How much does high-end hardware help internet speed/graphic?

You are at the mercy of your ISP. The time your processor and/or graphics card spends on processing the html, Java, asp, etc... data that comes in is trivial.

fishin's right, the machine you've got is more or less more than capable of handling anything The Internet can throw at it, even broadband. It oughtta have a processor, AMD or Intell, running somewhere between 500 and 700 Mhz, and I think shoulda come w/Win98SE installed (along w/a buncha Compaq-specific bloatware), with a manufacturer's Restore Disk set instead of a real OS disk. More RAM is always a good bet in general, even if it won't help browsing, though that machine may be limited to a max of 384MB - I believe the Compaq Presario 5800 series has only 3 memory slots, and accommodates up to 128MB per slot. I dunno what you've got for a graphics card, might even be integrated video, and I'm pretty sure you've got integrated sound and game control, too, but the machine should have an AGP slot, and you could easily boost graphics performance with even a modest upgrade to a current-generation card, while an inexpensive current-production soundcard with joystick port will lessen processor load and give you better gaming performance. Its possible your monitor has degraded some over the years, and a new 17" CRT -type should be relatively cheap, too ... coupla hundred bucks will get a very capable one indeed.

Yuckware, unnecessary startups, junk files, no-longer-used programs, and obsolete registry entries, along with drive fragmentation, are common slow-downs, and given that your machine is somewhere around 5 or 6 years old, I'll bet there's a buncha that goin' on there. A good, thorough cleanup can improve performance dramatically. Drastic as it sounds, it might not be a bad idea to back up all your drivers, personal files and your desired 3rd-party programs to removeable media, wipe the drive, re-install Windows, and start from scratch. If you still have the system's OEM restore discs, you could go that way, but a real wipe-the-drive and totally-fresh OS install from a Windows disc would be preferable, IMO. Then, of course, update everything. Still, even all of that isn't gonna have much impact on your internet experience (other than ridding you of whatever yuckware you've picked up over the years ... that'll help some) ... just give you a faster, more reliable, more responsive machine.

Of course, if you just wanna throw money around, the new killer game machines are way cool, but they aren't really gonna do much more of what you seem to be looking for than a bit of housekeeping and a few cheap upgrades to your current machine will get you.

Thanks, guys...how about a follow-up question, if I may
Thanks very much for the insight. I put away my checkbook and made an inquiry of my ISP (Comcast New England) today......and lo and behold!...they just rolled out a new higher speed service to take me from 3Mbps to 4 for $10 more per month. (guess sometimes its better to be lucky than anything else). Can't wait to get home to see if its a noticeable improvement. I probably wouldn't have known to ask without your responses.....so please buy yourselves a beer and put it on my tab!


Ok, I guess that $3,500 you saved me on the Velocity Raptor is still burning a hole in my pocket.

What's your opinion of upgrading to a high definition LCD monitor? I read that CRT technology is still better for color reproduction, but "high definition" has my curiosity peaked. Do you think my old Compaq box can drive an HD monitor? Would the resolution be a noticeable difference even just for what's viewable from internet sites?

As always, your thoughts are much appreciated.

I doubt the video card in your machine supports digital monitors, though that can be replaced. With the right video card, there's no reason your machine couldn't drive an HD flat panel display.

I may be a bit contrarian here, but for critical 'puterin', and for just plain enjoyable TV watchin', I'm unsold on anything other than the old-fashioned CRT (and I do have a couple nice flat panel monitors). Both my big livingroom HDTV and my main 'puter monitor (which is HD-capable, though I don't use it for entertainment viewin'; a 40" TV teamed w/a very adequate surround-sound system beats helloutta a 20" monitor and even upper-end 'puter audio) are CRT types ... new and techy as hell, but CRTs. A good flat-display CRT is to my mind so far unbeatable, though new developments in panel displays are promising. They just ain't there yet for me. When they get there, no doubt I'll get me one ... my video card already supports 'em.