Lets try this again

[crypta]

Hello all,
I know there are a few threads about this topic on here and i have read them but I wanted to ask this question again since the other posts are older.

Long story short, my XPS M1730 decided not to restart on me last month and I have had to revert to my old desktop Dell dimension E521. I want to upgrade my machine and was wondering what would be the best AMD choice for performance that will work on the motherboard, which is this according to CPU-Z

System is 32 bit only, I believe. Windows 7 (came with vista)

Motherboard:

Dell model OUW457 A03
Chipset Nvidia Geforce 6150 Rev. A2
Southbridge Nvidia nforce 410/430 MCP Rev. A3
LPCIO SMSC
Bios Dell inc v1.1.4 12/09/2006

The current cpu is:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+ 2.0GHZ
code name Windsor brand id 4
socket AM2 (940)
Technology 90nm core VID 1.25v

lots more info there but i have no idea what some of that stuff means... lol

Anyways the computer came with 2MB Ram, 256mb vid card which died a few months ago and I ran to Best Buy and got a Galaxy Geforce GT220 1GB vid card as its replacement. I think there is a bottleneck and I just ordered 1 more GB Ram for it and got to wondering about upgrading the CPU as well, and I want to get the best possible upgrade that will fit on that motherboard. I want to stay with AMD. I read on here that the AMD 64 x2 6000 CPU would work but I'm having a hard time finding one online to buy that I would trust as being brand new. Saw an older link for that cpu from CompUSA for $59.99 but no longer available... only ones I can find are like $169 Amazon Ebay etc... went to Newegg and no luck there for that specific CPU either.

Can someone tell me what upgrade CPU would work really well with that 1GB vid card, 3mb Ram, that I can just swap my current CPU with? Is the Athlon II the same thing as the Athlon 64x2 under a different name? I found several Athlon II's to buy but will they work with this motherboard? I'm using Windows 7 ultimate as my OS.

Sorry if this post is rather scattered but I am virtually illiterate when it comes to geekspeak, but I wish to LEARN!

Any constructive replies are greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

 

[crypta]

ps I dont know whay it posted this twice... sry ... spam not intended

 

[crypta]

I want to upgrade my CPU. What would be the best option performance wise that will work best with this motherboard and other components? I want a CPU that I can just swap out with my old one. I have no interest in buying a new motherboard at this time.
System is 32 bit . Windows 7 (came with vista)

according to CPU-Z

Motherboard:

Dell model OUW457 A03
Chipset Nvidia Geforce 6150 Rev. A2
Southbridge Nvidia nforce 410/430 MCP Rev. A3
LPCIO SMSC
Bios Dell inc v1.1.4 12/09/2006

3MB RAM

Graphics card is Nvidia Geforce GT220 1GB 128bit DDR2
40nm

The current cpu is:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+ 2.0GHZ
code name Windsor brand id 4
socket AM2 (940)
Technology 90nm core VID 1.25v

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[HEXiT]

amd athlon 64, 6400+x2 (3.1-3.2ghz)is as high as you can go on socket 940 unless you get a bios upgrade that allows low end phenoms.

 

[crypta]

amd athlon 64, 6400+x2 (3.1-3.2ghz)is as high as you can go on socket 940 unless you get a bios upgrade that allows low end phenoms.

Thank you for the reply Hex!t. 1 or 2 more questions kind sir.. current cpu is windsor... would brisbane work on the same motherboard or do I hafta go with windsor again? Also Will a Athlon II cpu work or does it hafta be Athlon 64 x2? do they both use the 940? Forgive my ignorance I dont know that much about architecture and all that. I just thought I could squeeze a year or two more out of this computer without spending a lot, before buying/building a new gaming beast with the the latest shinies.

Also do you know of a place online that I can get one of those athlon 64, 6400+x2 (3.1-3.2ghz) for a decent price? All the ones I have found are from $169-399 Amazon Ebay... newegg doesnt even have it nor do other places. The newer AMD cpus they sell are far cheaper than the 64. Why is this so?

once again tyvm!

 

[GhislainG]

Before buying you should make sure that your motherboard/BIOS will support the new CPU. HEXiT mentioned that socket 940 can support up to a 6400+x2, not that your system will. You probably should contact Dell support.

