Is That Old Clunker Ready For The Scrap Heap?

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/upgrade-processor-quad-core,2717.html' target='_blank'>http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...-core,2717.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"An increasing number of enthusiasts are likely wondering whether their systems are still fast enough, or if it makes sense to invest in an upgrade heading into the holiday season. Many people jumped on the Athlon 64 or Athlon 64 X2 because of great performance and strong overall value in the first half of the last decade. "</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1282602941.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>It is easy getting caught up in the race for the fastest computer on the block.&nbsp; What was peppy and powerful one day quickly becomes old and sluggish the next.&nbsp; That does not seem to be the case so much anymore these days as computers, even three years old, are plenty powerful for today's applications.&nbsp; I just hope those that do upgrade find good homes for their old friends.&nbsp; For years now, we have had incredible computing power, much of which holds up against everyday needs.&nbsp; I can remember years back, a hand-me-down computer that was three years old at the turn of the decade, or even in the 90s would have problems keeping up with what was demanded of it.&nbsp; Now, people work well with computers that are much older than 3 years.&nbsp; Since I work with technology, what I use in my office is a mishmash of things new and old.&nbsp; Owing to budgetary constraints, I rarely have anything that is bleeding edge, and I do admit to having some things that I use which are approaching a decade in age.&nbsp; What about you?&nbsp; How old is your gear?&nbsp; Does it still fulfill your needs?</p>

[entropy1980]

Totally appropriate! I have been staring at my Athlon 64 X2 desktop and trying to decide what to do. For the most part it runs Win7 fine, but I think I am going to go with a new Alienware M11x rather than piecemeal upgrade my current rig. I figure I get some portability when I need it and some better performance than my current setup. May throw in an SSD and 8GB RAM just for posterity as well :)

[Reid Kistler]

We have a year old Dell Netbook, and my wife's Laptop is fairly up-to-date: beyond that, our NEWEST computer is mine, running an Athlon 64 X2.

Since purchase, have added a Video Card, additional RAM, and a second HD to the system, and it currently runs Window 7 64bit just fine.

Wife's desktop is a self-built unit, based on an AMD Sempron processor. Again, we have added RAM, 2 HDs, and upgraded the video card since the original build; it also runs Win 7 (32bit) just fine.

Our family room system - for visiting guests & kids - is yet another self-built Athlon system - of about the same vintage as the Sempron, although with less RAM & a slower video card. (It runs Ubuntu, which works just fine for surfing the internet or viewing photographs, which are its primary uses.)

My personal notebook is a Dell Inspiron, running a PIII, and also have several "mules" in my work room that also run PIIIs - and even one PII that still sees occasional duty! These run Windows 2000 or 98SE, although think we have XP installed on one of them.

OTOH, many of our peripherals are of quite recent vintage - from 2 months to 2 years - as we tend to be more sensitive to the productivity improvements / enhanced security offered by such things as scanners, printers, displays, ext hds, and newer networking gear....