Picked up at an office auction:

[Blue_Tires]

HP Compaq DX2000MT
Celeron 2.4 GHz
1 GB RAM
40 GB Hard Drive
Windows XP SP 3


How much $$$$ do you think it would take to upgrade it to something more usable? Is there a way to maximize the bang for my buck, or should I just ditch it??

[ChromeFoundry]

1. $0.00

Format the drive and install Linux.

You'd be surprised how much Windows can slow a system down.

Just my opinion.

[Blue_Tires]

10. OK, maybe I'll just use this machine to play around with Linux

I've always wanted to try it an don't really 'need' it for anything else, since I plan to get a better primary cpu...

[ChromeFoundry]

12. You can download a live CD

to try it out and see how well it performs before you wipe the drive.

You may wish to grab the Windows XP license key off of the machine with a tool like MagigJellyBean prior to formatting the drive, in the event you want to reinstall Win XP on the workstation.

If you need any help with Linux or obtaining a live CD, the Open Source and Free Software forum may be another place to get answers.

Best of luck!

[IDemo]

2. I wouldn't spend any additional money

It should still be quite capable of casual surfing but will never be a graphics powerhouse. While you could upgrade the PC3200 DDR memory to up to 4GB for not a lot, you've still got a pretty dated machine. It would make a fine candidate for a Linux install if you are inclined to experiment with it.

[Blue_Tires]

11. I'll give it a shot if I have time this weekend...

thanks everyone for the advice...

[whistler162]

3. About $500 from Staples when they have a new PC on sale.

This is old DDR memory. You might be able to replace the Processor and add a little more memory but it will only help a little.

To the knee jerk Linux "advocate". Linux is nice as long as it runs what you want if it doesn't it is useless!

[ChromeFoundry]

4. RE:

I hardly put this out there as a knee jerk response. This system is more than capable of running Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice... 90% of what most people need for a home computer.

The OP stated that this was attained from an office auction and was willing to toss it in a landfill if it was useless - so I didn't think they were planning on crunching next weeks winning lottery numbers with it. If XP runs too slowly on this old machine, I'm pretty sure there is someone out there that would be thrilled to take ownership of it through donation.

Not sure why you are so offended by my post to label it as a "knee jerk" response.. but I hardly feel that "Spend $500 on a new system," is what the OP was asking for.

[steve2470]

5. What do you want to use it for ?

Unless you are running multiple applications or trying to do an AutoCad-like app, it should work fine. No, it's not super fast but it's adequate for web surfing, email, writing documents, etc.

[hobbit709]

6. Get a new hard drive and reinstall Windows to speed it up.

If all you use it for is internet surfing, playing videos, word processing and the like it will work fine. At the time it came out it was pretty much top of the line stuff.
Putting Linux on it will speed it up compared to Windows as long as what you use it for doesn't involve Windows specific apps.
`If you can find a PCI video card cheap, you can upgrade the graphics a little since it has neither AGP or PCI-E slots. Newegg has a NVidia 8400 card for about $50.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133357
That will considerably improve the graphics over the Intel 845 on board.

[struggle4progress]

7. If it were mine, I'd think about a RAM and harddrive upgrade

You might find enough info here: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportManual&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=401819

As I read by websearch &c (and don't just take my word for it!) this machine should handle up to 4gb DDR SDRAM PC2700 333 MHz (or PC3200 400-MHz) nonECC 2.5 volt RAM with CL = 2.5 or CL=3 in two 184-pin slots. The PC3200 400-MHz won't run at full speed with the expected 533 mhz fsb, so I wouldn't buy it unless nothing else were reasonably priced. So you could probably upgrade to 2gb RAM for under $60, buying 2 x 1gb sticks

The machine has two harddrive slots. Adding a harddrive (if the PSU has enough appropriate power connectors) or replacing the harddrive with a larger one (if the PSU doesn't enough appropriate power connectors) is pretty easy and harddrives are cheap: a 160gb Ultra ATA100 3.5" Internal Hard Drive can be had for under $50

If you don't really know what you're doing, upgrading the cpu could be a pain, especially if the fan doesn't want to come off easily for some reason, like the heat paste gluing it to the cpu or whatever. 2.4ghz is fine for lots of applications

And try linux on it: mint or ubuntu or crunchbang, say

[trud]

8. that's pretty much what I'm using

and I'm happy with it.

HP pavilion ze5300
Pentium 4 CPU 2.40GHz
704 MB RAM
30 GB Hard Drive
Windows SP3

If you don't want it, e-cycle it instead of the dump, please.

[Blue_Tires]

9. no worries; I always e-cycle or give to charity

[DainBramaged]

13. You can get a socket 478 PIV 3.0 for about $30 on Ebay

The MB is an Intel 865GV, another GB of ram is about $40 for the PC3200 it uses, and it probably has an AGP slot so up to a 7200 Nvidia card can be used. It's 2004 vintage PC.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=DX2000MT&cid=6145281933413191346&os=tech-specs

[hunter]

14. I'm posting this from a 500 MHz P-3 machine...

... with 256 megabyte ram and an 8 GB hard drive.

Your machine would be screaming fast with the software I use.

I start with Debian and can build a usable machine on any computer with a usb port.

You've got an excellent machine for learning Linux.

Maybe try out xubuntu.