80526, 600, 256K, 100FSB, SLT1
1 27HRF CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), W/O-AUD, TXXXr, COPPERMINE
1 1968D KIT, DOCUMENTATION, TXXX, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
1 2964E KIT, MOUSE, DRIVER, LOGITECH, V8.02A, MULTIPLE
1 3362D MOUSE, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2, 6P, 3 BUTTON, WHEEL, LOGITECH
1 2317Y PAD, MOUSE, DIMENSION, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
1 3340D KEYBOARD, 104, 6P, UNITED STATES, NMB, RUBBERDOME
1 25515 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 128, 100M, 16X64, 4K, 168
1 6278C KIT, SPEAKER, MULTI-MEDIA, HARMAN KARDON, 120V/60H
1 0827T KIT, MODEM, 3COM, CONTROLLER, DIMENSION
1 46XVP MODEM, V.90, INTERNAL, CONTROLLER, DATA/FAX/VOICE, UNITED STATES
1 5740C CABLE, AUXILIARY, INTERNAL, MODEM, 4C
1 3785U DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, 680M, 8X, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HITACHI,
RPC2
1 98483 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, COMPACT DISK DRIVE, ENHANCED
INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS, DUAL, KLINGER
1 57589 CABLE, AUDIO, MOLEX TO MOLEX
1 9455U CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, CRTV-4780
1 9830U CARD (CIRCUIT), VIDEO, 32M, NV10, 4X AGP
1 8376T DISPLAY, MULTISCAN, COLOR, 19, DUAL, P991, DA0-GSA
My wife inherited by old Dell Dimension XPS


1 1971U HARD DRIVE, 20.4GB, I, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 1IN, NO CONTROLLER/NO
CABLES, 7200, QUANTUM
1 5828D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, ATA66, 2DROP, KLINGER
1 2153R TAPE BACKUP UNIT, 10/20G, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HALF HEIGHT, NO
CONTROLLER/WITH CABLES, I, SEAGATE
1 6860E FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, TEAC
1 98480 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, FLOPPY DRIVE, KLINGER
1 1947U KIT, SOFTWARE, MSENC-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
1 7418T KIT, SOFTWARE, OFFICE SBE 2000, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., UNITED
STATES, REVB
1 66FRH KIT, SOFTWARE, NAV-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR.,
ENGLAND/ENGLISH
1 8100P KIT, SOFTWARE, AMERICA ON LINE, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, CDW/OD, UNITED
STATES, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR.
1 8801T KIT, DOCUMENTATON ON FLOPPY DISK, WINDOWS 98, OSR1, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
1 15278 CABLE, RIB, 26C, 28G, 7STRD, POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
1 7998D CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, QUADRANT,
DECODER, PC INTERFACE, R1
1 8482D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, MALE OVER MALE, 2C, 24G, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE,
11"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"jtsnow" <jtsnow@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:k9_Gd.11670$Tf5.2653@lakeread03...
> My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a 7200
> RPM MB with XP Home installed (the config is attached below). had not
> used it in some time and ....
>
> It is slower the mollasses!

It's 4 generations old & everything seems slower with age except the passing
years. Compared to current models it seems even slower. Double the 256K to
512K or spend about $500 and get a current model. She's worth it!!!

Tom J

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

been there ... done that ... although the 7200 rpm hard drive probably
helped a bunch, it is the combination slow slot 1 processor, slow
motherboard bus speed, and single data rate ram that is slowing things down
.... probably in that order of blame.

If you want to putz with it ... and you have some money to blow ... buy
yourself a 1.4GHZ Celeron Powerleap upgrade www.powerleap.com ($135) ...
add another 512 mb ram (crucial.com about $100) and see how ya like that...
if ya wanna blow some more money buy an 128bit/128MB ATI9600 card (don't
bother with anything faster) for another $75 from newegg.com ... and see if
that suits ya...

It will boot much faster ... and be a very speedy internet/email/office
machine. It will play most older games fine and newer games at course
settings.

You will have spent about $310 or so... and you could have instead bought a
new P-IV basic machine from a big box company like Dell ... this new machine
route will blow away the upgraded 2001 Dimension XPS for about another
$100... but you will not have had as much fun...etc... your choice...
Brian



