[SOLVED] How long do computers last, Should i upgrade or buy new.

[Wolverine956]

I currently have DELL Optiplex 9020 I7-4790 @ 3.60GHZ

8 GB RAM

I believe its 5 years old.

my wife is a photographer and uses Photoshop allot wanted to get better graphics. Should i up the ram and get a graphics card or should i buy new computer and improve that computer.



Thanks for info.

 

[tennis2]

Depends what your budget is. I'd say that system has a couple years left in it.

 

[jeremyj_83]

The CPU is still OK for Photoshop work, so the biggest issue would be adding a GPU. Do you know which tower you have?

 

[Wolverine956]

The CPU is still OK for Photoshop work, so the biggest issue would be adding a GPU. Do you know which tower you have?

How do i found out what tower i have?

 

[Wolverine956]

My wife and i just bought a daycare with everything in it. It also came with three computers and this one is the best out of all three. So i want to reboot the computer to start from scratch and improve this one, i wonder if i can remove the ram out of the other computers and install it on this one. The other computer is also an I7 and AMD Athlon ll x2

 

[jeremyj_83]

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/optiplex-9020-desktop/overview
Enter your service tag and you can see everything that came with the computer. There are 3 version: Mini-tower (the largest), Small Form Factor (smaller in size), & ultra small form factor (the smallest).

 

[Wolverine956]

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/optiplex-9020-desktop/overview
Enter your service tag and you can see everything that came with the computer. There are 3 version: Mini-tower (the largest), Small Form Factor (smaller in size), & ultra small form factor (the smallest).

Nice, i like all the info it provides, thanks allot, i have the Small Form Factor.

 

[Wolverine956]

i see i have only one PCI-E x16 slot. Would i remove the existing one and replace it with a upgraded GPU.

 

[tennis2]

Yes.
And since you have a SFF machine, the new GPU will need to be a "low profile" one. Such as this GT1030. Are you positive the machine needs a GPU upgrade at all? I've let a buddy of mine (who's a graphic designer) use my NUC i3-5010U with just the integrated graphics, and he said it worked just fine.

 

[USAFRet]

My wife and i just bought a daycare with everything in it. It also came with three computers and this one is the best out of all three. So i want to reboot the computer to start from scratch and improve this one, i wonder if i can remove the ram out of the other computers and install it on this one. The other computer is also an I7 and AMD Athlon ll x2

For ALL your systems, you absolutely need to wipe and reinstall everything.
No telling what the previous owners and users had in there.

 

[jeremyj_83]

The Small Form Factor system comes with a 255W PSU. That means that you will only be able to run a GPU that is powered by the PCIe slot only. The fastest GPU that you could go is the GTX 1650

 

[Wolverine956]

Would i need to get a better monitor as well to match the same quality as GPU. Should i upscale to 4k or would 1080 be enough.

 

[Wolverine956]

Also, would i need to buy windows software again in order to reboot the system.

 

[USAFRet]

Also, would i need to buy windows software again in order to reboot the system.

Unknown.

Where did the original license come from?
Did they give you the license keys for these systems?
What OS is on them?

 

[Wolverine956]

Unknown.

Where did the original license come from?
Did they give you the license keys for these systems?
What OS is on them?

Its running windows 7. i believe there is a way too retrieve the original windows license.

 

[InvalidError]

For the basic question of "how long omputers last", aside from PSU and HDD failures, everything else typically lasts well beyond what most people would deem useful life. My oldest system still under almost daily use is the 11 years old Core2Duo in my living room used almost exclusively for web-browsing and video streaming with some light Linux-fu. The main limit to PCs' useful life is your patience when doing non-trivial tasks.

 

[USAFRet]

Its running windows 7. i believe there is a way too retrieve the original windows license.

Belarc Advisor can probably retrieve the license keys.
https://www.belarc.com/products_belarc_advisor

And you can probably upgrade those to Win 10, for free.

 

[tennis2]

The machines don't just have a windows 7 sticker on them that displays the 25 character key? Most do.

 

[Wolverine956]

The Small Form Factor system comes with a 255W PSU. That means that you will only be able to run a GPU that is powered by the PCIe slot only. The fastest GPU that you could go is the GTX 1650

Hey jeremyi, i know you said that my system comes with 255W PSU. So then why does GTX 1650 say 300 Watt power supply recommended. Plus it looks bigger to me. I looked into the GT1030 that Tennis2 recommended and that one looks smaller like the one it already has. I just want to make sure i order the right GPU that fits.

 

[InvalidError]

There are tons of sub-par quality PSUs out there and they don't know what the rest of people's PCs look like, so GPU vendors significantly inflate recommendations to avoid having to support the bulk of marginally workable setups.

 

[tennis2]

They do have low profile GTX1650s (Like this one)