2000 Req?

[BassMaster4000]

I am upgrading a computer for a friend to Windows 2000. He has a PIII 550mhz with 384mb of SDRAM. Do you guys think that the computer will run ok or do you think it will not be able to run efficiently? He is trying to upgrade to 2000 with minimum cost. Thanks in advance. ;)

Jason Martin

[imbest123]

I think it would run fine but you might want to put windows xp on it instead.

[Kubie]

BassMaster4000,

Long time no see!
If you already have the W2K disk, it will run fine. You have over 256mb ram so I don't see a problem.
If you don't already have W2K, you might want to look into XP as imbest123 mentioned.

Carl

[BassMaster4000]

The only problem is XP has a min req of 256mb of RAM and that runs very slow. He is taking up all three slots with a 128mb in each. So he wont be able to upgrade later on unless he wants to get rid of one of the 128 sticks... Too bad I can't convince him into just buying a new computer... LOL

*edit* Good to see you too Kubie! ;)

[imbest123]

XP has a min of 128mb and ive ran XP with a P3 750Mhz and 256mb pc100 ram and it was fine. If the hard drive is at least 7200rpm and has a decent cache size then XP shud run fine.

[DragonNOA1]

I would stick with 2K for that computer. You wouldn't like XP on it, believe me.

EDIT* imbest, I've had XP on a PIII 500 and it wasn't pretty.

[glc]

Win2K will run very well on that machine. Absolutely no need for XP unless you want/need all the extra fluff and handholding.

[BassMaster4000]

Ok thanks guys. Imbest, the hard drive is a very old quantum. It is either 5400 or it even could be a 4800... It sounds like it is about to blow up. LOL

Jason Martin

[glc]

If it sounds that bad, it might be a 4200 rpm Bigfoot - those things sound like cement mixers.

[BassMaster4000]

In which case he should probably buy a new hard drive...

[LawyerRon]

g,
It's a quantum fireball and it sounds like a broken cement mixer. I fired it up the first time. It's really sick.

[glc]

Replacing it would be smart. No sense in doing an upgrade with the possibility of the hard drive going south at any time. I'd recommend a zero fill and thorough diagnostic at the very least with Powermax/Maxblast. Maxtor's utilities work on Quantum drives. If you replace the drive, be aware of bios size limitations on machines that age - it's very likely 32 gigs.

I pulled a noisy 20 gig Fireball out of a customer's machine about 6 months ago - we just didn't trust it. I zeroed it and stuck it in my box as strictly a backup drive - it's still working but sounds awful. If it dies, no loss. I would not trust it with primary data.

[crjdriver]

Another vote for win2k. I use both and I just do not like the cute cartoon look of xp. BTW I put win2k on an old box with the same amout of sd ram. It ran great; no problems at all. In fact it is still running over at the in-laws house.

[glc]

2K really isn't that sensitive to CPU speed - it's more sensitive to ram quantity. I have a customer with some old boxes with 2K - they have a P2-233 with 384 ram that runs better than a P2-400 with 128 ram.