Dell Dimension 4600 HDD on XP

[GigaG]

So I recently inherited a dinosaur Dell Dimension 4600 from my dad (infamously on the list of the worst PCs by PCWorld, but my 4600 does not have the power supply issues). The computer is about 1/10 the speed of a snail, so I am reformatting and installing XP again. The PC has half-decent specs, besides a 40GB hard disk (I am almost positive it is IDE). So my questions are the following - How do I upgrade an IDE disk on the Dimension 4600? How big of a disk can I get, and what about jumpers - I've heard of them, but I have not used them before. My main concern is drivers. The XP disc that came with it is SP1. So will XP SP1 support a normal IDE drive, or will you need drivers for certain drives?

 

[soho1]

Dinosaurs are great as fossils, but pose a problem as live pets. What's your goal with this box?

 

[GigaG]

I don't know, honestly.

 

[A Guy]

I have a 4600 that I replaced with my Windows 7 PC 2 years ago. I had upgraded to a 320GB Seagate HDD.

This should help explain the various jumper settings

ATA Jumper Settings | Seagate

A Guy

 

[poorguy]

dell dimension 4600/ wndows 7

hey all i to have a dell dimension 4600 and everyone said that w7 wouldn't run on it and it runs fine. had no problems what so ever. my WEI rating is 3.9 not bad for a 12 year old box. people that say it can't be done are just lazy and to stupid to work around some of the minor issues that may occur. my specs. p4 2.8ghz @ 800mhz fsb/ 3.0gb ddr ram/bfg geforce 6600 gt 128mb/ 40gb 5400 rpm hdd. yeah it ain't no game box but it runs the web and does videos really well. my aero WEI rating @ 5.2 is what surprised me. just had to try since all i ever heard or read was negative. just have time invested in this box. my neighbor set it out on big trash day because of hdd failure and i had to save it. this box kicks ass with windows 7 pro. thanks for the web space. poorguy

 

[windude99]

hey all i to have a dell dimension 4600 and everyone said that w7 wouldn't run on it and it runs fine. had no problems what so ever. my WEI rating is 3.9 not bad for a 12 year old box. people that say it can't be done are just lazy and to stupid to work around some of the minor issues that may occur. my specs. p4 2.8ghz @ 800mhz fsb/ 3.0gb ddr ram/bfg geforce 6600 gt 128mb/ 40gb 5400 rpm hdd. yeah it ain't no game box but it runs the web and does videos really well. my aero WEI rating @ 5.2 is what surprised me. just had to try since all i ever heard or read was negative. just have time invested in this box. my neighbor set it out on big trash day because of hdd failure and i had to save it. this box kicks ass with windows 7 pro. thanks for the web space. poorguy

Welcome to Sevenforums Poorguy! I run Windows 7 Home Premium on a Dell Dimension 5100 and it is quite fast. It was upgraded to 2.5 gigs of ram, so that helps My old Dimension works great with Windows 7. I'm not surprised that yours works well too.

 

[A Guy]

Welcome to Seven Forums poorguy. All the 4600 came with a P4 starting at the 2.8 yours has. 512MB Ram was a common amount then, and an 80GB HDD was also large. Windows Vista would likely not have run well on it, but as you see , 7 does. 8 likely would as well. A Guy

 

[poorguy]

dell dimension 4600/ wndows 7

hey all thanks for the welcome. my dell 4600 i have w7 on now i had installed vista home premium on and it ran ok. w7 just seemed to fit better on my 40gb hdd. i'm really impressed at how well it runs as it is 2003 vintage. alot of people can't afford to go out and buy new boxes so why not make what you have work if it is possible. seems like back in 2003 a pc cost at least 1000.00 so make it last. i will be interested to see if w8 will run on these old dells. guess we will wait and see. thanks poorguy