Dumping $$$ into an older system?

dave343

dave343

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I was given an older IBM Intellistation system and I'm debating upgrading it somewhat, though would it be a good idea? Here are the specs and what I was thinking of tossing in...

Intel E6700 2.66 (upgrade to Q6700 cost $100)
2GB 6400 ECC DDR2 (upgrade to 6GB, cost $70)
NV Quadro FX1500 (upgrade to ATI 6xxx series)

It's a decent system that was given to me for free so I'm debating if $300-400 in upgrades would be worth it. I recently went solely to a Dell XPS SB laptop, so a free desktop with some upgrades sounds good... if it's worth it.
 
Not worth it. If you are going to throw 3 to 4 hundred into something do it into something new not super old.
 
If you wanna build a workhorse for something then buying some ram and a CPU won't be a bad idea. You can buy Q6600's from fellow [H] members for about $100 bucks. However, 300-400 bucks can buy you a budget PC that will be 3 times faster than that. A generic i3-2100 with a budget micro atx will blow that system out of the water and cost you a fraction of what it would be to upgrade that thing.

Hell 400 bucks could just about build you a mid range gaming PC.
 
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dave343 said:
I was given an older IBM Intellistation system and I'm debating upgrading it somewhat, though would it be a good idea? Here are the specs and what I was thinking of tossing in...

Intel E6700 2.66 (upgrade to Q6700 cost $100)
2GB 6400 ECC DDR2 (upgrade to 6GB, cost $70)
NV Quadro FX1500 (upgrade to ATI 6xxx series)

It's a decent system that was given to me for free so I'm debating if $300-400 in upgrades would be worth it. I recently went solely to a Dell XPS SB laptop, so a free desktop with some upgrades sounds good... if it's worth it.
Click to expand...

Like the others stated, it's not worth the $400 or so price, especially since even a budget dual-core Sandy Bridge desktop can easily beat that older rig even after the older system has been upgraded.
 
Another vote for selling it and buying a Sandybridge i3
 
and one more on the boat... it isnt worth upgrading.
if you went with a 2100, http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/53?vs=289
id say build a bit bigger and spend an extra 100 or 200 on it over the 400 you planned to spend (not including what you made selling it, assume 200). for 700-800 you could have a damn good system (400 you planned, plus 200 made and 100 extra).

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/53?vs=288
i5 2500k, gigabyte z68 micro atx, 16gb ram and a 6950 for just over 700... you could go a bit cheaper running a 2400 and itd fall just under 700. cut the ram in half and its another 40 saved. then with that (using 2x4gb), you could save another 50 on a motherboard. given, i selected a bit higher up on the motherboard, the ram is just corsair xms i believe, 6950 is sapphire. this is assuming your reusing the power supply or have one laying around. if not, drop to a 6870 and there is the money for a decent psu.

at the least, just sell it and get a 2100. if you wanted to make sure you werent too far behind in a few years, the i5 2500k should suffice just fine.
 
Astronomica said:
Hell 400 bucks could just about build you a mid range gaming PC.
Click to expand...

I'd like to see this $400 gaming rig with a mid-range graphics card taking up $150 to $180 of the budget... I could see $500 to $600 though.

I second what most other people are saying that your best bet is to sell it and put those funds into a new computer. Alternatively, you could just get a new GPU (I'm assuming the power supply is okay since it had a Quadro in it) and try that for the time being, knowing that you'll need to move that GPU to a new system soon.

If you would like build help, be sure to answer questions in The Sticky so we can help you get the best build possible.
 
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