[Stevey]

I was willing to replace my desktop pc's dvd writer and monitor myself for the first time, I've never done anything with a pc lately but this time I want to replace it myself,
what things should I check and match with my pc specifications before buying a new dvd writer and monitor so its best compatible with it and gives maximum efficiency? I was willing to get a TFT monitor of about 17" atleast. Thanks

[smax013]

Stevey, on 27 July 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

I was willing to replace my desktop pc's dvd writer and monitor myself for the first time, I've never done anything with a pc lately but this time I want to replace it myself,
what things should I check and match with my pc specifications before buying a new dvd writer and monitor so its best compatible with it and gives maximum efficiency? I was willing to get a TFT monitor of about 17" atleast. Thanks

For the monitor, the only thing to check is what kind of connector your computer uses...whether it is a VGA or DVI connector...and even that may not matter. Generally speaking, just about any monitor will likely work.

For the optical drive, the key thing is to determine whether you are replacing an IDE or SATA drive.

Is your computer a "manufactured" computer (i.e. Dell, HP, etc)? Or is it a "built" computer? If a "manufactured" computer, can you give us the brand and model?

[LiveBrianD]

One other thing to note - some older PCs (such as ones from 2006 and earlier, depending on the driver) don't support 16:9 monitors. The old nvidia geforce2 MX 400 I had and the radeon 9100 IGP in my spare PC support 720p and 1080p, for instance (I know the 9100 does NOT support PC-only 16:9 resolutions like 1600x900 or 1366x768 though, not sure about the MX 400), but my grandfather's dell's Intel graphics do NOT - I'm forced to use Dell's driver, which hasn't been updated. (and that machine's from 2006!)

[Stevey]

smax013, on 28 July 2012 - 10:24 AM, said:

Stevey, on 27 July 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

I was willing to replace my desktop pc's dvd writer and monitor myself for the first time, I've never done anything with a pc lately but this time I want to replace it myself,
what things should I check and match with my pc specifications before buying a new dvd writer and monitor so its best compatible with it and gives maximum efficiency? I was willing to get a TFT monitor of about 17" atleast. Thanks

For the monitor, the only thing to check is what kind of connector your computer uses...whether it is a VGA or DVI connector...and even that may not matter. Generally speaking, just about any monitor will likely work.

For the optical drive, the key thing is to determine whether you are replacing an IDE or SATA drive.

Is your computer a "manufactured" computer (i.e. Dell, HP, etc)? Or is it a "built" computer? If a "manufactured" computer, can you give us the brand and model?

yes its actually one of my computers, its an old hp back from 2005,when I bought it, it was just a p4 with a 256mb ram

[LiveBrianD]

What's the model number?

[Stevey]

LiveBrianD, on 28 July 2012 - 02:50 PM, said:

What's the model number?

its number started from SRxxxIL, the middle numbers I've forgotten because its been really old; I only remember the postfix and prefix by chance.
If you just give me the general idea thats to be followed while replacing these parts, I can correlate it with this pc.

This post has been edited by Stevey: 28 July 2012 - 08:41 PM

[LiveBrianD]

I need the exact number so I can look up the specs - there are LOTS of models that started with SR (Compaqs it looks like). Look in System Information (under system model), or look for it on the front of the PC.

For the optical drive, the main issue is whether it's IDE or SATA. Your PC probably has SATA, but I'm not sure how many ports it has, and I don't know what the original ODD was - there were plenty of IDE ones at the time. I just want to be sure.

For the monitor, I wanted to check the video driver and make sure that's new enough that it supports 16:9 resolutions. (and if it doesn't, then I can tell you to buy a 16:10 or 4:3 one) For instance, my grandfather has a 1080p display on his Dell E310, but since it's limited to the Dell driver (for some reason, I can't use the generic Intel one) that's completely outdated, he's forced to use a non-native screen resolution, making everything look terrible.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 28 July 2012 - 09:08 PM