The Custom Dell

[SuperShermanTanker]

So earlier this year I bought a little Dell Vostro 200 desktop from a friend for $5 and when I got it it had a 1.8ghz Pentium Dual Core and 2gb of ram with the dell motherboard and 300watt AcBell power supply. It had no GPU or HDD and the CPU Cooler fan was busted.

 

The Repair: So I took a 200gb hard drive I had laying arround shoved it in and a spare Nvidia Geforce 210 graphics card I had and shoved that in too. I also ordered a Arctic Cooling Apline 11 Pro CPU Cooler to replace the broken one in the computer. When I got the CPU Cooler USPS damaged it in shipping and the fan grille was broken so I got a full refund from USPS and the fan still worked and the metal was still fine on the CPU Cooler so I just shoved it in anyway and boom still works months later.

 

 

1st Configuration I used it in

1.8 ghz Pentium dual core

2gb of DDR2 RAM

200gb Hard Drive

Nvidia Geforce 210 GPU

Zorin OS Linux

Mouse: $1 mouse that was a christmas gift

Keyboard: HP keyboard that I found in a junk bin in the basement

Monitor: 2 inch thick 4:3 1024x768 Dell monitor from 2003 that I got given to me for free from a family friend

 

 

First Upgrade:

So the friend I got the computer from built his new computer and he had some old parts from his old computer laying arround so he gave me the two 2gb sticks of RAM and a 2.2ghz Core 2 Duo from his old desktop. I got a hold of the windows 7 key that was used on the Dell Vostro 200 desktop before I bought it from my friend.

 

So with the new parts I installed the new CPU and the motherboard had a total of 4 slots for ram so I just added the two 2gb sticks in there to add on to the existing two 1gb sitcks. I also managed to find a Nvidia Geforce GT 720 in my room lying arround collecting dust so I upgraded the GPU in the Dell too

 

2nd Configuration I Used The Computer In:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2ghz

6gb of DDR2 RAM

200gb Hard Drive

Nvidia Geforce GT 720 GPU

Windows 7 PRO 64 bit

Mouse: Dell mouse that I found in the recycleing bin at school

Keyboard: HP keyboard

Monitor: 2 inch thick 4:3 1024x768 Dell monitor from 2003

 

Second Upgrade:

I recently got a 3ghz Intel Core 2 Duo for the desktop it came with a motherboard I ordered for a different machine

 

Current Configuration:

2nd Configuration I Used The Computer In:

Intel Core 2 Duo 3ghz

6gb of DDR2 RAM

200gb Hard Drive

Nvidia Geforce GT 720 GPU

Windows 7 PRO 64 bit

Mouse:  Dell mouse

Keyboard: HP keyboard

Monitor: 2 inch thick 4:3 1024x768 Dell monitor from 2003

 

 

Future Upgrades: I have just ordered a inexpensive mouse from amazon to use with the desktop to replace the worn out Dell one that I found in the recycleing bin at school: http://www.amazon.com/Perman-Portable-Wireless-Optical-Receiver/dp/B019Z744EQ/

 

If anyone has any suggestions for future upgrades to this machine I use this machine mainly to browse the web and play minecraft as this desktop is only a secondary machine thats in a easy and convinient location.

[Belgarathian]

I think a switch to a small SSD boot drive and a 1920x1080p monitor would be the best upgrades for your user experience. 

[PooPipeBoy]

Dude, your upgrade path is actually pretty similar to how my Xeon gaming system started out.

Originally it was a cheapo Pentium E5300 budget system just sitting around unused, until I put in my GTX 650 (also unused at the time) and the gaming performance turned out to be better than I expected.

Since then basically every part has completely changed lol