CPU upgrade for the following

XVII

Hi all,

I need you mighty advice. At the moment, I have DELL Inspiron 545MT system, with the following upgrades:
1GB XFX HD6770
CIT power supply, 700UB.

What google told me about Inspiron 545MT is that it has this motherboard:
http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/specs-dg33m06-motherboard/

So I can use only LGA775 cpu's. I have Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 atm.

Two questions:
1) Can I upgrade to something like this?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Q6600-Core2-2-4GHz-Processor/dp/B000LRMR26/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1349526844&sr=8-2

Are there better options for around the same price?

2) Or is it possible to get a new mobo + some 1155 CPU, within the same budget? I don't know much about motherboards though, how to choose them based on what I have already.


Thanks!

Monotype

You could upgrade to a quad core. I wouldn't spend much money on it though. It wouldn't be worth your while spending much more than €50.

Apparently the board has support for 45 nm which means that you may be able to use Q8XXX and Q9XXX CPUs as well, but I'd double check that and try to find someone trying that individual CPU with a few seraches around.

What's the budget? £55? You wouldn't get much of an upgrade for that. Especially when you consider that you'd need new RAM too.

ED E

It looks like a the Q6600 would work fine. The machine comes with the option for a C2Q so presumably it supports them just fine. BUT, you're going from a 65W processor to a 105W processor. Thats a lot more heat. Run prime95 for 30mins and check your temps then post them back here. If you're running too hot it wont be a good upgrade.

Also, you'll want to ensure your bios is up to date before doing it, old bios's may not be compatible with all processors.


Once you get to changing the mobo its time for a new build with dell.

XVII

Monotype wrote: »

You could upgrade to a quad core. I wouldn't spend much money on it though. It wouldn't be worth your while spending much more than €50.

Apparently the board has support for 45 nm which means that you may be able to use Q8XXX and Q9XXX CPUs as well, but I'd double check that and try to find someone trying that individual CPU with a few seraches around.

What's the budget? £55? You wouldn't get much of an upgrade for that. Especially when you consider that you'd need new RAM too.

Thanks!

£110, I meant the price for new CPU.

It looks like a the Q6600 would work fine. The machine comes with the option for a C2Q so presumably it supports them just fine. BUT, you're going from a 65W processor to a 105W processor. Thats a lot more heat. Run prime95 for 30mins and check your temps then post them back here. If you're running too hot it wont be a good upgrade.

I will soon.

Monotype

£110 is too much to pay for a CPU that old. If you were really stuck, I see a few Q8200 on adverts for €85 but I think even that is a bit dear.

You could fit in a low end CPU, RAM and board into that budget but you'd be better off waiting until you have a bigger budget to buy some decent components.

Don't be buying rubbish PSUs either. I think I'd probably upgrade that before anything else.

XVII

ED E wrote: »

It looks like a the Q6600 would work fine. The machine comes with the option for a C2Q so presumably it supports them just fine. BUT, you're going from a 65W processor to a 105W processor. Thats a lot more heat. Run prime95 for 30mins and check your temps then post them back here. If you're running too hot it wont be a good upgrade.

Will Blend be fine to run? Or which settings should I run it on?

You could fit in a low end CPU, RAM and board into that budget but you'd be better off waiting until you have a bigger budget to buy some decent components.

How much would that be? 200 euro? The thing is that I'm not looking into major upgrades at the moment. The reason for the upgrade comes from a specific game, which only lacks CPU power.

Don't be buying rubbish PSUs either. I think I'd probably upgrade that before anything else.

What's wrong with CIT? Serves me very well since February.

Monotype

The Q6600 is clocked lower than the E5300. If the game doesn't use multiple cores well, you might actually not be any better off.

You could get a modern celeron and or something like a phenom 965 would fit into your budget and both would be an improvement. I just realised thought that since it's a dell that you have, they don't follow the ATX standard and you'd need a case too. Essentially, you'd have to build from scratch, with only a few pieces carrying on.

CIT are a cheap PSU brand. They could be inefficient, unstable and unsafe.

XVII

Monotype wrote: »

The Q6600 is clocked lower than the E5300. If the game doesn't use multiple cores well, you might actually not be any better off.

You could get a modern celeron and or something like a phenom 965 would fit into your budget and both would be an improvement. I just realised thought that since it's a dell that you have, they don't follow the ATX standard and you'd need a case too. Essentially, you'd have to build from scratch, with only a few pieces carrying on.

CIT are a cheap PSU brand. They could be inefficient, unstable and unsafe.

It does. At least according to the public opinion, from what I've read. I'd probably need for other purposes as well, like 3d design.

This as well, exactly. Looking at it here, I don't see a point in upgrading it too much. But spending something like 100 euro for the next 1-2 years, before I get a totally new and complete system, is what I see as a appropriate fit.

ED E

I got my Q6600 for €40-ish almost a year ago I think, dont dream of spending 110STG.

While Dell dont support OCing, if you had the cooling for it and the correct PLL, its overclockable to 2.9Ghz using software.


Any of the prime tests are fine, the heat output usually varies little between them. You'll need some other software to monitor temps too(HardwarMonitor/Speccy etc).

XVII

ED E wrote: »

I got my Q6600 for €40-ish almost a year ago I think, dont dream of spending 110STG.

Remember where, by any chance?

XVII

Here

ED E

XVII wrote: »

Remember where, by any chance?

It was second hand, in case that wasnt clear, and I got it on adverts. The feckers refuse to die no matter what you do to them(mate has been running one at 3.4Ghz for 5yrs!) so buying second hand is safe. Pop it in when you get it and stress test to be sure, if you were to have a problem just recall the funds with paypal.

XVII wrote: »

Here

Some leeway there I suppose, has your case been cleaned recently?

XVII

ED E wrote: »

It was second hand, in case that wasnt clear, and I got it on adverts. The feckers refuse to die no matter what you do to them(mate has been running one at 3.4Ghz for 5yrs!) so buying second hand is safe. Pop it in when you get it and stress test to be sure, if you were to have a problem just recall the funds with paypal.

good to know, thanks!

Some leeway there I suppose, has your case been cleaned recently?

no

ED E

XVII wrote: »

no

If you dust the whole case down(do it OUTSIDE) then retest you may get a better result.

Also, it looks like it may have vents in the front panel, if its on carpet, elevate it off it.

XVII

What are the temperatures should I expect?

ED E

Depends on how dirty it is and what your airflow is like/where the case is.

XVII

Also, I guess if I get q6600 on its own, I would need another heatsink as well? As the one I have currently with E5300 wouldn't be good enough.
Which one should it be?

By the way, thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate it:)

ED E

Depends, can you snap a pic of the insides?

My Dimension 9200 came with the same cooler for the E's and Q's, so there was no need to upgrade. Its actually shrouded in such a way that the fan barely has to move to keep the thing cool, one of the advantages of a proprietary case.

XVII

Did some basic cleaning, and introduced some elevation, as recommended.

Temps are now 63 and 59 max.

XVII

Here

ED E

Thats a pretty useless cooler tbh, would definitely upgrade it if possible before swapping to a Q6600.

XVII

Any advice on which to get?