Should I Upgrade This Old Computer? Or Junk It?

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chillin2345

Feb 27, 2018
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Looking for advice on whether I should upgrade a purchased-in-2010 Dell Vostro 430 mini tower/desktop computer or junk it? Or something else (see below)...

Approximate Purchase Date:
Feb. 2010

Budget Range:
$300-ish

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
Web browsing (lots of tabs always open, 50+), e-mails, video playback, large file transfers and upload.

Are you buying a monitor:
No

Parts to Upgrade:
1) RAM - Currently 3x1GB sticks (3GB), 4 slots total capacity. Max capacity is 16GB. I *think* the current sticks are DDR3-1600?

2) Hard Drive - Currently installed: Hitachi GST Deskstar 7K1000.B HDT721032SLA360 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5".

3) Fan - Maybe. Lots of buzzing and rattling coming from this computer.

4) Video card - maybe. Currently installed: NVIDIA GeForce 310. Not sure if
512MB or 1 GB DDR2 memory. Not sure if this is even enough these days?

Do you need to buy OS:
No, originally Windows Vista upgraded to Windows 10 through free upgrade license program.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
Fry's Electronics (in store), Crucial.com, Amazon.com

Location:
Oakland, Calif., USA.

Parts Preferences:
I would like to upgrade to an SSD. No preference on RAM or any other parts.

Overclocking:
No

SLI or Crossfire:
No

Your Monitor Resolution:
N/A

Additional Comments:
This is a "Just the basics" desktop. Purchased back in 2010, Dell Vostro 430 Mini Tower with Intel Core i5 750 / 2.66 GHz. Max Turbo Speed. 3.2 GHz.

Debating whether to upgrade this computer to keep it going, or buy a new, cheap computer. Or, if it's not worth upgrading, is it powerful enough as-is to use as a Plex server or NAS?

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading:
Doing anything is so slow. Writing an e-mail in Gmail takes about 30 minutes, 20 minutes of which the entire computer is frozen. Currently uses lots of virtual memory just to get by (7GB worth).

Thanks!!
 
Solution
Karadjgne
Oh, cool, that solves a whole host of problems having a viable OS. Ebay is going to be your best friend here.

Core i7 880 @$150
16Gb 1600 DDR3 less than $40
120Gb ssd less than $50
Gtx 650 low profile less than $80.

Lil over $300 can handle everyday usage no worries.

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Barty1884

Barty1884

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Apr 16, 2015
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It's more than suitable for "day to day" basic use, or as a server/NAS.

Being that slow, and using that much memory, I'd suggest a health check of the HDD, and a clean OS (32bit) install. Should feel like it did when it was new, assuming the HDD isn't failing.

3GB RAM and a 512MB GPU isn't going to be too-too capable in 2018, but for what you're proposing, it should be plenty capable.

The only aspect you'd struggle with (from what I've read), is going to be the substantial number of tabs you want to have open at any given time...... your 3GB DDR3 is going to severely hold you back there.

An increase in RAM would be beneficial, but I'm not sure I'd spend the ~$50-$100 required to get this fully "fit for purpose".

 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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32bit OS is useless for more than 3.5Gb anyways, for Windows, so unless planning on switching over to Linux, upgrading ram is a moot point unless adding the extra 1Gb stick just to put all the ram into dual channel mode, that 3rd stick in single channel is slowing things down.

The only thing that's gonna save that pc is the introduction of an SSD for everything except mass storage.
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Yeah, Op didn't say, but almost all Vista was 32, same as XP, very few used Longhorn or Vista 64 as it wasn't widely distributed, especially in hp/Dell etc. That was usually reserved for the Pro versions for office/commercial usage. So I made an assumption that Op has a plain 32bit Vista home and did the free upgrade to 32bit 10 home. Problem is he's using 7Gb of memory, on 3Gb of ram, so the hdd is supplying at least 4Gb of virtual memory. That's slower than molasses in Siberia.

Really needs to be 64bit OS with at least 8Gb of ram and an SSD, and that would be a dramatic improvement, but I'm having a hard time justifying the $300+ price tag when there's much faster and more capable pc's to be had at Walmart, electronics express, micro center, frys etc for $450 ish
 
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chillin2345

Feb 27, 2018
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So sorry guys! I found the old invoice and wanted to provide a quick correction. According to the invoice, I bought it customized with a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit license (not Vista) that was downgraded to Windows XP at the factory. The system is currently running Win 10 Pro 64-bit.
 
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chillin2345

Feb 27, 2018
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Sorry! I posted a correction in the thread. The system originally came with Win 7 pro 64-bit, my mistake. It's currently on Win 10 Pro.

But regardless, I definitely understand what you're saying regarding spending just a little bit more for a brand new computer. Thanks for your help!
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Dec 26, 2012
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Oh, cool, that solves a whole host of problems having a viable OS. Ebay is going to be your best friend here.

Core i7 880 @$150
16Gb 1600 DDR3 less than $40
120Gb ssd less than $50
Gtx 650 low profile less than $80.

Lil over $300 can handle everyday usage no worries.

 
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