Upgrade options for Intel Atlanta mobo with Win 98

[dcloud]

I have a friend who has an old Gateway computer with a Intel Atlanta AL440LX mobo. He has an Intel II with an effective clock of 64MHz running Windows 98 (it may be SE).

He wants to get a little more system speed from his computer and I told him he should try to upgrade his mobo, CPU, and OS to WinXP Home.

He does not want to spend a lot of money on this since he mainly uses his computer just to surf the Web, do e-mail, and download and listen to music.

I am coming here to ask the experts for suggestions on what his upgrade options could be. Just some ideas to pass along to him would be great.

Thank you.

 

[diogenes10]

Need to come up with a manual and see what it shows for allowable processors for that motherboard.

Maybe add a little memory.

Check the faqs in this forum for 95-98 cleanup options reducing startup programs to a bare minimum.

If running high overhead av like Norton or McAfee, check alternative free ones, Grisoft avg is one, that don't take quite so much overhead.

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Having said all that, personal comment.
I inherited a pii machine with gigabyte mobo (and manual for it). The manual said this mobo would support some lower end piii processors too. I asked some questions on this site, was basically advised against upgrading because of the cost, effort, and low price of other obsolete higher capability machines. My machine used slot 1 processors which seemed to command a pretty high price on ebay (and worse in my local used store). I finally won an auction on ebay for a matched pair and used one of those.
Not too long after that I was given an old/obsolete machine that had a little higher processing capability.
I spent a lot of time and money on a machine that is now just a storage problem for me.

I realize that someone giving him a computer may not be likely; but my opinion-experience other than upgrading memory to somewhere between 128 and 256, I would recommend spending no money or effort on that machine UNLESS the process of figuring out how things work and tearing them apart and putting them back together again will give him his money's worth. I think he would be better serving watching used/recycle computer stores for a low end piii machine and transferring his software, speakers, and sound card to that. I suspect he will get better return for his time/money than anything he can do to that pii machine.

 

[diogenes10]

This article just came my way, with your thread fresh in my mind I thought I would pass it on too.

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS2501946250.html

It is about a linux based alternative. I don not use linux so I can't give you any personal pro-con comments, but it may be something to think about. If his music programs would run under this system, it might give him his present capability at a faster speed.

 

[wolluf]

Having tried dozens of linux distros, I wouldn't recommend them for 'normal desktop' use at all (and current distros have got so bloated, probably wouldn't have room on drive...)

Would agree with diogenes10's comment about NOT spending money or effort on machine. It will never run XP well. Either clean reinstall 98 to get it running at optimum speed, or buy a secondhand machine (he should be able to get one that will run XP ok for £50-60 - if he lived near Leeds, UK, I could sort him out!)