Consider upgrading the Dell Precision T3500 to a "decent enough" gaming setup.
Consider upgrading the Dell Precision T3500 to a "decent enough" gaming setup.
Hey there! Welcome to the forum. This is my first post, so I'm not sure if it's in the right place—but I'm here anyway. Recently, I received two Dell Precision T3500s from service tags, which seem to be from around 2009 or 2010. While I was stuck at home in Australia, I decided to upgrade my old machine using their original specs:
- Xeon W3505 @ 2.53GHz
- 4GB DDR3-1333 RAM
- 500GB SSD (7200rpm)
- 7200rpm SATA drive
- Personal gaming rig (total cost: $428 AUD)
- Xeon X5687 @ 3.66GHz, 8TB RAM (~$50 AUD on eBay)
- Updated BIOS to A17
- 16GB PCI3-12800
- 750W Themsaltake LitePower (repurposed from my old Core2Dual PC)
- XFX RX580 GTS OC @ 8GB
- 240GB WD-Green SSD ($48 AUD)
- Two 1TB 7200rpm SATA drives
- TPLinkN300 Wi-Fi NIC (using existing parts)
Machine 2 was my daughter’s gaming/school art project (total $182 AUD):
- Xeon W3680 @ 3.33GHz, 6C12T (~$60 AUD on eBay)
- Updated BIOS to A17
- 8GB PCI3-10660 RAM (planned upgrade soon)
- New 750W Themsaltake LitePower ($89 AUD)
- Sapphire R9 290 Tri-x @ 4GB (repurposed from my old machine)
- 120GB WD-Green SSD ($33 AUD)
- 1TB WD 7200rpm SATA Drive
- Asus Wi-Fi NIC (from previous build)
All together, the total would be around $619 AUD to turn these two old machines into a decent beginner-level gaming setup. My rig was mainly for gaming, with a bit of work for art and drawing using Wacom pads. I was aiming for a higher-end Xeon W5690/W3690 but found the prices too steep.
I’m just an amateur, so any tips or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks for your time!
You continue relying on these risky power sources because they seem more convenient or cheaper, even though they pose serious safety risks. The Litepower products are actually quite hazardous and can cause major damage if mishandled.
Clean and mostly those lightweight models are quite risky and well-known for that. I strongly recommend swapping them out. If you don’t, both machines will be in the mid-range category, and your daughter might actually have a stronger CPU since more games benefit from more threads. However, these processors are quite old, so it probably won’t make a big difference.
Thanks for the update. I continued focusing on trusted brands such as Antec, Corsair, Cool Master and Thermaltake. After checking the costs, TT offered a solid price range. Considering the ongoing shortage of computer components, many PSUs are currently unavailable until late July 2020. Thermalstake seems like a good alternative—previously reliable, fits my budget, and I have available stock without any negative feedback. That makes it a clear option. Also, using the PSU calculator suggested a rig needs around 500W, but they recommend going up to 600W for safety. The original T3500 comes with 525W, so I chose to upgrade to 750W to ensure it won’t overload the PSU, even at 80% capacity. Since 750W is the same as both 650W and 750W models, this decision keeps me within budget and avoids risk.
Your rig will consume about 300 watts, while your daughter's will be near 400 watts because of the R9 290. Brand doesn't matter much. Each unit's quality varies; all brands you mentioned offer solid power supplies but poor ones exist. Just a heads-up, low-end LitePower PSUs often fail at around 300-400 watts continuously and are quite unreliable. I strongly recommend following this PSU tier list. Choose B tier and opt for a 500W or higher unit from that tier (or above) for both systems.
About half of Thermaltake items are really poor quality. That’s why there aren’t many negative reviews—most folks already know how bad thermalfakes are and just skip them. They do have a few good products, but most of what they sell is low-cost Chinese copies with many issues.
Most businesses offer affordable options. They don’t excel, but they work if you invest in a better model from them.