"jtsnow" <jtsnow@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:k9_Gd.11670$Tf5.2653@lakeread03...
> My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a 7200
> RPM MB with XP Home installed (the config is attached below). had not
> used it in some time and ....
>
> It is slower the mollasses!
>
> I thought it was slow HD as it seems to spend of lot of time accessing the
> drive. So I bought a 7200 RPM drive but now see it had one of that RPM
> already and did not install the new drive. I thought 256M of memory was
> adequate.
>
> Is there a way to help speed up the thing?
>
> YOU think the new 120MB 7200 RPM drive I got will be a lot faster then the
> 20G 7200 RPM drive thats in it now?
>
> Any tips appreciated.
>
>
>
>
> 1 0441T PROCESSOR MODULE, 80526, 600, 256K, 100FSB, SLT1
> 1 27HRF CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), W/O-AUD, TXXXr, COPPERMINE
> 1 1968D KIT, DOCUMENTATION, TXXX, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> 1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
> 1 2964E KIT, MOUSE, DRIVER, LOGITECH, V8.02A, MULTIPLE
> 1 3362D MOUSE, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2, 6P, 3 BUTTON, WHEEL, LOGITECH
> 1 2317Y PAD, MOUSE, DIMENSION, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
> 1 3340D KEYBOARD, 104, 6P, UNITED STATES, NMB, RUBBERDOME
> 1 25515 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 128, 100M, 16X64, 4K, 168
> 1 6278C KIT, SPEAKER, MULTI-MEDIA, HARMAN KARDON, 120V/60H
> 1 0827T KIT, MODEM, 3COM, CONTROLLER, DIMENSION
> 1 46XVP MODEM, V.90, INTERNAL, CONTROLLER, DATA/FAX/VOICE, UNITED STATES
> 1 5740C CABLE, AUXILIARY, INTERNAL, MODEM, 4C
> 1 3785U DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, 680M, 8X, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HITACHI,
> RPC2
> 1 98483 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, COMPACT DISK DRIVE,
> ENHANCED INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS, DUAL, KLINGER
> 1 57589 CABLE, AUDIO, MOLEX TO MOLEX
> 1 9455U CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, CRTV-4780
> 1 9830U CARD (CIRCUIT), VIDEO, 32M, NV10, 4X AGP
> 1 8376T DISPLAY, MULTISCAN, COLOR, 19, DUAL, P991, DA0-GSA
> My wife inherited by old Dell Dimension XPS
>
>
> 1 1971U HARD DRIVE, 20.4GB, I, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 1IN, NO CONTROLLER/NO
> CABLES, 7200, QUANTUM
> 1 5828D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, ATA66, 2DROP, KLINGER
> 1 2153R TAPE BACKUP UNIT, 10/20G, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HALF HEIGHT, NO
> CONTROLLER/WITH CABLES, I, SEAGATE
> 1 6860E FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, TEAC
> 1 98480 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, FLOPPY DRIVE, KLINGER
> 1 1947U KIT, SOFTWARE, MSENC-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> 1 7418T KIT, SOFTWARE, OFFICE SBE 2000, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., UNITED
> STATES, REVB
> 1 66FRH KIT, SOFTWARE, NAV-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> 1 8100P KIT, SOFTWARE, AMERICA ON LINE, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, CDW/OD, UNITED
> STATES, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR.
> 1 8801T KIT, DOCUMENTATON ON FLOPPY DISK, WINDOWS 98, OSR1,
> ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> 1 15278 CABLE, RIB, 26C, 28G, 7STRD, POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
> 1 7998D CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, QUADRANT,
> DECODER, PC INTERFACE, R1
> 1 8482D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, MALE OVER MALE, 2C, 24G, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK
> DRIVE, 11"
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

