Dell Demension E520 upgrades

cam,


I was given a Dimension E520:

Dell Dimension E520 (2006)( Original): Pentium D 830 dual core @3.0GHz > 2GB DDR2 667 > GeForce 7300LE > 2X Dell 19" LCD > Windows XP Professional 32-bit
[Passmark system rating = 384, CPU = 613 / 2D= 248 / 3D=72 / Mem= 562 / Disk=521]

> This was an office /business system in very good condition, but the overall performance was minimal.

Looking at Passmark results for the E520, I chose moderately priced upgrades that would produce good results:

Core2 Duo E6700 (@-core @ 2.67GHz) > $26
+2X 1GB DDR2-667 - $15 (Samsung that matched the original)
GT440 (1GB GDDR5) - $32 (The GDDR5 version has better performance than GDDR3)
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit - $62
___________________________________________
TOTAL = $145


Results were encouraging:

Dell Dimension E520 (2006)( Revised): Core2 Duo E6700 dual core @2.66GHz > 4GB DDR2 667 > GeForce GT440 (1GB GDDR5) > 32" LCD TV > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[Passmark system rating = 1219, CPU = 2024 / 2D= 457 / 3D=978 / Mem= 828 / Disk=576]

> And I've tried a bit of Sketchup and graphic design- better than I expected. This runs streaming and playing DVD's as it's main job and works very well, although the disk system is quite slow.

While I was very careful about spending on this system, I'm pressing the limit. Even though I was given the system, the total investment puts it among the highest value of recent Ebay sales.

It pays to be careful about upgrading old systems: For $150 there are more modern and faster systems. A few days ago I bought a Dell Precision T3500 for $53 + $23 shipping: W3530 (2.8./ 3.06GHz) 4GB DDR3-1066, 9800 GT, 500GB, Win7 Pro COA. My plans for this system are to replace the E520 with a system that I can use for work on a moderate level and for that I have a spare Quadro 4000 about.

As I don't have to add the OS, and the CPU is not bad- already the $78 T3500 is less expensive than the free E520 as every component is higher performing except the GPU. The W3530 average Passmark CPU score is 5362 and scores up to 6230 in a T3500, compared to the 2024 score of the E6700 in the E520.

So, look into the overall cost of the upgrade first. I would suggest doing the absolute minimum as it may be better economics to sell it and use that money to buy a system with a couple of generation newer CPU, that uses DDR3 RAM, and already has the OS you want to use. Perhaps the GPU and adding a hard drive will be needed, but the investment is very similar or less for a better performing and higher resale system,
.Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > 2X Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 30GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3671 / CPU = 14361 / 2D= 653 / 3D= 3561 / Mem= 1741 / Disk= 2249]

With latest BIOS (2007) it can run Core2 Quads up to Q6700 (QX6800 SLACP works but you don't sound like you want to O/C). It supports 8GB RAM DDR2@800. PSU is good up to GTX750Ti be sure video card supports non EUFI BIOS. Cooler D9729 bolts in should be good for what your doing. Be sure CPU is 65nm and 1066fsb only. Exxx series CPU numbers got reused later there are 2 different E6700. One is 65nm 1066, the other is 45nm 1333fsb. Win7 64 runs fine. Look in my sig. to see where I'm at with this box.
That motherboard ) 0WG864 has 4 phase VRM most later ones don't.. DDR2-800 is just as fast as DDR3-1066 due to lower latency, so don't worry about that.