Best upgrade path
Discussion
My son currently has a refurb Optiplex 7010 which I’ve upgraded by adding 16gb RAM, dual SSDs and low profile GTX1650 card.
He like to record games and then edit the videos. I believe the 3rd gen i5 is struggling a little and could be the bottleneck.
I have a spare mini ITX case lying about and thinking of building him a new PC with better CPU. I would also need a PSU for the build. Is this doable for budget under £300? Thinking of reusing the GPU,SSD and perhaps RAM from the Optiplex.
Or would it better to buy a newer refurb Optiplex with better processor?
He like to record games and then edit the videos. I believe the 3rd gen i5 is struggling a little and could be the bottleneck.
I have a spare mini ITX case lying about and thinking of building him a new PC with better CPU. I would also need a PSU for the build. Is this doable for budget under £300? Thinking of reusing the GPU,SSD and perhaps RAM from the Optiplex.
Or would it better to buy a newer refurb Optiplex with better processor?
A new CPU means a new motherboard means new RAM. So that's going to stretch your £300 budget, I'd suggest.
You might be, possibly, be able to get something reasonable by going used, though. For instance this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185401709922?hash=item2... would bring you up a few generations plus go from an i5 to an i7, for not very much cash. But it's not going to be a game-changer - plus you'd likely need to add a PSU as you say, which brings the price up again.
You might be, possibly, be able to get something reasonable by going used, though. For instance this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185401709922?hash=item2... would bring you up a few generations plus go from an i5 to an i7, for not very much cash. But it's not going to be a game-changer - plus you'd likely need to add a PSU as you say, which brings the price up again.
mmm-five said:
You might want to check whether the current machine has a standard motherboard/PSU or one of Dell's custom ones, as if it's Dell custom stuff you may find it won't fit into any other case anyway.
Yes it’s custom for Dell. Intention is to get new mobo and CPU but reuse GPU and RAM.deckster said:
A new CPU means a new motherboard means new RAM. So that's going to stretch your £300 budget, I'd suggest.
You might be, possibly, be able to get something reasonable by going used, though. For instance this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185401709922?hash=item2... would bring you up a few generations plus go from an i5 to an i7, for not very much cash. But it's not going to be a game-changer - plus you'd likely need to add a PSU as you say, which brings the price up again.
Cheers for the link. Definitely something to consider although I would think a newer i7 would be better for light video editing. You might be, possibly, be able to get something reasonable by going used, though. For instance this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185401709922?hash=item2... would bring you up a few generations plus go from an i5 to an i7, for not very much cash. But it's not going to be a game-changer - plus you'd likely need to add a PSU as you say, which brings the price up again.
Current PC is ok but it does lag and sometimes crashes.
I think I can get a newer Optiplex with i7 close to the budget and I can transfer the GPU over, and perhaps get a larger SSD. I do love Optiplex as it’s modular and compact in size. Dell stuff seems pretty robust too.
anxious_ant said:
I think I can get a newer Optiplex with i7 close to the budget and I can transfer the GPU over, and perhaps get a larger SSD. I do love Optiplex as it’s modular and compact in size. Dell stuff seems pretty robust too.
Like you I'm a big fan of the Optiplex range & the 7010 series were excellent little PCs. Unfortunately if you are concerned by the Windows 11 & 8th generation processor issue (& yes I know lots of people have upgraded lower processors) then the choice is getting harder & more expensive. If you look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_OptiPlex#Series...
You can see that the first 8th gen Optiplex is the 7060 & there just aren't many used ones on the market - I guess they are all still in service. You can get an i5 with SSD & 16Gb for under £400 but they aren't the bargain that the 7010s were.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275240977931
If you drop down to the previous 7050 model there's a much bigger choice but there's the potential W11 issue:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_t...
The only other comment is that these were always meant to be office machines so not really ideal for gaming or video editing.
Mr Pointy said:
Like you I'm a big fan of the Optiplex range & the 7010 series were excellent little PCs. Unfortunately if you are concerned by the Windows 11 & 8th generation processor issue (& yes I know lots of people have upgraded lower processors) then the choice is getting harder & more expensive. If you look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_OptiPlex#Series...
You can see that the first 8th gen Optiplex is the 7060 & there just aren't many used ones on the market - I guess they are all still in service. You can get an i5 with SSD & 16Gb for under £400 but they aren't the bargain that the 7010s were.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275240977931
If you drop down to the previous 7050 model there's a much bigger choice but there's the potential W11 issue:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_t...
The only other comment is that these were always meant to be office machines so not really ideal for gaming or video editing.
Cheers for the advice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_OptiPlex#Series...
You can see that the first 8th gen Optiplex is the 7060 & there just aren't many used ones on the market - I guess they are all still in service. You can get an i5 with SSD & 16Gb for under £400 but they aren't the bargain that the 7010s were.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275240977931
If you drop down to the previous 7050 model there's a much bigger choice but there's the potential W11 issue:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_t...
The only other comment is that these were always meant to be office machines so not really ideal for gaming or video editing.
Not looking for something too beefy, but a little better than what we have at the moment if it’s all possible on a low budget.
Current machine is ok but it does lag and sometimes crashes (even with upgraded 16gb of ram). I suspect it’s the CPU that’s the bottleneck.
My son likes to record games like Roblox and Minecraft and then edit them with some video editing tools. He uses free tools (some that I haven’t even heard of) that captures his games and then edits them by adding loops and effects.
I am pretty impressed as most is self taught, and think it’s worth nurturing his interest, without breaking the bank.
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