Dell E521 Help

[lofty212]

Hello everyone, I really hope you are all able to help me. I'm kind of a newb when it comes to the tech aspect of computers, atleast when it comes to finding problems. I'm writing because I've been trying to upgrade my computer to play Warhammer Online. I had a stock Dell e521 until about a year ago when I added 2 gigs of ram and a GT8600 XxX to play TF2 and WoW. Everything ran fine. About a month ago I got into the Warhammer beta, when I was alone I would get around 20-30 FPS but when I was in a town or around 5-10 people my fps would drop to 1-5 instantly. Me bring the person I am instantly thought video card upgrade. I knew if I to upgrade I needed a new PSU. Last week I purchased a Asus 4850 and a Basiq BP500U (500W) PSU. I installed both of them and everything was fine. Loaded up Warhammer and while I cant say there was no improvement, it wasnt what I was expecting. Instead of 1-5 fps I have 5-10 in crunch times, and it still gets very choppy when new items pop up on screen (Not to mention my Max FPS might of improved 5 FPS only). So I did some research and did a complete reformat of my harddrive, didnt help. I'm running with 26 processes (including all the ATI ones). And I'm left wondering what is slowing me down to such a crawl. The only thing I can think of are either my Processor or my Mother Board... both of which I have no experience with. This is where I was hoping you all could help me out. Which of the two is more likely to help me and which is likely to be upgradable. I'm thinking the Processor is more upgradeable, but I dont what to upgrade again not see any improvement.

This is just me thinking out loud and going off a few things I've seen through google searches, but I believe my processor is only 1 core? Everything I've read is saying that is garbage and i need more cores for warhammer, if that makes sense? Ok, anyway I'm going to shut up and post so I might possible get some help.

I've included a CPUid log to hopefully help.

If it is my processor could someone possibly link one that is compatable, because that would be my next question because I have no idea what to look for.

Thank for the support in advance.


-------------------------
CPU-Z version 1.47
-------------------------

Processors Map
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 1

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0


Processors Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores 1 (max 1)
Number of threads 1 (max 1)
Name AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Codename Orleans
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
Package Socket AM2 (940)
CPUID F.F.2
Extended CPUID F.4F
Brand ID 4
Core Stepping DH-F2
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 2204.7 MHz (11.0 x 200.4 MHz)
HT Link speed 1002.1 MHz
Stock frequency 2200 MHz
Instructions sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64
L1 Data cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
max FID 11.0x
max VID 1.450 V
Features XD, VT
K8 Thermal sensor yes
K8 Revision ID 5.2
Attached device PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 0
Attached device PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 1
Attached device PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 2
Attached device PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 3

Chipset
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge NVIDIA GeForce 6150 rev. A2
Southbridge NVIDIA nForce 410/430 MCP rev. A3
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 3072 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 245.0 MHz (CPU/9)
CAS# 4.0
RAS# to CAS# 4
RAS# Precharge 4
Cycle Time (tRAS) 12
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 17
Command Rate 2T

 

[Just_An_Engineer]

You may want to look at a CPU upgrade. That single core 3500+ is going to be overwhelmed by today's video cards. I'd recommend upgrading to an X2 5000+ at least.

Here is a link to an X2 5000+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103211

Before buying one however make sure that your BIOS supports it!

Given that this is a Dell I wouldn't be surprised if there is no BIOS support for dual core processors.

 

[lofty212]

How would I go about checking that? I know I have Dell E521 1.1.11 Bios installed.

 

[carver_g]

Related thread

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/250684-28-upgrading-dell-dimesion-e521-question

 

[carver_g]

Given that this is a Dell I wouldn't be surprised if there is no BIOS support for dual core processors.

The e521 shipped with X2 processors.

 

[Just_An_Engineer]

The e521 shipped with X2 processors.

Sounds like an X2 5000+ for $60 would be a good upgrade for the OP then.

 

[rolf]

Sucess! After researching all over the web. I'm writing in hopes of helping someone. I just upgraded CPU in my Dell E521 with Nforce 430 chipset, 6150LE integrated video to an AMD 3.1 GHZ Athlon 64 X2 6000+ ADV60000DOBOX with no problems. With one exception, my bios is 1.0.3 and when I upgraded my bios to 1.1.10 , my bios wouldn't remember settings and would loop until I hit F12 and enter the boot setup, and boot into Windows. This may or may not happen to you but I had to revert back to 1.0.3. I know this topic is old but I hope it can help someone wanting to upgrade their Dell E521. This is the best CPU for the E521!!! I was able to overclock it using CBID and ClockGen. Run CBID and change the multiplier to 15. Run ClockGen and change the speed to 3.392 GHZ!!!. I guess I'm just lucky! You better buy before AMD discontinues this product!