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Q: Dell Inspiron 545MT CPU upgrade

Tags:
  • Core 2 Duo
  • 545MT
  • CPUs
  • Core 2 Quad
  • Dell Inspiron
  • Memory Upgrade
Last response: in CPUs
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September 21, 2013 6:19:00 PM

Dear all,

This is (sort of) a continuation to my previous thread in Here.

I have upgraded my GPU to Radeon HD7750 to my Dell Inspiron 545MT and received noticable difference in graphics performance across most current gaming titles such as Starcraft 2 and BF3. However, I have hit a brick wall while playing Final Fantasy 14:ARR - the lag is immense (at around 14fps) while I am in crowded areas and in places with many partical effects (and load time is horrible) but the game run smooth at 50-60fps while in a 4 men party inside a dungeon.

Therefore, I am considering upgrading my CPU from Core 2 Duo to Core 2 Quad. However, what I need to know is-

First: will my Dell 0N826N version A01, socket 775 LGA motherboard support Core 2 Quad? (although I know that it will fit but what I need to know is would my motherboard restrict a core 2 quad processor from performing 100% of its functionality).

Second: will the upgrade make any difference to the overall usage experience of my machine? (please pay consideration that I am using four 1GB DDR2 800 (PC2-6400) 400MHz RAM across all four slots on the Mo-bo).

Lastly: what type of Core 2 Quad would you recommand for great value and work efficiently with my HD7750 GPU. (And work within my 300 PSU limit)

Many thanks before hand.

More about : dell inspiron 545mt cpu upgrade

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September 21, 2013 7:42:51 PM

Beaumont Yun said:
Dear all,

This is (sort of) a continuation to my previous thread in Here.

I have upgraded my GPU to Radeon HD7750 to my Dell Inspiron 545MT and received noticable difference in graphics performance across most current gaming titles such as Starcraft 2 and BF3. However, I have hit a brick wall while playing Final Fantasy 14:ARR - the lag is immense (at around 14fps) while I am in crowded areas and in places with many partical effects (and load time is horrible) but the game run smooth at 50-60fps while in a 4 men party inside a dungeon.

Therefore, I am considering upgrading my CPU from Core 2 Duo to Core 2 Quad. However, what I need to know is-

First: will my Dell 0N826N version A01, socket 775 LGA motherboard support Core 2 Quad? (although I know that it will fit but what I need to know is would my motherboard restrict a core 2 quad processor from performing 100% of its functionality).

Second: will the upgrade make any difference to the overall usage experience of my machine? (please pay consideration that I am using four 1GB DDR2 800 (PC2-6400) 400MHz RAM across all four slots on the Mo-bo).

Lastly: what type of Core 2 Quad would you recommand for great value and work efficiently with my HD7750 GPU. (And work within my 300 PSU limit)

Many thanks before hand.


Hello! It seems we meet again!

Well, overall I don't think the upgrade will make too much of a difference. You have a combination of RAM and CPU bottlenecking, and overall it's probably a little killer, since MMOs are especially RAM and CPU heavy for the most part. However, if you have a $225 budget or so budget, I can recommend you a brand new CPU, Motherboard, RAM kit, and PSU that will all work well in conjunction with your HD 7750.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G2120 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($66.50 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.46 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($22.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $222.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-21 22:34 EDT-0400)

While this won't make your machine into a beast, it will help with a great number of problems. As for why I recommended you another Duo Core instead of a quad core:
All of the Quad (4) cores of your Motherboard's compatible socket are extremely old. In other words, the architecture of any of the quad cores that would fit your socket is so outdated, that current duo (2) cores actually perform better than them. Here's a great comparison of a modern Duo core vs one of the higher end Quad cores of your Motherboard's generation:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G2020-vs-Intel-Co...

UPDATE: In addition, that older quad core requires a lot more wattage (44 W vs 77 W), produces a lot more heat (55 W TDP vs 95 W TDP), and is way more expensive ($66.50 vs $190.98), so overall it's pretty obvious that you'll want to go for a modern duo core.
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September 22, 2013 7:30:38 AM

Hi! Many thanks for the advise (and previous advise!)

I didn't know that Intel continue to make core2duo processors nowadays. I always thought that they stopped the production line and shift to i3/i5/i7. So thank you, this is news to me.

I will take to heart of your CPU/RAM and motherboard suggestions. However, I have a small query regarding the PSU- what/which part of the upgrade unit you have suggested that would require drawing an extra 140W power, compare to my current PSU? Because I just presume that the new core2duo CPU will draw the same power as my current core2duo (be it might be a small difference considering the extra .3GHz processing power.) but still, is it that prudent to opt for a PSU upgrade?

Also, what kind of difference will this upgrade make? Currently I have a smooth game play at medium settings for BF3 in a 30-player server. Will this "juice" up to smooth at high settings?

