At 04:15 PM 7/8/1999 EDT, you wrote:
>
>How can I upgrade my home system for less than $100.00 ?


Some very good ideas, here. To summarize and add my own thoughts, in order
of decision priority (assuming you run Windows):


#1 - If you have a 486 or less, save your money for a new computer and
consider putting a free version of LINUX on your computer. Or buy the used
motherboard from a person performing step #2 (and pay no more than $50).

#2 - If you have less than a Pentium 166 (or have an older motherboard),
you need to upgrade the processor and/or your entire motherboard. For a
standard AT case, a super socket 7 motherboard and a Pentium 233MMX (or an
AMD K6-2 300) costs $100. Consider a Baby AT Celeron Socket-370 motherboard
and 333MHz processor (however, you lose expansion slots -- usually these
boards have 3 PCI and 2 ISA slots).  NOTE: Windows NT may CHOKE on a
non-INTEL chipset on a Super Socket 7 motherboard, and you may experience
AGP video problems with Win95/98 drivers). If you have an ATX case
enclosing a Pentium Classic/MMX, you can get a LX chipset motherboard and a
Celeron 300A for $100 (an Intel LX chipset is okay but the Front Side Bus
usually only does 83MHz max). You may be in for a RAM replacement, too.

#3 - If you meet (or exceed) the previous statement but have less than 32
MB of RAM, bring your entire system RAM up to a minimum of 64 MB. As others
have stated, 128MB PC-100 DIMMs cost less than $80. However, if you are
looking for 72-pin SIMMs, you may have to pay much more (and that's a
dead-end investment); therefore, go back to Step #2.  Add L2 cache if
that's a possibility.

#4 - If you meet (or exceed) the previous statement but have an older or
slower video card, or have less than 4MB of video RAM, upgrade your video
card. Get an AGP 2X card if your motherboard supports it.

#5 - If you meet (or exceed) the previous statement but have less than a 4
GB hard drive, get a bigger Ultra DMA IDE drive (wholesale, they are less
than $100).

#6 - If you meet (or exceed) the previous statement but don't have a 56K
modem with on-board hardware compression/data-pump, get a NON-WINDOWS,
16-bit ISA 56K Modem. Can't go wrong with a US Robotics (wholesale USR
voicemodem is $90 -- there are cheaper ones just as good but you have to
KNOW what you're getting; lots of pseudo-hardware modems: such as many, PCI
Windows modems).

#7 - If you meet (or exceed) the previous statement but have Win95 or
older, upgrade to Windows 98 SE (do a full wipe of C:, FDISK utilizing
FAT32, and reinstall all software).

#8 - If you meet (or exceed) the previous statement and print a lot, add
more memory to your printer, get a printer buffer, or upgrade to a faster
printer. If Windows has to supervise printing, it will temporarily slow
your system. Avoid Windows printers, too.


RULE OF THUMB:  Always go for the hardware upgrade first. Then, the
software upgrade. All those old versions of QEMM, Stacker, RAM Doubler,
Windows 95 upgrade (from Win3x), etc. are not worth much these days (well,
neither is a P-100 CPU or 4MB 30-pin SIMMs but at least you have a sellable
tangible). Also, software "enhancements" usually ADD to system overhead
(except for bug fixes). And always aim for a migration path (ex., buy
faster DIMMs than needed); however, don't pay extra for vaporware (those
features which are promised but are not shipping yet, like those old 486
Pentium Overdrive sockets).

RULE OF PINKY: You will always cut yourself upgrading hardware, take more
time than expected, make a mistake whether small or large, worry whether
you ESD damaged your motherboard/adapters, be disappointed in the mere
accretion of performance (what, only 25% faster?!?), and decide that next
time you will to pay someone else to do it (which alternative has its own
cautionary rubric).

JMHO.

John Chin

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