Dell XPS 630i, new CPU?

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LTVETTE2

LTVETTE2

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I have a Dell XPS that is 6 y.o., I just put a new SSD in it which really sped things up! Is it worth trying to put a used Q9550 in there to replace the Q6600, or am I getting a little carried away here? I am not even sure if the old chipset and Dell BIOS will do much with it......any thoughts out there?
 
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Obnoxious
Upgrading to Q9550 would definitely provide a performance boost; actually, the Q9550 is better than my current budget CPU, the G840 on socket 1155. Upgrading to Q9550 would be grand, however I doubt you would notice any difference from your current CPU on daily tasks. Your SSD is your best upgrade.

It depends on what you use this Dell machine for. If it's for gaming, a Q9550 and a decent GPU should allow you to run majority of the games out there today. As this is a Dell machine, packed with a Dell OEM motherboard; as you have stated you will not be able to overclock, or "tinker" with many settings.

If you're still using this computer daily, you could upgrade it if you desire. I also have a passion for upgrading old hardware to the...
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Vitric9

Vitric9

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Sorry I am going to have to guess that the Chipset it uses is the Nvidia nForce 650i ultra or. Every site I went to for that PC has different info but the chipset was the same in the ones that had it in the specs. There is a few Motherboards that use this Chipset. Like the nForce 650i Ultra MB here:..http://www.nvidia.ca/object/designed_by_nvidia_650i_ultra.html. You can put in a Q9550 but I am pretty sure you would need a BIOS update. The Yorkfield(45nm) CPUs came out in 2008 so older 775 socket Mobos would need a BIOS update. But you are already using a Core 2 Quad and if you can get a half decent OC on it than the performance would be very close to a q9550. As it stands without any overclocking the Q9550 is rougly 20-30% faster.
 
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LTVETTE2

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LTVETTE2

LTVETTE2

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I am pretty sure that the Dell BIOS will not allow me to do much with any type of overclocking. I have been in there quite a bit and all it has is a CPU "multiplier" which says 9X, but speccy says it is running at factory speed of 2.4 ghz. Dell really doesn't like customers poking around in the system from what I gather, and this system really was top of the line 6 years ago, for Dell. My changing the boot drive to a SSD really improved performance. I am guessing that I am getting the most out of this computer right now, and it really runs fairly well considering. I put it up on my bench and looked it over, and it is a pretty well put together machine. I am just one of those people that likes to tinker, and I am always keeping my older systems upgraded as much as possible. Thank you for your time, but I wonder if 20-30% is worth $100 unless I can sell the old Q6600. I just did a build( i5-k, Asus Maximus) for the first time in 25 years, which makes me want to fix up everything :)
 
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Obnoxious

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Upgrading to Q9550 would definitely provide a performance boost; actually, the Q9550 is better than my current budget CPU, the G840 on socket 1155. Upgrading to Q9550 would be grand, however I doubt you would notice any difference from your current CPU on daily tasks. Your SSD is your best upgrade.

It depends on what you use this Dell machine for. If it's for gaming, a Q9550 and a decent GPU should allow you to run majority of the games out there today. As this is a Dell machine, packed with a Dell OEM motherboard; as you have stated you will not be able to overclock, or "tinker" with many settings.

If you're still using this computer daily, you could upgrade it if you desire. I also have a passion for upgrading old hardware to the best available/maximum upgrades; I always put the max. amount of RAM and best CPU in my old hardware.

Anyhow all the best. :)
 
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LTVETTE2

LTVETTE2

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LTVETTE2

LTVETTE2

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I only use this one now for surfing or rather simple tasks, so I think $ 100-200 is probably better spent elsewhere, as much as I would love to see how much faster I could get this thing to go......it is the Nvidia 650 chipset, but I am not sure if the BIOS would even recognize and use a Q9550 properly. I will probably be better served by leaving this system as built by Dell, and focusing on another new build.....but I am running out of space for my older system, lol. As I said before, I hate to toss anything that still works, especially any type of technology items. Thanks again for your time helping me, Larry
 
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LTVETTE2

LTVETTE2

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Thank you. It was just a thought, but system has a dell bios, probably won't allow overclocking. Plus it is 6 years old and runs fairly well the way it is now with a new SSD. This is a good solid secondary computer which I will stay with for a while. Would hate to mess it all up by trying to push it to hard :)
 
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Kisianik

Kisianik

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Actually, only above mentioned CPUs can be safely overclocked in 630i, I can guide you through if you want.

Look at my signature, I also have locked Dell BIOS, but I was able to overclocked my Dell as well. There is always a way, difficult or more difficult, depends on determination of the user.
 
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