ok..nice input...thanks"Brian Dean" <BJDinNC@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:ku_Gd.15136$SK6.12303@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
> been there ... done that ... although the 7200 rpm hard drive probably
> helped a bunch, it is the combination slow slot 1 processor, slow
> motherboard bus speed, and single data rate ram that is slowing things
> down ... probably in that order of blame.
>
> If you want to putz with it ... and you have some money to blow ... buy
> yourself a 1.4GHZ Celeron Powerleap upgrade www.powerleap.com ($135) ...
> add another 512 mb ram (crucial.com about $100) and see how ya like
> that... if ya wanna blow some more money buy an 128bit/128MB ATI9600 card
> (don't bother with anything faster) for another $75 from newegg.com ...
> and see if that suits ya...
>
> It will boot much faster ... and be a very speedy internet/email/office
> machine. It will play most older games fine and newer games at course
> settings.
>
> You will have spent about $310 or so... and you could have instead bought
> a new P-IV basic machine from a big box company like Dell ... this new
> machine route will blow away the upgraded 2001 Dimension XPS for about
> another $100... but you will not have had as much fun...etc... your
> choice...
> Brian
>
>
>
> "jtsnow" <jtsnow@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:k9_Gd.11670$Tf5.2653@lakeread03...
>> My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a 7200
>> RPM MB with XP Home installed (the config is attached below). had not
>> used it in some time and ....
>>
>> It is slower the mollasses!
>>
>> I thought it was slow HD as it seems to spend of lot of time accessing
>> the drive. So I bought a 7200 RPM drive but now see it had one of that
>> RPM already and did not install the new drive. I thought 256M of
>> memory was adequate.
>>
>> Is there a way to help speed up the thing?
>>
>> YOU think the new 120MB 7200 RPM drive I got will be a lot faster then
>> the 20G 7200 RPM drive thats in it now?
>>
>> Any tips appreciated.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 1 0441T PROCESSOR MODULE, 80526, 600, 256K, 100FSB, SLT1
>> 1 27HRF CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), W/O-AUD, TXXXr, COPPERMINE
>> 1 1968D KIT, DOCUMENTATION, TXXX, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
>> 1 2964E KIT, MOUSE, DRIVER, LOGITECH, V8.02A, MULTIPLE
>> 1 3362D MOUSE, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2, 6P, 3 BUTTON, WHEEL, LOGITECH
>> 1 2317Y PAD, MOUSE, DIMENSION, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
>> 1 3340D KEYBOARD, 104, 6P, UNITED STATES, NMB, RUBBERDOME
>> 1 25515 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 128, 100M, 16X64, 4K, 168
>> 1 6278C KIT, SPEAKER, MULTI-MEDIA, HARMAN KARDON, 120V/60H
>> 1 0827T KIT, MODEM, 3COM, CONTROLLER, DIMENSION
>> 1 46XVP MODEM, V.90, INTERNAL, CONTROLLER, DATA/FAX/VOICE, UNITED STATES
>> 1 5740C CABLE, AUXILIARY, INTERNAL, MODEM, 4C
>> 1 3785U DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, 680M, 8X, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR,
>> HITACHI, RPC2
>> 1 98483 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, COMPACT DISK DRIVE,
>> ENHANCED INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS, DUAL, KLINGER
>> 1 57589 CABLE, AUDIO, MOLEX TO MOLEX
>> 1 9455U CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, CRTV-4780
>> 1 9830U CARD (CIRCUIT), VIDEO, 32M, NV10, 4X AGP
>> 1 8376T DISPLAY, MULTISCAN, COLOR, 19, DUAL, P991, DA0-GSA
>> My wife inherited by old Dell Dimension XPS
>>
>>
>> 1 1971U HARD DRIVE, 20.4GB, I, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 1IN, NO CONTROLLER/NO
>> CABLES, 7200, QUANTUM
>> 1 5828D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, ATA66, 2DROP, KLINGER
>> 1 2153R TAPE BACKUP UNIT, 10/20G, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HALF HEIGHT, NO
>> CONTROLLER/WITH CABLES, I, SEAGATE
>> 1 6860E FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, TEAC
>> 1 98480 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, FLOPPY DRIVE, KLINGER
>> 1 1947U KIT, SOFTWARE, MSENC-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
>> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 7418T KIT, SOFTWARE, OFFICE SBE 2000, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., UNITED
>> STATES, REVB
>> 1 66FRH KIT, SOFTWARE, NAV-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
>> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 8100P KIT, SOFTWARE, AMERICA ON LINE, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, CDW/OD, UNITED
>> STATES, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR.
>> 1 8801T KIT, DOCUMENTATON ON FLOPPY DISK, WINDOWS 98, OSR1,
>> ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 15278 CABLE, RIB, 26C, 28G, 7STRD, POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
>> 1 7998D CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, QUADRANT,
>> DECODER, PC INTERFACE, R1
>> 1 8482D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, MALE OVER MALE, 2C, 24G, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK
>> DRIVE, 11"
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"jtsnow" <jtsnow@yahoo.com> wrote:
>My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a 7200 RPM

>It is slower the mollasses!

I'd rebuild the OS from scratch, viruses, spyware, adware, and other
malware can really eat your performance, and installing like new from
scratch will defragment your disk, eliminate un-needed and unwanted
programs, and make everything faster. Doubling your memory wouldn't
hurt either...

Of course, with new machines going for $500, it's hard to spend any
significant amount of money on such an old machine...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

One thought - verify that the bios hasn't switched to COMPATIBLE mode
for the speed instead of NORMAL. It happens, it happens.....


