Want to upgrade my CPU/RAM

[C.J]

I have a DELL GX620 Optiplex PC (it's used for media sharing/encoding only).

I'm wanting to speed it up, as encoding is starting to take an age.

Current specs
Intel 2 Duo 2.33GHz
2GB RAM
Vista

Any advice?

 

[Blighty]

I'll be the first to say get rid of Vista. Depends on how much you want to spend really.

 

[Lal B3N]

As said 100% get rid of Vista. Move to Windows 7. Judging by the spec im guessing its DDR2 so get 4gb-6gb of DDR2 from Mr Memory. Cpu should be more than capable if you up the ram and move to Windows 7 but if you really want to switch cpus maybe look for a Core 2 duo Xtreme edition which will keep you going nicely for another few years.

 

[Darren S]

Encoding? i5 CPUs are good enough for that - but i7's are really the better option if you're doing it seriously.

Unfortunately you'll be needing a new motherboard, memory and probably a gfx card. Oh, and ditch Fista. Basically, a whole new revamp!

D.

 

[C.J]

Thanks. I have W7, so I'll install that this week, and see if that helps (my Vista settings are 'performance' - aka W95 style)

I'll look at the RAM now.

I'm encoding/converting a lot of files, and a 10GB file is taking roughly 7 hours

 

[Darren S]

If you're going to be doing encoding a lot in the future, I'd seriously recommend looking a i7's. You don't have to go silly Extreme spec to get decent processing power either. Short of recompiling Avatar, I doubt a 10GB file would take an i7 anywhere near that time - certainly if backed up with 16GB+ DDR3 memory (which is dirt-cheap these days).

D.

 

[Addicted]

Looks like you'll need a new motherboard as well so a new CPU is the right socket, you'll be looking at about £300 for a decent i5 setup.

As you've said above though, go for an i7 if you do encoding, you will notice a ton of difference over the i5 with the hyperthreading.

 

[Lal B3N]

Sounds like you are giving your pc a good hammering then. 8gb ram, i5 or i7 chip and a decent board.

 

[timmy2take]

Crucial.com will tell you what ram you can upgrade to and are pretty cheap last time I used them

 

[C.J]

Thanks for the info.

Just looking at it, the CPU is at 99/100% while encoding.

I'll probably use it for encoding 3/4 a week at most. But a quicker encode will be worth it.

Will upgrading the DDR alone make much difference?

 

[Daze]

If you say how much you are willing to spend it will be a lot easier to spec you some parts.

 

[C.J]

Well, I use it mainly as a NAS, so don't want to spend much on upgrading it (cost me ~£150).

Say £100ish.

 

[Addicted]

Well for £100 you'll be looking at a second-hand Core 2 Quad.

Q6600 is probably the way to go to be honest.


In all honesty though, £100 is nothing.

 

[C.J]

I totally agree, £100 is nothing, but I can't justify spending anything on this machine. It sits in a cupboard with no screen/keyboard or mouse. It's literally a NAS drive.

 

[Darren S]

Well for £100 you'll be looking at a second-hand Core 2 Quad.

Q6600 is probably the way to go to be honest.


In all honesty though, £100 is nothing.

Too right. You'll need four times that to do it justice - for an i7 CPU, mobo and new memory. Your Optiplex power supply is unlikely to power that either.

D.

 

[Lal B3N]

Well, I use it mainly as a NAS, so don't want to spend much on upgrading it (cost me ~£150).

Say £100ish.

If you really dont want to spend more than £100 then i would look for an E8500 Core 2 Duo and just clock it, it will sit stable with a good air cool set up at around 3.6-3.8ghz. Although it wont touch an I7 chip, it will speed it up a bit. Some extra ram and Windows 7 should help it nicely.

 

[Dink]

can the software your using to encode capable of using a GFX card to do it?

as a cheap one will probably be 3 times faster than the cpu at doing it

 

[Cliotoby]

Im amazed how long the Q6600 has been going for. I had one once and ran it for a while. I know people still swear by them and are only just making to move to i5 based setups.

 

[Dink]

£54 on ebay is not a bad upgrade for the price leaves some money for ram

 

[C.J]

The software is Handbrake.

 

[Darren S]

Im amazed how long the Q6600 has been going for. I had one once and ran it for a while. I know people still swear by them and are only just making to move to i5 based setups.

Yeah - they did well with that CPU. My m8 (similar to what you say) is only just considering i7 options now from his Q6600.

D.

 

[Cookie]

Will a new mobo etc even fit in a Dell case? If it's anything like the ones I used to work on, you won't be able to upgrade anything beyond the RAM :/

 

[Don]

Will a new mobo etc even fit in a Dell case? If it's anything like the ones I used to work on, you won't be able to upgrade anything beyond the RAM :/

Dell Mobos are the reverse of other machines (ie on the other side of the case) to stop people using their cases with their own (not Dell) hardware. Its only a Dell mobo or memory/hdd or external cards that can be done for an upgrade

 

[Addicted]

You may actually fine the mobo doesn't like a new CPU in, no idea how strict Dell are with their crap, but it could be a possibility.

Anyway, a Q6600 and 4gb RAM would be my choice of upgrade for £100, perhaps an aftermarket cooler as well to get some clocks going.

 

[Jay_G]

How cheap is DDR2 RAM? I got 8gb of DD3 for circa 30-40 quid, on ebuyer

 

[Don]

How cheap is DDR2 RAM? I got 8gb of DD3 for circa 30-40 quid, on ebuyer

If you've already got some in....try www.crucial.com/uk and they have a machine scanner which tells you what memory you have and the price of relevant upgrades.

To the OP...make sure when you go to Win 7 that it is 64bit (or it will only use 3.5Gb of RAM!)

 

[C.J]

I've had a look on Crucial.com, and it states my Ultra Small GX620 will take 2x2GB DDR2.

 

[Martin_172]

dell motherboards are usually ok with CPU upgrades, a quick search on the dell forum though will usually confirm if your choice will be ok, id stick a core2quad in it, ive got a core2quad extreme edition in my HTPC and it still deals with everything i throw at it!

but as said id be looking to switch to windows 7 and max out the ram before you make any changes to the cpu

 

[oska]

I've got an Optiplex as my HTPC. Only 2.1 Ghz Core 2 Duo running W7 Ultimate. All I've added is the 2GB extra RAM so now has 4GB. Also one of these. Does everything I need it to pretty quickly.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Be very careful to browse the forums first before buying RAM if you plan on using it in your DELL. They're nortorious for not supporting certain latencies/brands.

Also DELLs are a completely different form factor to the norm, they are their own. So you would not be able to reuse your case and therefore power supply either/

On the upgrade front:

I'd look at:

Asus P8Z77-V
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4Ghz
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz

The Q6600 was a good CPU, but it's flagging now. The 3570K is under £180, and with performance like this in comparison with some of the bigger chips, it's a bargain