Yesterday I got curious and completely disassembled my Gateway Profile 2 all-in-one PC just to see what was inside it. When contacting Gateway’s web site, it says that the PC cannot be upgraded. When I call Gateway, they want to know the serial number and shit but I’m not going to go through all that. Probably would be cheaper just to get the parts off Ebay anyway.
So after much struggling and hassle, I cracked open the case and now my $3000 computer looks like this:
How’s that for obsolete. I found it had an Intel BP810 motherboard which can support up to 500Mhz CPU and 256Mb of RAM; currently it has a 433Mhz CPU and 64Mb of RAM from the factory when I bought it back in 2000. However, it only supports ONE 168 pin SDRAM DIMM. I got the CPU off Ebay for $8 but it seems trying to find a cheap PC-100 256Mb stick of RAM is becoming fruitless. I’m surprised its still retailing for about $45 on Ebay. I was expecting to find it for like $20. I bought my Kingston 128Mb DDR Ram for only $30 at BestBuy (with a rebate of course). But even without the rebate it was $45.
This computer is as old as the dirt Jesus Christ walked on so I’m not trying to put a whole bunch of money into upgrading it when its still not going to be fast; I only want it to be tolerable to handle paperwork. The only thing I’m putting on it is Windows XP, Office 2003, Norton Systemworks, Adaware and an external CDR drive so I can backup my data … other than that – that’s it.
I have decided to keep the hard drive though; it’s a regular 5.25″ 10Gb hard drive.
Even when I upgrade it and put Humpty Dumpty back together again, it’s still going to be a slow computer compared to my 1.67Ghz that I am working on now. The Profile came with Windows 98 but I want to get it up to Windows XP and use it as a business PC and to do my homework on and save this Ghz system for my gaming and other multimedia shit PC.
I already ordered the CPU so I want to get the RAM too. Can’t wait. YAY new toy!