Opinion: Old (4+ years) PC

[divide0]

Hey all,

I currently have a PC that's roughly 4+ years old (I believe it may even be 6 but I don't remember the exact amount) that I built awhile back. Some of the specs:

Intel Duo Core E7400 - 2.8 GHz
4 GB RAM
GeForce 9800 GT
750 watt PSU (i believe this is 750 because I'm sure I didn't go 500 at the time)
500 gb hard drive

My question is: is it worth replacing parts, i.e. buying a bit more RAM (whatever goes on sale either 2x4GB or 2x8GB) and putting in a SSD. I'm actually not sure if my motherboard would support this or not since it's also quite awhile back

Motherboard Model: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3r LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

If you need any other models/specifics I'd be happy to provide them.

The main reason I'm asking this is because I have another desktop at my apartment at college but I'd like to be able to come home and use a PC without lagging or anything. This computer currently lags a lot and takes a long time to start up and even open up a webpage without having to wait a few seconds. Would adding these components help my performance and would it even be possible to add these? Is it worth it or should I just stick with this PC until it's no longer usable and THEN build another one?

 

[DSzymborski]

When was the last time you did a complete, clean install on this PC and what is your intended use for this PC back home? You have upgrade options, but it's always a good idea to make sure that's actually the issue first - an E7400 should still be able to surf the web just fine.

While you're fortunate in that your motherboard essentially supports all the Core2s, your PC is essentially made up of 7-year-old parts and I'm really hesitant to recommend someone throw good money at a rig that already starts so far back unless it's absolutely needed. You'll get more life out of a Q6600 though if it's the case (the higher quads tend to be at a price range at which I don't think it's worth the marginal benefit for most).

 

[ManlyManass]

My advice is always the same with these boards; buy a Q6600 (intel sold MILLIONS of these chips so they are cheap)
and overclock it to 3.4 gig per core or even more . (thats a 40% o/c. so you see why they sold Millions!)) . You should aim for 6 gig of ram or more for the best performance from this cpu.
8 will not make much more difference. At that speed it will run a gtx 760 or 960 without much bottleneck.
Make sure you buy the G0 SLACR stepping cpu, the b3 does not over clock well at all.
To overclock you will also need an after market cooler (an upright type).

bad advice, my q9400 bootlenecked my gtx 580 at 3.6ghz in many games. the 760 and 960 are stronger than 580.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Hmmmm... Well honestly I think you need to do the basics on it FIRST, then evaluate later if you need to change hardware. While it is VERY LOW END, it depends on what you use it for (Gaming?) and how hard you push it. If your 'needs' for it to do more then it was 'built' / capable to do, then yes time to replace it (which is every 4-5 years anyway normally for PCs).

Did you install all Windows Updates? Including OPTIONAL except BING? Check them and repeat till ALL are installed.

Download and run Slim Drivers, install all the latest updates but you don't need to reboot until you do the last update

Download Malwarebytes do a full system scan (AV doesn't pick up alot of malware) - this resolved almost ALL other similiar posts to date as most had Malware the AV didn't pick up.

Remove whatever AV your using and go to www.filehippo.com and download AVIRA, AVG, Comodo or Panda and do a full system scan - this repeatedly has resolved alot of people issue relying on MS Essentials.
Repeat the AV/Malware scans till the system comes up clean.

Download and run SPECCY, copy and paste the first tab to show your idle temps
Open Computer, Can Air dust out the bunnies and use paint brush on the vents, coolers, fans, etc.


Go through and provide a response on each point, don't SKIP IT because "I ALREADY DID IT" , just try doing it again as of THIS post so we know NOW what is happening as compared to BEFORE you posted.

 

[divide0]

Hmmmm... Well honestly I think you need to do the basics on it FIRST, then evaluate later if you need to change hardware. While it is VERY LOW END, it depends on what you use it for (Gaming?) and how hard you push it. If your 'needs' for it to do more then it was 'built' / capable to do, then yes time to replace it (which is every 4-5 years anyway normally for PCs).

