Office PC upgrades for Beamng

Yes I mentioned this earlier in the discussion. The site can be useful, I wouldn't buy things for Steam off there but for Windows, yes, I know many satisfied customers using it just for that.

DINGDINGDING I tried to warn people... but no one listens to the guy in the 98th percentile intelligence-wise.
Ah well. They must learn from their own mistakes if they wish not to learn from the warnings or mistakes of others.

Gotta keep fire extinguisher handy

Just buying an economy-grade pre-built with a Ryzen 2200G or 2400G (about 100$ more) and be done with it for *years*. No messing around with components that have seen 90% of their service/useful life already in an endless cycle of upgrades and wondering what's going to give-out next.

I respect other's efforts to game on a budget. We have a bunch of Core2 and Athlon II (original dual core Athlon II's from 2007~2008 vintage) machines going yet within our family/extended family. They're email, web-surfing and so-forth - and even Netflix with a half-decent 20~35$ video card from *years ago*. That's it. Not gaming.
This is not the game to try to run on a Core 2 Duo/Quad - you can try - in the end you will be disappointed.
If one's going to waste time trying to upgrade those machines, they best gain knowledge & find a modded BIOS, and import a modded 771 cpu that's been altered to fit the 775 socket both in physical notch placement and had pin-pads soldered. The platform for 771 Xeon's was support for a few years longer than the actual 775 socket was. Those CPUs are a few bucks for quad cores + <10$ for some pin-converter interposers (stickers, they call them, or something close), and feature a more modern (possibly unified - not certain here) core and sometimes more cache on the cpu. Otherwise they're available pre-modded and sometimes not very cost-competitive with the existing line of available used core 2 quads.

Look up on Craig's list or LSN (if it's local to you, it is here in south USA/Tennessee area), or classifieds, or peruse local ma-and-pa (independent) PC shops for something used. Or buy a refurbished HP business-class machine or Dell Optiplex with an i3 or i5 cpu & 8gb or more of RAM, or even a Lenovo (they're the best pick of the pre-built names), and slap a video card and possibly a larger power supply in it. If it has an SSD it will feel like a brand-new computer.

Entirely not worth trying to overclock an old Dell that's on it's last legs anyways. Donate it to charity for a write-off or keep it for a hobby project or backup PC. I can't throw stones about having a stack of old computers in the corner of the room - I always seem to. If this one goes to the great desk in the sky, or gets shot full of holes (etc, dies), I'll fashion something to use in short-term out of these cast-offs. Long-live Frankenputer... but save the BeamNG for a newer more current machine.
--Cheers!

 

Yeah i have to agree, these days the Q6600 and other Core 2 CPUs do not have the vigour that they used to. i had one with Q6600+GTX 750, and it ran well, the fan didn't even budge, core temps stayed at 50c under prime 95. It's a fun little project, and if you only need CPU upgrades, these machines are good. Although the power use is quite staggering. I actually overclocked mine, but only went from 2.4GHz to 2.66GHz before the thing realises and locks up. (overclocking is not allowed on these), but mine was a 745 with a 1066 FSB. (so pushing it higher than it's maximum was sketchy).

Increasing the clocks will increase power use, a little bit, not nearly as much as throwing more voltage at the chip. The poor VRMs don't need anymore power through them, although they are quite alright as is (marginal cooling, not overlocking friendly). Some Q6600s are able to go from 2.4 > 3 GHz without voltage increase, so there's a decent performance jump, without much extra power consumption.

Anyway, i'm probably giving the old dell a bit too much praise, it was my first computer, so i'm a bit sentimental (from 3FPS from 2.8GHz P4 to 30FPS with C2Q Q6600). it did last 3 years of constant use with the Q6600 and 750 on a now 13 year old powersupply that is clogged with dust, it's not used anymore because i have a haswell system now. It'll still power up, but it's old and tired, it's next in line for when my grandparent's PC dies. (C2D) (if it ever does)

Go for an Optiplex 790, those are sandy bridge, and sandy bridge still holds quite a candle to the gaming world of today, but make sure it's a quad core.

It's like many cheaper things, it's cheap yes, but spend a bit more and you get a lot more. Also the Core 2 machines don't really have the single core performance to run heavy vehicles like the T series. The Ryzen G series that @bob.blunderton mentioned is a fantastic CPU with good upgrade paths, save up for one of those and you are set for years