[SOLVED] Upgrading my old HP Elite 7100 MT

[Tiki_EG]

I'm looking to upgrade my old HP Elite 7100 MT

Here's my model relevant specs :

PSU : OEM ATX 300 W

MOBO : MSI 2A9Ch

GPU : integrated Intel HD Graphics

Processor : Intel i5 650

RAM : 3x2 6 GB ( up to 16 4x4 )

Storage : 500 GB HDD

--------------------------------------------

So I have dual boot on my system. I'm a web developer so I have Linux + Windows 10. I do some development on this machine, and it's good, it doesn't really bottleneck or freeze unless I run a heavy testing suite or have a VM running, that's on Linux, which usually performs better than on Windows.

I was looking to increase the performance of the machine to be able to run heavier work on it + play some games smoothly.

I play CS, PUBG, Fortinte .... some indie games, don't need high fps and don't expect best performance, just something with good frame rate and smooth gameplay.

I don't have much money left, as my laptop crashed beginning of this year, and I had to buy a new one. So building a new PC might be expensive at this point, and I don't want to have this PC go to waste.

So here were my initial thoughts and after asking a bit, that's what I have in mind:

- Upgrade to 4x4 RAM to bring it to 16 GB --- ( $60 )
OR do 2x4 and use 2x2 I already have to 12 GB but I heard there might be compatibility issues, so I thought I'd get a set together

- 2x ( Curcial BX500/ Kingstone A400 ) 240 SSD --- ( $60 )
One for Linux and one for Windows installation, I have SATA 2 btw, so it will not be full performance but an upgrade on HDD

- AFOX GTX 750ti --- ( $100 )
This is the only GPU I could find, never heard of AFOX, but that's the affordable one + can work with my PSU

I'm already at $220 at this point .... which is a lot but it's still cheaper than any decent enough build I could do right now.

Here are some concerns I have :

- My processor will be a bottleneck for gaming with the GTX 750 ti

- If I decide to upgrade the processor, which I think the most I could get is i7 670, I'll need an upgrade to the heat sink too + a new case fanout to manage cooling

- I might need a higher PSU even without upgrading the processor, since it's tricky with the GTX 750 ti, which by all account would work on the 300W PSU but is doomed to cause issues at some point.

- This all would add to the cost which makes me think I should abandon the whole upgrade


Also a question I have, would just upgrading the RAM and adding an SSD for the Linux installation improve my development work a good bit with the current setup, leaving everything else ? Cause I might just opt out for that if I can't get a decent upgrade within cost for gaming.

I would appreciate all suggestions about what you think I should upgrade and what I should/shouldnt buy or do .... and is this worth it and doable within a $300 budget to increase the longevity of this PC.

Note: I would appreciate linking components if you are suggesting any as I'm a newbie to custom builds/upgrades

Thank you all in advance !

 

[tennis2]

What country are you in?

Why not just split a 500GB SSD ($60) into two partitions?

Looks like your motherboard accepts standard ATX power supplies. So that might not be a bad idea so upgrade the PSU.

Depending on your schedule for when the CPU+Mobo would be fully replaced, there are things you can do now that could be carried over to the "new" machine.

 

[Tiki_EG]

What country are you in?

Why not just split a 500GB SSD ($60) into two partitions?

Looks like your motherboard accepts standard ATX power supplies. So that might not be a bad idea so upgrade the PSU.

Depending on your schedule for when the CPU+Mobo would be fully replaced, there are things you can do now that could be carried over to the "new" machine.

I'm in Egypt, but I have friends coming from the US, so I'll have them bring the order for me cause here the prices are almost 2x

Since it's the same price for having two SSDs, I'd prefer having my Linux installation + work on a separate drive. It makes life much easier when upgrading or cloning drives later on.

 

[Skindredas]

Reviving old THREAD.

Does something like X3440 would work on this prep HP BOARD with latest BIOS? I have a chance to get ton of these, if X3440 is supported this PC would make nice entry level gaming PC (X3440+GTX 750Ti/GTX1050)