Finally; I have purchased a new, faster computer with lots of storage and will be able to play some of the several new games I've acquired over the last year or so. Does anyone have any idea as to what I should do with my old computer? It's about seven years old and there isn't much wrong with it except the gaming world has outgrown it. I'm am willing to simply toss it in the junk, but has anyone a better idea?

Here in the U.K. centres that provide education for people with learning difficulties are always grateful also nurseries/playgroups perhaps?

yes, also senior centers might like it.

Make absolutely 100% sure that you either wipe the drive and reinstall the operating system fresh or that you remove all personal information on it. If it has a restore partition on it, that would be the way to go if it didn't come with the operating system disks.

What did you get for a new computer?

I hope the new commputer has a good video card in it. That's the most important thing to watch for on a computer that will be used for playing games -- not the storage.

I'd keep it for backup and for the old games that don't play on Win7!

Thanks for the thoughts. The danger of someone else getting personal stuff reallt feeds my parania and will cause me think carefully about my options.

I bought a new Gateway mostly because my old one treated me so well for so long. I can't give any specs right now because the computer room is a chaotic disaster. but I know it has a pretty good video card; is very fast; and and lots of storage. (The storage was the real issue with my old machine. Modern games just take up a lot of space.)

If you got a computer with a Second Generation Core I3 or Core I5 processor that many new computers have, you will probably be disappointed in its abilities to game - unless you specified a separate video card. Those processors have the video integrated into the processor itself instead of the motherboard and other than casual gaming, are not a good choice for gamers.

We've heard that one before. Usually when a person doesn't know their video card, it's something a salesman "assured" them was fast -- and it isn't.

It must be pretty old then to have that small a hard drive -- unless you played an awful lot of games and never uninstalled anything. I'd agree with Oldbroad about keeping it for older games that you have trouble running on the newer computer. If you do decide to sell or give it away, and you have sensitive information stored on it, use security software that is especially made for erasing hard drives, and that will write and rewrite over the entire surface of the hard drive with random patterns of 1's and 0's.

Every single Gateway I looked at had a 2nd Gen Intel processor, so unless The Haze specified a stand alone video card, I'm afraid he has a "salesman specified" fast video card that really isn't.

Jeez guys; I don't even have it all hooked up yet and you've already depressed me. Whatever I have, it's bound to be much better than what I had. Besides, I'm at an age where I am already slow and have blurred vision. If my new computer will run the games at all (The oild one wouldn't) it feel like normalcy.

Sorry, Haze. Hopefully it will serve your purposes, or can easily be upgraded.

Maybe it will perform exactly as you need it to. Sorry, didn't mean to depress you, just hoped you wouldn't be disappointed.

Haze !

Can you post the "specs" on your Gateway? I am very curious. They are now owned by ACER. ACER has always had a good rep for their products and usually offer some impressive PCs for the money.

In fact, I'd prefer an ACER PC over a comparable HP - dollar for dollar the ACER is a good strong contender.

Just my opinion working on so many systems over the years.

Sureshot,
He posted his specs over in the first post of his ***New Computer II-Arrghh!!*** thread:



You can find more ***here***

Ok - got it - sorry I didn't go back far enough.

Yep - have to agree that the Intel graphic stuff does have its quirks with games, otherwise it's PDG system.

Well you guys got this covered for sure.

Yes, we've been having a good old time spending Haze's money!