Old PC upgrading

[Mideval135]

Good afternoon all. My father has an old Dell Inspiron 660s from 2000-something that runs really really slow...he literally calls it his "slowboat" because it takes at least 10-15 minutes to just boot up. He mostly uses it to stream, upload and edit a very large photo library. Nothing big that requires a graphics card, but simple photoshop work for Christmas photos and the like. I was thinking of replacing the cpu and upgrading the ram to help speed up his pc. 

 

It currently runs a Pentium G645 and I was looking to replace it with a i5-2400. Also I was going to double the 4GB ram it currently has. My main question for this community is, am I able to swap out the cpu? And if not, what are your suggestions?

 

Thank you.

[DankIsnt]

Yes it should but make sure it has a powerful enough psu and cpu cooler 

[atxcyclist]

The Dell Owner's manual says it will support 2nd gen i5s, so that shouldn't be an issue at all. Crucial lists this memory kit for that computer:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3L-12800-Unbuffered-Density-CT2K51264BD160BJ/dp/B00A6GBN5Y

 

https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Dell/inspiron-660s

 

 

Just make sure you also have some new thermal paste for installing the replacement chip.

[Mideval135]

Thank you for the advice. I had originally thought about the psu but forgot to think about the cpu cooler. I'll get some more thermal paste and also look for a heavier cooler just in case. Thank's again for the advice and confirmation that the 2gen i5 would work. 

[boggy77]

13 hours ago, Mideval135 said:

Good afternoon all. My father has an old Dell Inspiron 660s from 2000-something that runs really really slow...he literally calls it his "slowboat" because it takes at least 10-15 minutes to just boot up. He mostly uses it to stream, upload and edit a very large photo library. Nothing big that requires a graphics card, but simple photoshop work for Christmas photos and the like. I was thinking of replacing the cpu and upgrading the ram to help speed up his pc. 

 

It currently runs a Pentium G645 and I was looking to replace it with a i5-2400. Also I was going to double the 4GB ram it currently has. My main question for this community is, am I able to swap out the cpu? And if not, what are your suggestions?

 

Thank you.

get him a ssd as well. boot time will go down from 15min to 15 seconds

[Mideval135]

28 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

get him a ssd as well. boot time will go down from 15min to 15 seconds

That's a good idea. I think I have a few spare ssd drives around. How do I transfer OS to a ssd though?

[boggy77]

5 minutes ago, Mideval135 said:

That's a good idea. I think I have a few spare ssd drives around. How do I transfer OS to a ssd though?

there are a few cloning softwares that can help, but best practice would be to reinstall windows fresh.

[Mideval135]

1 hour ago, boggy77 said:

there are a few cloning softwares that can help, but best practice would be to reinstall windows fresh.

Alright. I'll look into the cloning software, but plan on a fresh install. Thanks for the input.