upgrading brother's dell.

[Hard Line]

Hey everyone... usually I am the guy to get answers from, but today I am stumped... Dell has no clue what their machines support and google was no help at all....I would like to upgrade his machine.. he has a pentium 4 with HT i think it's 850.. not positive, i am waiting for him to let me know.. along with the intel chipset the mainboard uses.. it does support PCI express, and DDR2 as I got him a 3850 512 and 2GB of DDR2 for X-mas....can anyone help me figure out what the machine can take for cpu? Thank you all in advance

 

[Shadow703793]

Run CPUZ and post the info under "Motherboard". Also make sure you get a new PSU if you plan to run a 3850.

 

[mford66215]

go to dell's support and type in the 'service tag' for the machine in question, it will at least tell you what the system contains.

Then post that list here (or the service tag) and we'll be able to tell you what few upgrades are available.

edit: I like Shadow's answer better than mine. :lol:

 

[Hard Line]

apparently he went away for the weekend so I will have to wait till monday to get more info from him, also shadow, the machine already has the 3850 installed and running smooth as silk no hiccups at all.... it's a 35w psu from dell go figure.. I was all set to get him a new psu too....

 

[dagger]

Most motherboards with pcie also support dual core cpus. You should upgrade it, the p4 will severely bottleneck 3850.

Instead of throwing money at an old p4...from Dell, it might be more cost effective to upgrade him a whole new machine.

 

[quantumsheep]

just get new motherboard and cpu, cheap intel chipset with E2160 then overclock it. Due to the low FSB of the E2160 a cheap motherboard will be fine for overclocking it. All in you'd be looking at £90 for a really nice upgrade!

 

[Shadow703793]

Most motherboards with pcie also support dual core cpus. You should upgrade it, the p4 will severely bottleneck 3850.

Instead of throwing money at an old p4...from Dell, it might be more cost effective to upgrade him a whole new machine.

Well said and true. About the PSU... I strongly advice you get a good PSU( even a Tire 3). Those Dell PSUs are cr@p imo. The Dell PSU will probably die in about 6-8months. The exception is the Dell XPS gaming rigs, i have heard those PSUs are pretty good.

 

[Shadow703793]

just get new motherboard and cpu, cheap intel chipset with E2160 then overclock it. Due to the low FSB of the E2160 a cheap motherboard will be fine for overclocking it. All in you'd be looking at £90 for a really nice upgrade!

Agreed.

 

[Hard Line]

just wanted to keep him limping along till the fall.. He is gonna have me build him a new box then...machine only has to last till then...

He doesn't play demanding games really.. just wow and rf online...he's not like me

 

[Shadow703793]

^Then probably no need to upgrade. Overclock (through BIOS) if possible or do a BSEL mod .

 

[bliq]

It's a dell so OCing is probably out of the question.

It's a pain but I'd try to figure out what model it is and see what other processors that model offered. There's no guarantee that any faster processors like core 2 duo will be compatible with the BIOS, even if it's known to be compatible with the chipset. Sometimes, the Dell BIOS specifies new support for a processor family.

 

[Hard Line]

that is a good point on the chipset compatibility.. I went through this b4 on his machine cuz I was considering it before....I rememeber the chipset definitely supports core 2 I didn't think of the bios stopping it.. I think I may just leave as is..... as far as oc'ing, I thought of that 2, but dell makes sure you can't....

 

[delluser1]

P4HT + PCI-E + DDR2 + 350 watt psu, hmmm, Dimension 8400 ?
You're stuck with P4 5xx and 6xx chips if that's the case, and your power supply should probably last until the fall if it's been going this long, they are more robust than they're given credit for.

 

[Hard Line]

again I don't have the model number.. but does seem to hit a nerve with that model number....I will just have him hold off till the fall....

 

[firetatoo]

dude... just use cpu-z and check under motherboard. then google the chipset and you will see what kinds of procs it will support.
easy peezy

 

[Shadow703793]

Still... why not try a BSEL mod? Most people these days have forgotten or don't know about the good old BSEL mods .

 

[weilin]

Not quite that ez.... some 945/975 chipsets can take the core 2 if they are the proper revision. The 945 and the 975 as specific examples, they were the most well known chipsets that got revisions to support core 2, there may be others. Also, even if the chipset/board does. That doesn't mean dell bios would recognize the new processor. They aren't known to be quite as prompt at bios revisions as aftermarket boards.

 

[runswindows95]

just get new motherboard and cpu, cheap intel chipset with E2160 then overclock it. Due to the low FSB of the E2160 a cheap motherboard will be fine for overclocking it. All in you'd be looking at £90 for a really nice upgrade!

I agree with this as well.

 

[Hard Line]

thank you everyone.. when he comes back, I was alreeady gonna have him get cpuz etc... however.... the dell bios I think will be the prob.... I know the chipset supports core 2....(not sure about revision) when I have the info, I can check dells website for bios

 

[joefriday]

Still... why not try a BSEL mod? Most people these days have forgotten or don't know about the good old BSEL mods .

The Dimension 8400 already comes with a hyperthreading P4. That means 800 fsb. The 8400 uses the vanilla 925 chipset, meaning that 800 fsb is the highest supported...no pinmod to higher FSB is possible.

P4HT + PCI-E + DDR2 + 350 watt psu, hmmm, Dimension 8400 ?
You're stuck with P4 5xx and 6xx chips if that's the case, and your power supply should probably last until the fall if it's been going this long, they are more robust than they're given credit for.

Delluser, that 6xx CPU needs to be 90nm still, iirc. I've looked over this twice before, and I think I remember that 65nm Cedar Mill CPUs (6x1 series) are a no-go.


Dagger:
The fact that the 8400 uses the 925 chipset also means that no dual cores are supported. Prescott P4s are where it's at.


To the OP:
If this guy's dell is not an older clamshell case 8400, but turns out to be a newer BTX style Dell, you should have at least some sort of dual core support.

 

[o1die]

I would first figure what type of motherboard your system has; btx is available from Intel online for around $55 in pricewatch. Check the backplate and case connections carefully. It might be easier to get a new case and transfer reusable stuff over than try to use to your old dell case. A vender called xoxide has an aluminum chenming 301 case in 3 colors for only $36 including shipping.

 

[Hard Line]

his machine is not a clamshell model and not BTX.. it is an atx model....

 

[Shadow703793]

The Dimension 8400 already comes with a hyperthreading P4. That means 800 fsb. The 8400 uses the vanilla 925 chipset, meaning that 800 fsb is the highest supported...no pinmod to higher FSB is possible.

True.

 

[joefriday]

his machine is not a clamshell model and not BTX.. it is an atx model....

If the case is truly neither a clamshell model nor BTX (but still a Dimension series), it must be a 4xxx series minitower, specifically the Dimension 4700. If your bro's case is none of these, then his Dell is either quite new (less than two years old) or not a Dimension series.

EDIT: Pics removed out of consideration for the host sites. They served their purpose and are no longer needed.

 

[Hard Line]

yes his casse is like the last one you posted...