Actually, I have what would be considered an outdated PC, 650 mhz AMD, 512mb ram, 1.5 gb virtual, 2 hds 20 & 40gb, WinXp, NTFS fs...
I dont play games on it but do use most other apps that anyone else would use, the only thing I'd say it would lack in is, if I played intense 3d games or digital video recording, it lags abit when doing that ..
You can overclock your cpu but obviously have to be careful and make sure it stays cool, you are also said to be able to overclock your memory ..
I usually use some of the items from my current system when upgrading, such as cd,rw,dvd,rw floppy, hard drives, peripherals, monitor, ofcourse it depends on the reason for upgrading, I wouldnt use old components w\ a high performance pc or if the components came from the time of the old vaccum tube PC, I'd consider a full upgrade for something you might use for CAD, -which most say they run outside of Windows since it takes so many resources, or video recording/edting, intense 3D gameplay, other large, resource-hogging apps etc ...
I dont like buying name-brand PC's so much because if you have to maintain them, you most likely will have to use their drivers for reinstalling everything, its been my passed experience w\ such, w\ HP, CPq they won't except generic drivers, they are mnftr specific ...
In buying new systems, some can seem fairly inexpensive but I often find that, you are not getting what you might think you are paying for, limited expansion slots (PCI), often micro atx boards, few memory slots, meaning memory expansion is limited &/ or you have to spend more $$ to buy larger capacity memory modules just to get xxx memory ..
Some boards I've seen in new systems come w\ only 1 or 2 memory slots, meaning if you require a good bit of memory, you have to buy two 512mb mods for 1 gb or you have to try to find one or two 1 gb memory modules , I seen some when the first 1gb kits came out around I think $500-$800 or so ... It was mostly businesses buying them at that time ...
Other boards I've seen, barebones etc, usually have no more than 4 memory slots, it atleast gives you some flexibility, and often a higher supported capacity ..
I'm wondering VIP, have you pressed CTRL ALT DEL to bring up the close program or windows task manager box to see what may be running in the "background", also, what about scanning your pc for spyware/viruses and have you ran diskclean, error checking and defragemented your hard drive(s) ?
They often say, 3 things that have to do w\ your PC's performance are hard drive selection, CPU and memory.. Memory is usually one thing thats hyped up alot ..
It sounds like the programs you use are resource intensive, maybe you should consider opting for 1 gb of memory ?
What are the requirements for the products you use ? OFten you want to go above those requirements, because, those are usually just enough to get the program to function I would say, reasonably well, I've found it true from experience, you also have to think about, how many other programs might be running specific to your system, some things you just can't turn off ... or don't want to ..
As for the FSB, Front Side Bus, that is important, as I think that has to do w\ the speed of data transfer between the cpu and other components of your system...
SATA , I think that stands for Serial Advanced Technology Association or something ... it is said to be the new faster hard drive interface, Its said to have the potential of up to 200, 233, 266mbps data transfer ?, I think the old IDE, ATA had started w\ dtr's of 33,66, 100 and then EIDE 133,166mbps, I think SCSI drives, SCSI Wide drives are supposed to be the higher perfomance drives... I'm not sure but the SATA's may have greater performance ...
Someone on here mentioned PCIExpress, I read abit on that awhile back, its post to replace PCI and possibly AGP eventually ? That its speeds could reach 16x +?where I think AGP is currently 8x ... Well, I just thought I'd offer a few tidbits, some things I may be mistaken or misinformed, I'm not MS cert or a PC engr I jus TRY to keep somewhat informed ..