Ben Myers wrote:
> Memory limit on these old Slot 1 boards with Intel 440BX chipset is
either 384MB
> or 768MB, depending on when the board was produced. Given that the
CPU is
> 600MHz, I'll bet that the board supports 768MB in the form of
LOW-DENSITY 256MB
> PC100 DIMMs, which are getting harder to find.
>
> A memory upgrade would give the biggest bang for the buck in terms of
> performance improvement.
>
> Be careful in replacing an old AGP card. The old AGPs run at 3.3v,
and the new
> ones at 1.5v... Ben Myers
>
> On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:30:01 -0500, "Brian Dean"
<BJDinNC@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
> >been there ... done that ... although the 7200 rpm hard drive
probably
> >helped a bunch, it is the combination slow slot 1 processor, slow
> >motherboard bus speed, and single data rate ram that is slowing
things down
> >... probably in that order of blame.
> >
> >If you want to putz with it ... and you have some money to blow ...
buy
> >yourself a 1.4GHZ Celeron Powerleap upgrade www.powerleap.com
($135) ...
> >add another 512 mb ram (crucial.com about $100) and see how ya like
that...
> >if ya wanna blow some more money buy an 128bit/128MB ATI9600 card
(don't
> >bother with anything faster) for another $75 from newegg.com ... and
see if
> >that suits ya...
> >
> >It will boot much faster ... and be a very speedy
internet/email/office
> >machine. It will play most older games fine and newer games at
course
> >settings.
> >
> >You will have spent about $310 or so... and you could have instead
bought a
> >new P-IV basic machine from a big box company like Dell ... this new
machine
> >route will blow away the upgraded 2001 Dimension XPS for about
another
> >$100... but you will not have had as much fun...etc... your
choice...
> >Brian
> >
> >
> >
> >"jtsnow" <jtsnow@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >news:k9_Gd.11670$Tf5.2653@lakeread03...
> >> My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a
7200
> >> RPM MB with XP Home installed (the config is attached below). had
not
> >> used it in some time and ....
> >>
> >> It is slower the mollasses!
> >>
> >> I thought it was slow HD as it seems to spend of lot of time
accessing the
> >> drive. So I bought a 7200 RPM drive but now see it had one of
that RPM
> >> already and did not install the new drive. I thought 256M of
memory was
> >> adequate.
> >>
> >> Is there a way to help speed up the thing?
> >>
> >> YOU think the new 120MB 7200 RPM drive I got will be a lot faster
then the
> >> 20G 7200 RPM drive thats in it now?
> >>
> >> Any tips appreciated.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> 1 0441T PROCESSOR MODULE, 80526, 600, 256K, 100FSB, SLT1
> >> 1 27HRF CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), W/O-AUD, TXXXr,
COPPERMINE
> >> 1 1968D KIT, DOCUMENTATION, TXXX, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> >> 1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
> >> 1 2964E KIT, MOUSE, DRIVER, LOGITECH, V8.02A, MULTIPLE
> >> 1 3362D MOUSE, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2, 6P, 3 BUTTON, WHEEL, LOGITECH
> >> 1 2317Y PAD, MOUSE, DIMENSION, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
> >> 1 3340D KEYBOARD, 104, 6P, UNITED STATES, NMB, RUBBERDOME
> >> 1 25515 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 128, 100M, 16X64, 4K, 168
> >> 1 6278C KIT, SPEAKER, MULTI-MEDIA, HARMAN KARDON, 120V/60H
> >> 1 0827T KIT, MODEM, 3COM, CONTROLLER, DIMENSION
> >> 1 46XVP MODEM, V.90, INTERNAL, CONTROLLER, DATA/FAX/VOICE, UNITED
STATES
> >> 1 5740C CABLE, AUXILIARY, INTERNAL, MODEM, 4C
> >> 1 3785U DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, 680M, 8X, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR,
HITACHI,
> >> RPC2
> >> 1 98483 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, COMPACT DISK DRIVE,

> >> ENHANCED INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS, DUAL, KLINGER
> >> 1 57589 CABLE, AUDIO, MOLEX TO MOLEX
> >> 1 9455U CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, CRTV-4780
> >> 1 9830U CARD (CIRCUIT), VIDEO, 32M, NV10, 4X AGP
> >> 1 8376T DISPLAY, MULTISCAN, COLOR, 19, DUAL, P991, DA0-GSA
> >> My wife inherited by old Dell Dimension XPS
> >>
> >>
> >> 1 1971U HARD DRIVE, 20.4GB, I, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 1IN, NO
CONTROLLER/NO
> >> CABLES, 7200, QUANTUM
> >> 1 5828D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, ATA66, 2DROP, KLINGER
> >> 1 2153R TAPE BACKUP UNIT, 10/20G, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HALF HEIGHT,
NO
> >> CONTROLLER/WITH CABLES, I, SEAGATE
> >> 1 6860E FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, TEAC
> >> 1 98480 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, FLOPPY DRIVE,
KLINGER
> >> 1 1947U KIT, SOFTWARE, MSENC-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL
EQUIPMENT
> >> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> >> 1 7418T KIT, SOFTWARE, OFFICE SBE 2000, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR.,
UNITED
> >> STATES, REVB
> >> 1 66FRH KIT, SOFTWARE, NAV-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL
EQUIPMENT
> >> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> >> 1 8100P KIT, SOFTWARE, AMERICA ON LINE, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, CDW/OD,
UNITED
> >> STATES, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR.
> >> 1 8801T KIT, DOCUMENTATON ON FLOPPY DISK, WINDOWS 98, OSR1,
> >> ENGLAND/ENGLISH
> >> 1 15278 CABLE, RIB, 26C, 28G, 7STRD, POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
> >> 1 7998D CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE,
QUADRANT,
> >> DECODER, PC INTERFACE, R1
> >> 1 8482D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, MALE OVER MALE, 2C, 24G, DIGITAL VIDEO
DISK
> >> DRIVE, 11"
> >>
> >
> >

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

William P.N. Smith wrote:

>Of course, with new machines going for $500, it's hard to spend any
>significant amount of money on such an old machine...

I always /love/ seeing this in a post - "with new machines going
for $xxx.xx", and generally always quoting the latest, bare-bones
starter computer advertised on the TandV commercials.