One last thing, I am quite new in terms of knowledge in motherboards. I want to know what kind of things I need to watch out for (in terms of software side of things). For example, BIOS, and do I need to make any updates/drivers/or whatnot, as well as reinstalling windows etc? (If you got any links to articles for me to read up on, that would be appreciated as well. Since it will probably save you time educating me.)

I wish I live in the States lol. Everything is so expensive in the UK.
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a b à CPUs
September 22, 2013 8:58:03 AM

Beaumont Yun said:
Hi! Many thanks for the advise (and previous advise!)

I didn't know that Intel continue to make core2duo processors nowadays. I always thought that they stopped the production line and shift to i3/i5/i7. So thank you, this is news to me.

I will take to heart of your CPU/RAM and motherboard suggestions. However, I have a small query regarding the PSU- what/which part of the upgrade unit you have suggested that would require drawing an extra 140W power, compare to my current PSU? Because I just presume that the new core2duo CPU will draw the same power as my current core2duo (be it might be a small difference considering the extra .3GHz processing power.) but still, is it that prudent to opt for a PSU upgrade?

Also, what kind of difference will this upgrade make? Currently I have a smooth game play at medium settings for BF3 in a 30-player server. Will this "juice" up to smooth at high settings?

One last thing, I am quite new in terms of knowledge in motherboards. I want to know what kind of things I need to watch out for (in terms of software side of things). For example, BIOS, and do I need to make any updates/drivers/or whatnot, as well as reinstalling windows etc? (If you got any links to articles for me to read up on, that would be appreciated as well. Since it will probably save you time educating me.)

I wish I live in the States lol. Everything is so expensive in the UK.


Actually, the new dual core actually uses less power and is still far more powerful than your current duo core. So really, the new PSU is rather unnecessary. I just always find it's better to be safe than sorry, as over time PSUs and other parts degrade and go through capacitor degradation, which basically means parts need more power in order to hold a current. I threw in the PSU because I found it for a fantastic price, and part of the reason for the new parts is so you have something that's a little more future proof. In addition to a larger PSU to handle any upgrades, the new motherboard and CPU are of an LGA 1155 socket, meaning that a year or two from now you can buy a used or perhaps even a new i5-3570k (an absolutely superb CPU, and I can bet it'll continue to be a superb CPU 2 years from now) for a great price without having to upgrade your motherboard. But in short, no the new PSU shouldn't be prudent since you'll actually have parts that are now more power efficient. I'd be willing to bet that 2x4GB DDR3 RAM is also more power efficient than 4x1 GB DDR2 RAM.

In terms of a performance increase, it's a bit hard to give exact numbers, but it's glaringly obvious that your RAM and CPU are bottlenecking your GPU in a few games. It may or may not help bump up settings in BF3 a little, but overall the main advantage will come in servers with higher players. In both Final Fantasy and Battlefield 3, this will definitely help keep frames much smoother than they would be otherwise when more players are present. My only concern about this right now is if you're using Windows 7 32-bit. If it's 32-bit, you should consider buying 64-bit. Windows 7 32-bit only lets you take advantage of up to 4 GB of RAM, and RAM is extremely important when it comes to large multiplayer games. If you have Windows 7 64-bit, you should be ok.

If you live in the UK, here's the build through UK retailers. Simply subtract the PSU and/or the 64-bit Operating System as necessary:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G2120 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor (£49.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£59.92 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£60.21 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£39.30 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£68.39 @ Aria PC)
Total: £277.27
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-22 16:08 BST+0100)

As for the new motherboard, you'll want to backup your important information on your HDD and then install/reinstall Windows onto it. When you get a new motherboard, you're getting new drivers with it and there's plenty of conflicts that can arise from this since your HDD has its own drivers from your current motherboard on there. Because of this, it's best just to reinstall Windows so you wipe out the drivers currently installed onto your HDD.

If you're not buying the Windows 7 64-bit OEM disk I recommended, then make sure you still have the licensing key associated with your copy of Windows 7 as well. You can legally download a copy of Windows 7 from the following link, but you'll still need your licensing code to activate it:

http://best-windows.vlaurie.com/boot-disks.html#full

Once you download that, you can put it on a bootable USB or a blank DVD in order to reinstall it. Remember, make sure everything you have is backed up! There's a whole process about reinstallation you can look up if necessary, and it can be quite annoying. I've done it around 4 times for Windows 7 myself. If you're not upgrading to Windows 7 64-bit (because you already have 64-bit or you want to stick with 32-bit for now), you don't have to reinstall Windows or format your hard drive, but the driver conflicts may result in a lot of hassle. Sorry if this seems at all confusing or intimidating, let me know if it does and I'll do my best to try and write or direct you to a proper guide for the whole installation/reinstallation process.
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