Upgrading a dell optiplex gx280 or 745

[matt19811]

Hey whatsup.
I just upgraded my dell dimension 4550 with a new 400w psu, 2 gb of ram and an ati 3650 agp. I set up dual booting xp and win 7 and it has a 2.66 ghz p4 so it plays games fairly well in one os or the other but I need something a little better for the new stuff like fallout new vegas and splinter cell conviction.
Now i just came across two free dells both missing the graphics cards, hard drives, cdrom, sound, ethernet and ram. Motherboards and pcu's are and everything else is all there. They are the optiplex gx280 p4 and a business class optiplex 745 with a pentium d 2.8 ghz processor.

I can't figure out which one is best suited for gaming/upgrading. I'm willing to do the motherboard and all if I have to, but hopefully not right now. The pentium d 2.8 ghz seems like it would be a major improvement for now (being dual core) along with 4-8 ghz of ram and (hopefully) buying and slapping in an ati 5670 video card. The best cpu the gx280 can handle is a p4 3.4.

Can I change the optiplex 745 from business class to gaming class or should I upgrade the gx280 and upgrade/stay with a single 3.4 core? Or should I just stick with my dimension 4550 for another few years until I'm tired of upgrading and buy a new pc.
Buying a new pc is not an option right now, I'm upgrading because it's fun. Thanks in advance for any helpful info.

 

[rolli59]

What matters is the CPU with the Pentium D you have a better basis for the system as you are going to use it.

 

[matt19811]

What matters is the CPU with the Pentium D you have a better basis for the system as you are going to use it.

That's what I'm thinking too but I couldn't find anything in google about someone upgrading the optiplex 745 for gaming. I didn't know if it was obsurd since it was a business class machine or if that doesn't matter and would be easy to upgrade.

 

[rolli59]

The question here is that being a LGA775 it uses DDR2 ram, did your old system use DDR?

 

[matt19811]

The question here is that being a LGA775 it uses DDR2 ram, did your old system use DDR?

Yes my 4550 with the 2.66 ghz p4 uses standard ddr ram.
Putting some ddr2 in the opx 745 would be a major improvement just right there wouldnt it

 

[rolli59]

It is a improvement but not noticeable just measurable. Just means that you will have to buy new ram.

 

[matt19811]

Yeah my 4550 is pc2700 and the 745 is something else I forget. Yeah I slapped a dynex 400w power supply in there that fits, I need to grab a stick or 4 of ram for it from crucial, a hard drive(my old one doesnt fit the opx 745 connector from motherboard), cdrom and pci express video card and a cheap sound card. I think I can get all that stuff for under $300 bucks or so and will hopefully have much better system because of it Hopefully someone stops me if I'm making a mistake...

 

[rolli59]

I would not spend $300 on that rig, not when you can get this for $355 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.513460

 

[matt19811]

That' s a nice pick for sure. I'd have to add something like an ati 5670 though, it'd be badass but end up costing me 500 bucks

 

[rolli59]

$420 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102871
For $120 more (presuming that you have an OS you can use) than you where going to spend on an old obsolete system you get a modern system that is upgradeable.

 

[matt19811]

$420 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102871
For $120 more (presuming that you have an OS you can use) than you where going to spend on an old obsolete system you get a modern system that is upgradeable.

Looks good. But I don't have that kind of money. I was planning on nickel, diming and swindling the parts from here and there like I did on my old pc. I was hoping no one would say what you said, now I'm stuck doing nothing again. But thanks for the info.

 

[rolli59]

You could shop for parts cheap on ebay to make the pentium D system work! 667Mhz DDR2 ram should not be expensive and used mid range GPU maybe HD4670 or 9600GT in PCIe flavor! I would though not spend more than $100. You should be able to sell your HD3650 agp to offset some of that.

 

[matt19811]

You could shop for parts cheap on ebay to make the pentium D system work! 667Mhz DDR2 ram should not be expensive and used mid range GPU maybe HD4670 or 9600GT in PCIe flavor! I would though not spend more than $100. You should be able to sell your HD3650 agp to offset some of that.

ing


You gave me the courage to keep on going thanks. I'll continue to aquire the parts I need by whatever means neccessary

 

[matt19811]

Ok, I didn't feel like waiting to find all the parts I needed so I orderd them and threw them in the optiplex 745 and it's running great. I read some reviews and the hd4670 sapphire 1gb ddr3 PCIe for 80 bucks you picked was definitaly a winner. Got that, a SATA dvd drive for 30 bucks, a SATA western digital 500gb hdd for 55 and 2 2gb sticks of ram for 35 a piece. I returned my old $99 AGP HD 3670 I bought a month ago, put the dynex 400 watt PSU I got for my old pc in the new one. The old PSU and GPU went back in the old pc . Swapped out the sound card too. That's $135 I spent on the optiplex 745 and it's running everything I throw at it fast and smooth!(fallout new vegas, just cause 2, james bond blood stone, operation flashpoint dragon rising 2, star wars force unleashed 2 and dead rising 2 work fine set on low when I end the windows 7 explorer process in task manager) I don't know what it is but the games are lookling suprisingly good. Way better then on my ps3 it seems. Job well done and if I need to buy or find a new box with a better mobo and cpu I should have all the parts I need for that besides the ram most likely.
Thanks for all the helpful input rolli, Cheers!

 

[rolli59]

Great enjoy!