Upgrading old pc for a friends kids.

Hulluck

I have a old 1st gen I3 machine. 530 i think.  It has 4 gigs of ram. Basically a new  hd 7770 and  cx 430 power supply. Both bought same time. Both very little use.. Maybe a month or two.  In todays economy money can be tight for a lot of people.  Especially when a large family is in the picture.

A  life long friend of mine has 3 daughters nearby and I was thinking about picking up a 1st gen I5 or I7 for this machine and giving it to them since it's just sitting in the corner.  Basically I'm explaining why I am even thinking about upgrading such an old pc vs. him building one. He just doesn't have that kind of money.  The current I3 is definitely to slow. I think I saw a few I7's on amazon for 50$ or so. Would it be a capable machine for awhile with one of those cpu's  and put a 20 -30 dollar air cooler on it? Reason for the cooler is I've thought in the past that I have read the first gens put off a lot of heat.

Ridelynn

That is a good question.

A Core i7 8xx would be socket compatible, and likely the highest performing option. If you could snag one for very cheap, it may be worth while, Lynnfield is still admirable in performance, particularly if overclocked.

Just beware buying used computer equipment. CPUs are pretty hearty, but you never know if you are going to get someone's overly-overclocked problem - you mnay be better off just giving them the computer as-is, and letting them decide if they want to deal with the potential headache of a cheap upgrade.

A good CPU cooler for mild-moderate overclocks doesn't have to be expensive. The classic "cheap" good air cooler is the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 - costs about $30, performs adequately, and is usually my go-to generic aftermarket heatsink.

Hrimnir

Originally posted by Ridelynn

That is a good question.

A Core i7 8xx would be socket compatible, and likely the highest performing option. If you could snag one for very cheap, it may be worth while, Lynnfield is still admirable in performance, particularly if overclocked.

Just beware buying used computer equipment. CPUs are pretty hearty, but you never know if you are going to get someone's overly-overclocked problem - you mnay be better off just giving them the computer as-is, and letting them decide if they want to deal with the potential headache of a cheap upgrade.

A good CPU cooler for mild-moderate overclocks doesn't have to be expensive. The classic "cheap" good air cooler is the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 - costs about $30, performs adequately, and is usually my go-to generic aftermarket heatsink.

Basically agree with this entire post. If you can find a lightly used i7 860 or something like that, would be a great fit for the system, there are just some inherent risks.  As he said, Procs are pretty robust, but if you got some moron who overvolted it or something overclocking it, you could be buying a ticking time bomb.

The CM Hyper 212 is actually a fantastic cooler, not just for the price, its good period.  You'll pay 2-3x as much to only gain maybe 10% better cooling ability.

 

Edit: Just checked ebay, there are some i5-750's at around 50 bucks and a lot of them have 14-30 day return policies if its DOA or something like.

Hulluck

I might be getting someone elses problem or not. But at the price im looking at. Not a huge loss and expectations definitely arent high. Gotta be better than a $300 emachine if it works out.