Is this worth it?

A friend has kindly given me a HP Vectra VL420 MT

Mind you theres a few bits missing, like the graphics card,
hard drive and all memory chips.

Aside from this it works great - I think


A few questions please for anyone who knows..

Is it worth my while replacing the missing parts, or is it likely money
wasted?

I've checked out the original graphics card (GeForce2) and some firms claim
to have replacement memory chips, though they're pricey. I assume any good
Hard drive might be ok to instal (I've just got W98SE to work with).

I've never had a Pentium 4 and would like to get this one going if
possible.

Would the above replacements do the trick, or am I heading for unexpected
disasters?


Thanks for advice

FX

(Fingers crossed)

If the system is in good shape except for the mssing parts, it may not take a
lot of money to get it up and running again.

First, please always keep in mind that we are talking about commodity parts, not
anything that is very very special and made expressly for HP systems. All you
are paying for when you buy HP-branded spare parts is a little HP sticker on the
part, certifying HP compatibility and quality, whatever the latter may be.

512MB of commodity memory should be less than $50. Ditto for a 40GB hard drive.
Figure $20 for a servicable AGP card. Just make sure you buy good quality
parts from a reputable source, e.g. www.crucial.com for memory.

How fast is the processor on this system? What type is it? If the processor is
a Socket 423 Pentium 4, the investment is hardly worth it. If the processor is
2GHz or faster, the money is worth it. Otherwise, it's a coin toss whether or
not to spend the money... Ben Myers

On 10 Dec 2005 03:12:29 GMT, Caldo <> wrote:

>A friend has kindly given me a HP Vectra VL420 MT
>
>Mind you theres a few bits missing, like the graphics card,
>hard drive and all memory chips.
>
>Aside from this it works great - I think
>
>
>A few questions please for anyone who knows..
>
>Is it worth my while replacing the missing parts, or is it likely money
>wasted?
>
>I've checked out the original graphics card (GeForce2) and some firms claim
>to have replacement memory chips, though they're pricey. I assume any good
>Hard drive might be ok to instal (I've just got W98SE to work with).
>
>I've never had a Pentium 4 and would like to get this one going if
>possible.
>
>Would the above replacements do the trick, or am I heading for unexpected
>disasters?
>
>
>Thanks for advice
>
>FX
>
>(Fingers crossed)

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in
news::

> If the system is in good shape except for the mssing parts, it may not
> take a lot of money to get it up and running again.
>
> First, please always keep in mind that we are talking about commodity
> parts, not anything that is very very special and made expressly for
> HP systems. All you are paying for when you buy HP-branded spare
> parts is a little HP sticker on the part, certifying HP compatibility
> and quality, whatever the latter may be.
>
> 512MB of commodity memory should be less than $50. Ditto for a 40GB
> hard drive. Figure $20 for a servicable AGP card. Just make sure you
> buy good quality parts from a reputable source, e.g. www.crucial.com
> for memory.
>
> How fast is the processor on this system? What type is it? If the
> processor is a Socket 423 Pentium 4, the investment is hardly worth
> it. If the processor is 2GHz or faster, the money is worth it.
> Otherwise, it's a coin toss whether or not to spend the money... Ben
> Myers
>
> On 10 Dec 2005 03:12:29 GMT, Caldo <> wrote:
>
>>A friend has kindly given me a HP Vectra VL420 MT
>>
>>Mind you theres a few bits missing, like the graphics card,
>>hard drive and all memory chips.
>>
>>Aside from this it works great - I think
>>
>>
>>A few questions please for anyone who knows..
>>
>>Is it worth my while replacing the missing parts, or is it likely
>>money wasted?
>>
>>I've checked out the original graphics card (GeForce2) and some firms
>>claim to have replacement memory chips, though they're pricey. I
>>assume any good Hard drive might be ok to instal (I've just got W98SE
>>to work with).
>>
>>I've never had a Pentium 4 and would like to get this one going if
>>possible.
>>
>>Would the above replacements do the trick, or am I heading for
>>unexpected disasters?
>>
>>
>>Thanks for advice
>>
>>FX
>>
>>(Fingers crossed)
>
Thank you Ben. Your opinion is appreciated

While nothing is ever certain (especially with Pcs) I think
I'll take a chance and replace the parts.
If nothing works I can at least use the drive as a slave and the graphics
card as an upgrade on my old machine.

