Digital Archaeology: Dell Vostro 230

The Vostro line from Dell was a low cost business line of desktops and laptops. This model features a Core 2 Quad processor. The original configuration included 3GB of RAM a 500GB hard drive used the integrated motherboard Intel video solution and shipped with Windows 7 32-bit. The current configuration includes the following:

• CPU: Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66 GHz
• RAM: 8 GB DDR3-1333
• Video: HIS HD 5550 Silence 1 GB (I think)
• SSD: Kingston 60GB

See the output of HardInfo for more details on the hardware.

The discrete GPU though not a particularly high performing model is still a significant improvement over the Intel graphics on the motherboard. The SSD is significantly smaller but also significantly faster than the original hard drive. The 8 GB maxes this machine out. This machine is certainly capable of running a modern OS such as Windows 10 or Linux. I have Xubuntu installed currently and it feels plenty fast.

The good news with this PC is that it seems to use pretty standard parts. Many times OEM systems, including many Dells, are proprietary in some way or another. In this case the power supply is a standard ATX model and even the motherboard seems to be easily swappable.

On the other hand, if you are just interested in adding a GPU, the existing power supply is going to be a big limitation as it is only 250 watts. That pretty much limits you to cards that don't require an external power connector.

As I mentioned above, the RAM is already maxed out at 8 GB which is enough basic tasks and older games. The CPU is already a fairly decent model. It can be upgraded to a Core 2 Quad Q9550 which is a couple of hundred MHz faster and includes a significantly larger L2 cache. However, it will probably give you less than a 10% bump over the Q8400 that's already installed.

Like all the machines I run, this one is running BOINC and crunching tasks for various projects. Having a 64-bit CPU and running a modern OS means it can do work for just about all available projects. Currently, this one is crunching tasks for Einstein@home, Milkyway@home, Rosetta@home, Asteroids@home, Universe@home and World Community Grid. You can see how it is doing overall at FreeDC.

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