Just for kicks, I just priced out a currently comparable Dell to
the 4400 I bought three years ago [and to the one I bought five
years ago - my needs/usage haven't changed over time].

I was conservative with my choices, 19" CRT vice the FP option,
min memory offered - get the rest from crucial/etc, take the
default WordPerfect Suite [in my situation I have to have all
three, so I'll take what Dell is pushing, and update/reuse my
current other two], etc., and still came up with the same ~ $1200
the previous two cost. [Gateway/HP priced out the same,
essentially]. If I'd have gone hog-wild, got the FP, got the 3.2
Pentium, etc, I could have ended up at $2K vice $1.2.

Yes, in /his/ specific situation, that bare-bones starter
computer might meet the OP's needs, and make him/his wife very
happy. OTOH, one size doesn't fit all, and those $500 starter
computers don't fit very many.

The reality is that I would be getting a bit more bang for my
$1200, even without considering the advance in Pentium
capabilities and HD sizes etc [and, after all, one of the rulez
is that a corollary to the axiom that says that programs
naturally bloat to fit current "standard" HD sizes is that they
also naturally increase in their resource requirements to meet
current processor capabilities - latest and greatest V12 of
something won't run as well on your old 1.7GB pentium as V9
does.]. And $1200 is at the end of the curve. Back in the day,
8088/80286, my level of computing invariably resulted in a
$2K-$2.5K price tag. With 80386/80486 that was down to
$1.8K-$2K, and early Pentiums to $1.5-$1.8K. So this ain't bad
in the PIII/P4 days.
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Ogden Johnson III" <oj3usmc@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ghbqu0l3dv19t6o3boc5mb8iani0q5jh8i@4ax.com...
> William P.N. Smith wrote:
>
>>Of course, with new machines going for $500, it's hard to spend any
>>significant amount of money on such an old machine...
>
> I always /love/ seeing this in a post - "with new machines going
> for $xxx.xx", and generally always quoting the latest, bare-bones
> starter computer advertised on the TandV commercials.
>

<snip>

I agree, OJ. For most casual/mundane or moderate usage, PIII systems with
adequate RAM and hard disk space can still perform many tasks admirably.

I've passed along roughly 5 of these systems (with minor upgrades from
various inexpensive sources) to just such users who're very pleased with
them. The trick, of course, is obtaining XP, RAM, and perhaps a mild video
card upgrade for them at a cost that's not prohibitive.

We still have three PIII Dells in the house, and they are rock-solid
reliable.

I am at the point now, however, of gradually fishing around for lower end
used P4 Dells to accomplish a bit more speed, larger standard RAM and video
capes, as well as getting XP bundled in with those systems.

The 4400 and 45XX systems are still quite in demand.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Memory limit on these old Slot 1 boards with Intel 440BX chipset is either 384MB
or 768MB, depending on when the board was produced. Given that the CPU is
600MHz, I'll bet that the board supports 768MB in the form of LOW-DENSITY 256MB
PC100 DIMMs, which are getting harder to find.

A memory upgrade would give the biggest bang for the buck in terms of
performance improvement.

Be careful in replacing an old AGP card. The old AGPs run at 3.3v, and the new
ones at 1.5v... Ben Myers

