Solve : New Graphics Card for Old HP 753n?

1.	Solve : New Graphics Card for Old HP 753n?
Answer» Still trying to see if there are some cheap easy ways to make this old thing work better and faster. I have read the on-board graphics are very slow on this machine. When I installed a basic graphics card on my old HP it made a huge DIFFERENCE. Not only did it eliminate artifacts apparently coming from my failing on- board graphics, it seemed like it loads pages faster, especially in Live Mail. Do you think a graphics card could help this old girl?Unless they are gaming, not at all. You have already spent way more than the machine is worth on it, IMO spending more on a graphics card as well would be madness! The machine is old, there is only so much you can do to speed it up. Quote from: camerongray on August 24, 2014, 06:58:19 AM Unless they are gaming, not at all. You have already spent way more than the machine is worth on it, IMO spending more on a graphics card as well would be madness! The machine is old, there is only so much you can do to speed it up. Thanks. We spent only $58 for a new internal HD. That seems pretty cheap plus achieves the objective of keeping everything the same. We also bought a new EXTERNAL HD for back-up but we needed that even if we had purchased another desktop.It seems cheap to you but IMO the machine is probably only worth $30 max, even with a new hard drive where you could have got a used Core 2 Duo PC for less. But if it's worth that to you for "keeping everything the same" then so be it. But spending more on a video card would be silly, it will not magically speed up the PC, the PENTIUM 4 and 1gb of RAM running Windows 7 is the issue there. Quote from: camerongray on August 24, 2014, 09:30:08 AM It seems cheap to you but IMO the machine is probably only worth $30 max, even with a new hard drive where you could have got a used Core 2 Duo PC for less. But if it's worth that to you for "keeping everything the same" then so be it. But spending more on a video card would be silly, it will not magically speed up the PC, the Pentium 4 and 1gb of RAM running Windows 7 is the issue there. Gotcha. I was just making sure I was not missing an opportunity. I agree with you but it was not my money nor my decision. Camerongray, been rolling this over in my mind. If we can find a decent used or even a new low-end desktop, can we simply swap out hard drives? If we did that, would not everything be exactly the same for the end user? All of my SIL's docs, files, Win 7 OS and 2010 Win Office will be on her "old" hard drive now installed in her "new" computer, right? Would this be ok with MS? I can not make heads nor tails of MS's licensing requirements. I think it would be ok with them but who KNOWS? Thanks.For used PCs I'd generally just look on eBay for brand name machines, I tend to stay away from used custom built ones as you have no idea what they are like inside. Old business machines such as Dell Optiplexs with Core 2 Duo CPUs are generally very good value at the moment if you just need a solid office PC as a lot of them are coming out of leases with large companies at the moment and being sold on. Unfortunately you can't just swap the hard drive as Windows will freak out, you would need to reinstall Windows on the new machine. As far as licencing goes, you said the license was part of a Windows family pack? If so that is fine and can be put on a new machine, just make sure that it is not also being used on the old PC at the same time. Quote from: camerongray on August 24, 2014, 03:05:16 PM For used PCs I'd generally just look on eBay for brand name machines, I tend to stay away from used custom built ones as you have no idea what they are like inside. Old business machines such as Dell Optiplexs with Core 2 Duo CPUs are generally very good value at the moment if you just need a solid office PC as a lot of them are coming out of leases with large companies at the moment and being sold on. Unfortunately you can't just swap the hard drive as Windows will freak out, you would need to reinstall Windows on the new machine. As far as licencing goes, you said the license was part of a Windows family pack? If so that is fine and can be put on a new machine, just make sure that it is not also being used on the old PC at the same time. Yep, lots of Dell OptiPlex rigs on ebay. How does a novice like myself go about selecting the right one? What are the most important specs? I guess processor speed would be #1. Goes without saying I need one with Win 7 although I guess I could format the hard drive and reinstall our own Win 7. What other tips to make sure I do not buy a lemon. I am very leery of buying anything off eBay, especially a used computer. Thanks.Just look for ones that seem to be good condition as well as ones from professional refurbishers. Of course you can link to ones you find here for us to check over. As far as coming with Windows 7 - You need to be really careful with this as a lot of these machines will come with a pirated copy of Windows which is worthless. A quick way to see if it is pirated is if it comes with "Windows 7 Ultimate" - The "Ultimate" versions cost several times as much as "Home Premium" and offers virtually no benefit, noone in their right mind would put a genuine copy of Ultimate on a PC of that age. Another way to see is if it comes with a lot of "bonus" software like Microsoft Office and Photoshop. Noone in their right mind will put software of such high value on an old PC like that so if it seems to be doing this, stay away. Best thing to do is to check that if it states that the copy of Windows is genuine or to ask the seller, if it turns out they have lied and that the copy is pirated, you should be able to get a refund through Paypal as the item is "not as described". To be sure you can make sure you get one from a "Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher" as these will almost always come with a genuine OS: Guess the best bet is to format the hard drive and install our own copy of Win 7, right? Quote from: artbuc on August 24, 2014, 05:08:29 PM Guess the best bet is to format the hard drive and install our own copy of Win 7, right? Let me answer that. When Microsoft gives permission to a refurbishing company, it is for a legit OEM version of Windows 7. I bought a Dell Optiplex with it and it works fine. Just kin of old. But the price was right. The cost of the computer was only a little more that the retail price of Windows 7. Make sure the vendor has a return policy and a warranty. He should include a copy of Windows 7 on a DVD. Withe the COA sticker. I have ought two other old PCs without Windows 7 and WISH now I paid a little extra and got the Windows 7 OEM with the used PC. Get a warranty and Windows 7 on a refurbished PC for a legit vendor.

