Dell Dimension 4550

I am planning on upgrading my old Dell Dimension 4550 to Vista after Christmas.
I am sure when you first read this you'll think, blimey what's he doing that for, but it only came with an 18Gb hard drive and 256mb of RAM.

I am planning on replacing these components with at least a 160Gb hard drive and 1Gb or RAM

Question 1;
- What kind of hard drive does it take?
#i.e; 2" hard drive or 3" hard drive

Question 2;
- What kind of RAM does it take
#i.e; DDR etc...

Question 3;
- Is this completely insane or can it be done, and done well???

Thanks very much and have a very Merry Christmas


Matthew
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell 530
    Memory
    1GB DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8600
    Sound Card
    RealTek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" Dell Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 900
    Hard Drives
    250GB Hard Drive
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Laser
    Mouse
    Microsoft Mouse
    Internet Speed
    Up to 20Mbps
I have just looked at the specs and I dont think that I would bother, IMHO it would run crap.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Workstation
    Manufacturer/Model
    doofenshmirtz evil incorporated
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
    Motherboard
    Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO Black 64GB (4x16GB) 3600MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB ROG Strix LC OC
    Sound Card
    Creative
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 x27" Dell U2724D & 1 x 34" Dell U3415W
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 NVMe Solid State
    Drive
    PSU
    1500W ThermalTake Toughpower
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT
    Cooling
    Enermax Liqtech 240
    Keyboard
    Surface Ergonomic.
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance MX
    Internet Speed
    350 Mb/s
    Other Info
    WinTV NovaTD
    HP CP1515n Color Laser
    Sony BD-5300S-0B Blu-ray Writer
    Microsoft LifeCam Cinema
    APC 750i Smart UPS
  • Operating System
    windows 10
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Pro 3
    CPU
    1.9GHz Intel Core i5-4300U (dual-core, 3MB cache, up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost)
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4400
    Monitor(s) Displays
    12" Multi Touch
    Screen Resolution
    2160 x 144
    Hard Drives
    128GB
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Keyboard
    yes
    Internet Speed
    350 Mb/s
Hi Matthew,

Here is a link to the main Dell support page for your computer, and you should find the answers to Q1 and Q2 here: Dell Technical Support Home Page / Dell Troubleshooting Search. As for Q3, I would imagine that it could be done, but as for how well I cannot tell you as I haven't had chance to read through the documentation from Dell. You should have a better idea, though, after reading it. An important point to note is to check that there are suitable Vista drivers available before you start, otherwise I'm afraid that it's a non-starter.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
    CPU
    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
    Memory
    4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0)
    Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2
    Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II
    Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0
    WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
    PSU
    XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
    Case
    Gigabyte IF233
    Cooling
    1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
    Internet Speed
    NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray
    Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB)
    WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25
    Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
Ok so prosuming that the drivers you are talking about include things like monitors and cd drives. But could someone answer me this last question. I have been looking at some of ur system specs and most of u have around 2-4gb of memory and most of u say not to run vista if u don't have at least 2gb but my computer only came with 1gb (new one, not old one) and it works fine. Why do most suggest to use nothing less than 2gb
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell 530
    Memory
    1GB DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8600
    Sound Card
    RealTek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" Dell Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 900
    Hard Drives
    250GB Hard Drive
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Laser
    Mouse
    Microsoft Mouse
    Internet Speed
    Up to 20Mbps
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