[rescue] Seeking opinions: change my desktop machine?

[Lionel Peterson]

On Feb 24, 2010, at 1:14 PM, John Floren <slawmaster at gmail.com> wrote:

> Right now, my desktop is a 1.8 GHz AMD with 512 MB of RAM. It's a dog,
> even running Linux. I just rescued a 2x1.2Ghz AMD system; should I
> take the RAM, hard drive, and video card out of my desktop and stick
> them in the new machine, making that my new desktop box? I'm  
> wondering what your opinions are on the tradeoff, i.e. 1.8 GHz vs. 2  
> 1.2 GHz processors.

I'd lean towards the dual processor box, as it can accomodate two  
execution threads at one time, and modern (current) OS are always  
wanting to do more than one thing at a time.

More RAM would absolutely help, the more the merrier IMHO, but I take  
it you are trying to upgrade with zero out-of-pocket expense. If you  
were closer I'd open my spare parts bin to you, but I'm guessing you  
are not in the USA...

If you could spend even a little money you could really increase your  
speed... 1.2 GHz even times two isn't much these days when running  
current OSes...

At $WORK we use 2.8 GHz P4 systems, most with 2 Gig of RAM running XP  
Pro and they are fine, but our Core 2 Duos or even just hyperthreading  
P4s make a huge difference. ($WORK is a K-12 public school district)

Lionel