The Vostro line from Dell was a low cost business line of desktops and laptops. Many times they were slight variations of Inspiron models internally with a different external design. Generally Vostros, whether laptop or desktop models, were all black with blue lighting. The Vostro 230 is no exception. This model (or at least my variant) 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. If you really wanted to use this as a daily driver you would probably need to install a data drive. 60GB is really tiny by today’s standards…which is somewhat amusing as my first “PC” included a 340MB hard drive to which I later added a MASSIVE 1GB drive…
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. In that sense, upgrades are pretty much only limited by what you can fit in the case.
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. Something like a GT 1030 would probably be a good match for this system if you wanted to do some semi-modern gaming.
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. Many Vostro 230s shipped with slower Core 2 Duo CPUs so in those cases the upgrade would be well worth it.
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.
