Dell Optiplex 745, Mini Tower, need solution for media tower

hamlet_jones

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Dec 10, 2010
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My specs: Core 2 duo, 2.13GHz, 2GB RAM, DVD-RW. Mini Tower case. 1TB hd, 305w psu.

Thinking about going with a q6600 in increase memory to 8GB.
Maybe don't need all that to watch movies?
Would like a larger tv or monitor, 32" or larger, and video card/gui to run it.

Bluetooth keyboard? Speakers?
 
2GB of ram isn't enough. You want 4GB minimum.

A Q6600 should be relatively cheap these days, but your money is probably better spent on a discrete GPU for hardware acceleration. How wide is your case? (not sure if you may need a low profile GPU)

Size of monitor/TV doesn't matter, it's resolution. (a 32" 1080p screen is the same to a computer as a 75" 1080p screen)

Be careful how much you spend on this antique. A much better performing refurbished unit will cost you $180 or less. Shoot, my company PAYS to throw away computers better than yours.
 
Additional specs: Win7 + Sp1 installed, runs fine, although firefox 63 eats ram. I have a donor, so I will populate with more ram.

I realize it's old, but it's very clean, no swelling caps that I can see.. What's wrong with "good enough"? If I can get the best video card that will fit without too much modding, maybe when I move on, I can keep the card for later builds.

 
The point I was trying to get across is that, while the IGP for Core2 isn't up to snuff, you really don't need much of a GPU to get what you need. Unfortunately low end discrete GPUs are expensive for what you get and a $170 refurb like this one gets you a Haswell i5 (quad core) which would have enough IGP to negate the need for a dGPU (that would be too slow to reuse later) altogether.
 
Thanks, tennis2. I don't think my Core2 has IGP. Graphics are on the MB.
$170 would buy aGeForce GTX 1050 Ti!
Why buy a $200 computer when a $20 one will still get the job done nicely?
(media tower)
Perhaps I'm deluded...
 
GTX1050Ti ought to cost you $130 if you're in the US.
Yes, the Core2 has graphics on the MB and they suck.
Because the $180 computer can do what you want in a much smaller power envelope and it'll be faster...