Dinosaur PC resurrection HELP

[Chief McGill]

Budget (including currency): 3000 ZAR (flexible, but stingy)

Country: South Africa

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: CCNA exams & Learning Python on the side. (Probably experiment with Linux)

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

So, to set the stage, I have recently entered an IT job with Zero experience or official training. I've never owned a PC before so this gives you an idea of the craziness of the situation. (My employer is fully aware of my skill set) this is one of those rare situations where doing free volunteer work actually gets you a job.  I'm fairly tech savy and in general know what I'm doing. (TBH I'm also always way in over my head).

 

Long story short I need to learn! And Fast! My current position will benifit greatly from a more than basic understanding of networking, so I'll need a CCNA. A Basic database and other (I assume simple programs) will also help so I'd like to do some python in my free time.

 

I've recently been given the opportunity to purchase an ancient pc at $69 (Not trolling) it's ZAR1000 and this is the current exchange rate. I would like to see what realistic upgrade options I have. I don't want to spend much over ZAR2500 extra on this, but I can afford to. I have not seen the PC yet, I will be able to on Saturday.

 

Now here comes the challenge... THE SPECS:

Acer M2640G Veriton M

Intel Core I3-6100 (3.7Ghz) Processor

4GB DDR4 (1x 4GB) 2133Mhz Ram 1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive 

That's it.  Very basic no GFX card.

 I have not been able to see the inside, but I assume it uses a proprietary MoB and Power Supply.

 

Please feel free to suggest changes, but I plan on getting:

 

1x HIKVision E100 128gb ssd, (has NAND flash & DRAM cache)   - R499

1x Klevv 8gb 2666mhz DDR4 (I need to confirm that the pc has ddr4, I would've preferred 1x 4gb but they're out of stock and also only ZAR100 cheaper so makes no sense )   - ZAR 699

I might be able to get a free GT 630 or Gt710 1gb from my employer (old GFXs that is not in use) but if I should purchase one, the 710 2gb fanless is ZAR999 (cheapest available).

1x wireless USB adapter  - ZAR 249

 

This puts the total at ZAR 2449 + ZAR1000 or $169 + $69 for the pc. Oh and I'll need peripherals, but I could probably scrape the barrel for some second hand ones.

 

I would like to upgrade to atleast a quad core hyperthreaded cpu (this one is dual core hyper threaded). Problem is, I have no idea what CPU socket is In use. So I need help identifying a suitable replacement, as I'm a super noob in the pc building department and have no idea what cpu goes with what socket set.

I doubt I'll be able to find a new cpu, so I'll have to be on the lookout for a 2nd Hand.

 

Attached are some pics my friend took when he was with the seller.

 

Your help and advice would be much appreciated. 

Ps. Am I going overkill on this for the task at hand? I would rather save up some $ for a beefier pc later on.

 

Regards

McGill 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Chief McGill
Removed ok pic that showed windows key (don't know if it's safe to put that out there)

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Chief McGill said:

1x Klevv 8gb 2666mhz DDR4 (I need to confirm that the pc has ddr4, I would've preferred 1x 4gb but they're out of stock and also only ZAR100 cheaper so makes no sense )   - ZAR 699

Looks good, pretty sure that system has ddr4 as ddr3 2133 wasn't supported

 

2 minutes ago, Chief McGill said:

I might be able to get a free GT 630 or Gt710 1gb from my employer (old GFXs that is not in use) but if I should purchase one, the 710 2gb fanless is ZAR999 (cheapest available).

Don't bother with those, there slower than the igpu on the cpu. A 1030 is as low end as you can go and get a faster gpu.

 

3 minutes ago, Chief McGill said:

1x wireless USB adapter  - ZAR 249

Id try to get a pcie one if you can if you need higher speed(id say > 50mbit) as the usb ones kind suck

 

3 minutes ago, Chief McGill said:

I would like to upgrade to atleast a quad core hyperthreaded cpu (this one is dual core hyper threaded). Problem is, I have no idea what CPU socket is In use

Its a lga 1151 socket(version 1) so 6xxx and 7xxx cpus will work. Fastest chip is the 7700k. 

 

Id probably keep the dul core core now, should be enough to get your started.

[Chief McGill]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Don't bother with those, there slower than the igpu on the cpu. A 1030 is as low end as you can go and get a faster gpu.

I see, but won't it help if I have it in? (Provided I can get it for free) won't it take the load off the cpu? I'm not going to be doing any gaming really.

 

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id try to get a pcie one if you can if you need higher speed(id say > 50mbit) as the usb ones kind suck

I'll most likely be hotspotting 4G from my phone so high speed isn't really a concern (South Africa doesn't have affordable connectivity much higher than that) also the USB is 300mbps and our 4g connections average around 20mbps down, so I doubt it would be a problem. That being said the pcie card is only R10 more and advertises the same speeds, so not a bad call, especially considering that pcie is much more stable in my experience. 

 

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Its a lga 1151 socket(version 1) so 6xxx and 7xxx cpus will work. Fastest chip is the 7700k. 

Thanks that helps! Think I'll keep the cpu for now as well.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Chief McGill said:

I see, but won't it help if I have it in? (Provided I can get it for free) won't it take the load off the cpu? I'm not going to be doing any gaming really.

 

Nope, it will just be slower if you using graphics power than the igpu. And the igpu doesn't really affect performance of the gpu.

 

1 minute ago, Chief McGill said:

I'll most likely be hotspotting 4G from my phone so high speed isn't really a concern (South Africa doesn't have affordable connectivity much higher than that) also the USB is 300mbps and our 4g connections average around 20mbps down, so I doubt it would be a problem. That being said the pcie card is only R10 more and advertises the same speeds, so not a bad call, especially considering that pcie is much more stable in my experience. 

 

Id go pcie if you can as it has less issues in general

 

Or just plug your phone in with usb, many phones will do this for tethering, and should just work better.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

23 minutes ago, Chief McGill said:

1x Klevv 8gb 2666mhz DDR4 (I need to confirm that the pc has ddr4, I would've preferred 1x 4gb but they're out of stock and also only ZAR100 cheaper so makes no sense )   - ZAR 699

I'd get a dual stick kit, its much Better.

Also the igpu would be faster than a 710, I'd just stick with that.

[Chief McGill]

Just now, HelpfulTechWizard said:

I'd get a dual stick kit, its much Better.

Also the igpu would be faster than a 710, I'd just stick with that.

Thanks

[Chief McGill]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Nope, it will just be slower if you using graphics power than the igpu. And the igpu doesn't really affect performance of the gpu.

 

Id go pcie if you can as it has less issues in general

 

Or just plug your phone in with usb, many phones will do this for tethering, and should just work better.

Will go pcie, and give the USB tether a try for a while, I'm curious as to how that would work.

 

No GPU then for now, thanks!