Old Dell System Upgrade

[wmm0020]

I am currently thinking of trying to update an old Dell PC I found at my parents house. Any suggestions on the upgrade path would be great.

Specs:

Intel Core i5 2500

DDR3 1600 2x2GB

Nvidia GT 420

320W Dell Power supply

 

Is this worth upgrading or should I just try a budget build with a Ryzen 3 or something similar?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Bombastinator]

There’s an LTT video on this.  It’s short on memory, storage speed, and gpu even for esports stuff.  Notice the machine Linus picked was a newer i7. It sounds like it’s still a viable desktop for non gaming though.  If you put an ssd in it and drastically increased its total memory it would keep up just fine with modern office stuff.  Might possibly be worth the money to do that.  It’s marginal though.  

[bmx6454]

44 minutes ago, wmm0020 said:

I am currently thinking of trying to update an old Dell PC I found at my parents house. Any suggestions on the upgrade path would be great.

Specs:

Intel Core i5 2500

DDR3 1600 2x2GB

Nvidia GT 420

320W Dell Power supply

 

Is this worth upgrading or should I just try a budget build with a Ryzen 3 or something similar?

 

Thanks in advance!

depends on what you want it to do. if you want it to play somewhat high end games at 30-60 fps with low graphic setting, it would likely do that with mild gpu+ram upgrades.

[Bombastinator]

3 minutes ago, bmx6454 said:

depends on what you want it to do. if you want it to play somewhat high end games at 30-60 fps with low graphic setting, it would likely do that with mild gpu+ram upgrades.

I’d personally do an SSD before the GPU.  Even a tiny one set as cache for the HHD can make an amazing difference. At the end of the day though this thing is going to be badly limited by core count and motherboard.  Its dead end.  It’s not something I would throw a bunch of money into.  4 cores is 4 cores though, so it will do a lot of stuff as well as a much more powerful machine.

[bmx6454]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

I’d personally do an SSD before the GPU.  Even a tiny one set as cache for the HHD can make an amazing difference. 

i forgot about that lol. ssd is definitely a must have.

[JaZoN_XD]

SSD must have, and more RAM as others have said.

 

However, i5 2500 is still pretty alright for e-sports gaming and productivity work. Especially see if you can overclock it a little by BLCK. Depending on what your expectations are, you shouldn't underestimate the little Sandy Bridge that could!

 

As for GPU, grab a 1050 Ti if budget allows (needs no external power), or 750 Ti used if you can find a good price for it (also doesn't need external power and can run e-sports games really well.

[bmx6454]

10 minutes ago, JaZoN_XD said:

SSD must have, and more RAM as others have said.

 

However, i5 2500 is still pretty alright for e-sports gaming and productivity work. Especially see if you can overclock it a little by BLCK. Depending on what your expectations are, you shouldn't underestimate the little Sandy Bridge that could!

 

As for GPU, grab a 1050 Ti if budget allows (needs no external power), or 750 Ti used if you can find a good price for it (also doesn't need external power and can run e-sports games really well.

both my old 750ti and 1050ti required external power. maybe its most that don't require it?

[JaZoN_XD]

Just now, bmx6454 said:

both my old 750ti and 1050ti required external power. maybe its most that don't require it?

Interesting, you must have had the "bigger" cooler versions? Like EVGA FTW version or something? Reference design doesn't have external power.

[bmx6454]

Just now, JaZoN_XD said:

Interesting, you must have had the "bigger" cooler versions? Like EVGA FTW version or something? Reference design doesn't have external power.

i assume that's it. 750ti was a windforce oc, 1050ti is a pny oc

[Bombastinator]

54 minutes ago, bmx6454 said:

both my old 750ti and 1050ti required external power. maybe its most that don't require it?

Most do require it.  Only the smallest ones don’t.  To not require external power cables a card has to run on motherboard power.  Not a lot.  So small cards only.  I’m suspecting something used in the 750 range for this one.  This sounds like a quick and dirty “ just make it run esports” machine.  The idea is to lowball and spend as little money as possible.