Discussion
I have lots of old computers, one of which is a Dell Optiplex 780 (ultra-small-chassis 'USFF') with E7500 Core 2 Duo processor (dual core, 2.93GHz 3MB L2 1066FSB, 4GB RAM 1066MHz).
I hear many people raving about SSDs and certainly my wife's modern laptop with SSD is much quicker for certain tasks than older HDD computers.
Due to being so compact and easy to find somewhere for it to go, I'm wondering about giving the old ultra-small Dell a new lease of life (for browsing/social media/office/very old games) by fitting an SSD.
However, along with the mostly good things I hear about SSDs, I also hear some people say that with many really old computers an SSD is much less useful due to bottlenecks elsewhere in the computer which mostly negate the speed benefits of an SSD.
Is it likely to be worth changing the old Dell's HDD to SSD?
Thanks,
R
I hear many people raving about SSDs and certainly my wife's modern laptop with SSD is much quicker for certain tasks than older HDD computers.
Due to being so compact and easy to find somewhere for it to go, I'm wondering about giving the old ultra-small Dell a new lease of life (for browsing/social media/office/very old games) by fitting an SSD.
However, along with the mostly good things I hear about SSDs, I also hear some people say that with many really old computers an SSD is much less useful due to bottlenecks elsewhere in the computer which mostly negate the speed benefits of an SSD.
Is it likely to be worth changing the old Dell's HDD to SSD?
Thanks,
R
In most cases swapping SSD in would improve performance, however IMO the CPU might be the bottleneck here.
I've always bought used Dell Optlplex systems for my kids, they are cheap and cheerful. Just works and well designed too.
I had your model but now swapped to 7010 SFF. When I've upgraded the HDD to SSD there is a slight improvement but I noticed that the CPU was the bottleneck.
edit: Need to add I've also upgraded the GPU to GTX 1650 and my kid uses it for gaming. From your use case it would probably be fine. SSD are cheap these days so why not try it and see. I'd get a caddy as well for a neat install.
I've always bought used Dell Optlplex systems for my kids, they are cheap and cheerful. Just works and well designed too.
I had your model but now swapped to 7010 SFF. When I've upgraded the HDD to SSD there is a slight improvement but I noticed that the CPU was the bottleneck.
edit: Need to add I've also upgraded the GPU to GTX 1650 and my kid uses it for gaming. From your use case it would probably be fine. SSD are cheap these days so why not try it and see. I'd get a caddy as well for a neat install.
I'll assume you'll be limited to a SATA SSD, as I don't think that machine will support the fast m.2 PCIe type.
A 256gb SATA SSD for the OS and basic apps shouldn't be available for about £25, so there's not much risk in trying a small SSD to see if it gives the old mini-PC a new life.
A 256gb SATA SSD for the OS and basic apps shouldn't be available for about £25, so there's not much risk in trying a small SSD to see if it gives the old mini-PC a new life.
Absolutely, can really extend the life of older PCs if their expected workload is appropriate. I would say that more RAM would be hugely beneficial too though, assuming you can get another 4GB for not much dough.
Until recently my daughter's PC was an E8400 and still works fine for homework, surfing etc. The only reason I've retired it is because she now uses a laptop for most things.
Until recently my daughter's PC was an E8400 and still works fine for homework, surfing etc. The only reason I've retired it is because she now uses a laptop for most things.
If you Google the Dell motherboard reference (should be able to see it in sysinfo) then that will tell you the max it can support.
I was going to say I’d be surprised if it couldn’t support more than 4GB, but I had an E7500 Vostro from around the same time, and after checking the documentation it did only support 2x2GB so who knows? You may be lucky!
I was going to say I’d be surprised if it couldn’t support more than 4GB, but I had an E7500 Vostro from around the same time, and after checking the documentation it did only support 2x2GB so who knows? You may be lucky!
RVB said:
Is it likely to be worth changing the old Dell's HDD to SSD?
For the sake of a few quid, I'd say yes. I put an SSD in my Latitude laptop with a T5500 processor (CPU Benchmark says 512 for my processor vs 1102 for yours) and it certainly made a big difference.https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-Core2-D...
Crucial's System advisor says max 4Gb RAM as well. https://uk.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/dell...
I know I'm going to get some heat from the microsoft acolytes, but for your limited requirement look at a Linux distro.
It uses far less resources that any windows spy and bloatware product.
The best part is that you can load Linux onto a thumb drive and run it from there without installing it to your hard drive, so you can test it out.
Almost forget, Linux is open source and free.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-distro-space/
It uses far less resources that any windows spy and bloatware product.
The best part is that you can load Linux onto a thumb drive and run it from there without installing it to your hard drive, so you can test it out.
Almost forget, Linux is open source and free.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-distro-space/
My old laptop (Windows 7, Core Duo, 4GB RAM and 32 Bit) HDD died years ago and I decided to fix it last year during lockdown.