(Fingers still crossed)

FX

On the seventh day, Caldo wrote...

> A friend has kindly given me a HP Vectra VL420 MT
>
> Mind you theres a few bits missing, like the graphics card,
> hard drive and all memory chips.
>
> Aside from this it works great - I think

it's a beautiful system. Reliable, quiet and pretty fast.

> A few questions please for anyone who knows..
>
> Is it worth my while replacing the missing parts, or is it likely money
> wasted?

Definitely not. But you shouldn't be spending too much.

> I've checked out the original graphics card (GeForce2) and some firms claim
> to have replacement memory chips, though they're pricey. I assume any good
> Hard drive might be ok to instal (I've just got W98SE to work with).

Get a Geforce MX440. Watch out for passively cooled gfx cards cause those
with active coolers tend to be noisy. And we don't want to ruin the low
noise floor, do we? 32megs are totally sufficient. It should be available
for 10 bucks.

As for hard disk drive: any 7200 rpm IDE drive should be fine. At best, go
for a Seagate Barracuda IV. They are fast, relatively reliable and very
quiet. The 40gig version should go for 30 bucks.
Definitely don't go for the older IBM (IC35...AVVA, IC35...AVER07 or DTLA)
or Fujitsu MPG.
You may also buy a new hard disk with less than 128GB. The new hard disk
drive may cost a little more but you get a new product plus warranty (check
it!). A new 120gig drive should deal for as low as 60$.

> I've never had a Pentium 4 and would like to get this one going if
> possible.

The Vectra VL 420 has had a bunch of Pentium IVs installed, most of which
are really slow. If you have the 1.8-2.0GHz version, you're very lucky, any
investment is worth the money. If you have the 1.4-1.5GHz version I'd try
to sell the system before spending money to reactivate it. The 1.7GHz is
relatively slow, but still acceptable.

Keep in mind that the needed memory is like a car with brakes on. The P4
doesn't bench well with SDRAM, but it's a nice and stable system
nevertheless and it also may be fast enough for 99% of all your duties,
even multimedia, networking, video, office and so forth.

Default PC133 SDRAM DIMMs are sufficient. They are still available. DDRAM
is less expensive but on eBay, you might be able to get a pair of 256meg
DIMMs for approx. 20bucks each.

> (Fingers crossed)

you don't have to :-)

We're talking about an investment of approx. 100 US-$. That may seem to be
much money but you get a decent system for office tasks and some
non-state-of-the-art games. For me, it would be sufficient.

Perhaps you can get a PC133 DIMM and a gfx card to test the system
beforehand. Check for defective electrolyte condensators on the mainboard.
The cylindrical caps mustn't have brown remains on their tops or in their
near.

A complete VL420 goes for as high as 200$ on eBay (though I doubt it's
appropriate). OTOH it's a really nice system to work on. You won't be
regretting reactivating it, that's for sure.

--
mit freundlichen Grüßen/with kind regards
Christian Dürrhauer, Institute of Geography, FU Berlin

Who else would be playing cat and mouse with a starship? -
Scotty, "Star Trek, (A Private Little War)"

On the seventh day, Christian Dürrhauer wrote...

> Default PC133 SDRAM DIMMs are sufficient. They are still available. DDRAM
> is less expensive but on eBay, you might be able to get a pair of 256meg
> DIMMs for approx. 20bucks each.

this is possibly irritating, so here in order to clear things up:
You can't use DDRAM. You must use SDRAM (PC133).

--
mit freundlichen Grüßen/with kind regards
Christian Dürrhauer, Institute of Geography, FU Berlin

Who else would be playing cat and mouse with a starship? -
Scotty, "Star Trek, (A Private Little War)"

Christian Dürrhauer <> wrote in
news::

> On the seventh day, Christian Dürrhauer wrote...
>
>> Default PC133 SDRAM DIMMs are sufficient. They are still available.
>> DDRAM is less expensive but on eBay, you might be able to get a pair
>> of 256meg DIMMs for approx. 20bucks each.
>
> this is possibly irritating, so here in order to clear things up:
> You can't use DDRAM. You must use SDRAM (PC133).
>

Thanks for your additional helpful comments Christian.

I'll take it from there ..

Regards ..

Caldo