Harkhof said:
You can still pick up a PCI card that should boost your performance at a
very reasonable price:
http://tinyurl.com/9kjcv
The above link is to Newegg, but if you have a compusa, bestbuy or something
to that effect, you should be able to find something. That is, of course,
providing that one of the PCI slots you have is open. While you;re at it,
RAM is pretty cheap, but provides a large return in performance. For less
than an $150 (give or take), you could give your old
machine new life.
Hark, yes, both PCI slots are open. (I am a no frills
computer user and so have done hardly any upgrading. Over
the years, I have only purchased a new, larger hard drive
and a new, slightly bigger power supply.) I was reading on
this subject of PCI video cards earlier today, and my take
from this reading was that they are not all that effective,
perhaps particularly with a flat-screen monitor. At this
point I think I'm screwing my eyes up somewhat and really
should spring for the best video setup possible.
I do wonder if my fancy LCD flat screen monitor is simply
too much for my simple built-in video adapter to handle any
where near optimally. The sites I read also said such PCI
slot video cards are now hard to find. I have doubts that
adding more RAM will help much as well. But beat me over the
head that it will, and I'll give it more consideration.
For the last several hours I have been seriously considering
beginning to build a computer myself. Background: I have
been generally disgusted with my Gateway for various reasons
starting from the first few days of purchase in 2001
(integrated modem baloney, mostly). At times I wonder if
the micro ATX design of my Gateway Essential 900c hasn't
been a large part of the many blips I've had with this
machine over the years. There simply isn't enough cooling
going on, say. Today I live with a number of pesky little
bugs that seem both hardware and software related. I studied
one of Dan Gookin's books ("Windows for Dummies"?) recently
and it helped, but mostly in confirming that people
generally live with bugs. I reformatted my old hard disc and
reinstalled all my software twice in the last year. (Gookin
actually says that's way overkill.)
I don't play video games or work with serious graphics
programs, other than maybe Microsoft PictureIt and a bit of
editing of digital photos. I avoid downloading any software,
even if it's said to improve things, because it seems like
nine times out of ten, it monkeys with settings and makes
things worse.
My number one need for the internet is stock research. That
so far hasn't required anything fancy by way of hardware or
software. Though some PDF files take way too long to view
via the internet.
Today I started shopping for computer cases and
contemplating whether I could throw my current somewhat mini
but only a year old power supply into a mid size case for an
ATX motherboard, and move my current hard drive over as
well, etc. Then I could buy a new motherboard, and after a
week of experimenting and prodding, have a much better
machine for maybe $100 tops for the case and I dunno another
$100 for a low level (but superior to my current)
motherboard. Of course the learning experience has value,
too. I am in computers for the long whole. I make my
(humble) living in careful stock picking, yada.
In short, I wonder if I'd be a heckuva lot happier making a
radical change in my computing hardware, for around $200?,
lest I instead throw somewhat more good money (maybe $100 or
so for RAM and a PCI video card) after bad.
I am learning a lot from the pointers here. If anyone can
stand a little more input or commentary, I'm all eyes.
P.S. The graininess comes and goes. I do not think my
inexpensive digital camera could capture the effect, but
that was a good suggestion.
