[SOLVED] hand-me-down PC

[Blake_23]

Hello World!
This is my first post on here, apologies if its in the wrong forum section...

One of my buddy gave me his old gaming PCs and id like to know what you guys think of the specs and possibly what upgrades I could put into it or just piece it out and sell it for parts.

Specs:
cpu = i5-3570k (base 3.4, was told the original builder o.c. to 3.8);
cpu cooler = basic intel heatsink;
mobo = ASRock z77 pro3;
gpu = R9 270x 2g ddr5;
memory = Team Group Zeus (2 x 4g) 1600 ddr3;
psu = 550w;
storage = 120gb samsung evo SSD;
wifi card = honestly no idea. No brand name or marking. All i have to go off of PB-777-M02G-10. Couldn't find anything online;

also came with:
monitor = cheap acer 24";
Keyboard = razor blackwidow mech Keyboard;
mouse: razor naga;

cpu and gpu temps are stable.

I have built a couple PCs in the past so im not unfamiliar with whats going on I just don't really know what else to do?

what I have done:

• cleaned the entire thing;
• formated the SSD and installed a fresh windows 10;
• reset all o.c. and XMP settings back to default;
• ran some stress tests with CPU-z and everything looks somewhat okay for a 9 year old computer.

cpu-z info:
google drive images


the person i got it from really only used it to play WoW and school work.
When I received it, it was full of cat hair and dust... I pulled out all the hardware and did a thorough clean. actually looks quite nice now!
But its download speeds are horrendously slow... like down in the Kb/s... I was thinking maybe just buying a new wireless card might be the problem but before i go buy one, id like to see what you guys think?

 

[Eximo]

A newer GPU and it is still capable, RX580/GTX1060. Get a nicer CPU cooler and aim for a higher overclock?

If you wanted to extend its life a little you could try and track down an i7-3770k, maybe add some ram.

Other than that I don't think you could get a whole lot of money for it. Might be people looking for an LGA1155 Z77 board, but if so that means they have a CPU and DDR3.

The alternative equivalent would be a low end Ryzen chip. So if that is an option, do that, and you have an upgradable platform.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

With a few upgrades this thing will be a very capable gaming machine for a while longer. The first thing is to get rid of that Intel heatsink. Crush it, melt it, throw it at birds, I don't care, but it has to go. Replace it with a decent budget cooler like a Hyper 212. Then overclock it to 4 GHz. It should be capable of it without much trouble with a good cooler.

Next is the video card. The R9 270X falls between the GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti in performance, which isn't bad, but a cheap RX 570 will be twice the card and perfect for 1080p gaming.

8GB is sufficient RAM and an upgrade won't nab you much more in the way of performance.

I'd probably look into a larger SSD to put games and stuff on. You can score a Crucial MX500 500GB SSD for well under $100 and have some speedy game launch times.

It sounds like that wireless card is crap. So toss it at a bird and get a new one.

Then you'll have a very capable 1080p gaming rig.

 

[Math Geek]

if you don't need it for yourself, you could sell it or donate it and it would still provide someone with a decent system.

it's still plenty good enough that someone would be happy to have it. i refurb and give away a bunch of donated systems regularly and that would be nicer than some of what i have given away for sure. local church groups often already have a program n place or even your local community college likely has one as well to provide experience for students who want to learn about pc's. i know my local CC refurbs, parts out, repairs and all types of other pc related stuff regularly. they even have paid internships as part of financial aid packages.

 

[USAFRet]

Your friend gave it to you. $0.
Now it is your turn to apply your extensive PC knowledge, spruce it up with a clean OS install and some basic free applications, and pay that forward. $0.

Some deserving family is out there needing a PC, but can't afford one.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find that family and help them out.