Dell Dimension E310 - Needs graphics card upgrade

LOL. @USAFRet, I appreciate the humorous response. But could you contribute a PCIe x1 recommendation?

Good question: So I just inquired and it turns out there is an additional use: Twitch stream watching. When the video is watched, the CPU pegs at 100%. Now obviously the CPU isn't powerful, but what would alleviate the problem is a discreet graphics card, to handle the video frames. There is no game play on this computer.

@william p, Thanks for your suggestions. I did indeed navigate to NewEgg and use the filter. The best result that it yielded is the HIS HD 5450 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4GS3RK2636&cm_re=HIS_H545H1GD1_Radeon-_-9SIA4GS3RK2636-_-Product ). Ordinarily I wouldn't mind paying the $80, as long as I could re-sell it on ebay and recoup 75% to 80% of that price back. But I'm not sure if the demand is strong enough to support that price point.

Your mention of a CPU upgrade inspired me to research all CPU's that are compatible with the PLGA775 (list below). I'm going to invest $5 to $10 into a used E6600 CPU off Ebay and see if I can get it to work with that board. Besides being dual core, it has a 90% and 233% single and multi-threaded performance respective. In addition it has a lower TDP and a L2 and L3 cache that is triple that of the Pentium 4 521.

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 631 with HT Technology
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 820
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 915
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 925
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 935
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 945
Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E4300
Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E6300
Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E6400
Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor E6600

@Tom's hardware community: Revitalizing this computer has turned into a fun little project. Many times I see people on this site, who have similar systems. They post sincere questions about requesting help, and inevitably some people will respond with jokes throwing shade at their builds, or will simply give the knee-jerk response "buy a new computer". Well the truth is, many people in this world cannot afford to simply buy a new computer. For many people in this world, a new computer build represents a years salary. Not savings from a years salary, but the entire salary itself. Personally, I realize that I am not special but was simply lucky enough to be born in the United States, and into a moderate social-economic class. I just mention this, so that the next time someone asks for help, just be mindful of whether the person is simply being too cheap to buy a new system, or doing so would create an incredible financial hardship. Everyone deserves to be respected; both inside and outside of this community.

Please feel free to offer anymore suggestions. I'm excited to see how far I can push this system, while investing a minimal amount of money. I'm also considering the idea of purchasing a G3220 CPU, which is socket 1150.

Here is a comparison of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 vs the Pentium G3220 ( http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/385/Intel_Core_2_Duo_E6600_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G3220.html )

Here is a comparison of the Pentium 4 521 vs the Pentium G3220 ( http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/294/Intel_Pentium_4_521_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G3258.html )

@Ieggings, Thank you for the suggestions. I will consider them.

@Ieggings, It's funny that you mention the custom case pins for the USB. I read a customer review of the default power supply; model #: L230N-00. Someone stated that they attempted to upgrade from the default power supply to a standard ATX PSU, and that Dell purposefully swapped around some of the wires on the 24 pin motherboard connector to make it incompatible. I haven't verified this yet, but I totally believe that dell would do such a thing.

My plan for this PC will be in two stages: (1) Invest the $5 or $10 and see how useful the E6600 CPU makes the PC. For instance, right now it can barely watch a Twitch stream on low quality, because the CPU pegs at 100%. I'm curious to see how much the E6600 will improve this. (2) Invest in the Skylake version of the G3220, if such a thing exists. That way, it'll have a new Z170 board, with all the benefits that come along with it. Then the processor can be upgraded to something beefy in the future. The CPU cooler will be a Hyper 212 EVO that I will freely give, because it's simply sitting unused on my shelf. At that point the case and the PSU will need to be purchased; no way around that. I can deal with a cheaper case, but never a cheap power supply. That is the last thing that I permit someone to skimp on. Once the new build is ready, I will move the Samsung 850 EVO 120 GB SSD over to it, and place the old hard drive into the Dell case, and will donate that computer to a worthy organization or individual.

@USAFRet, I used to own the Asus Transformer! I bought both that tablet and the one that proceeded it. Both tablets had major issues for me though. The Transformer had a major bug with it's version of Ice Cream Sandwich and went into this rebooting loop. Asus suggested that there was no fix at the time, and recommended that I return it to the retailer; Best Buy. Since it was my second Asus tablet, I decided that I wasn't going to invest in that line again. They seem to have horrible QA; ROG Swift IPS displays come to mind.

I agree that it's inefficient to invest money into a computer manufactured in 2005. But in this case, I'd like to see how useful the $5 (or $10) investment in a E6600 will push it. I'll possibly learn something and the person who receives the donated computer should have a more functional machine.

You may be right. haha. That would be interesting.

Sidebar: check out this comparison of a Pentium 4 521 vs Pentium G4400 (lowest end Skylake CPU). Would you happen to know any stable and inexpensive Skylake motherboards?

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/284/Intel_Pentium_4_521_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G4400.html

Yeah, I was already conscious of the FSB as a possible incompatibility. The 32 vs 64 bit compatibility didn't even occur to me until you mentioned it. I'm also very excited about the G4400.

You should have seen my excitement after I cleaned the dust out of the PC with the Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001J4ZOAW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 ). The PC went from being practically unfunctional to reasonably functional. I would have been so cool if the machine had a PCIe x16 slot though. I saw a b-stock GTX 950 a few weeks ago for $119.99. That's a fantastic value.