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:30:01 -0500, "Brian Dean" <BJDinNC@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>been there ... done that ... although the 7200 rpm hard drive probably
>helped a bunch, it is the combination slow slot 1 processor, slow
>motherboard bus speed, and single data rate ram that is slowing things down
>... probably in that order of blame.
>
>If you want to putz with it ... and you have some money to blow ... buy
>yourself a 1.4GHZ Celeron Powerleap upgrade www.powerleap.com ($135) ...
>add another 512 mb ram (crucial.com about $100) and see how ya like that...
>if ya wanna blow some more money buy an 128bit/128MB ATI9600 card (don't
>bother with anything faster) for another $75 from newegg.com ... and see if
>that suits ya...
>
>It will boot much faster ... and be a very speedy internet/email/office
>machine. It will play most older games fine and newer games at course
>settings.
>
>You will have spent about $310 or so... and you could have instead bought a
>new P-IV basic machine from a big box company like Dell ... this new machine
>route will blow away the upgraded 2001 Dimension XPS for about another
>$100... but you will not have had as much fun...etc... your choice...
>Brian
>
>
>
>"jtsnow" <jtsnow@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:k9_Gd.11670$Tf5.2653@lakeread03...
>> My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a 7200
>> RPM MB with XP Home installed (the config is attached below). had not
>> used it in some time and ....
>>
>> It is slower the mollasses!
>>
>> I thought it was slow HD as it seems to spend of lot of time accessing the
>> drive. So I bought a 7200 RPM drive but now see it had one of that RPM
>> already and did not install the new drive. I thought 256M of memory was
>> adequate.
>>
>> Is there a way to help speed up the thing?
>>
>> YOU think the new 120MB 7200 RPM drive I got will be a lot faster then the
>> 20G 7200 RPM drive thats in it now?
>>
>> Any tips appreciated.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 1 0441T PROCESSOR MODULE, 80526, 600, 256K, 100FSB, SLT1
>> 1 27HRF CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), W/O-AUD, TXXXr, COPPERMINE
>> 1 1968D KIT, DOCUMENTATION, TXXX, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
>> 1 2964E KIT, MOUSE, DRIVER, LOGITECH, V8.02A, MULTIPLE
>> 1 3362D MOUSE, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2, 6P, 3 BUTTON, WHEEL, LOGITECH
>> 1 2317Y PAD, MOUSE, DIMENSION, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
>> 1 3340D KEYBOARD, 104, 6P, UNITED STATES, NMB, RUBBERDOME
>> 1 25515 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 128, 100M, 16X64, 4K, 168
>> 1 6278C KIT, SPEAKER, MULTI-MEDIA, HARMAN KARDON, 120V/60H
>> 1 0827T KIT, MODEM, 3COM, CONTROLLER, DIMENSION
>> 1 46XVP MODEM, V.90, INTERNAL, CONTROLLER, DATA/FAX/VOICE, UNITED STATES
>> 1 5740C CABLE, AUXILIARY, INTERNAL, MODEM, 4C
>> 1 3785U DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, 680M, 8X, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HITACHI,
>> RPC2
>> 1 98483 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, COMPACT DISK DRIVE,
>> ENHANCED INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS, DUAL, KLINGER
>> 1 57589 CABLE, AUDIO, MOLEX TO MOLEX
>> 1 9455U CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, CRTV-4780
>> 1 9830U CARD (CIRCUIT), VIDEO, 32M, NV10, 4X AGP
>> 1 8376T DISPLAY, MULTISCAN, COLOR, 19, DUAL, P991, DA0-GSA
>> My wife inherited by old Dell Dimension XPS
>>
>>
>> 1 1971U HARD DRIVE, 20.4GB, I, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 1IN, NO CONTROLLER/NO
>> CABLES, 7200, QUANTUM
>> 1 5828D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, ATA66, 2DROP, KLINGER
>> 1 2153R TAPE BACKUP UNIT, 10/20G, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, HALF HEIGHT, NO
>> CONTROLLER/WITH CABLES, I, SEAGATE
>> 1 6860E FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, TEAC
>> 1 98480 CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, FLOPPY DRIVE, KLINGER
>> 1 1947U KIT, SOFTWARE, MSENC-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
>> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 7418T KIT, SOFTWARE, OFFICE SBE 2000, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., UNITED
>> STATES, REVB
>> 1 66FRH KIT, SOFTWARE, NAV-2K, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
>> MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 8100P KIT, SOFTWARE, AMERICA ON LINE, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, CDW/OD, UNITED
>> STATES, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR.
>> 1 8801T KIT, DOCUMENTATON ON FLOPPY DISK, WINDOWS 98, OSR1,
>> ENGLAND/ENGLISH
>> 1 15278 CABLE, RIB, 26C, 28G, 7STRD, POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
>> 1 7998D CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE, QUADRANT,
>> DECODER, PC INTERFACE, R1
>> 1 8482D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, MALE OVER MALE, 2C, 24G, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK
>> DRIVE, 11"
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ogden Johnson III <oj3usmc@yahoo.com> wrote:
>William P.N. Smith wrote:
>>Of course, with new machines going for $500, it's hard to spend any
>>significant amount of money on such an old machine...
>
>I always /love/ seeing this in a post - "with new machines going
>for $xxx.xx", and generally always quoting the latest, bare-bones
>starter computer advertised on the TandV commercials.
>
>Just for kicks, I just priced out a currently comparable Dell to
>the 4400 I bought three years ago [and to the one I bought five
>years ago - my needs/usage haven't changed over time].

Really? How'd you get a P4-2.8 processor with a 533MHz FSB five years
ago? And what did that machine you bought 5 years ago with 256M
memory, 40G ATA/100 7200RPM drive, a 17" monitor, and a CD burner cost
you?

I'm not saying that the low-end machine is very useful, but it may
beat the 5 year old machine the OP has. I go thru this with clients
all the time, $100 for memory, $100 for a drive, $200 for the OS, a
couple hundred for my time, and they still won't have as powerful a
machine (and no 90-day warranty) as the new low-end. YMMV, of
course...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<William P.N. Smith> wrote in message
news:greru09gabmq2kq690vsfhjpimjrvn4qrh@4ax.com...
> Ogden Johnson III <oj3usmc@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>William P.N. Smith wrote:
>>>Of course, with new machines going for $500, it's hard to spend any
>>>significant amount of money on such an old machine...
>>
>>I always /love/ seeing this in a post - "with new machines going
>>for $xxx.xx", and generally always quoting the latest, bare-bones
>>starter computer advertised on the TandV commercials.
>>
>>Just for kicks, I just priced out a currently comparable Dell to
>>the 4400 I bought three years ago [and to the one I bought five
>>years ago - my needs/usage haven't changed over time].
>
> Really? How'd you get a P4-2.8 processor with a 533MHz FSB five years
> ago? And what did that machine you bought 5 years ago with 256M
> memory, 40G ATA/100 7200RPM drive, a 17" monitor, and a CD burner cost
> you?
>
> I'm not saying that the low-end machine is very useful, but it may
> beat the 5 year old machine the OP has. I go thru this with clients
> all the time, $100 for memory, $100 for a drive, $200 for the OS, a
> couple hundred for my time, and they still won't have as powerful a
> machine (and no 90-day warranty) as the new low-end. YMMV, of
> course...
>


