Computer hardware selection help please...

Off-topic Chatter
1

Hi all,

I just picked up a new to me computer off ebay. Its a dell 745.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350837535999?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Right now it has no graphics card and I cant even play the old games like counter strike on it. I need a card that will work with this PC that is decent.

The seller told me that it takes a PCI express card, and I looked on the power supply and it says DC output 280W. The only other thing I know is I would like to have a card that supports openGL because that is what seems to work best for the game.

I dont need a super high end one as I am not actually a gamer I just havent played CS in like 8 years so I wanna.


Also I need to upgrade the ram. The mother board has 4 slots with 2x 1G sticks already installed. I was thinking about either just adding 2 more sticks of the same, but I saw on the PDF from dell there are 2G sticks that work with it.

Is it worth it do try to get the 4x2G sticks for this PC?

I need to know too how do decrypt the code on the stick of ram..
What it has now says PC2-5300U-555-12-ZZ

Can someone tell me what each set of the numbers means?


Any recommendations are appreciated.

2

You can upgrade to 8GB of RAM but I wouldn’t do it myself. The PC2-5300 refers to the memory types that work with your machine. You can normally use any of these: DDR2 PC2-8500, DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300. Memory for older machines is expensive and a quick glance shows that 8GB would run you around $180.

Adding in the cost for a video card (not even accounting for other things that may need replacing soon) and you’re better off buying a new pc. I bought a 4GB RAM, 500GB HD touch-screen laptop last month for $380 out the door. Desk tops are even cheaper than laptops.

3

I can help you VoB!

I’m a computer science and business major at a university, and I’ve been a techie pretty much my whole life!

Okay, so your computer supports up to 8 GB of RAM, spread across 4 sticks. I would not risk purchasing sticks with larger capacity than 2 GB, since RAM is difficult to return and it wouldn’t likely work. Anyway, If you were to purchase 8 GB of RAM new, you could go to NewEgg and order 4 sticks of this G-Skill RAM. Take note that you should have a 64-bit operating system if you wish to take advantage of more than 4 gigabytes of RAM. I don’t know how you plan to use this, but for VERY casual gaming and browsing 4 GB might be a better choice. If that’s what you want to do, you can simply order two.

If you want to go used on the RAM, you could do that too—I just used the NewEgg tool b/c it’s easy for me to find specific products

Here’s a budget card that will do more than enough for you. I like it because it has HDMI, so you could connect it to a TV and play protected content. You have a PCI Express 1.0 slot, while this is a PCI Express 2.0 card. Do not be alarmed, the card will still work in your machine—though it will not be running at full speed. But for your computer, the processor will be the bottleneck before the GFX card.

Which brings us to the next question, “should” you do it—I’m inclined to say no and here’s why.

This is a pretty old computer, and it’s not all that great. The processor is pretty anemic, and the power supply is likely a custom size, and very small. And, since it was so cheap, I’d be pretty hesitant to pump more money in to it. But I’m sure these are things you know already, and I’m sure you purchased this machine for a reason, instead of getting something more expensive.

I think 2G of RAM for very light usage on a clean Windows 8 installation will work for you. Heck, I have a pretty old Lenovo T61p running a 32-bit version of Windows 8.1 and an SSD and it’s snappy.

If you want to eek the most usage out of this for the smallest price, here’s what I would do:

  1. This Graphics Card (the GT 610 was the OEM choice on this machine for a while)
  2. This RAM Kit
  3. This SSD I recommend an SSD because it will make your old computer “feel” newer by massively increasing the rate at which data can be read/retrieved, and written. For every day usage, this will provide a huge difference. I chose a 120 GB drive over a smaller one because I feel that 64 GB SSD’s are too easy to fill with a small amount of digital media (movies, photos, or what have you).

I know this is a lot of money to spend, and I am glad to help explain why I chose what I chose, and if you help me get a better picture of what you want to do, I can try and give you better/cheaper recommendations.

4

Hmm, you bought a workstation computer. Depending on if it's a slim or full size version will limit what kinds of gfx cards you can add.

5

Samsung?

The number you want is under the one you posted. Maybe M378T6553EZS-CE6

Link to spec sheet.

Might find better pricing on ebay? I have had very good luck buying used memory.

6

I would say 4gb ram is enough and as others have said you have purchased a small form factor (sff) so will need a low profile gfx card be careful not all will fit…also consider you psu can handle it.

7

The listing say ‘it has a HUGE hard drive’ and then he specs 80gb lol.

8

Something cheap like this should work: PowerColor Go! Green Radeon HD 5450 Video Card (UEFI Ready) AX5450 1GBK3-SHEV4 - Newegg.com

9

If you happen to find a Dell Windows 7 Pro x 64 disc about, it will also auto install on this PC. If memory serves me, you will not be able to join a workplace domain with Win 7 Home Premium, if that is an issue.