Did you install all Windows Updates? Including OPTIONAL except BING? Check them and repeat till ALL are installed.

Download and run Slim Drivers, install all the latest updates but you don't need to reboot until you do the last update

Download Malwarebytes do a full system scan (AV doesn't pick up alot of malware) - this resolved almost ALL other similiar posts to date as most had Malware the AV didn't pick up.

Remove whatever AV your using and go to www.filehippo.com and download AVIRA, AVG, Comodo or Panda and do a full system scan - this repeatedly has resolved alot of people issue relying on MS Essentials.
Repeat the AV/Malware scans till the system comes up clean.

Download and run SPECCY, copy and paste the first tab to show your idle temps
Open Computer, Can Air dust out the bunnies and use paint brush on the vents, coolers, fans, etc.


Go through and provide a response on each point, don't SKIP IT because "I ALREADY DID IT" , just try doing it again as of THIS post so we know NOW what is happening as compared to BEFORE you posted.

Alright, since checking this thread I decided I should just do what Tom says first

Windows Updates: All have been installed and rebooted enough times. Just checked the update page in Control Panel and it's saying no updates available.

Slim Drivers: Installed a few drivers. It initially listed 16 available drivers that I need to install and after installing about 3 of them it shows 0 now. I've re-ran the scan many times and it's showing 0 updates.

Malwarebytes: Had this running since before I posted the thread. This and the other AV program (I opted to install AVIRA) took over 3 hours to complete but nothing was found.

SPECCY:

Spoiler

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz 39 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology

RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-15)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3R (Socket 775) 45 °C

Graphics
Compaq Q1859 (1366x768@60Hz)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (EVGA) 50 °C

Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device (SATA) 41 °C

Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20 ATA Device

Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Open computer and clean: Did this before starting the thread. For good measures I did this again and performed the same maintenance using canned air spray and a vacuum I have (to suck up the dust I spray). Thoroughly cleaned.

Performance is roughly the same. I thought about reinstalling the OS or switching to another OS for other usages. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more used to my other desktop but this one sounds louder than it should be. Upon starting the computer, it sounds fine but afterwards it gets louder.

 

[ManlyManass]

Hmmmm... Well honestly I think you need to do the basics on it FIRST, then evaluate later if you need to change hardware. While it is VERY LOW END, it depends on what you use it for (Gaming?) and how hard you push it. If your 'needs' for it to do more then it was 'built' / capable to do, then yes time to replace it (which is every 4-5 years anyway normally for PCs).

Did you install all Windows Updates? Including OPTIONAL except BING? Check them and repeat till ALL are installed.

Download and run Slim Drivers, install all the latest updates but you don't need to reboot until you do the last update

Download Malwarebytes do a full system scan (AV doesn't pick up alot of malware) - this resolved almost ALL other similiar posts to date as most had Malware the AV didn't pick up.

Remove whatever AV your using and go to www.filehippo.com and download AVIRA, AVG, Comodo or Panda and do a full system scan - this repeatedly has resolved alot of people issue relying on MS Essentials.
Repeat the AV/Malware scans till the system comes up clean.

Download and run SPECCY, copy and paste the first tab to show your idle temps
Open Computer, Can Air dust out the bunnies and use paint brush on the vents, coolers, fans, etc.


Go through and provide a response on each point, don't SKIP IT because "I ALREADY DID IT" , just try doing it again as of THIS post so we know NOW what is happening as compared to BEFORE you posted.

Alright, since checking this thread I decided I should just do what Tom says first

Windows Updates: All have been installed and rebooted enough times. Just checked the update page in Control Panel and it's saying no updates available.

Slim Drivers: Installed a few drivers. It initially listed 16 available drivers that I need to install and after installing about 3 of them it shows 0 now. I've re-ran the scan many times and it's showing 0 updates.