Bought a SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD but my Windows serial number would not work/transfer to an upgrade to Windows 10, so installed Linux Mint OS instead. This is much faster than when I first used this laptop out of the box, the SSD and Linux OS does make a difference.
Also I upgraded another Windows (10, i5, 8GB RAM and 64 Bit) laptop as it was very slow at booting up/ready to use after enter my log on password. Bought a Crucial MX500 SSD and the boot up/ready to use within 60 seconds.
Bought a SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD but my Windows serial number would not work/transfer to an upgrade to Windows 10, so installed Linux Mint OS instead. This is much faster than when I first used this laptop out of the box, the SSD and Linux OS does make a difference.
Also I upgraded another Windows (10, i5, 8GB RAM and 64 Bit) laptop as it was very slow at booting up/ready to use after enter my log on password. Bought a Crucial MX500 SSD and the boot up/ready to use within 60 seconds.
RVB said:
If someone can confirm that 2x 4GB modules will work, that would be great.
The Dell tech pdf for that model says 4 GB max with 2x 2GB modules (only two slots in the USFF) and 8 GB max in the others in that range which have four slots. but I could imagine it is old enough to predate 4GB DIMMs being readily available.Without trying it, you could try tracking down the NorthBridge chipset component # and seeing if it supports 4GB DIMMs,
A quick Google suggests people have managed to get 4GB sticks working on Optiplex 780 USFF. Update the BIOS, make sure the memory is the right speed, type, and it should work.
Here's the later tech manual which confirms: https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/opt...
Here's the later tech manual which confirms: https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/opt...
NMNeil said:
I know I'm going to get some heat from the microsoft acolytes, but for your limited requirement look at a Linux distro.
It uses far less resources that any windows spy and bloatware product.
The best part is that you can load Linux onto a thumb drive and run it from there without installing it to your hard drive, so you can test it out.
Almost forget, Linux is open source and free.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-distro-space/
No heat from me. I ran Linux on my laptop and it helped make it run at a speed of contemporary laptops with Win10. I rather liked it. I got quite attached to Libre as well. It uses far less resources that any windows spy and bloatware product.
The best part is that you can load Linux onto a thumb drive and run it from there without installing it to your hard drive, so you can test it out.
Almost forget, Linux is open source and free.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-distro-space/
loudlashadjuster said:
Here's the later tech manual which confirms: https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/opt...
Nice find - My search must have found the earlier version.Thanks for the replies.
I have another couple of questions.
Am I the only person who finds their computer goes a bit cranky after Windows 10 has downloaded an update and is awaiting a restart?
Would an SSD make a useful improvement to the update/restart/configuring windows processes, perhaps speeding it up with less cranky behaviour?
Computers frequently seem to do this when I am working on something complex.
If I delay a restart I just find more and more apps/programs etc start to do odd things or lag badly, making it difficult to get work done.
But the update-related restart itself can take many minutes, meaning I lose my line of thought from before the restart process.
I have another couple of questions.
Am I the only person who finds their computer goes a bit cranky after Windows 10 has downloaded an update and is awaiting a restart?
Would an SSD make a useful improvement to the update/restart/configuring windows processes, perhaps speeding it up with less cranky behaviour?
Computers frequently seem to do this when I am working on something complex.
If I delay a restart I just find more and more apps/programs etc start to do odd things or lag badly, making it difficult to get work done.
But the update-related restart itself can take many minutes, meaning I lose my line of thought from before the restart process.
That crankiness is definitely a thing and while having as SSD won’t cure it, what it does do is make restarts and update installs much quicker so the ‘pain’ of having to close all those apps and browser tabs and wait for a reboot is lessened.
It’s good practice to restart Windows regularly instead of just hibernating etc. all the time - I’m as guilty of that as anybody - but an SSD can help get you into better habits.
It’s good practice to restart Windows regularly instead of just hibernating etc. all the time - I’m as guilty of that as anybody - but an SSD can help get you into better habits.
RVB said:
Am I the only person who finds their computer goes a bit cranky after Windows 10 has downloaded an update and is awaiting a restart?
Would an SSD make a useful improvement to the update/restart/configuring windows processes, perhaps speeding it up with less cranky behaviour?
SSDs make patch install/restart far faster, and the post patch sluggishness during the tidying up process less painful.Would an SSD make a useful improvement to the update/restart/configuring windows processes, perhaps speeding it up with less cranky behaviour?
I use the "Pause updates for 7 days" setting to manage when Windows updates.
Especially during patch Tuesday week I pause it on Monday, and un-pause it at the end of Friday or when I'm taking a long lunch break, so I've some control over when updates are installed.
xeny said:
SSDs make patch install/restart far faster, and the post patch sluggishness during the tidying up process less painful.
Which brings me back to the opening question.......If the other components are old and relatively slow, will they cause bottlenecks meaning an SSD won't give much of a gain?
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