My old Dell Dimension B110 is better than my school's computers!

[Brian Entei]

For the longest time my Dell Dimension had stock everything in it(and still pretty much does) - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 32-bit,
2x 512MB 400mHz RAM,
250 watt psu,
Socket 480 2.53GHz processor,
integrated graphics(Intel 82865G Graphics Controller),
1x 80GB IDE Hard Drive,
add-in legacy pci phone line modem card(with two other free pci slots on the mobo)...
DVD+RW optical IDE Drive(can read/write CDs and DVDs)

Now it has the following changes:

+ Windows 7 Professional 32 bit, Dual boots with OEM Windows XP Home Edition(80 GB drive partitioned in half)
+ Added a 60GB IDE Hard Drive(had to get an IDE ribbon cable with two HDD slots) as user profile data drive
* Used only 200MB space on C: drive for pagefile(the 80 GB HDD)

+ Using 2048MB space on dedicated partition of 60GB Hard drive for more pagefile space(to help with performance)

* Changed system RAM from 1GB(2x 512MB) @ 400mHz to 2GB(max, 2x1GB) @ 333mHz

+ Added a CD-RW optical drive(reads/writes CDs only, I use it as an audio player, as it has a headphone jack and a volume control on the front of it!)

* Changed system services to something similar to "Black Viper's Windows 7 service config", keeping certain services that I knew I would be using later

+ Got a new monitor and installed the driver for it: Samsung S24B300EL(native resolution 19200 x 1080), using "1280 x 1024 @ 75Hz PP" resolution(biggest resolution without a laggy desktop, but 1152 x 864 works better).

* Got Charter Cable(optical fiber cables - 30mbps down 3mbps up) internet instead of AT&T DSL(phone line) broadband(3mbps down + up) for faster internet browsing

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School computers: Dell Optiplex 620's with OEM specs, except with Windows 7 Professional 32 bit installe d and they are hooked up to the county's school domain servers(ugh lol).

Some have low-end graphics cards added in with DVI-A output and S-Video(not used), but they only have add in GPUs because the mobo's built in ones DIED from too many online flash games left on all the time(XD)...

Some only have 256MB of RAM(but are running Win7?! /!\SLOW ALERT/!\)

Some are lucky to have 1GB of ram, one or two of them have 4GB...(these are the ones everyones jumps to first)

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I'd say with confidence that my OLDER Dell Dimension B110 runs much, much faster(considering it takes chrome 4 seconds to open on mine, vs 20 seconds at school, if you're lucky)

Boot times for my computer average at around 20 - 30 seconds to get to the login screen.
Desktop loads in about 15 - 20 seconds after logging in.

Boot times for my school's computers(except the 4GB RAM ones) average at about 1 MINUTE to 6 MINUTES to get to the login screen...
The desktop takes an additional minute and a half to log in(unless you're lucky, in which case it takes 30 seconds)...

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Does anyone else think that this is quite funny? Yes, the school cpus are public and probably have malware, but I mean really, MINE is faster, but was manufactured in August 2006, when the schools' cpus were manufactured around 2007 - 2009...

I myself was appalled at how fast I was able to boot and login to my pc this morning, then went to school and logged on there(ugh).

What are you guys' opinions on this? Think my school should get new cpus? (They did get a couple of 2012 Dell All-in-ones(64 bit), but only two or three... and someone always nabbs them first lol).

Thanks for reading,

-Brian_Entei

P.S. I am currently building my own new low-end gaming computer, more details here: Made an overview of my build in progress | Hardware Forums | Tech Support | Computer Support Forum

 

[Big B]

You have to look at costs with that many PCs. There's always something better, but it's not always necessary for the desired functionality. I would wager that many if not nearly all PCs at your school are not used for much more than low-power stuff: word processing, e-mail, internet, etc. so there's not a real urgency to move into something faster.

Upgrading some things may be easy, like RAM (assuming you haven't run into OS or chipset limitations), and CPU's are another possibility, again factoring in motherboard support. OS updating can be done, but then, not everyone is as tech-savvy as folks like us and changing the OS can be disorienting. Yes, you can train people, but that's time and probably additional cost.

My work computers ran Win2k for a long time before upgrading to XP, and only recently moved to 7. Most things we do are done through a web-interface anyway, so as long as those run smoothly, specs aren't a big deal, and what we have are probably far overpowered for the work they actually do.

Basically, it comes down to cost and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Much like not everyone needs a 1,000hp sports car, the same is true for computers. My bad-ass PC sports a Pentium E2160 with a mid-range GPU and 4GB of RAM. I'd have liked to upgrade it this year, but that's not happening. It runs Crysis with eye candy, so for right now, it's doing the job. I'd love to drop a ton of cash and really get into something newer than an LGA775 socket, but I have other priorities (mostly bills) so, unfortunately, I can't.

 

[Brian Entei]

Yeah, I see your point and support it, I just thought that it was funny that my older pc was faster than my schools' PCs. Speaking of, they are starting to buy some Dell "All-in-ones", which are 64 bit Windows 7, and they run pretty great, so I guess they are just slowly scrapping their older desktops.

 

[Big B]

Yes, with a mATX or even miniITX motherboards available, slim drives, low-power CPU's, it's not hard to come up with a box that's small and covers all bases for the average joe. Not everyone upgrades their PC, and if they just dump it after they're done, those things make perfect sense. They may have a contract with Dell for computer upgrades, or may have finally been approved for a budget to upgrade the old rigs. Most places do upgrade after awhile, and we both know XP is just about to see all support from Microsoft drop completely, so that adds some risks for vulnerabilities.