Worth Upgrading Old Computer?

[JoJoBoy]

I got a free copy of Win7 Pro (32-bit) the other day and am thinking of installing it on my parents computer. The thing is my parents computer is very old. Its a an HP with the following specs
CPU AMD XP3200+
Ram 1.5gb of 3200 (400mhz)
HD WD 200gb 7200rpm
GFX ATi 9600XT 128mb
MB Asus KT400
Im wondering if it will run fine or not on this. They currently run Win XP HOME which does fine with this system. Is anyone running something similar to this with Win 7?

[bobboobles]

That's about like my computer I think. IRCC the 3200 and p4s were out around the same time. It's got a Pentium 4 @3.2GHz but less RAM at 1gb, and a better video card. It runs Windows 7 fine.

[Crayon Shin Chan]

It should run fine. Add a lot more RAM to make it more palatable though.

[Mentawl]

Wouldn't bother upgrading the machine, just throw Windows 7 on it and be happy, it should run fine

[Flying Fox]

It should run fine. Add a lot more RAM to make it more palatable though.

Unless you are going to run a lot of applications at the same time, it should already be palatable.

[Airmantharp]

It should run fine. Add a lot more RAM to make it more palatable though.

Unless you are going to run a lot of applications at the same time, it should already be palatable.

I'm inclined to agree- while I'd bet that 7 will run acceptably on the system, I'm wondering why you'd want to upgrade it? Do you have nothing else to put that copy on?

At the same time, if the hardware is acceptable and you just want to stretch it's use out for another year or two, then I'd probably do the same thing in your situation.

[bdwilcox]

Up the memory to 3GB (if possible). You should be good after that.

[Mentawl]

While it's true that Win7 (and Vista) will make more use of extra RAM, it does not follow that it's absolutely necessary. 1.5GB should be absolutely fine for anything short of medium-heavy Photoshop work or extreme multitasking.

[Synchromesh]

Up the memory to 3GB (if possible). You should be good after that.

Iirc, most Athlon XP motherboards came with 3 memory slots. That would mean you'd have to dig up 3x1GB DDR1 modules. Unless you know somebody who's giving them away, it would cost a bunch nowadays. I would try to get 1x1GB and upgrade the total RAM to 2GB (512x2 + 1x1GB) and live with that as long as possible.

[bdwilcox]

The following assumes your motherboard has three total memory slots.

If the computer's existing 1.5GB or memory is from a 1GB and a 512MB stick, you can add another 1GB for about $42 (from Crucial) to get 2.5GB, or you can add another 512MB for about $25 to get a total of 2GB, or you can remove the 512 and put in two additional 1GBs for about $85 to get a total of 3GBs.

Personally, I'd drop $42 into the system and be done with it. The difference between 2.5GB and 3GB will be negligible.

OTOH, if the system's existing 1.5GB of memory is composed of three 512MB sticks, for any noticeable increase you'll need to replace two of those sticks with 1GB sticks to get a total of 2.5GBs of RAM for $85.

[JoJoBoy]

Well that old hp old only has two dim slots. It came with 512mb and about a year ago I finally talked my parents into spending some money for an extra gig of ram. I have suggested they get a new computer for awhile now but they seem to be fine with their current computer as long as it continues to work. I don't see much sense in upgrading to 2gigs. Im actually more concerned about the Athlon XP3200+ feeling even more behind the curve. I already have upgraded my computer too Win7 Pro and I got another free copy this week but its only 32-bit, this is the only computer that has a 32-bit only cpu so I see no reason to go ahead and use this copy here.

[Blazex]

i ran the 7100 build on my laptop with its desktop A64 3200+ and half gig of ram, ran just a little harder than windows xp, but not by much.
i say just upgrade and you should not notice much of a dif of whatever you moved up from operating system wise.