That's a valid point, as is the unsuspecting non-technical who purchases a
Dim2400 or 3000 with perhaps a Celeron and 128mb of RAM and wonders why it
is too slow or can't accept an AGP card. I'm sure you've seen those posts
here or other places with comments like "they didn't tell me that (in the
ad) or when I called".

Slow is slow, and even new can be slow, which hurts after biting on that
"$399 special!!! Free shipping!!!"


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

William P.N. Smith wrote:

>Ogden Johnson III <oj3usmc@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>William P.N. Smith wrote:
>>>Of course, with new machines going for $500, it's hard to spend any
>>>significant amount of money on such an old machine...
>>
>>I always /love/ seeing this in a post - "with new machines going
>>for $xxx.xx", and generally always quoting the latest, bare-bones
>>starter computer advertised on the TandV commercials.
>>
>>Just for kicks, I just priced out a currently comparable Dell to
>>the 4400 I bought three years ago [and to the one I bought five
>>years ago - my needs/usage haven't changed over time].

>Really? How'd you get a P4-2.8 processor with a 533MHz FSB five years
>ago? And what did that machine you bought 5 years ago with 256M
>memory, 40G ATA/100 7200RPM drive, a 17" monitor, and a CD burner cost
>you?

Took a generic comment personally, did you? I suspect the intent
and essence of my post got through to most readers, who
recognized it for what it was, speaking generically to make a
point. If you thought my comment was directed at you, I
apologize for not writing more clearly. Mea culpa, mea culpa,
mea maxima culpa.

I thought I made the whole post obviously subjunctive in tone.
"If I /were/ to buy a computer today to meet my needs/usages, I
would have to ..." Apparently I needed to write that more
clearly too.

Woe is me, woe is me; alas and alack. I must do better on the
morrow.
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

In article <4CjHd.42950$Zv5.18201@bignews1.bellsouth.net>, stew1960
@cover.bellsouth.net (S.Lewis) says...

> That's a valid point, as is the unsuspecting non-technical who purchases a
> Dim2400 or 3000 with perhaps a Celeron and 128mb of RAM and wonders why it
> is too slow or can't accept an AGP card. I'm sure you've seen those posts
> here or other places with comments like "they didn't tell me that (in the
> ad) or when I called".
>
> Slow is slow, and even new can be slow, which hurts after biting on that
> "$399 special!!! Free shipping!!!"

Those $399 specials are teaser bait, to get Granny to call in. Any
sales rep who actually sells very many of them will shortly be looking
for another job.

--
http://home.teleport.com/~larryc

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"jtsnow" <jtsnow@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:k9_Gd.11670$Tf5.2653@lakeread03...
> My wife inherited my 2001 Dimension XPS. Its a P3 with 256K and a 7200
RPM
> MB with XP Home installed (the config is attached below). had not used it
> in some time and ....
>
> It is slower the mollasses!
>
> I thought it was slow HD as it seems to spend of lot of time accessing the
> drive. So I bought a 7200 RPM drive but now see it had one of that RPM
> already and did not install the new drive. I thought 256M of memory was
> adequate.
>
> Is there a way to help speed up the thing?
>
> YOU think the new 120MB 7200 RPM drive I got will be a lot faster then the
> 20G 7200 RPM drive thats in it now?
>
> Any tips appreciated.

Slower than molasses is subjective, and depends on what you are comparing it
with, but as suggested elsewhere, I would try reformatting the hard disk and
re-installing everything fresh. As systems get used, have software
installed, upgraded and deleted etc. etc. they accumulate a lot of dross.
Also you may have various trojans, spyware etc. which all serve to clog the
thing up.

* Obviously, back up all your data first! *

A bit more memory might also help, maybe getting it up to 512MB, if could
find some at a good price. I think the existing hard drive will be fine for
general purpose use, assuming 20GB is big enough.

