One last question 1

[lpsitman]

As you can see from my previous posts, I am in the process of upgrading my homebuilt pc. I would like to upgrade the processor from 1.7ghz (yes, I built this in 2002) to the max it can handle which is 2.4ghz. I can get the chip for 100 bucks. I also have 1.5 gb ram and I would like to upgrade that to its max which is 2gb. Last but not least is the previously mentioned 256 8x agp video card. I currently have a 64 mb video card. I am not a gamer in the least, but I have noticed my pc getting slower. I am a pc technician for a school district so I do this stuff all the time. Unfortunately,since where I work, they have some older stuff, I do not have the best grasp on new technology. Besides getting a new motherboard and putting in a Core 2 extreme...how could I best inprove my speed? Upgrade my cpu from 1.7 to 2.4, upgrade my ram from 1.5 to 2 or upgrade my graphics card from 64mb to 256mb? If I left out any important info, please let me know. Also, all of these upgrades run about 100 bucks each and I cannot upgrade all at once!
Thanks
Again

 

[ski]

If your PC is performing slower than it did in the past, then before spending any $ to try to improve its performance, you should first rule out all other possible causes of slow speed.
If your PC has slowed down whe you're both offline and online, then run the diagnostics at your HD manuf's site, make sure all of your RAM is recognized, and the CPU is running at full design speed. If those are ok, then update your AV program with the latest files and check for viruses, remove any spyware with Ad-aware, Spybot, and Hijack This, and shut down all unnecessary programs running in the background.
If your PC has slowed down only when online, then it may be due to increased Internet traffic in your area over the years, or a problem with your modem.

WRT your question on which of your proposed component upgrades will have the greatest effect on improving performance, it depends on your usage.
If you do graphics and video editing, then upgrading your video card will improve performance the most. But be careful which card you get. "Value" cards can have lots of memory, but it's probably slow memory in order to keep their cost low. Also, GPU's on "value" cards are normally slower than those on higher priced cards.
If you multitask with a lot of memory intensive applications that eat up all of your existing RAM, then adding more RAM will have the most benefit.
If you run applications one at a time, browse online, and do email, then upgrading your CPU will probably increase performance the most.

 

[lpsitman]

Thank you very much for your input. I ended up getting a 2.4ghz chip, a 256 agp card and after all that..my C drive crashed!! I had a backup and ended up buying a new hard drive. It is very fast now. Maybe it was a good thing my drive crashed.
Thanks Again

 

[ski]

You're welcome, and glad to hear that you're satisfied with the performance of your upgraded system.
It's possible that your old HD was failing over a period of time before it finally crashed, and it was causing your system to slow down.