Malwarebytes: Had this running since before I posted the thread. This and the other AV program (I opted to install AVIRA) took over 3 hours to complete but nothing was found.

SPECCY:

Spoiler

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz 39 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology

RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-15)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3R (Socket 775) 45 °C

Graphics
Compaq Q1859 (1366x768@60Hz)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (EVGA) 50 °C

Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device (SATA) 41 °C

Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20 ATA Device

Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Open computer and clean: Did this before starting the thread. For good measures I did this again and performed the same maintenance using canned air spray and a vacuum I have (to suck up the dust I spray). Thoroughly cleaned.

Performance is roughly the same. I thought about reinstalling the OS or switching to another OS for other usages. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more used to my other desktop but this one sounds louder than it should be. Upon starting the computer, it sounds fine but afterwards it gets louder.

just reinstall windows, drivers n stuff and make an image backup.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Hmmmm... Well honestly I think you need to do the basics on it FIRST, then evaluate later if you need to change hardware. While it is VERY LOW END, it depends on what you use it for (Gaming?) and how hard you push it. If your 'needs' for it to do more then it was 'built' / capable to do, then yes time to replace it (which is every 4-5 years anyway normally for PCs).

Did you install all Windows Updates? Including OPTIONAL except BING? Check them and repeat till ALL are installed.

Download and run Slim Drivers, install all the latest updates but you don't need to reboot until you do the last update

Download Malwarebytes do a full system scan (AV doesn't pick up alot of malware) - this resolved almost ALL other similiar posts to date as most had Malware the AV didn't pick up.

Remove whatever AV your using and go to www.filehippo.com and download AVIRA, AVG, Comodo or Panda and do a full system scan - this repeatedly has resolved alot of people issue relying on MS Essentials.
Repeat the AV/Malware scans till the system comes up clean.

Download and run SPECCY, copy and paste the first tab to show your idle temps
Open Computer, Can Air dust out the bunnies and use paint brush on the vents, coolers, fans, etc.


Go through and provide a response on each point, don't SKIP IT because "I ALREADY DID IT" , just try doing it again as of THIS post so we know NOW what is happening as compared to BEFORE you posted.

Alright, since checking this thread I decided I should just do what Tom says first

Windows Updates: All have been installed and rebooted enough times. Just checked the update page in Control Panel and it's saying no updates available.

Slim Drivers: Installed a few drivers. It initially listed 16 available drivers that I need to install and after installing about 3 of them it shows 0 now. I've re-ran the scan many times and it's showing 0 updates.

Malwarebytes: Had this running since before I posted the thread. This and the other AV program (I opted to install AVIRA) took over 3 hours to complete but nothing was found.

SPECCY:

Spoiler

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz 39 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology

RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-15)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3R (Socket 775) 45 °C

Graphics
Compaq Q1859 (1366x768@60Hz)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (EVGA) 50 °C

Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device (SATA) 41 °C

Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20 ATA Device

Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Open computer and clean: Did this before starting the thread. For good measures I did this again and performed the same maintenance using canned air spray and a vacuum I have (to suck up the dust I spray). Thoroughly cleaned.

Performance is roughly the same. I thought about reinstalling the OS or switching to another OS for other usages. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more used to my other desktop but this one sounds louder than it should be. Upon starting the computer, it sounds fine but afterwards it gets louder.

Yeah.... *facepaws* the HARDWARE is the issue. If your desktop is newer, even 2 years old it will run CIRCLES around this legacy system. You are running DDR2, which is very slower / OBSOLETE RAM, the Core 2 Duo also OBSOLETE, and forget about the 9800 GT which is officially on the Geoforce DO NOT SUPPORT list and the new drivers do NOT even recognize the card anymore (they were removed).

A reinstall of Windows won't probably do much if you did the 'basics' as you said you did, this is just old slow low end tech that is way past it's capability to meet your DEMANDS. Now if you wish to drop down your expectations, say just use it for Email, watching Netflix, etc. then that be fine, but nothing more then that (your cellphone probably feels faster then this machine to give you a guage in tech differences).