 

[HEXiT]

as far as other cpu's go you will have to contct your motherboard manufacturer. some gave out bios upgrades that would support newer cpu's while others didnt. i think dell are 1 of the 1s that didnt. but the actual motherboard manufacturer may have done.

the winsor and brisbane both use the 940 socket they are both the same chip basically but 1 is on a smaller dye the brisbane is actually 2 percent slower than the winsor because of the materials used when they shrunk the cpu down. but the smaller cpu can be oc'd a little better with the rite cooling.

your not wrong in saying the amd cpu's are expensive as they are no longer in production, but you may be able to pick up a used 1 cheap and still have a decent cpu as they didnt oc that well so people tended not to bother pushing them.


run cpu-z it may give you more detail on what your actual motherboard is rather than the dell description.

 

[computernugget]

well normally an am2 motherboards can allow am2+ cpu's to work on it. i dont know if dells motherboard will work with it. and AM3 cpu's will work on am2+ motherboards as well, but like i said i dont know if it will work on yours.

 

[crypta]

Before buying you should make sure that your motherboard/BIOS will support the new CPU. HEXiT mentioned that socket 940 can support up to a 6400+x2, not that your system will. You probably should contact Dell support.

Thank you for the input. I didnt bother with contacting Dell Support as I have owned a few Dells and customer support is impeccible while your system is under warranty. But if not they want $50 just to talk to you. lol I saw some posts from other ppl that have the same mobo as me and they were using the 6000+ 3.0GHZ cpu with no probs. Would like to have found one of those but I didnt wanna pay that much for obsolete cpu. Looking forward to my first build in about a year. I'm gonna make it a beast, and will probably come back here seeking wisdom on selecting components for it.

I found this, AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.7GHz 2x512KB Socket AM2 Dual-Core CPU, on computergeeks.com for $53.00 and went ahead and ordered it. It has 90 day warranty and condition was listed as "new" If it doesnt work I can just send it back. I have my fingers crossed that everything will work ok though. I hope it will be a nice jump in performance from my current CPU (2.0GHZ), and for around 50 bucks seemed reasonable price to me. I could not find a 6000+ at a reasonable price so I settle for this one.

Thanks guys for the input. Much appreciated...

 

[crypta]

as far as other cpu's go you will have to contct your motherboard manufacturer. some gave out bios upgrades that would support newer cpu's while others didnt. i think dell are 1 of the 1s that didnt. but the actual motherboard manufacturer may have done.

the winsor and brisbane both use the 940 socket they are both the same chip basically but 1 is on a smaller dye the brisbane is actually 2 percent slower than the winsor because of the materials used when they shrunk the cpu down. but the smaller cpu can be oc'd a little better with the rite cooling.

your not wrong in saying the amd cpu's are expensive as they are no longer in production, but you may be able to pick up a used 1 cheap and still have a decent cpu as they didnt oc that well so people tended not to bother pushing them.


run cpu-z it may give you more detail on what your actual motherboard is rather than the dell description.

yeah I posted most of the information from CPU-z about my mobo in the original post.
I think the information you were referring to is this: and inside the machine i can see nvidia on 2 of the chips:

Chipset: Nvidia Geforce 6150 Rev. A2
Southbridge: Nvidia nforce 410/430 MCP Rev. A3
LPCIO: SMSC <---------------------------- have no clue on what that stands for LOL
Bios Dell inc v1.1.4 12/09/2006 <------- This is the latest BIOS version I could find for the E521 on Dells page.

You mentioned overclocking, Thats really what prompted me to look for a couple small upgrades for this machine in the first place. my XPS M1730 refused to restart for me last month so I sought ways to speed this desktop up. I did some reading hoping I could learn how to do it through the BIOS, which I dont think my motherboard will allow me to. I'm not 100% sure of this but I didnt wanna take chance with something I had just looked into.. when i went into bios I saw some fields that said something like, these fields can not be altered or somethin like that. So I concluded that I probably could not oc this comp, cuz i had read that some oem boards wont let you.

but I found clockgen and that seems like a lovely, easy to use, effective program to oc ur rig. It changes FSB as I sure you already knew that. I have tons of questions about oc'ing that I want to learn about. feels almost like a hobby lol. I messed with clockgen but comp locked up on me 2 times, once as soon as I changed the values, and another time when I was in the middle of Tol Borad BG on WOW but the computer had been on for quit a while b4 it did that... anyways I have been clocking this one to 2.200ghz for about 2 weeks and it will run all day long no probs. ive used 2.25 no probs too but just keep it at 2.200. I can definitly tell a difference too. Noticed it immediatly. So theoretically I might can squeeze 2.9 out of the new one when when it arrives... not gonna try it right off the bat tho... gotta "break it in" first

wish me luck! Thanks again

 

