[SOLVED] Need help upgrading sons pc

[boba-dad]

I bought a computer for my son to play Minecraft and wanting to know what I could upgrade to make his computer run better. He has dell 390 desktop with an intel i5 2400, 8gb ram, 1tb hard drive. I’m not exactly sure all the specific but the motherboard has 2 sockets for ram and maxes at 16gb. I’m not looking to spend a fortune right away, just looking for someone who has an idea of what the next few things I should get for it

 

[Ralston18]

My first thought is to go to an SSD versus an HDD by cloning the 1 TB hard drive.

May not be viable if the HDD is really full.

What OS is he using?

Does his desktop have room for more memory?

An new GPU may help if there is an applicable PCIe slot available and if the PSU is able to support the additional power requirements.

Please post more about his system specs - hopefully there will be other comments and suggestions thereafter.

 

[mgallo848]

If you're basically looking to just play Minecraft that PC will provide enough power. The only thing you didn't list is the video card.

 

[smorizio]

as posted before a better gpu if he has none if the pc has a good power supply in it if not you need to replace it when you put in a gaming gpu.

 

[mgallo848]

A GTX 1030 or a GTX 1050 will be plenty for Minecraft

 

[boba-dad]

He is using windows 10 home. I believe his motherboard only has 2 sockets for ram but I could change it from 8gb to 16gb. I know it runs on integrated not dedicated graphics right now but there is room for a gpu, not sure what the psu is but I will check. Right now he is only playing Minecraft, roblox and watching YouTube, but he is wanting to play older kid games

 

[mgallo848]

In that case I would look for a GTX 1050. It won't require any additional power and will give you a balanced system. If he starts to play AAA games such as Battlefield V or The Witcher then you will need to consider building a newer, faster system.

Edit: if your case looks like this:
https://www.groupon.com/deals/gs-dell-optiplex-390-mt-intel-core-i3-3-3ghz-4gb-ddr3-ram-250gb-hard-drive-dvd-rw-hdmi-windows-7-profes

You can get this card https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16814125919
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If your case looks like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-OptiPlex-Professional-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00Y3SQRWA

Then get this instead:
https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16814137079

 

[boba-dad]

Thank you for your help. That’s kind of what I was thinking, but I’ve been out of the computer build game for many years, so I figured I’d try to get some extra advise. If anyone else has any ideas I’d still appreciate them. Also yes that is the case he has. I also was looking at the gtx1050ti 4gb, would this be much better?

 

[mgallo848]

The ti version will require additional power. The regular 1050 does not. You will have to double check your power supply and make sure it meets the requirements for the ti version. I also linked two pictures of two different cases in my previous post. Which picture were you referring to that looks like your son's case?