Is my tower and PSU upgradable?

[Dragon Queen]

Hi I have several questions regarding the same tower that I have, an 8 yr old Gateway. I am looking at the possibility of using some of the components in a new build, that could be replaced at a little later date.

1. The case, not a full size the current mobo is a micro atx, has a vent on one side 3" by 7" and 2 fan vents on the back. Is this enough flow thru for todays components?

2. The PSU is newer 1 to 2 yrs old model ATX 450w P4, +5v 35a, +12v 16a, -12v .8a, 3.3v 24a, +5vsb 3a, any good for running todays computers?

3. What I am looking at to upgrade to is a dual core, most likely AMD, Win 7 64 bit.
We do a lot of online gaming, office programs, and some picture publishing programs. I am biasing our current needs off a newer computer that we have that is able to handle our needs pretty well a Intel Core 2 Duo E6550-2.33ghz and 2 gig ram(also to be upgraded to win 7 64bit).

4. The dvd write drive works well and I believe is a ide as it has a wide white ribbon.

5. The HD also replaced within a few months of the PSU above, IDE also same ribbon, 80 gig only half full currently.

Sorry I am just looking at all of the options available to us as for our phones I would like to keep the same OS and close to the same programs on all 3, as we are getting a laptop, and upgrading the newer computer at the same time. However not sure on the old gateway if it is something worth doing now or not.
Thank You for your time and let me know what other info you need.

 

[Drenlin]

1. If it's a white box computer, it probably uses non-standard connections inside. Won't have very good airflow either. You're also confined to mATX. Getting a new case would be worth it if you're building a new machine.

2. It may be newly bought, but I can tell from the rail ratings that the design of it is ancient. It was designed for a +5V based system, probably sometime in the 90's. You'd be lucky to get 250W out of it in a real-world application. I'd replace this.

3. "Online Gaming" meaning what, exactly? If it's facebook games and the like, you're fine. An Athlon II x2 should be perfectly ok for what you want to do. I'd consider going for an Athlon II x3, though...there's not a big price difference ($10-15), and it'll extend the machine's useful lifespan a bit.

4. The color of the ribbon doesn't matter, but if it's a wide ribbon, then yeah, it's IDE. SATA cables aren't particularly wide. As long as this still works and does everything you need, there's no reason to replace it.

5. An 80 gig IDE drive is probably a pretty old (read: slow) design...I'd grab a newer drive when you upgrade. Hard drive speed is the biggest factor in determining how "fast" a computer feels while you're working on it. I'd shoot for a Western Digital Caviar Black or Samsung Spinpoint F3/F4, in whatever size you thing is appropriate.


I should point out that you're not going to be able to re-use any of the internal components other than maybe the drives when you upgrade. At 8 years old, the CPU, motherboard, and RAM are all old tech that's been replaced a couple of times over. So at this point you're looking more at building a new computer than upgrading the one you've got.

 

[daisymtc]

case - I suggest you get a new one. the one from gateway probably not good for cable management

PSU - +12v 16a ?? a bit low. If you building new PC, get a good quality one.

CPU - It depends on your budget. get Athlon IIx 3 as minimum.

Optical drive - it should be fine

HDD - SATAII HDD is faster than IDE. I do recommend you get new.

 

[Dragon Queen]

Ya I wasn't really looking at using the mobo or ram, or cpu, just looking at options to keep cost down, but still use some parts that will be replaced at a little later date.
Yes all of us play facebook games, though the ones that seem to use more of the processor capacity.
What exactly are the differences you are talking about on the standard vs non standard?

 

[Drenlin]

What exactly are the differences you are talking about on the standard vs non standard?

About the connectors, you mean? An industry-standard usb header, coming from the front USB ports and connecting to the motherboard, looks like this:

But a lot of whit box companies, for some reason, use a different connector designed by them. They often do the same thing with the connectors for the lights and buttons. I'm not sure anybody really knows why they do it, but it prevents you from using a standard motherboard in the case without modifying those connectors. Granted, they did sometimes use normal connectors, but it's uncommon to find one where both the power/light headers and usb headers are standard.

 

[Dystopia]

About the connectors, you mean? An industry-standard usb header, coming from the front USB ports and connecting to the motherboard, looks like this:

But a lot of whit box companies, for some reason, use a different connector designed by them. They often do the same thing with the connectors for the lights and buttons. I'm not sure anybody really knows why they do it, but it prevents you from using a standard motherboard in the case without modifying those connectors. Granted, they did sometimes use normal connectors, but it's uncommon to find one where both the power/light headers and usb headers are standard.

Yeah, they do it so that you HAVE to buy their mobo, not another one.

Dragon, if you want you can also go ahead and put your own plugs on as needed. Just read what pins go where on the mobo, and match it up with the cables on the connector. This will of course require cutting off the old connector.