Advice please

jonnyred

jonnyred

jonnyred

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Joined
22 Dec 2008
Posts
7
hi there im'm new to all this and pretty pc illiterate to boot.

I have a Dell XPS 420 (i know it was a mistake but hey) and i am wondering if anyone has advice on tweaks. Buying a couple of games for xmas and would like to see if i can run a bit better.

I have seen a post on another site showing how to mod a Q6600 by adding a tiny pece of tape on one pin. I was going to try this, and then stick some better memory in. As my BIOS is locked does anyone have some simple pointers for a noob like me, and not just 'throw the PC away and build a new one'.

My spec also says the board is crossfire enabled so maybe i sell the 8800GT i have and go for a better card ?

Any advice greatfully received

Dell XPS 420
Q6600 2.4
3Gb DDR PC 6400
Geforce 8800GT
 
I'd buy another 8800gt, have the 2 cards in crossfire.
3gb of ram seems odd, ddr2 is usually 2gb or 4gb, if it's 2gb and thats a typo, get another 2gb of ram, 6400 is cheap(40-50 for 2gb)
O/c the q6600, if it's the SLACR version you should be able to hit 3ghz no probs with the stock fan.
If you can't overclock then, read up here

Hope this helps, Si.
 
zykan said:
I'd buy another 8800gt, have the 2 cards in crossfire.
Click to expand...
8800's cant be crossfired they are sli'ed which can't be linked together on a crossfire board


zykan said:
3gb of ram seems odd, ddr2 is usually 2gb or 4gb, if it's 2gb and thats a typo, get another 2gb of ram, 6400 is cheap(40-50 for 2gb)
Click to expand...

if he brought it retail the chances are he has a 32 bit os meaning that his computer can't address more than 4gb of memory. this also includes graphics memory which proberbly has 512mb of vram on board and 512mb sticks of ddr2 are not very common these days.
 
Dell aren't bad PCs. They're just standard off the shelf jobs, cheap and they do the job.

They're awful for upgrading, overclocking, tweaking, silence, etc though. Which is why they're not particularly suitable for most of us.

The processor in your PC is powerful. The graphics card is not so.

You may be able to overclock the CPU, but I've no idea at all what options Dell will allow through their BIOS. You may be able to do something by downloading a Windows overclocking tool. I'm afraid I couldn't say if there is one suitable, or what it would be.

Could you check the RAM and report back on how much you have? As said 3GB is an uncommon number - though not impossible.

I'd suggest grabbing CPUz as it will provide a great deal of information on your PC. Memory, and possibly a motherboard (do Dell still use their own?).
 
Ok so i know i cant crossfire a 8800, but i suppose i could buy one (or 2) decent ATI graphics cards, and i can do the mod on the chip.

As for memory i have 2 x 512Mb Mosel PC 6400, and 2 x 1Gb Samsung = 3Gb.

Will i see a difference by installing crucial ballistix or OCZ platinum for instance?

The Dell BIOS is locked down and does not give any options for tweaking.

Im trying to get my head around this link and see what i can do

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=546760

thanks for the replies
 
have done the CPUz thing got all the info out and also used SiSoft Sandra to get even more info. I guess without being able to tweak the BIOS i am pretty limited. Oh well when my Dell warranty runs out i will just have to buy a decent MoBO and fit in my case, bolt on vista 64 stick 8gb memory in and a new chip, or jus buy a new pc a real one this time.

Just started playing X3 terran conflict and i am having to turn down the graphics as i cant cope.

cheers
 
thats he thing with the big PC manufacturers, no wiggle room, bottom of the range components and they are still expensive for what you get.
wait until warranty runs out, strip out you CPU and fit it in another mobo, get yourself 4G ram and fit it in your existing case, should cost you under £100, but remember if you fit a new mobo will have to reinstall windows.
 
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