 

[ManlyManass]

Hmmmm... Well honestly I think you need to do the basics on it FIRST, then evaluate later if you need to change hardware. While it is VERY LOW END, it depends on what you use it for (Gaming?) and how hard you push it. If your 'needs' for it to do more then it was 'built' / capable to do, then yes time to replace it (which is every 4-5 years anyway normally for PCs).

Did you install all Windows Updates? Including OPTIONAL except BING? Check them and repeat till ALL are installed.

Download and run Slim Drivers, install all the latest updates but you don't need to reboot until you do the last update

Download Malwarebytes do a full system scan (AV doesn't pick up alot of malware) - this resolved almost ALL other similiar posts to date as most had Malware the AV didn't pick up.

Remove whatever AV your using and go to www.filehippo.com and download AVIRA, AVG, Comodo or Panda and do a full system scan - this repeatedly has resolved alot of people issue relying on MS Essentials.
Repeat the AV/Malware scans till the system comes up clean.

Download and run SPECCY, copy and paste the first tab to show your idle temps
Open Computer, Can Air dust out the bunnies and use paint brush on the vents, coolers, fans, etc.


Go through and provide a response on each point, don't SKIP IT because "I ALREADY DID IT" , just try doing it again as of THIS post so we know NOW what is happening as compared to BEFORE you posted.

Alright, since checking this thread I decided I should just do what Tom says first

Windows Updates: All have been installed and rebooted enough times. Just checked the update page in Control Panel and it's saying no updates available.

Slim Drivers: Installed a few drivers. It initially listed 16 available drivers that I need to install and after installing about 3 of them it shows 0 now. I've re-ran the scan many times and it's showing 0 updates.

Malwarebytes: Had this running since before I posted the thread. This and the other AV program (I opted to install AVIRA) took over 3 hours to complete but nothing was found.

SPECCY:

Spoiler

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz 39 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology

RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-15)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3R (Socket 775) 45 °C

Graphics
Compaq Q1859 (1366x768@60Hz)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (EVGA) 50 °C

Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device (SATA) 41 °C

Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20 ATA Device

Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Open computer and clean: Did this before starting the thread. For good measures I did this again and performed the same maintenance using canned air spray and a vacuum I have (to suck up the dust I spray). Thoroughly cleaned.

Performance is roughly the same. I thought about reinstalling the OS or switching to another OS for other usages. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more used to my other desktop but this one sounds louder than it should be. Upon starting the computer, it sounds fine but afterwards it gets louder.

Yeah.... *facepaws* the HARDWARE is the issue. If your desktop is newer, even 2 years old it will run CIRCLES around this legacy system. You are running DDR2, which is very slower / OBSOLETE RAM, the Core 2 Duo also OBSOLETE, and forget about the 9800 GT which is officially on the Geoforce DO NOT SUPPORT list and the new drivers do NOT even recognize the card anymore (they were removed).

A reinstall of Windows won't probably do much if you did the 'basics' as you said you did, this is just old slow low end tech that is way past it's capability to meet your DEMANDS. Now if you wish to drop down your expectations, say just use it for Email, watching Netflix, etc. then that be fine, but nothing more then that (your cellphone probably feels faster then this machine to give you a guage in tech differences).

lol, are you serious? probably the guy never did a fresh windows install. my laptop is from 2006 was slow as hell, slammed win 7 on it boom, problem solved.

 

[divide0]

Hmmmm... Well honestly I think you need to do the basics on it FIRST, then evaluate later if you need to change hardware. While it is VERY LOW END, it depends on what you use it for (Gaming?) and how hard you push it. If your 'needs' for it to do more then it was 'built' / capable to do, then yes time to replace it (which is every 4-5 years anyway normally for PCs).

Did you install all Windows Updates? Including OPTIONAL except BING? Check them and repeat till ALL are installed.