Answer»

Still trying to see if there are some cheap easy ways to make this old thing work better and faster. I have read the on-board graphics are very slow on this machine. When I installed a basic graphics card on my old HP it made a huge DIFFERENCE. Not only did it eliminate artifacts apparently coming from my failing on- board graphics, it seemed like it loads pages faster, especially in Live Mail. Do you think a graphics card could help this old girl?Unless they are gaming, not at all. You have already spent way more than the machine is worth on it, IMO spending more on a graphics card as well would be madness!

The machine is old, there is only so much you can do to speed it up. Quote from: camerongray on August 24, 2014, 06:58:19 AM

Unless they are gaming, not at all. You have already spent way more than the machine is worth on it, IMO spending more on a graphics card as well would be madness!

The machine is old, there is only so much you can do to speed it up.

Thanks. We spent only $58 for a new internal HD. That seems pretty cheap plus achieves the objective of keeping everything the same. We also bought a new EXTERNAL HD for back-up but we needed that even if we had purchased another desktop.It seems cheap to you but IMO the machine is probably only worth $30 max, even with a new hard drive where you could have got a used Core 2 Duo PC for less. But if it's worth that to you for "keeping everything the same" then so be it.

But spending more on a video card would be silly, it will not magically speed up the PC, the PENTIUM 4 and 1gb of RAM running Windows 7 is the issue there. Quote from: camerongray on August 24, 2014, 09:30:08 AM

It seems cheap to you but IMO the machine is probably only worth $30 max, even with a new hard drive where you could have got a used Core 2 Duo PC for less. But if it's worth that to you for "keeping everything the same" then so be it.

But spending more on a video card would be silly, it will not magically speed up the PC, the Pentium 4 and 1gb of RAM running Windows 7 is the issue there.

Gotcha. I was just making sure I was not missing an opportunity. I agree with you but it was not my money nor my decision. Camerongray, been rolling this over in my mind. If we can find a decent used or even a new low-end desktop, can we simply swap out hard drives? If we did that, would not everything be exactly the same for the end user? All of my SIL's docs, files, Win 7 OS and 2010 Win Office will be on her "old" hard drive now installed in her "new" computer, right? Would this be ok with MS? I can not make heads nor tails of MS's licensing requirements. I think it would be ok with them but who KNOWS? Thanks.For used PCs I'd generally just look on eBay for brand name machines, I tend to stay away from used custom built ones as you have no idea what they are like inside. Old business machines such as Dell Optiplexs with Core 2 Duo CPUs are generally very good value at the moment if you just need a solid office PC as a lot of them are coming out of leases with large companies at the moment and being sold on.

Unfortunately you can't just swap the hard drive as Windows will freak out, you would need to reinstall Windows on the new machine. As far as licencing goes, you said the license was part of a Windows family pack? If so that is fine and can be put on a new machine, just make sure that it is not also being used on the old PC at the same time. Quote from: camerongray on August 24, 2014, 03:05:16 PM

For used PCs I'd generally just look on eBay for brand name machines, I tend to stay away from used custom built ones as you have no idea what they are like inside. Old business machines such as Dell Optiplexs with Core 2 Duo CPUs are generally very good value at the moment if you just need a solid office PC as a lot of them are coming out of leases with large companies at the moment and being sold on.

Unfortunately you can't just swap the hard drive as Windows will freak out, you would need to reinstall Windows on the new machine. As far as licencing goes, you said the license was part of a Windows family pack? If so that is fine and can be put on a new machine, just make sure that it is not also being used on the old PC at the same time.

Yep, lots of Dell OptiPlex rigs on ebay. How does a novice like myself go about selecting the right one? What are the most important specs? I guess processor speed would be #1. Goes without saying I need one with Win 7 although I guess I could format the hard drive and reinstall our own Win 7. What other tips to make sure I do not buy a lemon. I am very leery of buying anything off eBay, especially a used computer. Thanks.Just look for ones that seem to be good condition as well as ones from professional refurbishers. Of course you can link to ones you find here for us to check over.

As far as coming with Windows 7 - You need to be really careful with this as a lot of these machines will come with a pirated copy of Windows which is worthless. A quick way to see if it is pirated is if it comes with "Windows 7 Ultimate" - The "Ultimate" versions cost several times as much as "Home Premium" and offers virtually no benefit, noone in their right mind would put a genuine copy of Ultimate on a PC of that age.

Another way to see is if it comes with a lot of "bonus" software like Microsoft Office and Photoshop. Noone in their right mind will put software of such high value on an old PC like that so if it seems to be doing this, stay away.

Best thing to do is to check that if it states that the copy of Windows is genuine or to ask the seller, if it turns out they have lied and that the copy is pirated, you should be able to get a refund through Paypal as the item is "not as described". To be sure you can make sure you get one from a "Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher" as these will almost always come with a genuine OS:
Guess the best bet is to format the hard drive and install our own copy of Win 7, right? Quote from: artbuc on August 24, 2014, 05:08:29 PM

Guess the best bet is to format the hard drive and install our own copy of Win 7, right?

Let me answer that.
When Microsoft gives permission to a refurbishing company, it is for a legit OEM version of Windows 7. I bought a Dell Optiplex with it and it works fine. Just kin of old. But the price was right. The cost of the computer was only a little more that the retail price of Windows 7.
Make sure the vendor has a return policy and a warranty. He should include a copy of Windows 7 on a DVD. Withe the COA sticker.

I have ought two other old PCs without Windows 7 and WISH now I paid a little extra and got the Windows 7 OEM with the used PC.

Get a warranty and Windows 7 on a refurbished PC for a legit vendor.

Solve : New Graphics Card for Old HP 753n?

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