Salvaging my Folks Computer.

WeirdNut

I inherited my folks old desktop, and it does not have a working CD drive. Should I reformat and run Linux, Google OS or just reinstall XP? Pentium 2.8 GHZ 1 GB ram. I really only want to play Diablo 3, so what do I need to add, or whats the best route for my OS install? It is an old Dell case, and I can add or supplement to the case, but would like to keep it as cheap as possible. Any idea H&A, or should I ask for this to be moved to the tech forums?

matt has a problem

You are scraping the absolute minimum for D3 system requirements there, as far as processor and RAM goes. You'll need a video card, at least a GeForce 7800 GT or ATI X1950 according to the official requirements. For the OS install you can make a bootable USB key using Win XP or 7, but you'd need more RAM to make Win7/D3 an even passable combination.

Hahnsoo1

That's scraping the very bottom of the minimum system requirements for Diablo 3. You also need a video card that's equal or more powerful than an nVidia 7800 GT or ATI Radeon X1950 Pro. You can get a sense of what cards will work by looking at the Tom's Hardware Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Find the 7800 GT/X1950 on the chart, and anything above that should work. Tom's Hardware recommends these cards for the month of April 2012 in the cheap range (75 bucks):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-2.html

If you are playing Diablo 3, you'll probably want Windows of some sort. XP should be fine, according to Blizzard.

EDIT: Hah! Almost the same post, by a different person. *grin*

WeirdNut

It looks like as long as I have the up to date Directx, and graphics card I might make this work. Prolly swap to a newer faster HDD that I have as well. I can put a bootable install of xp on my external USB harddrive to reinstall after a format correct?

BlindZenDriver

WeirdNut wrote: »

It looks like as long as I have the up to date Directx, and graphics card I might make this work. Prolly swap to a newer faster HDD that I have as well. I can put a bootable install of xp on my external USB harddrive to reinstall after a format correct?

You need to find out more about the computer if what you're listed is what you know. With a machine that old there is a risk it won't have the right interface for a even somewhat current hard drive and the same goes for being able to support a gfx card like the ones mentioned (interface may not be there or the PSU may not bring the power needed).

If there is any way I think you'll be better served looking for a more recent machine. It should not be impossible to get something much newer for just the cost of the gfx card you need for this one.

Ego

Personally I'd max out the memory (so using XP just upgrade it to 4gb) and buy a decent GPU/PSU that I'd migrate into your next build, but if you're wanting to do this dirt cheap just upgrade the memory and PM me, I'll send you a 7800 GT. Then at worst beyond that point you'd have to upgrade your PSU if the stock one in the Dell can't cut it.

Knight

The problem with his PSU might end up being plugs. Almost assured it won't have any PCI-E connections, and might not have enough spare molex to convert to PCI-E (need 2). Though, I guess he doesn't need the broken cd drive to be plugged in, so could steal that one, and there might be a spare for an extra HDD.

Now, the real problem is if that board even has a PCI-E slot. Pentium Ds were launched right around when PCI-E was introduced, but I'd bet decent money that motherboard has an AGP slot.