Download and run Slim Drivers, install all the latest updates but you don't need to reboot until you do the last update

Download Malwarebytes do a full system scan (AV doesn't pick up alot of malware) - this resolved almost ALL other similiar posts to date as most had Malware the AV didn't pick up.

Remove whatever AV your using and go to www.filehippo.com and download AVIRA, AVG, Comodo or Panda and do a full system scan - this repeatedly has resolved alot of people issue relying on MS Essentials.
Repeat the AV/Malware scans till the system comes up clean.

Download and run SPECCY, copy and paste the first tab to show your idle temps
Open Computer, Can Air dust out the bunnies and use paint brush on the vents, coolers, fans, etc.


Go through and provide a response on each point, don't SKIP IT because "I ALREADY DID IT" , just try doing it again as of THIS post so we know NOW what is happening as compared to BEFORE you posted.

Alright, since checking this thread I decided I should just do what Tom says first

Windows Updates: All have been installed and rebooted enough times. Just checked the update page in Control Panel and it's saying no updates available.

Slim Drivers: Installed a few drivers. It initially listed 16 available drivers that I need to install and after installing about 3 of them it shows 0 now. I've re-ran the scan many times and it's showing 0 updates.

Malwarebytes: Had this running since before I posted the thread. This and the other AV program (I opted to install AVIRA) took over 3 hours to complete but nothing was found.

SPECCY:

Spoiler

Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz 39 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology

RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-15)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3R (Socket 775) 45 °C

Graphics
Compaq Q1859 (1366x768@60Hz)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (EVGA) 50 °C

Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device (SATA) 41 °C

Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP20 ATA Device

Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Open computer and clean: Did this before starting the thread. For good measures I did this again and performed the same maintenance using canned air spray and a vacuum I have (to suck up the dust I spray). Thoroughly cleaned.

Performance is roughly the same. I thought about reinstalling the OS or switching to another OS for other usages. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more used to my other desktop but this one sounds louder than it should be. Upon starting the computer, it sounds fine but afterwards it gets louder.

Yeah.... *facepaws* the HARDWARE is the issue. If your desktop is newer, even 2 years old it will run CIRCLES around this legacy system. You are running DDR2, which is very slower / OBSOLETE RAM, the Core 2 Duo also OBSOLETE, and forget about the 9800 GT which is officially on the Geoforce DO NOT SUPPORT list and the new drivers do NOT even recognize the card anymore (they were removed).

A reinstall of Windows won't probably do much if you did the 'basics' as you said you did, this is just old slow low end tech that is way past it's capability to meet your DEMANDS. Now if you wish to drop down your expectations, say just use it for Email, watching Netflix, etc. then that be fine, but nothing more then that (your cellphone probably feels faster then this machine to give you a guage in tech differences).

lol, are you serious? probably the guy never did a fresh windows install. my laptop is from 2006 was slow as hell, slammed win 7 on it boom, problem solved.

No I did a fresh install many times. It's just as Tom said, the hardware just doesn't meet my standards as I'm used to my i7, 8 gb ram, and GTX 770 on my other desktop. This will get me by playing League or other games for now, I suppose. Thanks to Tom for helping me out!

 

[Tom Tancredi]

SPECCY:
Operating System
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz 39 °C
Wolfdale 45nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-15)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3R (Socket 775) 45 °C
Graphics
Compaq Q1859 (1366x768@60Hz)
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (EVGA) 50 °C
Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device (SATA) 41 °C
I'm not sure if it's because I'm more used to my other desktop ....
................................

I'm used to my i7, 8 gb ram, and GTX 770 on my other desktop.

.

just reinstall windows, drivers n stuff and make an image backup.

You should spew bad advice on things you don't understand or know. The is a WORLD of difference in the hardware between the OLD system and the NEW desktop that has NOTHING to do with "windows, drivers n stuff".

I highly suggest you take the basic CompTIA A+ Courses before handing out any further advice, your ill informed and providing no GOOD solution, just bad and INCORRECT solutions.