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Advice on Upgrading an Old Optiplex GX620

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  • 08-06-2011 5:25pm
    #1
    friendface
    Registered Users Posts: 812 ✭✭✭


    A friend of mine was recently given 3 old Dell Optiplex GX620 machines. I'd like to upgrade them to reasonable spec within a limited budget. I don't believe there's any point in purchasing anything too expensive given the base-standard stock components. I'm really just looking for any advice on what to look out for, any recommendations and possible places where I might be able to get a bulk :) discount on purchases as I will be getting parts for all 3 computers.

    Here are the current specs:
    • CPU: Intel Pentium D Dual Core 2.8GHz
    • RAM: 1Gb (2x512 DDR2 RAM)
    • O/S: Windows 7 Pro (Can be downgraded to XP if advised)
    • GRAPHICS: Integrated
    • M/BOARD: AGP PCI IMB USB i2c/SMBus
    • H/DRIVE: 80GB WDC 7200RPM

    I was thinking of just upgrading the RAM and purchasing a new PCI-e graphics card. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, especially with regard to choosing a suitable graphics card. Thanks


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    #2
    friendface
    Registered Users Posts: 812 ✭✭✭friendface


    Been looking at the following:

    Graphics Card

    Memory


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    #3
    Monotype
    Registered Users Posts: 6,710 ✭✭✭Monotype


    W7 is fine if you think it runs smoothly. Do the boards actually have PCI-E slots?
    There was someone on adverts selling 30 x1300s which would be an improvement... not really gaming standard and probably not for HD videos.

    Those hard drives are probably very slow. I had a few 80GB WD HDDs from Dell and they would be less than half of today's speeds.

    What do you want to do with these machines?


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    #4
    friendface
    Registered Users Posts: 812 ✭✭✭friendface


    Thanks for the reply,

    I've checked the M/Board and they have 1 x PCIx16, 2 x PCI and 1 x PCIx1, I think ;)

    We're both looking to keep one machine each for work/light gaming etc. Therefore, I'd like to see what's the best setup available at a reasonable price. I'd spend more if it was worth it. However, I'm limited by the Motherboard and PSU (300W) and I don't see any sense in replacing those as I may as well just build a PC from scratch then.

    I could probably purchase an extra hard-drive if that's necessary. Would have to replace the 80gb I guess as the PSU might not have the power to run 2 hd's?

    The HD5670 card above does not require it's own power connector from the PSU and draws power from the PCI slot instead. Therefore, I thought it might be okay for the current setup, even though manufacturer guidelines state 400W min.


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    #5
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    I do what you are doing. I'd consider SSD, simply because it can give an old machine a boost, and you can take it with you to another machine. But its probably last thing on the list. RAM to 4GB and a mid range GFX card which is easy on the PSU.


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    #6
    cgarrad
    Registered Users Posts: 1,611 ✭✭✭cgarrad


    Thats an old machine, would not spend much on it unless you can refit the stuff into a new board.

    SSD is the first choice.


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    #7
    friendface
    Registered Users Posts: 812 ✭✭✭friendface


    cgarrad wrote: »
    Thats an old machine, would not spend much on it unless you can refit the stuff into a new board.

    SSD is the first choice.

    Would SSD's really offer that much of a boost in performance? They're pretty expensive for their capacity and I don't really know much about them. Do they exist in 3.5" Form Factor? Are they value for money in terms of the performance increase?


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    #8
    Skerries
    Registered Users Posts: 12,461 ✭✭✭✭Skerries


    stick 2 new modules of memory into those machines as i have tried to put new memory with the old into loads of those 620's and it doesn't like it
    Untitled Image




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    #9
    Fluffy88
    Registered Users Posts: 1,414 ✭✭✭Fluffy88


    I ain't an expert, I'm more like a complete noob so don't take my comments too seriously.

    I would agree with the posters above about the SSD, in most computers all the parts such as CPU, RAM, GPU, etc... all work at nanosecond speeds where as a normal HDD runs at milliseconds so in most computers the HDD is a major bottleneck in the system.
    Any SSD runs at twice the speed of most HDD's and considering your 80Gb one's are old a fairly 'cheap' SSD should offer some considerable performance increase to you. But again I am not very well up with this kind of thing so I could be wrong.
    Here is a few 3.5" SSD's
    http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/hard-drives-ssd/solid-state-drives-%28ssd-35-525%29-64gb-1tb

    As far as RAM goes, I would look for some RAM with high bus/memory speeds to get the most out of it, and also I would try get 2 chips as they will work slightly faster than a single chip.
    http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=33150&agid=677
    This RAM seems good, but again remember I am not very well-up with all this building computers, I am just offering my views on what might be good.


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