Gateway Parts

What used / Old computer parts are ok to use or better to buy new?

I have a 2-3 yr old ecs motheboard socket 775 that is currently running a P4,I noticed it start to slow down and wanted to upgrade or build a new computer but am still a beginner, I wanted to know if I could use the old motherboard and just get a new processor / new hard drive? Or if I should just start from scratch, p/s i know i can still use the dvd / cd rom drives and case ect. Also is used ram ok or should I buy new as well thanks. Please let me know what I can reuse and what I should buy new thanks! I have a BFG NVidia 6800 Gt, and a Creative X-fi sound card, I know that the two would be compatible since the graphics card uses pci-e, I will most likely using this computer for light to mid range gaming nothing crazy.

Public Comments

1. first of all if your computer has been slowing down....all u need to do is reformat the hard drive....so back up your good data to and external hdd and reformat and reinstall windows...load the drivers and reload your fav data
2. Personally I build myself a new PC every 3 years or so and very little can be reused as it's obsolete by then. However, I am a gamer so I need fairly powerful specs. The fact that your computer is slowing down might just be due to the fact that it needs some maintenance, try running a disk defragmentation on the Hard Drive and also run registry repair software on it, how does the slowing down manifest itself exactly? If you do decide to build a new machine, if you don't need a powerful system then the HD can almost certainly be used again and of course things like the keyboard, mouse and monitor etc. Your CD ROM and DVD can be reused, although you may be surprised to find out that a DVD writer is only about £20/$40 brand new nowadays! Motherboards generally need replacing when you go for the next generation of CPU, the motherboard will have to be compatible with your new processor and so will the RAM, so it's unlikely you can reuse that. Similarly with graphics cards, your card is probably not going to be compatible with your new mother board as they keep changing the type of slot used. You might be able to reuse your case and PSU, but again that's fairly unlikely. What exactly do you want to use the PC for? You can build a decent system from scratch fairly cheaply, although you can probably buy a ready made one for about the same price, there is little cost saving to be made by building your own but you can of course make it to your own exact specifications. Good luck!
3. You DO NOT need to reformat the hard drive... forget that. Defragment the hard drive... that will make a world of difference. Then clean out the temporary internet files folders and the cache. Download, install and run ccleaner to get the junk out of the registry. Get Ashampoo Windows Optimizer and let it tune up your system. Also get Adaware and spybot search and destroy to clean out malware. If you are not using any antivirus application download and install AVG Antivirus. There are other things that will help but too technical to get into here. Go here http://url2it.com/gcl for lots more info on getting your system back in shape.