Hello Tom's Hardware Community,
I had posted this in a forum, but I think this is the correct spot. This is the first question I have posted on this website. I have found answers to other computer questions that I have had using this website and have always been appreciative that there are people out there willing to answer questions to somethings that may be trivial to others with technical expertise in this forum.
The question I have involves a graphics card upgrade to the current computer (HP Slimline s3710t) that I use at my desk for law school and for leisure. Before too many jump in and say to throw it out, give it to charity, or use it as a server, I would like to say that I use this computer as a back up to my laptop, a media device for my LCD television, and for the occasional Frogger for Win95 or Doom3 or SimCity 4. What I would really like to do is not really "keep up with the Jones's" as the computer is out dated and most money would be best spent on a new build, but to install a better graphics card to keep it from being too outdated. I want to run it into the ground, take the better parts that were put in it, put those older parts in a new build and run those parts into the ground, and so on and so forth.
This computer was a hand-me-down with some nicer hand-me-down components. A friend didn't want it as it was a Vista with probably a fried PSU or motherboard. I figured it was the PSU and I had another friend give me his old one; now it works fine. He was going to upgrade the CPU to an Intel Xeon X5460 3.16GHz before it failed. He had bought the used chip off Ebay and it came separately with the this "boat anchor" (as he put it) when he gave it to me. He said this 771 socket CPU will fit in the 775 socket motherboard with an adapter and modification. I ordered the adapter for four bucks and might try it out (Worth a shot, since I have nothing invested other than time in this thing; I also did some research and the whole thing looks plausible for a performance boost - http://www.overclock.net/t/1431723/mod-lga775-support-for-lga771-xeon-cpus ).
The computer's specifications are as follows (let me know if there is any other information I need to add; anything I don't state is probably its stock specifications):
-Windows 8.1 ("free" because of enrollment in school)
-64 GB SSD main drive (added from a failed laptop of mine)
-500 GB secondary drive (original hard drive - all files backed up in another back up device)
-750 Watt Corsair Power supply connected with an adapter (outside of computer case, given to me from a friend who moved onto an even bigger power supply - he likes his fancy games and engineering programs)
-4 GB RAM - 2x 2GB DDR2 (stock)
- Sata II PCI card put in PCI 1x slot (for a DVD drive, when I moved the SSD and secondary drive over to the only two sata II plugins in the motherboard)
- CURRENTLY but looking to replace with Xeon X5460 3.16 GHz - but it has a Core 2 Duo E 7400 2.8 GHz
-LAST the thing I was looking to replace - a GeForce 9300 GE at 256 MB DDR2 dedicated video, graphics card - with HDMI and DVI out
Here is a link to the motherboard Specs - http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01357110
It's an Irvine HP by FOXCONN, 1 PCI x1, 1 PCI x16, Sata II, DDR2 ram
I think with the Xeon chip installed, the video card is what bottlenecks the system.
Is there any ideas for what could fit in this case to upgrade this system?
I have only 5 dollars personally in this computer, and maybe was thinking of putting $50 to $150 in it for the graphics card (If its too much for the computer, I wouldn't mind too much as when this computer fails I'd put it in another). It's a slimline so there's not too much room, and I think it's 1.0 PCI x16 slot (not sure on the 1.0 - I'm sure it's a x16 slot) with a PCI x1 slot right next to it. The reason I want a better graphics card is in case I venture out and want to play a 2010 computer game and so that I can run this as long as possible for legal database research, email, PDF's, and a game or too. I plan on keeping her until she quits. Thanks for the help and let me know if there is anything else I need to add.
I had posted this in a forum, but I think this is the correct spot. This is the first question I have posted on this website. I have found answers to other computer questions that I have had using this website and have always been appreciative that there are people out there willing to answer questions to somethings that may be trivial to others with technical expertise in this forum.
The question I have involves a graphics card upgrade to the current computer (HP Slimline s3710t) that I use at my desk for law school and for leisure. Before too many jump in and say to throw it out, give it to charity, or use it as a server, I would like to say that I use this computer as a back up to my laptop, a media device for my LCD television, and for the occasional Frogger for Win95 or Doom3 or SimCity 4. What I would really like to do is not really "keep up with the Jones's" as the computer is out dated and most money would be best spent on a new build, but to install a better graphics card to keep it from being too outdated. I want to run it into the ground, take the better parts that were put in it, put those older parts in a new build and run those parts into the ground, and so on and so forth.
This computer was a hand-me-down with some nicer hand-me-down components. A friend didn't want it as it was a Vista with probably a fried PSU or motherboard. I figured it was the PSU and I had another friend give me his old one; now it works fine. He was going to upgrade the CPU to an Intel Xeon X5460 3.16GHz before it failed. He had bought the used chip off Ebay and it came separately with the this "boat anchor" (as he put it) when he gave it to me. He said this 771 socket CPU will fit in the 775 socket motherboard with an adapter and modification. I ordered the adapter for four bucks and might try it out (Worth a shot, since I have nothing invested other than time in this thing; I also did some research and the whole thing looks plausible for a performance boost - http://www.overclock.net/t/1431723/mod-lga775-support-for-lga771-xeon-cpus ).
The computer's specifications are as follows (let me know if there is any other information I need to add; anything I don't state is probably its stock specifications):
-Windows 8.1 ("free" because of enrollment in school)
-64 GB SSD main drive (added from a failed laptop of mine)
-500 GB secondary drive (original hard drive - all files backed up in another back up device)
-750 Watt Corsair Power supply connected with an adapter (outside of computer case, given to me from a friend who moved onto an even bigger power supply - he likes his fancy games and engineering programs)
-4 GB RAM - 2x 2GB DDR2 (stock)
- Sata II PCI card put in PCI 1x slot (for a DVD drive, when I moved the SSD and secondary drive over to the only two sata II plugins in the motherboard)
- CURRENTLY but looking to replace with Xeon X5460 3.16 GHz - but it has a Core 2 Duo E 7400 2.8 GHz
-LAST the thing I was looking to replace - a GeForce 9300 GE at 256 MB DDR2 dedicated video, graphics card - with HDMI and DVI out
Here is a link to the motherboard Specs - http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01357110
It's an Irvine HP by FOXCONN, 1 PCI x1, 1 PCI x16, Sata II, DDR2 ram
I think with the Xeon chip installed, the video card is what bottlenecks the system.
Is there any ideas for what could fit in this case to upgrade this system?
I have only 5 dollars personally in this computer, and maybe was thinking of putting $50 to $150 in it for the graphics card (If its too much for the computer, I wouldn't mind too much as when this computer fails I'd put it in another). It's a slimline so there's not too much room, and I think it's 1.0 PCI x16 slot (not sure on the 1.0 - I'm sure it's a x16 slot) with a PCI x1 slot right next to it. The reason I want a better graphics card is in case I venture out and want to play a 2010 computer game and so that I can run this as long as possible for legal database research, email, PDF's, and a game or too. I plan on keeping her until she quits. Thanks for the help and let me know if there is anything else I need to add.
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