Upgrading from e6320 to e6500 cpu

[gromualdo]

hi-I acquired a dell xps 710 from a friend &
wanted to give it to the kids for gaming
has a gt 240 NVIDIA card/4gigs RAM/w Windows vista sp 2 and was wondering whether it would be possible to upgrade to the e6500 from the e6320 they both us the same socket (LGA 775) though the new on has 45nm tech vs the 65nm tech of the older cpu; the xps has a nvidia motherboard and chipset (BIOS is 1.4.1 which was released in 5/2007) and appears to be the latest one--thanks

 

[Snipergod87]

The E6500 was released Q1 of 2008, while your BIOS is Q2 of 2007, is there a list of supported CPU's on Dell website for that model? It would be good to know if there are any 45nm CPU's on that list. Chances are it will work however I have noticed on some systems, if I didnt upgrade the BIOS first the CPU fan runs @ 100% speed all the time until I upgraded the BIOS.

The GPU is not very good, however it may be adequate for their gaming needs (What games do they play)

 

[gromualdo]

usually fps types; occ strategy

 

[apache_lives]

if it started with a 65nm core2 cpu its probably the only spec chips supported, maybe the quads as well, the E6500 (pentium dual core) is a 45nm part and may not work with your old VRM design (unless you mean E6550)

both on the other hand are dual cores and are literally dead if you want to do anything serious - consider your options

 

[gromualdo]

yes it is the e6500 w 45 nm architecture

 

[Snipergod87]

if it started with a 65nm core2 cpu its probably the only spec chips supported, maybe the quads as well, the E6500 (pentium dual core) is a 45nm part and may not work with your old VRM design (unless you mean E6550)

both on the other hand are dual cores and are literally dead if you want to do anything serious - consider your options

Core 2's are still respectable, it depends alot on the games. Looking at your system a CPU upgrade would be needed and that Geforce 240, If you insist on using the current system look for a 65nm processor, the safest bet would be a 65nm with 1066Mhz FSB, the 1333Mhz FSB ones may or may not work.

 

[gromualdo]

thanks for the info--
also got a reply from dell that I could put a quad core--so how about an Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6700 2.66GHz 1066MHz 8MB LGA775 ?
looks to be compatible according to dell but the only issue they did not delve into was the power requirement (95W and also the possible issue of cooling this bad boy)