[crypta]

well normally an am2 motherboards can allow am2+ cpu's to work on it. i dont know if dells motherboard will work with it. and AM3 cpu's will work on am2+ motherboards as well, but like i said i dont know if it will work on yours.

thanks for the reply. I did not know that about the am2+ cpu might work on am2 socket. I found Athlon 64 x2 2.7GHZ AM2 CPU for around $50. So I went ahead and ordered it. Maybe not the best choice but 700MHZ more should help speed me up enough to be satisfied until I can get a better pc. I would like to build one from the ground up but I've never done it before. Dont thiink I will go with OEM's ever again unless the price is rediculously low... kinda want the satisfaction of building one though. and by time I'm ready for new machine maybe prices will drop some on very nice components that are on market right now.

 

[crypta]

YuP, custom builds are always better, I would go for a new mono $45 and a new CPU $70~ depending on your upgrade. Don't think it's worth investing money on an old am2 CPU and ddr2 333mhz ram.

Well I already ordered the CPU, but i did consider your suggestion but I wasnt sure that my power supply could handle a better mobo/cpu combo. My power supply is rated a 305w, and the 1GB vid card I bought to replace the 256 vid that came with the machine, which failed, needs minimum of 300w. So I'm at the ceiling already with that. I wsa worried that I would encounter problems with the min power requirement of that vid card being so close to my max output. but havent had any probs with it yet.. Cant wait to build a new pc. I bet its fun... kinda like the feeling you got as a kid at christmas lol

 

[crypta]

oh lol well I didnt know that, also I looked around for power supplies just now and they are pretty cheap, wish i had looked into the possibility of new mobo/cpu in more detail now ... another thing I was wondering about is what types of mobo would fit in the E521 Box? It being a Dell and all. Seems like I read something about certain mobos wouldnt line up right to fasten it to the case. I mean in theory could I buy one of the hottest mobo/cpu combos available righ tnow and cram all that into the E521 case? I wouldnt think so.. I think I will just settle for the cpu that is on its way for now, only set me back 50 bucks and its bound to give me a nice boost. from 2.0GHZ to 2.7...

will worry bout new motherboard when I build my first machine which I hope to do in about a year... I miss my M1730, loved the backlit keyboard... miss that most of all really lol... but alas it refused to boot for me when I simply restarted the comp. the keys light up but there is no display. I think its either cpu or mobo issue.. cuz when I turn it on teh HDD light flashes a few times then goes dark... same flash pattern everytime too.. I've tried to get it to start at least 30 times I bet with no luck. tried reseating everthing etc... eh well we had fun together while it lasted lol... im impressed with this desktop though ... only thing bad happen was the 256mb vid card that it came with failed... other than that its been money well spent.... sry for the blather... got way off topic there lol

 

[HEXiT]

best not use soft oc software. they are often to generous with voltages.
2.7 will be a noticable jump in performance from what you currently have as it will unleash your gfx card even though its not what i would call a gaming card.

bios oc is the only way to do it. if you cant in bios then you best not in software.
some amd motherboards deliberatly hide there oc setups. pressing combo of keys may show them up. often ctrl and F1. with amd chips often all you do is upp the ht multi from 200-to 207and that will often give you around 100mhz on the actual cpu speed with that oc you shouldnt need to up any volts or anything like that. you may even go as high as 215 but sooner or later you would have to start using tricks like adding volts. which can be confusing for people who have only a little experience.
but b4 you do any of that you will need good 3rd party cooling...

 

[jsc]

If it is a Dell motherboard, the BIOS is probably locked.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This next topics has been merged by Mousemonkey
■ Upgrading cpu on Dell E521

 

[crypta]

Hello all just wanted to say thanks for all the input about upgrading the cpu on my old desktop... I have had the new cpu for 3 days now and it runs great. All I did was pull the old out. Apply the Arctic Silver 5 on back of new cpu and done! The 2.7 ghz chip runs a lot cooler than the old 2.0 ghz cpu. I thought the new one would run hotter. anyways thanks again...

 

[crypta]

Best answer selected by crypta.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey