I was thinking of upgrading my little bro's computer as its out of date a short specification is:

Dell Dimension 4600
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
512MB DIMM DDR
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Maxtor 6Y160M0 160GB
Microsoft Windows XP Professional

I've installed RAM before on my PC and put in a PCI TV Card so i have a rough Idea of what I'm doin so could someone give me some pointers, I think the most RAM i can put in is 1GB x 2? Is that Correct? Then a bigger hard drive possible suggestions for upgrading it would be great...

I'll look forward to your contributions ^^

Thanks,

A couple of things I think are compatible and maybe OK..

1GB RAM
£36.79 x 2 (Crucial)
£33.74 x 2 (Dell)

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/list...mension%204600

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Maxtor DiamondMax 21 250GB 7200RPM S300 8MB

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...ey=11154,50413

Still open to suggestions as I'm a nub lol

you check the maximum RAM capacity supported by your mobo? check your RAM whether its DDR1 or DDR2 and check the clock frequency of your DDR..

check this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR_SDRAM

It's DDR1 as its never mentioned its DDR2.. at Crucial (http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/list...mension%204600)

I've also included the full spec with help from sandra lite

lochii's link to the Crucial website (and yours also) look good for your RAM; but if I were you I'd have a physical look at your motherboard and see whether you've got 4 RAM slots or 2, as there's a Dimension 4600C which only has 2 slots http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...l=Dell&cat=RAM

Your grahpics card upgrade is limited to an AGP card, rather than the newer PCI-E cards. From memory that means an NVidia 7600GT (AGP) or an ATI 3850 (AGP). I think the 3850 gives slightly better performance, as it's newer. NVidia gave up on AGP before ATI did.

As for HDD, I'm a fan of Western Digital, but that's just me. I don't really have a reason for it, just what I like using

I took a look inside and it looks like i can put in 4GB, i currently have 2 sticks of 256 lol, Thanks for the advice ^^

You can in fact upgrade much on this system. I have mine pretty well maxed out currently. I have even upgraded the power supply, which DELL told me over and over could NOT be upgraded ever (they use a proprietary bunch of crap to screw people..) But, I now have 650 watts of power, which they say is not possible. Idiots!!!!

I also have upgraded to just over 3 gigs of memory. The computer will hold 4 gigs. However, if you have the same as me, it's 32bit XP, which can only see 3.2 gigs, so why buy 4. (this computer (same as yours if not the C model) will handle 4x1gig DIMM 400.0mhz)

I have also installed 3 internal hard drives giving me 4.5 TB of space internal. I also have 2 external drives (you can have many of these) with another 3 TB of space.

I upgraded the sound card to a 7.1 surround system.

I just upgraded the graphics card to the ATI HD3850 AGP. However, it is severely hampered by the cpu in this system. Oh well, I will just sell it on ebay I think. Unless you have duo core system, these cards get bogged down. But, at least it is allowing me to play Unreal Tournament 2007 on the computer now...which was impossible before.

I am also running (yes, under winXP) DX10. Took some serious research, but it runs and it makes a difference in the games that use it.

So you can upgrade the hell out of your computer.... I have done mine over time, so the cost was minimal each time.... I will build my next system starting now since this one is maxed out totally!!!

- Greg

My system:

CPU Info
Physical Processors 1
Logical Processors 2

CPU 1/1
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Manufacturer Intel
Family Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Architecture 32-bit
Internal Clock 3.0 GHz
Internal Clock Maximum 3.0 GHz
External Clock 800.0 MHz
Socket Designation Microprocessor
Type Central
Upgrade ZIF Socket
MultiCore 1 Processor Core
HyperThreadingTechnology Available - 2 HTT Processors per Core
Capabilities MMX, CMov, RDTSC, SSE, SSE2, PAE
Version Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Caches
Level 1 8 KB
Level 2 512 KB



DirectX Info
Version 10.0
Long Version 4.10.0.18000


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DirectDraw
Version 5.03.2600.2180
Primary Device ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP
Cooperative Adapters false

Display Device 1/2
ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP Driver 6.14.10.6925

Description ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP
Manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc.
Total Local Video Memory 516 MB
Total Local Texture Memory 516 MB
AGP Aperture Size 244 MB
Driver File ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.6925
Driver Details 8.591-090225a-076836E-ATI
Driver Date 2-25-2009
Driver WHQL Certified false
Max Texture Width 8192 px
Max Texture Height 8192 px
Max User Clipping Planes 6
Max Active Hardware Lights 8
Max Texture Blending Stages 8
Fixed Function Textures In Single Pass 8
Vertex Shader Version 3.0
Pixel Shader Version 3.0
Max Vertex Blend Matrices 0
Max Texture Coordinates 8
VGA Memory Clock 697.5 MHz
VGA Core Clock 675.0 MHz
PCI
Name ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP
Vendor ID 0x1002
Device ID 0x9515
SubSystem ID 0x00281787
Revision ID 0x0000

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bus
Type AGP
Revision 3.0
Enabled true
Rate 8
Sideband Addressing Supported
Fast Write Supported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Texture Formats
32-bit ARGB [8888]
32-bit RGB [888]
16-bit RGB [565]
16-bit RGB [555]
16-bit ARGB [1555]
16-bit ARGB [4444]
8-bit A [8]
8-bit YUV [800]
16-bit AYUV [8800]
8-bit AYUV [4400]
FourCC [DXT1]
FourCC [DXT2]
FourCC [DXT3]
FourCC [DXT4]
FourCC [DXT5]

Capabilities
AGP Texturing, Hardware Transform and Lighting, Positional Lights, Subpixel Accurate Rasterizing, Stencil Buffers, Range Fog, Table Fog, Vertex Fog, W-Fog, Specular Gouraud Shading, Anisotropic Filtering, Bilinear Filtering, Point Sampling, Trilinear Filtering, Additive Texture Blending, Dot3 Texture Blending, Multiplicative Texture Blending, Subtractive Texture Blending, Environmental Bump Mapping, Environmental Bump Mapping With Luminance, Cube Mapping, Factor Alpha Blending, Vertex Alpha Blending, Texture Alpha Blending, Texture Clamping, Texture Mirroring, Texture Wrapping, Guard Band Support, Mipmap LOD Bias Adjustment, Projected Textures, Volume Textures, Point Primitive Support, Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing, DXT Compressed Textures, Two Sided Stencil Test, Mipmapped Volume Textures, Mipmapped Cube Textures, Texture Border Color, Spherical Mapping, Automatic Mipmap Generation, Hardware Rasterization, Shading, Transform and Lighting, Scissor Test, Legacy Depth Bias
Display Device 2/2
ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP Driver 6.14.10.6925

Description ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP
Manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc.
Total Local Video Memory 516 MB
Total Local Texture Memory 516 MB
AGP Aperture Size 244 MB
Driver File ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.6925
Driver Details 8.591-090225a-076836E-ATI
Driver Date 2-25-2009
Driver WHQL Certified false
Max Texture Width 8192 px
Max Texture Height 8192 px
Max User Clipping Planes 6
Max Active Hardware Lights 8
Max Texture Blending Stages 8
Fixed Function Textures In Single Pass 8
Vertex Shader Version 3.0
Pixel Shader Version 3.0
Max Vertex Blend Matrices 0
Max Texture Coordinates 8
VGA Memory Clock 697.5 MHz
VGA Core Clock 675.0 MHz
PCI
Name ATI Radeon HD 3850 AGP
Vendor ID 0x1002
Device ID 0x9515
SubSystem ID 0x00281787
Revision ID 0x0000

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bus
Type AGP
Revision 3.0
Enabled true
Rate 8
Sideband Addressing Supported
Fast Write Supported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Texture Formats
32-bit ARGB [8888]
32-bit RGB [888]
16-bit RGB [565]
16-bit RGB [555]
16-bit ARGB [1555]
16-bit ARGB [4444]
8-bit A [8]
8-bit YUV [800]
16-bit AYUV [8800]
8-bit AYUV [4400]
FourCC [DXT1]
FourCC [DXT2]
FourCC [DXT3]
FourCC [DXT4]
FourCC [DXT5]

Capabilities
AGP Texturing, Hardware Transform and Lighting, Positional Lights, Subpixel Accurate Rasterizing, Stencil Buffers, Range Fog, Table Fog, Vertex Fog, W-Fog, Specular Gouraud Shading, Anisotropic Filtering, Bilinear Filtering, Point Sampling, Trilinear Filtering, Additive Texture Blending, Dot3 Texture Blending, Multiplicative Texture Blending, Subtractive Texture Blending, Environmental Bump Mapping, Environmental Bump Mapping With Luminance, Cube Mapping, Factor Alpha Blending, Vertex Alpha Blending, Texture Alpha Blending, Texture Clamping, Texture Mirroring, Texture Wrapping, Guard Band Support, Mipmap LOD Bias Adjustment, Projected Textures, Volume Textures, Point Primitive Support, Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing, DXT Compressed Textures, Two Sided Stencil Test, Mipmapped Volume Textures, Mipmapped Cube Textures, Texture Border Color, Spherical Mapping, Automatic Mipmap Generation, Hardware Rasterization, Shading, Transform and Lighting, Scissor Test, Legacy Depth Bias

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DirectShow
Version 10.0
Long Version 4.10.0.18000


Memory Info
Total Physical Memory 2.98 GB
Free Physical Memory 2.28 GB
Total Pagefile Memory 5.85 GB
Free Pagefile Memory 5.05 GB

Memory Array 1/1
Max Module Capacity 0 B
Supported Speeds -
Supported Types -
Supported Voltages -

Memory Slot 1/4
Installed Enabled Size 512 MB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot <conversion error>
Manufacturer <conversion error>
Type Details -
Enabled Size 512 MB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 64 b
Memory Slot 2/4
Installed Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot <conversion error>
Manufacturer <conversion error>
Type Details -
Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 64 b
Memory Slot 3/4
Installed Enabled Size 512 MB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot <conversion error>
Manufacturer <conversion error>
Type Details -
Enabled Size 512 MB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 64 b
Memory Slot 4/4
Installed Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Form Factor DIMM
Frequency 400.0 MHz
Slot <conversion error>
Manufacturer <conversion error>
Type Details -
Enabled Size 1.00 GB
Total Bit Width 64 b
Data Bit Width 64 b




Motherboard Info
Supported Slot Types ISA, PCI, AGP
Manufacturer Dell Computer Corp.
Model 0F4491
BIOS Vendor Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS Version DELL - 7
BIOS Release Date 26/08/04
BIOS Properties Plug and Play, Flash, AGP
AGP
Revision 3.0
Rate 4x, 8x (8x enabled)
Available Rate 0x0000000c
Selected Rate 0x00000008
Aperture Size 256 MB
Sideband Addressing Supported (enabled)
Fast Write Supported (enabled)


Operating System Info
Name Microsoft Windows XP
Version 5.1.2600
PlatformId 2
Service Pack Service Pack 2 (v2.0)
Suite 256
Product Type 1
Media Center false
Windows Environment 32-bit
Locale US
Desktop Width 1280 px
Desktop Height 960 px
Desktop BPP 32 b
Internet Explorer Version 75730
DEP
Hardware Support false
Applications Protected false
Drivers Protected false
User Option On for essential Windows programs and services only

I have the same model (at least, I think...it doesn't say "c" after 4600 anywhere...)

I was contemplating a new motherboard as the one that's in isn't compatible with any processor other than the Intel Pentium 4. Couple that with the same crap-tastic video card (the GeForce FX 5200) and anything worth watching/playing crashes the system. For whatever reason.

I'm just wondering what a decent solution to that problem would be (as I work for peanuts).

I was thinking upgrading the video card for sure, but if I were to get a new motherboard, would that not open my possibilities as far as graphics cards go? Otherwise, I'm looking at keeping it in the Nvidia family (which goes against all my migraines' urgings) or pick up the ATI board.

I'm kinda greedy in the sense that I'd like to get the option of playing Web of Shadows on my PC...so, I need an upgrade in the processor and visuals definitely.

Annddd...I think both my keyboard and mouse port are shot, and wouldn't getting a new motherboard also get me new ports?

I would buy a new pc, but I have no credit...I'd like the option of buying piece at a time as the money comes in, and I really don't need all the hubbub they throw into ready-made pcs...or a salesman trying to convince me I need this or that when he's really shorting me on the "these and those" I actually need.

So....if anyone knows how I can kinda re-vamp this slut up to respectable performance for slightly on the "I'm broke, 23, and living on my own" side...that'd be fantabulous.

I figure...it's old as hell, the technology to get it somewhat up to speed can't be too expensive...maybe...?

Greg, I have the same 4600 motherboard as you and was wondering if it supports SATA internal hard drives. I want to take the original 80 gb and replace it with a 1 TB, as long as SATA is supported. You did not say if the 3 internal drives you replaced were SATA or not, at least I did not see it in your post.
Many Thanks.