I have a 750MHz PIII Dell (256MB RAM) portable I just recently put XP onto.
While it's no speed machine it works perfectly well for Web surfing, e-mail,
office apps. and so on. With a bit of tidying I don't see why you XPS can't
work fairly acceptably.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Yeah, but take the $399 special and bump the memory up to 512MB and you have a
respectable system, good for all kinds of work, but not for gaming... Ben Myers

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 05:07:30 GMT, Larry Caldwell <larryc@teleport.com> wrote:

>In article <4CjHd.42950$Zv5.18201@bignews1.bellsouth.net>, stew1960
>@cover.bellsouth.net (S.Lewis) says...
>
>> That's a valid point, as is the unsuspecting non-technical who purchases a
>> Dim2400 or 3000 with perhaps a Celeron and 128mb of RAM and wonders why it
>> is too slow or can't accept an AGP card. I'm sure you've seen those posts
>> here or other places with comments like "they didn't tell me that (in the
>> ad) or when I called".
>>
>> Slow is slow, and even new can be slow, which hurts after biting on that
>> "$399 special!!! Free shipping!!!"
>
>Those $399 specials are teaser bait, to get Granny to call in. Any
>sales rep who actually sells very many of them will shortly be looking
>for another job.
>
>--
>http://home.teleport.com/~larryc

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

In article <41ee637a.4542153@nntp.charter.net>, ben_myers_spam_me_not @
charter.net (Ben Myers) (ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben
Myers)) says...

> Yeah, but take the $399 special and bump the memory up to 512MB and you have a
> respectable system, good for all kinds of work, but not for gaming... Ben Myers

Don't forget to add a CD burner and some software. The $399 systems are
actually expert level systems. They make a nice word processing
platform.

> On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 05:07:30 GMT, Larry Caldwell <larryc@teleport.com> wrote:
>
> >In article <4CjHd.42950$Zv5.18201@bignews1.bellsouth.net>, stew1960
> >@cover.bellsouth.net (S.Lewis) says...
> >
> >> That's a valid point, as is the unsuspecting non-technical who purchases a
> >> Dim2400 or 3000 with perhaps a Celeron and 128mb of RAM and wonders why it
> >> is too slow or can't accept an AGP card. I'm sure you've seen those posts
> >> here or other places with comments like "they didn't tell me that (in the
> >> ad) or when I called".
> >>
> >> Slow is slow, and even new can be slow, which hurts after biting on that
> >> "$399 special!!! Free shipping!!!"
> >
> >Those $399 specials are teaser bait, to get Granny to call in. Any
> >sales rep who actually sells very many of them will shortly be looking
> >for another job.
> >
> >--
> >http://home.teleport.com/~larryc
>
>

--
http://home.teleport.com/~larryc

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Well, they may not be suitable for you to use, but many people find them plenty
adequate. Yeah, add a burner and some open source burning software for another
$39. Still below $500 for a pretty useful piece of gear... Ben Myers

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 03:41:09 GMT, Larry Caldwell <larryc@teleport.com> wrote:

>In article <41ee637a.4542153@nntp.charter.net>, ben_myers_spam_me_not @
>charter.net (Ben Myers) (ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben
>Myers)) says...
>
>> Yeah, but take the $399 special and bump the memory up to 512MB and you have a
>> respectable system, good for all kinds of work, but not for gaming... Ben Myers
>
>Don't forget to add a CD burner and some software. The $399 systems are
>actually expert level systems. They make a nice word processing
>platform.
>
>> On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 05:07:30 GMT, Larry Caldwell <larryc@teleport.com> wrote:
>>
>> >In article <4CjHd.42950$Zv5.18201@bignews1.bellsouth.net>, stew1960
>> >@cover.bellsouth.net (S.Lewis) says...
>> >
>> >> That's a valid point, as is the unsuspecting non-technical who purchases a
>> >> Dim2400 or 3000 with perhaps a Celeron and 128mb of RAM and wonders why it
>> >> is too slow or can't accept an AGP card. I'm sure you've seen those posts
>> >> here or other places with comments like "they didn't tell me that (in the
>> >> ad) or when I called".
>> >>
>> >> Slow is slow, and even new can be slow, which hurts after biting on that
>> >> "$399 special!!! Free shipping!!!"
>> >
>> >Those $399 specials are teaser bait, to get Granny to call in. Any
>> >sales rep who actually sells very many of them will shortly be looking
>> >for another job.
>> >
>> >--
>> >http://home.teleport.com/~larryc
>>
>>
>
>--
>http://home.teleport.com/~larryc

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Ogden Johnson III <oj3usmc@yahoo.com> wrote:
>William P.N. Smith wrote:
>>Ogden Johnson III <oj3usmc@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>William P.N. Smith wrote:
>>>>Of course, with new machines going for $500, it's hard to spend any
>>>>significant amount of money on such an old machine...

>>>Just for kicks, I just priced out a currently comparable Dell to
>>>the 4400 I bought three years ago [and to the one I bought five
>>>years ago - my needs/usage haven't changed over time].
>
>>How'd you get a P4-2.8 processor with a 533MHz FSB five years
>>ago?

>Took a generic comment personally, did you?

Not at all, I suspect we're in violent agreement that prices of
low-end machines are very tempting, and if you know what you are
doing, you can get a decent machine for that price, though the lowest
cost machines may not be suitable for everyone.

You may not feel that your needs and useage have changed over time,
but your definition of "least cost acceptable machine" has climbed up
the ladder a bit...