I usually replace my computer every four or five years, but high memory and graphics-card prices have convinced me to keep this system for another couple of years. In the meantime, I'd like to make a worthwhile but budget-conscious upgrade—nothing extreme or expensive.
I mainly play VRChat and Subnautica 2, rather than especially demanding GPU-heavy games. My current system is:
- Dell OptiPlex 9020
- Intel Core i7-4790
- GeForce RTX 3060
- 32 GB of RAM
- Linux Mint 22.3 Xfce and Windows 10 in a dual-boot setup
I'm not interested in installing Windows 11. I was also considering moving the operating systems to an NVMe drive, but the computer reports that NVMe booting isn't supported. What upgrade, if any, would make sense for this system while I wait to build a new computer?
3 Answers
You’re essentially at the limit of the OptiPlex platform. The i7-4790 is already near the top of what its LGA1150 motherboard supports, and the system uses DDR3 memory—not DDR4 or DDR5. The practical upgrades are a SATA SSD, if you don’t already have one, or a different graphics card. Since the RTX 3060 should be fine for the games you listed, a GPU upgrade probably wouldn’t be worthwhile right now.
An NVMe drive would be faster on paper, but the real-world improvement over a decent SATA SSD is usually much smaller than expected, and your motherboard may not support booting from NVMe anyway. For a major CPU improvement, you’d need a new motherboard, CPU, memory, case-compatible power supply, and possibly a cooler. You could probably reuse the RTX 3060 and any usable SSD.
I’d avoid upgrading the graphics card for now. For VRChat and similar games, the older CPU can be a bigger limitation than the RTX 3060, especially in busy environments. If you already have a SATA SSD, the best move may simply be to keep the current system, make sure it has adequate cooling, and save for a platform replacement rather than spending on parts that won’t transfer to the next build.
There isn’t really a meaningful CPU upgrade available for that machine. The i7-4790 is effectively the endpoint for that socket, so replacing it with another compatible processor would cost money without changing performance much. The Dell’s proprietary motherboard and power-supply setup also make larger component swaps less convenient.
If you decide to rebuild on a budget, a used Ryzen 5000 system or a 12th-generation Intel system with a DDR4 motherboard could be a good value. You’d need the board, processor, RAM, power supply, and possibly a case, but you could carry over the RTX 3060 and storage. A DDR5/AM5 build would last longer, but it would cost substantially more and would make the RTX 3060 more likely to become the next limiting component.
That’s what I was afraid of. I’m going to check the exact memory modules, but I may have been confusing DDR3 support with DDR5.