I agree with other commenters, the seller was a bit over the top in his description of the attributes of this machine in 2014. An 80GB HDD was rockin’ in 2003. A 16GB Quantum Bigfoot was huge in 1998.

10

It is also preloaded with free software! lol

11

well it is upgraded by professional’s to include a dvd rom (to watch movies and play cd’s) not too mention TONS of ram lol

to the op it is a decent computer, office workhorse. We still rock these dells at work albeit equipped with newer i series processors but I don’t think it’s worth trying to make it a gaming pc. It’s is designed for office tasks.

12

I won’t second guess anyone’s opinion of “what” to buy, I do however suggest checking out,

I’ve had lots of good experience with them.
For detailed computer hardware / software assistance, see the folks at www.techimo.com

As far as the OS, I suggest a generic version of Winderz XP Pro, even a HP or IBM marked disc will load on any box, as far as I’ve seen anyway…
XP Home and Pro os’s have lots of drivers that other err, newer versions of Windows don’t have.

Gluck

13

I was wanting to get one of these, i remember reading the spec sheets, and the quantum fireball…

I would stick with windows 7 since it came with it, OEMs only seem to give driver support for the chosen version of windows, i downgraded a vista computer to xp, and spent dozens if not hundreds of hours finding drivers for it, and never quite got it to peak efficiency (i just lived with the not quite par operation)

14

Thanks so much for the help guys.. I think I am getting the idea here.

Just to be clear I'm not trying to turn this into a gaming PC, I just want to be able to play CS :)

The main reason I bought this computer is because my old one was really old and dead. Single core HP. Plus my mouse and monitor both died within two weeks of each other. Also this was one of the few sellers I could find that gives you a system restore disc. I like to be able to reformat the hard drive every so often. I have heard that can be done another way, but so far I have yet to see anyone pull it off.


Part of me almost wishes I would have started this thread before I bought this, but I really couldnt afford much more than that any way ( unless someone wanted to trade for custom flashahol).

Anyway it sounds like the consensus is not to get crazy buying stuff for this one.

Another 2 sticks of cheap ram maybe? This will fit correct?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-2GB-Tested-working-Samsung-2X1GB-DDR2-667MHz-PC2-5300U-555-12-Desktop-Memory-/191047066848

I really have very little knowledge of this stuff. Something that takes most of you a few minutes to set up often takes me a day or days. I have no formal education what so ever as far as PC stuff.

If someone wouldn't mind telling me what the individual numbers mean on that stick of ram that would be great. I'd just like to know so that I understand what I am getting, and what will work with my system.

Just so I understand this for sure can someone confirm. The graphics card type I will need for this computer is PCIe the 16x size? Here is a picture of the available slots.

The top slot is the one where I want to stick it right? This is PCI 16X?

EDIT:
One more thing I just thought of is that I cant seem to find one that will power up on only a 280W supply. Even most of the older ones I have found like 512mb cards say they need 350watt.

The card that unit311 linked seemed ok,

but I think this card needs 350 watt too?

15

The RAM you linked in your last post should work in your machine along side your existing RAM—the speed/timing figures match up.

The black slot is where you should put your GFX card.

I would recommend the GT 610 I linked in my last post, only because a card with the same GFX chip was used from the factory, so compatibility is all but guaranteed. That being said, the AMD card that you linked in your last post should work. The dimensions are in line with the GT 610.

16

So I could use those cards even though I have only a 280W power supply?

17

I think it should be fine with your power supply. Without adding up the power consumption of all the other components its hard to know for sure. I have used low power cards like this in the small form factor PCs before and it worked fine. You definitely dont need state of the art equipment to run counter strike. Pretty much any graphics card made in the last 10 years should do it.

18

i often use a device called a kill a watt to see how much power plug in items are using, amazon often has sales (or newegg or even tiger direct) but its not worth buying just to check the computer power usage (~$20-40), i don’t know much about modern graphics cards to advise on the power usage, but my Athlon 3800 dual core used about 75W average (something like 60W idling and 95W at full cpu load if i remember these numbers right, it was a few years ago, onboard graphics)

You can get a new power supply quite cheap i assume, my current 650W was $60 (corsair), i didn’t know but i bought way more then i need, i am using 42W idle, 45W average and 100W full load, integrated graphics for now. I bet you could get one for half that price or less

19

I agree with the sentiment, but keep in mind that it is extremely unlikely that this is using a standard ATX power supply. He also has a small form factor machine, which takes those chances even lower.

VoB, I think you will be okay with either the 610 or the 5450.

20

I probably have the same kind of pieces you’re looking at buying here unused at my house. They’re in the same room as the sleeping baby so I can’t check tonight but if you wanted to hold off buying stuff I could check tomorrow afternoon. I’d be willing to give them away if you wanted to cover shipping.