[SOLVED] Need Help to Upgrade Old PC?

[Boizzey]

I have a dell inspiron 3847 with a Intel i5-4460 @ 3.20GHz, 8gb ram, no graphics card, and LGA 1150 motherboard. How do I upgrade it using modern parts? Any part suggestions? budget 200-300 dollars.

 

[Juan_Bijero]

What do you want to do with this computer? Gaming?

 

[ragnarok0274]

No modern parts are compatible with that. Considering that it's Dell, it will likely have a proprietary PSU, front panel, etc.
Really not much.

 

[Boizzey]

What do you want to do with this computer? Gaming?

Yes

 

[kwikgta]

You might can get a little more life out of it depending on the psu. Throw another stick of ram in in and a 1660 Super card, maybe replace the HDD with a SSD when you can afford it.

 

[Boizzey]

You might can get a little more life out of it depending on the psu. Throw another stick of ram in in and a 1660 Super card, maybe replace the HDD with a SSD when you can afford it.

Can I get better performance and value if I build a pc for 500?

 

[geofelt]

You have a decent start with the processor.
The power supply is going to be your limiter for the graphics card.
If you look at the power leads available out of the power supply, I doubt that you will find a 6 pin aux pcie power lead.
About the strongest card that will run without extra power will be a GTX1650. That is a good upgrade for gaming.
Perhaps something like this:
https://www.newegg.com/evga-geforce-gtx-1650-04g-p4-1151-kr/p/1FT-001K-004V9

8gb of ram can be restrictive so a 2 x 8gb DDR4 kit might be $60

For the future, try to replace a windows HDD C drive with a ssd.

 

[Boizzey]

You have a decent start with the processor.
The power supply is going to be your limiter for the graphics card.
If you look at the power leads available out of the power supply, I doubt that you will find a 6 pin aux pcie power lead.
About the strongest card that will run without extra power will be a GTX1650. That is a good upgrade for gaming.
Perhaps something like this:
https://www.newegg.com/evga-geforce-gtx-1650-04g-p4-1151-kr/p/1FT-001K-004V9

8gb of ram can be restrictive so a 2 x 8gb DDR4 kit might be $60

For the future, try to replace a windows HDD C drive with a ssd.

Should I build a PC for 500 dollars?

 

[geofelt]

Build is a decent option.
CPU, motherboard and ram might cost $250.
Then add in $100 for a quality psu, $70 for a case, $100 for a ssd, $250 for a graphics card, and $100 for windows and you are north of your budget.
Less, of course what you can sell the current pc for.
But you will have a superior pc and one that can be upgraded in the future.
The satisfaction will be priceless.

 

[Juan_Bijero]

For gaming, a new build would certainly do the best job of upgrading your overall performance. This definitely means a decent video card. I would not be worried about PCIE 4.0. There is little to no difference between the new standard and PCIE 3.0. Upgrading to a newer, faster processor will of course force you to spend even more because you will need to then upgrade the mobo, RAM and PSU. I just don't see $500 being enough for a complete rebuild. At the bare minimum, you will need to purchase a video card, RAM and power supply. I would start there. Just be warned that mixing ram sticks is not a good idea. You will need to have matched sets.

 

[Juan_Bijero]

Now is a really bad time to be upgrading or building a PC. I should know given the amount of cash I have put into my computer in the past 7 months. ($800+ for my RTX 3080 - See signature below) Another example: I paid less for my Ryzen 3700X in April than it is currently being sold for - and this is after the XTs and Ryzen 5000 series have come out. So I would strongly suggest holding off for the next few months if you can.